Back in the Pack, Race on the Calendar

Back to the Giro

I decided to sleep late this morning. Easing back into riding takes its toll, and I figured it was time for that little break I'd actually intended to take yesterday but didn't. Maybe I'll go out for a couple of hours later today. Following up on the Spillway ride I'd done last Saturday, I got up Sunday morning and decided it was time to get back to the Giro Ride. I knew that Sunday's ride would be easier than Saturday's had been, but I was still planning to drop off the back at some point. It still hurts a bit to push hard with the left leg, especially when accelerating or climbing, and at any rate, suddenly going from the easier gears to the big meat after nearly three months can be a recipe for tendinitis.

Heading back with Stmati and Kenneth

As the group accelerated after coming down onto Hayne Blvd. I was pleasantly surprised to find it quite manageable sitting in the draft, and I briefly contemplated staying with the group all the way out to Venetian Isles, but when the pace ramped up along Chef highway, I thought better of it and quietly slipped off the back for a few easier miles. A couple of miles before the turnaround I saw Stamati, who I'd noticed dropping off the back shortly after I, heading back, so I turned around an joined him. Soon we picked up Kenneth Legeai as well. We weren't riding particularly fast - 21 to 23 mph mostly - but it wasn't until we were on the Casino bridge that the group finally caught us. I suppose that was a good thing, considering. At any rate, the ride had gone pretty much as planned and I arrived back home without having done too much damage.

Waiting out the isolated downpour in Audubon Park

Monday was Memorial Day, and Mignon had posted a little city ride for 7:30, meeting at the entrance to Audubon Park. I went out a little early, stopping to call the Sewerage and Water Board to report a water main break 500 feet from the last water main break on Pine Street by the house that has been an unrepaired pothole for the past 18 months, and rode a couple of laps around the park first, but halfway through the second lap the sky suddenly darkened, and before I got back to the front it was pouring down rain. I hid under one of the big oak trees near the park entrance, waiting to see who might show up anyway. I could see Ty doing the same under another tree.

Fair Grinds by the Fair Grounds

The little rainstorm passed quickly and Mignon, who had been hiding under one of the shelters, arrived, along with a few others as the rain stopped. We did a nice little ride through the city, stopping at Fair Grinds along the way. I found that all of the stopping and starting was taking a toll on my left groin, however. The next day I went out and met the 6 a.m. levee ride and did the whole ride out to Ormond with them for the first time in months. By the time I got back from that I was thinking maybe I should take it easy on Wednesday, but I didn't. Instead, I went out and met up with the WeMoRi. Other than the expected difficulty climbing the overpasses, and the fact that sprinting for the finish was entirely out of the question, that went well.

Later that day I got the Race of Truth, aka LAMBRA Time Trial Championship, event permit set up with USAC, using the brand new event permitting system. We're going with an August 9 date, hoping that we won't run into any COVID-19 problems by then. Using the new system was interesting. I guess I was an unintentional beta tester for that. After I logged on and went to the new event permitting page I found a notice about five events that needed to be paid for. None were mine. All of them showed Chuck Hodge, who is at USAC, as the promoter, so my guess is that they were part of some testing he'd been doing, but at any rate they shouldn't have been showing up on my page. I sent a screen shot to Stuart Lamp so they could track down that little bug. Then I dove into the new event permit setup, with was generally a much smoother process than the old one. When I got to the page where you specify who should get "additional insured" certificates, however, I got stuck. The system wouldn't let me go to the next page, although no errors were showing. I went back and forth with Stuart a number of time trying various things, none of which worked. An hour or so later he sent me a link directly to the following page that I couldn't get to, and that worked, so at least I got to the end of the permitting process. At that point, my NOBC debit card wouldn't work and I had to use my own. Turned out the bank had just sent Mignon new cards because of some fraud we'd had recently with the account and she hadn't had a chance to get those to Pat and me. Anyway, the Time Trial is more or less ready to go. The sheriff's office has it on their calendar, and assuming we don't run into a problem with the Swamp Tour folks we should be good to go. Even if most of the current restrictions are still in place, I'm confident we can put on a TT with all of the necessary social distancing and other protocols. There just won't be a holder, and I'll be standing six feet away when starting the riders. I don't think the event is going to show up on the USAC calendar until after June 1 when the new "consolidated" calendar goes live. That will include both USAC and non-USAC cycling events, pulling listing from BikeReg and others.

So I'm still working from home, and it looks like that may not change much for a couple more months. We could go back to the office some time next month, I think, but our team is doing just fine this way, so why push it?