The Wind at the Back

 

Tagging along with the TUCA Thursday ride

Another week, another Giro, another hurricane. It was a pretty solid week of riding that included a couple of rides with some of the Tulane riders, and I have to admit it was a little difficult to roll out of bed this morning. I rode out to Starbucks just a few minutes later than usual, but only after checking the weather radar. There's a small disturbance in the Gulf that is pumping a lot of moisture our way, which usually means that the hourly forecast is not to be trusted too much. It looked like we'd make it, but also looked like we'd be seeing a lot of rain later in the day. 

Coffee ride group on the lakefront

As it has for the past few weeks, the turnout for the Giro was pretty big, and as we started out into a steady east wind I knew it would be a tough ride in the wind at the front, and a much easier one in the wind at the back. The thing about a headwind on a group ride is that it does two things. It slows down the ride, of course, since the riders at the front are doing a lot more work, but it also increases the draft at the back which makes it a little easier than usual for riders to stay in contact. Even so, we had a pretty good double paceline going on Chef, if only for a few miles, so I did take some pulls. I often wonder if the other riders, or more specifically the rider directly behind me, would prefer if I just stayed at the back since I don't provide much of a draft. Anyway, it was a good Giro except for when the Junior rider got caught in one of the concrete seams at the bottom of the Seabrook bridge on the way out and crashed. We turned back to check on him and he was OK and had someone with him, so we continued.

On Thursday I went out for a rare afternoon ride to meet up with the Tulane Thursday ride. It was a nice conversational pace and a good excuse to get our of the house for a while. Working from home, alone, does get tiresome sometimes. I met up with the again for the Friday coffee ride. We've been stopping at CC's on Esplanade since Pagoda has been closed.

Meanwhile, I finally submitted the event permit for the 49th annual Tour de Louisiane. We're doing just the road race this year since there are just so many complications and uncertainties, and also because it will be so late in the season. We could either have a very low turnout (especially if the weather is bad) on October 10, or we could have a very large turnout because riders are just kind of desperate for an actual bike race. Who knows? Anyway, the next day it was suggested that the race also serve as the LAMBRA Road Championship, so I guess it will be that as well. Much will depend on the weather, I think, which could be anything from spectacularly wonderful fall weather to, well, a hurricane. 

Saturday afternoon forecast. Here we go again.

Speaking of hurricanes, there's another one making a beeline for New Orleans. They just upgraded it to a tropical storm named Sally, and it is forecast to become a hurricane by Tuesday. I'm guessing we'll be looking at Category 2 by the time it make landfall. Great. Just what we need. Anyway, it's just entering the Gulf now, so the forecast track will likely change a few times between now and Wednesday morning. The larger issue is the intensity, the forecast for which has already been upgraded.