Long Winter Rides

Tulane and LSU riders ready to head out for the Saturday training camp ride up in Natchez

Friday evening I rushed over to the main campus to help out with the Tulane's spring activities expo where the cycling team had a table. Rather than cramming everyone into a couple of the big meeting rooms at the student center, aka the LBC, this year they had it set up at the old Fogelman Arena / Devlin Fieldhouse, aka the basketball stadium. As bait, they were supplying free pizza, popcorn and drinks which seemed to be reasonably effective. The spring expo is always a lot smaller than the fall expo that is typically held outdoors.

President Fitts chats with TUCA
riders at the Expo

Anyway, I think they signed  up a few new interested riders and there's a meeting scheduled this week, so that's good. After the expo I went home and dropped off the stuff I'd brought to the expo, threw the bike and a bag into the car and picked up Mike for the drive up to Natchez State Park for the Tulane Cycling training camp weekend. I was planning on driving back on Saturday afternoon, however, since I was scheduled to lead the NOBC Winter Ride Series ride out of Abita Springs on Sunday. We arrived at the cabins a bit after 10 pm I guess.  The Tulane and LSU riders were all busy playing some kind of card game or something, and I was exhausted, so I slipped away pretty quickly, claimed a spot on the couch in the next cabin and went to sleep.  The next morning I found Charlotte camped out on the floor sleeping on three of the couch cushions.  I didn't know she was planning on coming, but if I had I would have asked one of the guys to leave her a bed!  Lack of planning all around, I guess.

Heading out - Natchez State Park

The morning temperature was in the upper 30s, when we left for the Saturday ride around 9 am or so, and so everyone was pretty bundled up in winter gear despite the crystal clear sky. We were probably only ten miles into the ride when it became obvious that most of us were overdressed, though, so there were multiple stops for wardrobe adjustments and to wait for a couple of riders who were having difficulty with the low rolling hills.  I was pretty obvious that they weren't going to survive the whole 60+ mile ride, so at some point they got directions for a shorter route back to the cabins.

Flat #1. Took 4 tubes to get everyone
through one mile of gravel.

Of course, there was a short section of gravel along Cemetery Road that was part of our route. The road was pretty well packed down in most places, so it wouldn't have been a problem ordinarily, but of course as soon as we hit it, it became a race -- one in which I wasn't about to participate. Naturally, we were about 500 meters into the ride when the first rider flatted.  I stopped with Jerry to help with the repair and noticed he was rushing to get it done quickly, so I told him to relax because I was pretty sure the would be another flat tire before the end.  Sure enough, we rounded the next curve and there were a few riders fixing a flat.  We continued on to the end of the gravel, which was only maybe half a mile more, where the rest of the group was waiting impatiently.  After a while we started wondering why the guy with the second flat hadn't arrived so I started to ride back when one of the guys showed up saying that they had blown out two or three tubes trying to fix a big slash in the tire and the rider was walking back and we'd have to call to get someone to pick him up.  I went back there and booted the tire with a piece of Tyvek race number that I keep in my bag for just such a thing, putting maybe 30 psi in the tire since the slash was so big.  At least it got him rolling again.  We stopped a little later to put a little more air in the tire, but anyway he made it into Natchez. We left him at the Steampunk Coffee shop in Natchez and called one of the guys who had turned back early to come and pick him up.

Regrouping at Church Hill

Meanwhile, I discovered that I'd broken another aluminum spoke nipple on my rear wheel, but it was clearing the frame and brake, so I continued on with the somewhat wobbly wheel hoping another spoke nipple wouldn't go. These were some old super-light climbing wheels that I've pressed into service as my training wheels since the crash last October that took out my Mavic wheels. That was the third aluminum spoke nipple to break, so I'm sure there will be others, but I've just been replacing them with brass nipples one at a time for now. Anyway, it was a good ride even though we probably set a record for the most stops in a single training ride.  I headed back home after a quick sandwich to get ready for Sunday's ride.

There was a big group for the start of the NOBC WRS #3 ride

Sunday morning it was pretty chilly up in Abita Springs and once again I overdressed a bit. We had 20+ riders at the start, shedding a few at the turn-off for the short ride, and then a whole bunch around Enon, so we ended up with only seven for the last 50 miles or so. That worked out pretty well, though. Lenny, Jim, Mile Lew, Stephen, VJ, John Dias (yes, he's back on the bike) and I had a pretty good workout on the hilly loop north of Enon.

Only 7 did the full 80+ mile ride - weather was perfect
but got really windy toward the end

By the time we were heading back over the Watchtower Hill, Lenny and Mike were starting to come off the back and most of us were really feeling the miles. Jim went to the front after Tung Road and started towing us all back toward Barker's Corner straight into an increasing headwind, at which point we lost Mike and Lenny for a while. I was pretty tired by the time we pulled into Abita Springs with 80+ miles on the computer, but at least I felt like I'd gotten my money's worth out of the weekend!

I went out Monday morning for a spin on the levee, and between the wind and my sore legs I spent most of the time going 15 mph.  I knew better than to put any pressure on the quads, since I hadn't had a day off the bike in over a month and definitely needed a little recovery time.  This morning the temperature was a little higher and things got pretty fast along Lakeshore Drive for a while, but a few people pulled off after that so the ride out to Kenner was somewhat easier.  My legs felt surprisingly good.  They were still a little sore, but much better than they had been last Tuesday.