Chilled Out

Wednesday morning cool-down - windy and cooler but not yet "cold."

Last week was my lowest mileage week since I broke my collarbone on a car way back in the Spring. The reasons were numerous - work responsibilities, officiating responsibilities, domestic responsibilities. Somehow these things always seem to come together this time of year, so I guess it was "situation normal."

Most of the weekday rides were largely in the dark, not particularly hard, and not particularly cold. Speaking of cold, the air-conditioner stopped cooling again last weekend and so on Tuesday I was at home with the technicians who installed a new coil for the bargain price of about two grand. The weather around here had already been cooling down a bit, and I knew that the mere act of repairing the A/C would practically guarantee the prompt arrival of a cold front. Indeed, by the time the thing was fixed Tuesday evening it was already cool enough that it has only rarely kicked on at all (although I think it will be running a bit next week). For the past three or four days we've been quite comfortable with just open windows and ceiling fans.

I went out on Wednesday for the WeMoRi, arriving a little later than I've been recently, merging into the group on Marconi. It's so freaking dark for the morning rides right now that I'm really having a hard time putting in much effort. We've got just one more week until the switch back to standard time on Sunday, and for those of us who ride in the mornings, it can't come soon enough. It was cool enough on Wednesday for arm-warmers or long-sleeve jerseys. Another cold front moved through shortly afterward, so by Thursday and Friday I was searching through my stuff for knickers and long-sleeve jerseys. Unfortunately, Friday was my last day to ride because I had to go up to Baton Rouge on Saturday morning to officiate the LAMBRA Track Championships.

Linescan finish camera image from the Velodrome

Up at the Velodrome I was wearing a fleece pullover and winter jacket, and every time I'd step out of the sun, which fortunately wasn't very often, I'd get cold. Everybody has complications this time of year, and officials are no exceptions. I could officiate on Saturday morning, but absolutely had to be out of there at 1 pm because we were having our annual neighborhood Halloween party that night. Ricky had come down from Monroe to officiate on Saturday, but had to go back for Sunday.

Closest finish of the day

Mike was out of town, but the LAMBRA camera and stuff were at his house, so Ricky had to pick that up in the morning.  We ran the flying 200 qualifiers, the Points races, and the first round of Matched Sprints, finishing up right at 1 pm, which worked out great for me. The Points Races are always hard to judge. You have to pick four-deep for each sprint, keep track of the leaders, keep track of the "pack" (if any), keep track of lapped riders, keep track of riders to gain a lap, and remember to score double points for the finish sprint. Luckily there were only one or two sprints where we had to confirm the finish order with the camera. In the afternoon after I'd left, Chris came in to help officiate the evening session, which from all reports was freezing cold, which means it may have touched the upper end of the 30s.

The Halloween party was fun and we went through a lot of food and I think eight or nine bottles of wine in addition to beer. I'd been up since about 5:30 am, driven to Baton Rouge, officiated, driven back, set up Halloween decorations, etc., so by the time everyone left I was more than ready for bed, especially since I'd have to hit the road for Baton Rouge again at 6:30 the next morning. I think everyone had a good time at the party, which was nice. The Halloween party really started on Halloween night in 2005, two months after Katrina, and the first week when most of the people on our block were back in their houses. We sat out on the front porch at the neighbor's house that night and got re-acquainted with each other, told our Katrina stories, and handed out candy to the one lonely trick-or-treater who came by.  Most of the city was still not back at that point.

On Sunday I headed out before sunrise again, stopping at the Maple Street Starbucks for a cup of Thanksgiving Blend first. The drive was actually quite nice. Traffic was sparse, so I was just cruising on cruise-control, listening to the satellite radio, and watching the thermometer drop. Fortunately the racing didn't start until 9 am, the sky was clear and sunny, and the previous day's wind had died down considerably, so I was pretty comfortable without the winter jacket. The racing went smoothly. We finished up the Sprint competitions, held the Scratch Races, and finished  up with the Pursuit/TTs. I got back home to New Orleans in the early afternoon, posted the results to the LAMBRA website, finished up the USAC Post-event Report, and spent the rest of the day eating things I shouldn't be eating like leftover party food, Halloween candy, cookies, etc. Not riding and eating a lot of junk food makes for a bad combination, but for some reason the arrival of cold weather always makes me hungry. I could have gone out for a ride in the late afternoon, but frankly I just didn't have it in me. I was tired, it was chilly outside, and I felt like I needed a little break. From what, I don't really know.

So Monday morning was pretty chilly. I had a 9 am conference call that I wanted to take at the office, so I was out the door a few minutes after 6 am, which is over an hour before sunrise right now. I knew I'd be chilled, so I was wearing the thermal knickers, base layer, and long-sleeve jersey, which turned out to be just right, considering the fact that I wouldn't be going particularly hard. It looks like it will be warmer for the next couple of weeks, so that may be the last time I'll need the thermal stuff until the next cold front comes through, probably around the second week of November.