Dawn Patrol

It's been a little chilly in the mornings this week, but really not what you would call "cold." On Tuesday we had a good group for the 6:00 a.m. Dawn Patrol on the levee with the temperature hovering around the high 40s. For a change, there was no reason to cut the ride short, and although we lost a few riders who had to turn back early, we still had four doing the whole ride, and picked up a couple more along the way. This time of year it's still a bit dark when I ride out from the house to meet the group, but within half an hour I've switched my headlight to its lowest setting, mainly just to give a little extra warning to anyone coming the other way. By the time we're halfway out to Destrehan the sun is over the horizon and the temperature starts to rise. It's really kind of a good time of year for riding around here, even if you have to start before sunrise. A month from now it won't be quite so nice. It will be darker for more of the ride and the temperature will often be a bit colder. Even so, the weather is always quite variable in November and December.

This morning it was around 52° when I rolled out of the house wearing substantially less than I'd worn the prior few days. The knickers are perfect for this kind of weather when it's warm enough to leave the shoe-covers, skull caps, and thermal base layers at home. No doubt there were riders at the WeMoRi this morning in basically summer kits. As usual, I met the group on Marconi, heading for the City Park loop, and although the pace was brisk, it wasn't a particularly fast WeMoRi today. We came around the corner at City Park Avenue and Marconi onto the freshly re-paved left lane - a huge improvement over the minefield we've been riding over for years. On the other hand, since they are putting in a 2-way bike lane, plus a parking lane, and leaving just one car lane against the median, the group rides are going to be forced into the car lane, which means we'll be holding up traffic from City Park Avenue to the underpass. I'm sure the people who plan these bike lanes never think about group training rides, but I'm also sure that everyone on the group training ride would be much happier if they'd just re-paved the street and left both car lanes like they were. A 2-way bike lane in-between parked cars and the curb, along with concrete road furniture, makes it extremely unsafe for a group to use the bike lane, and having to take the one remaining car lane is sure to piss off cars stuck behind the group. Anyway, since the ride wasn't quite as hard as usual, there were a lot of people thinking they'd take a shot at the final sprint for Shelter #1, so I ended up blocked behind a few people and never really got to sprint. Guess I should have gotten to the front earlier.

Mignon texted me this morning to say she'd broken a collarbone while riding her mountain bike on the levee. She in the grass, going around some pedestrians and dog-walkers, and as she was heading back up the levee to get back onto the bike path she hit a little divot in the grass that landed her on the ground when her gears skipped. So another new member for the Collarbone Club.

It should be warmer for Thursday and Friday before the next cold front comes through some time Saturday. Right now it's looking like rain for Saturday morning, but I'm not going to bank on that quite yet.