Wild Swings

It was a wet but surprisingly fast Giro Ride on Saturday

Here in New Orleans it's now the time of year for wild swings in the weather, and not surprisingly, ride turnouts. While the relatively recent popularity of computer game bike rides, aka Zwift, has definitely reduced the number of riders willing to show up to ride actual bikes in actual weather, I think that perhaps all that riding indoors also increases the level of, shall we say excitement, when the weather suddenly goes from dreary to spectacular. We certainly had samples of both last weekend.

I woke up Saturday morning to dark wet streets. Based on the forecast I hadn't really expected to be able to ride at all, but looking at the 5:45 am radar I couldn't see any rain in the immediate vicinity, so after a bit of deliberation, and resigning myself to a post-ride bike-cleaning session, I slipped out the door around 6 am into the 100% relative humidity. The streets were still wet from the earlier rain, but not so much to get me wet, at least at the slow speed I was going. Arriving at Starbucks twenty-five minutes later I wasn't too surprised to find no other bikes around. I was already thinking that the full Giro was probably not going to be a possibility since I don't much like being out on Chef Highway with just one or two others anyway. Eventually, as I sat outside sipping my coffee, a few more riders started to arrive, and by the time we rolled out at 7:00 I guess there was at least a dozen.

The Garmin showing its age

There was still no consensus as to whether to cut the ride short, but once we crossed the interstate, the virtual Rubicon of the Giro Ride, there was no turning back. Of course by then I was already fairly wet just from wheel spray, so when it started to really rain a few minutes later on Chef Highway, it didn't really matter much any more. I was glad I'd charged my retina-burning tail light, but even with that I kept thinking about that ride in Florida the week before where an inattentive drive had plowed into a group and killed two. On the other hand, I was feeling pretty good and ended up doing a fair amount of work.

The rain had stopped by the time we turned around for the ride back into an increasing headwind, which itself was delayed by a broken spoke on Bullard. All-in-all though, I really couldn't complain. On a day that I'd initially thought would be a complete rain-out, I'd gotten in a respectable workout and we'd done the full Giro distance. On the minus side, it became clear that my trusty old Garmin was no longer water proof. After I got home I opened up the case and set it in front of a fan for the rest of the day. I may have to start wrapping it in a plastic bag on rain days. It's got something over 80,000 miles on it by now and the rubber sides that hold the buttons in are cracked. I had to put a piece of electrical tape on one side about a  month ago when one of the buttons fell out entirely.

Sunday's weather was practically perfect

The forecast for Sunday was looking much better than Saturday. Rain was unlikely, the temperature would be in the 60s and 70s, and the wind would be essentially calm. We had whipped up a somewhat last-minute NOBC ride on the northshore, and given the nice weather forecast it was looking like we would have a good turnout. I had tried a new mapping website called Plot a Route that I really liked, especially since it allowed you to download a tcx file that included cue sheet data which lets the Garmin tell you how far it is to the next turn. Anyway, I drove over with Pat to the Lee Road Ballpark where we found I guess twenty riders in various stages of preparation for the planned 65 mile route.

We had a great group on Sunday.

Looking around, I could see that there were a few riders who were likely to be pushing the pace despite my request to keep things at a "winter ride" pace for the first 25 miles. Mignon told me she had been sick all week and was still recovering, but wanted to try and make the full ride, so we should be sure to wait for her if she got dropped when the pace got fast. Indeed, the pace got plenty fast once we got off of 1072 and onto Choctaw Road, but everybody was fine with waiting for those who hadn't made the split. The next section, from Hwy. 10 to Sie Jenkins Road, had been designated, at least by me, as the "fast" section, so I was a little surprised when everyone rode smoothly up the first of the three significant climbs there. When we got to the second climb I was on the front and put in a little effort over the top that not surprisingly split one or two off the back. I was feeling pretty good and really enjoyed the effort along this stretch, so much so that it seemed Sie Jenkins Rd. came up way too soon. Despite the fast pace, we hadn't put all that much time on the rest of the group, so after a brief regrouping we continued toward Bogalusa, made the two right turns, and headed back toward S. Choctaw. By then I had the arm-warmers in my pocket and was well into my water supply. The weather was about as good as it gets, so everybody was having a good ride. We continued regrouping the intersections and after a quick stop at Enon headed toward firetower hill that doesn't have a fire tower any more where I was fully expecting to see some action. I think a few of the guys were targeting a Strava segment there. I stuck with the surge about two-thirds of the way up, then dropped off a bit to come over the top about fifteen seconds back. Luckily they soon eased up a bit and I was able to regain contact, after which the pace gradually increased pretty much all the way back to the ballpark. It was one of the nicest northshore rides I've done in a while, so I was really glad I'd gone. The rest of this week is looking to be colder and then wetter, so situation normal for early December. By tomorrow morning the temperature is supposed to be back down to 47, and then Tuesday night a bit lower to 43 before a gradual warm-up again leading to rain on Friday and Saturday ahead of the next cold front. I'm supposed to be officiating cyclocross here in New Orleans on Saturday and Sunday. It's still too early to know for sure but it's looking like Saturday morning is going to be raining and windy and Sunday just cold and windy. Oh boy.