Long Flat Day along the River

Somewhere past the Spillway with Julia and Dustin

Sunday was the 9th almost-annual Varsity to Varsity ride for the LSU and Tulane cycling clubs. This year there were only four Tulane riders doing the whole thing, so I was spared the complication of driving people to Baton Rouge, driving back to NOLA, and then riding upriver to meet the group. That provided a couple of nice benefits. For one, it was probably fifteen degrees warmer by the time I rolled out of the house at 8:08 am wearing just my sunscreen arm-warmers and a wind-front base layer that ended up in my pocket for the return trip. For another, I didn't need to get up at 5:30 am and could actually eat something for breakfast. Joining me for the out-and-back version of V2V this year would be Dustin and Julia who I planned to meet somewhere along the levee bike path.

Rest stop where we met up

I ended up leaving home a bit earlier than I'd planned since I basically didn't know what to do with myself on a nice sunny Sunday morning when I'd normally have been on the bike by 6:10 am. Dustin and Julia were planning on leaving from Headquarters at 200 Broadway at 8:30. I rode easy out to the levee and then rode a mile or two upriver to the Corps of Engineers building before turning around and starting upriver, which put me just a few minutes ahead of them. None of us was in a hurry, so I was all the way to St. Rose before they came up on me. We had a clear blue sky and a slight tailwind, so it was easy going at a steady conversational pace of around 18 mph.

The group scattered along the spillway road on the way back because of the off-road sections - some rode, some walked

There were a few places along the Spillway road, which was technically closed, that had been washed out when the spillway was open earlier in the year, so we didn't really know what to expect when we rode around the barricades. As it turned out, there were just a couple of places where the asphalt was completely washed out, but in both cases vehicles had created a somewhat sandy bypass around them - basically just a bit of off-road dirt riding - that wasn't too bad except for a couple of spots where the sand was deep. Once back on River Road, upriver of the spillway, we continued on, looking for a place where we could get onto the levee bike path three miles later. That got us a nice 7 miles or so on the bike path and through the LaPlace area before it ended and we were back on River Road.

Back on the levee path

I was glad I'd brought my bright rear blinky light for the next stretch because, even though it was a Sunday morning, there was a bit of traffic and there are no shoulders on River Road. The generally east wind had started to pick up a bit, so our speed did as well along here as we cruised under the Gramercy bridge, past Lutcher, and then, a few miles later, found the group at one of their planned rest stops - the one where there used to be a bunch of Beagles in a big enclosure. Amazingly, this was exactly the same place where I'd met the group a couple of years ago - 52 miles upriver from Audubon Park.

Pizza!

After a banana, a couple of chocolate-chip cookies, and a handful of gummy bears, the group headed out downriver and we re-traced our ride. The wind, which had been practically non-existent when we started, had started to pick up a little bit, but it never got to be very bad. As always seems to happen, once we were past the spillway and back onto the levee bike path, a few riders were starting to feel the miles, which led to some gaps and a couple of slow-downs to regroup. Fortunately we were able to keep everyone together all the way to the end this year, including the guy who rode the entire thing in Vans shoes, flat pedals, and gym shorts. I'm thinking he had some kind of riding short underneath because I didn't see any blood flowing down his legs at the end.

At Varsity Sports in NOLA

At Varsity Sports on Magazine Street we had the traditional pizza, and eventually took a group photo on the front porch before everyone headed back to wherever they'd come from. It was a long but enjoyable 115 mile day for me. Since the pace was always quite civilized, my legs were none the worse for wear. I couldn't say the same about my neck, back and crotch. Sometimes, going slowly for a long time can hurt just as much as going fast for a shorter time - just in different places.