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The moon going down at the turnaround at Ormond

It's dark now when I head out for the morning rides, and with Daylight Saving Time dragging on all the way into November it's just going to get darker and darker every day. I don't much like riding in the dark on the levee bike path. Even at moderate speeds in the 23 mph range, runners and walkers sometimes appear suddenly, even with my retina-singing 900 lumen headlight aimed up the road. At the back of the paceline it's all just a matter of trust, something I have in relatively short supply. So I tend to hang back a bike length or two until the stars fade, which right now takes half an hour or so. This morning our small group headed out with a bright and nearly full moon overhead. Wes was there, having recently made the difficult business decision to shut down his cafe'/bike shop, Rouler, on Baronne Street. I know that for him the place was a lot more than a business, which I'm sure made it all seem a lot more like a personal loss. I had been there for lunch earlier in the week. I am certainly no businessman, but I have never understood how a small operation like that could survive downtown where there are literally a hundred other food and coffee options within a one-mile radius. He did give it quite a good try, though, and everything there was top-notch, but sometimes the quality to quantity ratio is just too high to be sustainable. I wouldn't be surprised to see an online operation rise from those ashes, though.

Pat, Wes and Rich - a conveniently timed flat

Anyway, Tuesday's ride was pretty smooth and steady, which is to say that I was having trouble getting my heart rate over 110 when I wasn't on the front. I admit to lifting the pace a little bit when I was, but my pulls were pretty short and my head was elsewhere most of the time anyway. On the one hand, I kept thinking about 6-Gap coming up on Sunday. That means a day behind the wheel and off the bike on Saturday. My plan, such as it was, had been to do my usual training rides on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then taper off the effort level on Thursday and Friday to make sure I didn't have to start the ride in Dahlonega with tired legs. On the other hand, I had a dentist appointment on Tuesday morning. The prior week I'd gone to the dentist for a long-overdue checkup where they discovered a missing filling in one tooth and something very suspicious under an old crown on another. I had a bad feeling about that. So this visit was to remove the old crown and see what the damage was. The best-case scenario was a little cavity and a new crown. Worst-case was having what was left of the tooth extracted and then more dentist trips to fix everything, not to mention at least a couple thousand dollars worth of work. Well, of course the worst-case scenario unfolded and an hour later I walked out with half of my face numb and one tooth lighter. I'd asked the dentist if I'd be OK for the weekend, and he said, "Sure. What are you planning?" I told him about the drive on Saturday and ride on Sunday. As a result he put in a couple extra stitches to make sure everything held together. So anyway, I went home, called the office to say I wouldn't be in, and took inventory of "soft" food that we had on hand since it was going to be soup and ice cream for a day or two.

This morning I thought I'd ride out to the lakefront easy, watch the WeMoRi from the back, or off the back, stop for coffee, and ride home. Not exactly the workout I'd planned, but I had been instructed not to do any "strenuous" exercise for a day or two. What the hell is "strenuous?" Anyway when I got up at 5:20 am the streets were wet and the radar looked pretty bad, so I decided in this case discretion was indeed the better part of valor and didn't ride. At this point the goal is just to let the jaw heal without incident so it isn't an issue this weekend. Assuming all is well today, I'll do the morning ride tomorrow at the lowest intensity possible and see how that goes.