Long Thanksgiving Weekend

Sunday's Giro heading out a bit faster than usual.

By Wednesday afternoon the office was deserted, except of course for me. The emails had stopped coming long ago, and so after my one mid-afternoon meeting on the main campus I just went home rather than pointlessly riding back to the office for another hour of boredom. I had no plans for Thanksgiving other than a morning holiday Giro Ride.

Thursday morning I rode out to Starbucks wondering if anyone would show up. There had been a suggestion for a Thanksgiving Giro, and I'd dutifully sent something out to the NOBC about it, but there had been only one or two comments. As it turned out, we had a pretty decent group out there by the time we started. The weather was pretty nice and the pace was smooth and steady. Nothing to write home about, really, which sometimes makes for a perfectly fine bike ride. On Friday I went out with Danielle and a couple others for the regular Tulane coffee ride. Most of the undergrads were out of town for the holiday, but we ended up with five people and an extra-long stay at Fair Grinds since nobody had any reason to rush back.

Small group for the Tulane coffee ride - just medical and graduate students

Saturday and Sunday were two more Giro Rides for me. On Saturday I made a point of doing a fair amount of work since it seemed like I'd been taking it easy for weeks. The weather was cool without being cold, but there was a pretty strong wind blowing. Fortunately for the group it was more easterly than northerly, which kept the crosswinds at a minimum and contributed to the 37 mph top speed for the day. Even Woody showed up for that one. He's been taking some time off the bike and had been notably absent for a couple of weeks. Jaden and a few others were on the front a lot pushing the pace, so it was mostly a solid training ride. We had three riders on hand who were in town from Canada, having ridden down the Natchez Trace from Nashville to Natchez, and from there eventually down to New Orleans.  They had done the ride an the fast track, logging daily mileages of 125, 190, 60, and 170, so I was pretty impressed that they were able to hang in with the Giro without any apparent problems.

Visiting Snowbirds from Ontario enjoying the warm weather.

I was even more impressed that they showed up again on Sunday. Sunday's Giro was a little unusual. The turnout was, not surprisingly, a little low.  Dustin's wedding the night before had pulled away a number of riders, plus it was fairly chilly that morning. Three or four riders who don't do the Giro on a regular basis were there and, unaware, I guess, of the usual protocol were kind of pushing the pace from the start. Halfway down Lakeshore Drive, where we're usually spilling along at an easy conversational pace, someone rolled up alongside me, looked over, and asked, "Is there something going on I don't know about?"  With a little headwind we were kind of strung out going maybe 23, which isn't all that fast, but was faster than the more typical 18 mph for the warmup part of the ride. It wasn't what you'd call "hard," just "different." It was kind of repeated after the turnaround where we'd normally have more of a lull in the speed.  I was spending most of my time safely tucked into the paceline, so it was more interesting than anything else. One thing I noticed was how strongly Rachel has been riding. When we got back onto Lakeshore Drive, a few of the riders at the front continued pushing the pace rather than easing up to talk as usual. Fortunately, the Canada contingent was not showing any signs of distress, although a number of riders backed off after we crossed the Seabrook bridge.  I rode most of the way back uptown with the visiting riders plus a couple others, which provided some nice conversation.

This pair is getting to be a common sight along the river.

So on Sunday evening I posted something on the NOBC Facebook page saying I'd be
riding from the pipes on the river bike path at 6:30.  I had been doing this for the past few weeks anyway, and figured I'd see if anyone else might be interested in meeting me.  Well, apparently not.  The weather had warmed up considerable since Sunday morning as the wind had shifted to the southeast, so I had a comfortable Monday ride.  Along the way I saw the pair of eagles that we've been seeing routinely near Colonial Country Club, and I also saw what must have been a juvenile eagle a couple of miles farther upriver. We're expecting some rain this evening and tomorrow, but a the moment it's looking OK for tomorrow morning's ride. The south wind will be with us for another day or so until the next cold front comes through Wednesday morning, bringing with it more rain.  I'll be up in Jackson this weekend to officiate the cyclocross race and have the LAMBRA Board meeting. At the moment, the weather up there for the weekend is looking to be in the 40s and 50s with rain.

The wrist is still a problem, and I may end up resorting to another visit to the doctor about it.  The pain has been focused on the end of my ulna, so I'm guessing maybe I tore one of those ulnar tendons. It only hurts when I make certain movements under load, like drinking from a coffee cup or flexing the wrist like I was doing a push-up, which I definitely can't even attempt.  Otherwise, there's practically no pain at all, so it's kind of strange.