Starting Back

It's been hard getting back into the 5:20 am wake-up routine.

Back when I was a swimmer there were those times when you had to start a workout in particularly cold water. I remember one season when we were trying to get extra pool time leading up to the state championships and were doing extra workouts in an unheated outdoor pool, in the middle of the winter. Even though it felt like your head would explode when you hit the freezing water, it was still the only viable way to go.  All or nothing, straight into the deep end, then go hard before you have time to contemplate the obvious option of quitting.

After officiating all day Sunday and then taking Monday off, I decided that it was time to get back to training. After four-plus weeks of zero-intensity rides and weekly mileage totals of under 100, I figured there was really no use in dragging this thing out any further.  The clavicle is still achy, and even now, at just shy of six weeks, I am very reluctant to stand up and pull on the handlebars, but I know from experience that progress from here on out will be at a snail's pace.  So I went out Tuesday morning to meet the group on Lakeshore Drive. I was running a bit late and also concerned about some of the dark and bumpy streets so I took Carrollton Ave. rather than meet the group at the end of Nashville. I merged into the ride on Lakeshore Drive and although I was being particularly careful to leave myself a little room and maintain a view of the road ahead instead of the butt ahead, the ride went pretty well.  There was a tense moment when we rode straight over the concrete levee apron at Causeway in order to get around the temporary barricade there, but my lowest gear and basic friction proved adequate and we were soon back onto the smooth bike path.

Good group for the first WNW race

On Wednesday I went out to meet the WeMoRi, which was thankfully not going exactly full-bore that morning, and survived that pretty well too. That evening was the first Wednesday Night Worlds training race on Lakeshore Drive, and although I wasn't quite not quite crazy enough to jump into that one, I did take the opportunity to ride out to the lakefront to watch and take a few photos before riding back uptown with a few of the riders, which was good because by then it was getting dark. Thursday was a repeat of Tuesday and Friday was the Tulane coffee ride, all of which went pretty well, although by Friday afternoon the sudden jump in mileage was starting to have a bit of an effect on both appetite and fatigue.  I wasn't quite sure what was going to happen Saturday and Sunday, but the plan was to ride the Giro both days, preferably without slamming myself to the pavement or into a car.

Waiting for the Saturday Giro to roll.

Saturday's Giro Ride had a big turnout and thanks to warmer weather, a light wind, and a lack of nearby races. The ride went out pretty fast, but I was feeling OK and other than the fact I was staying a bit off to the side in order to be able to avoid any cracks or potholes it was pretty good. Actually, it was staying really fast, but since there wasn't any crosswind and apparently no attacking, it was nice and smooth.  Pretty much just want I needed.

The crash scene

When we got out to Venetian Isles where the sprint and turnaround is, we saw a group of riders off to the shoulder. It was most of the 5:45 am WeMoRi group and it soon became apparent that there had been a crash.  I could see Keith Andrews sitting in the grass and as I rolled up to him I noticed he was holding his arm in the classic "broken collarbone" position. As I heard it, there had been two lines of riders coming up to the sprint zone. The left line was starting to accelerate past the right one and Mike W tried to move from the right to the left, which resulted in a crash involving himself and a few other riders who had been the left paceline, including Keith who ripped a few spokes out of his wheel and vaulted onto the asphalt before he could even take his hands off the bars. He confirmed a broken clavicle later in the day, so I brought him my X-brace.

The Sunday Giro had a significantly smaller crowd - it usually does - and the pace was a little more forgiving, which was good because Saturday's ride had done a number on my quads for sure. By the end of the day I'd logged 278 miles for the week, which was a bit of a jump from the prior week's 104. Later that afternoon I met up with some of the NOBC riders for a bit of a bicycle pub crawl, which turned out to be a lot of fun. We liked the Tchoup Yard so much we stayed until it was almost dark.  Going to have to do that again soon.

Part of the Saturday Giro returning