The Miles in the Weather

Totally worthwhile to have waited out the rain on Sunday!

Well, the power at the office went out again, so after an hour I got on the bike and rode back home. After the power went out the phones and internet went out too, of course, so sitting in a dark office with just my cellphone would have been a little crazy.  Anyway, I got home and realized it had been a while since I updated the blog. For the last week or so the weather has really been interfering with the regular group rides. There's been a lot of fairly unpredictable rain, temperature swings, strong winds, and all that standard winter stuff, except it hasn't really been all that cold.

Saturday's Eagle

Last Saturday I went out to the Giro Ride knowing it would probably start raining in an hour or two.  The radar seemed to be giving us a reasonable chance of getting in a few miles, though, so I went anyway.  Well, I walked into Starbucks, got a cup of coffee, and walked out to find it already starting to rain.  I gulped down a couple of sips and took off, coffee in hand, as a front started blowing through.  It was all I could do to control the bike in the crosswind -- with one hand -- without spilling my wonderfully hot coffee.  I got home pretty wet, but it's only about four miles so I wasn't soaked or anything.  It rained for a while and then by 11 am the streets were almost dry again and the sun was out, so I went back out and did a nice solo 50 miles on the levee out to the Spillway and back.  Along the way I found the eagle's nest along the bike path in River Ridge, along with both eagles.  I also stopped at Williams Blvd. to talk with a French couple that had ridden down from Montana on super heavily loaded bikes.  They had stopped to eat lunch on the bench there.  I gave them some directions and let them know that there was more rain coming later in the evening. Pretty sure they made it to their destination in the garden district before then.  Saturday night it rained as expected, but the forecast for Sunday's long ride on the northshore was looking pretty good with the rain ending right around the 8:30 am start time.

No power at office!

So Sunday I headed across the lake to meet up with 20+ riders at Abita Springs only to find out that there was still a line of rain heading our way. Although a couple of people took off in the rain, and subsequently froze their butts off, the rest of us hung around under the big gazebo, or in the nearby coffee shop, to wait it out. By 9:30 the rain had left, along with almost all of the riders.  There was a pretty strong wind blowing, and it felt a lot colder than the thermometer would suggest, but Steve and I headed out on the 80 mile course with the streets already starting to dry out. We ended up cutting out four or five miles since there were just the two of us and the battle with the wind was getting more and more real.  We were both hurting a bit over the last ten miles or so, but I was happy to have gotten in almost 78 miles to nudge my week's total just barely aver the 300 mile mark.

I rode solo again on Monday, trying to take it easy, which was difficult because it was still pretty windy.  Then on Tuesday's group ride I found my legs were still hurting from Sunday. Unfortunately, the pace was pretty fast, so my plan to sit in at the back and take it easy didn't exactly work out. Wednesday's WeMoRi was fast in some places and not so fast in others, and although it's not very long, for me at least, I could still feel Sunday's ride in my tired old legs. Sucks getting old.

It was damned windy out on the lakefront this morning.

Last night a cold front came through and when I went out at 5:40 am I was greeted by what must have been a 15-20 mph northwest wind.  What I wasn't greeted by was anyone at the meeting spot, so I rode out to the lakefront alone.  As expected, there were only a few people out there. I think we had five for a while along Lakeshore Drive, but by the time we were on the bike path heading west into the wind blowing off the lake it was down to just Bjarne, Jeff and me.  We weren't killing it, though, so it was fine.  We turned around a little early to compensate for the slow speed and came back with a bit of a tailwind at a more conversational speed.  I think we'd all had about enough eschelon for the day.

I think I'll try and disassemble Danielle's scooter tonight.  It stopped on her last week and we had to walk it back home about a mile.  It'll start right up and then immediately die, so I'm suspecting a vacuum or fuel delivery problem.  The only trouble is that the engine is entirely encased in all manner of plastic, so it'll probably take me an hour just to have a look.  The Tulane organizations fair is tomorrow evening, and after that I'm heading straight up to Natchez for their training camp. I'm just doing the Saturday ride, though, and heading back Saturday afternoon so I can lead the NOBC Winter Training Ride Series #3.  The weather, of course, is looking a little sketchy.  Saturday morning in Natchez will be in the upper 30s. Sunday in Covington is looking a bit warmer and sunny, so hopefully that will work out.  Also hopefully my legs will still be functional enough to ride 80 miles too.