Winter Speed

Winter, such as it is in New Orleans, is here, I guess. That doesn't mean what it does in Minnesota, or course, where morning temperatures next week will be between 17° and a relatively balmy 30°F, but you know it's all relative. The bottom line is that my creaky old knees probably won't see the light of day for at least the next couple of weeks. I usually want my knees covered if it's in the 50s or below, and although wearing knicks or knee-warmers or full long tights cuts into your winter speed a tiny bit, it's definitely worth it, IMHO. I think I was in knickers for most of my rides last week, and even broke out the full long tights one day. 

So it should come as no surprise that when I was getting ready to head across the lake for another of the Queen Bee's invitational winter rides, where the starting temperature at 8:30 a.m. was going to be right at 40°, I threw a pretty wide range of stuff into my bag. I knew there would be sun, and that the temperature would ultimately be approaching 60°, so that really complicated the wardrobe decision. One thing I knew for sure. It wasn't going to be slow, or to be more accurate, it wasn't going to be easy. Between the terrain and the north wind, those 75 miles were going to exact a significant toll energy-wise. So rather than go for the bulkier but better-insulated stuff, I went with the thin and wind-resistant stuff. I could have been an add for Gore. I wore some nice comfy knickers with a long-sleeved Gore base layer that had wind-resistant front panels. Over that was a pair of arm-warmers that could be stuffed into a pocket later. Then there was a summer jersey, mainly for its pockets, and on top my thin Tulane vest that I planned to take off at the first opportunity once I got warmed up. I was also trying out a pair of Gore-Tex socks that Danielle had sent me for my birthday, and a pair of thin Gore-Tex gloves. So, no bulk, but lots of wind protection. It worked out pretty well.

The ride itself was good a brisk, although without any super-hard attacks or anything. I guess we had about about a dozen riders on hand as we headed out. Like other rides I've done with Lisa, there was no gradual warm-up. We got onto the Tammany Trace at Abita Springs and were immediately up above 20 mph, which is basically where the speed stayed for most of the ride. I'd say our typical speed was 23-24 mph. I'd put my carbon race wheels on the night before, since I figured they could use the exercise, having spent almost all summer hanging unused in the basement. I have to admit, they definitely make things easier when the speeds ramp up, especially if I'm out in the wind. Anyway, it was a really great ride. I felt like I got a good workout without getting totally wasted. I guess Strava agreed, tagging the ride as "Massive Relative Effort." Clearly, Strava doesn't know how much time I spent sucking wheels, but regardless, I have to agree that, relatively speaking, it was harder than my usual wheelsucking ride.

Speaking of wheels, I ordered a pair of Campi Scirocco C17 Clinchers that were on sale. I got my current training wheels so long ago I don't remember, but it must have been at least fifteen years ago. I bought them from someone in the club who had gotten them built up as climbing wheels, and they are indeed about the light pair of aluminum clinchers I've ever seen. I kept them as my backup race wheels, and used them for a number of races and also once or twice for Six Gap. Following the demise of my Mavic wheels in a crash a few years ago, they got promoted to everyday use. Now, the bearings are getting a little loose, I've replaced four or five broken aluminum spoke nipples, and I'm starting to wonder how long it will be before I wear through the brake track. The Scirocco wheels were something like $250, and will be significantly heavier and maybe a tiny bit more aerodynamic, but hopefully they will be good solid training wheels.

Well, that's better.

So this week we finally upgraded (at home) to AT&T fiber, along with AT&T TV. I kept the telephone land line, mainly because the alarm system uses it, but downgraded the service so it was a little cheaper. Installation took three or four hours, but I think went pretty well. I had already run an ethernet cable from the back of the house where the modem is to the front where the living room TV is, and although I could never get the Amazon stick to work with it, it works fine with the AT&T TV box. With my old Uverse service I was getting something like 5 Mbps over wireless. Now I get more like 40 Mbps and close to 100 via ethernet. The AT&T TV service has been fine and seems to include all of the stuff we had with Cox before, so not bad. We have a little range extender that doesn't seem to be working correctly with the new modem, but I haven't bothered to investigate that yet. 

Today we started putting up some Christmas decorations, but with the intermittent light rain I decided against going out and fooling with all of the questionable extension cords and lights and stuff. That will have to wait until a drier day. We bought a new microwave oven the other day after Candy incinerated some mac & cheese in the old one. It's display panel had pretty much stopped working, so you couldn't see the times or anything, so it was time. Besides, I couldn't get the burned food smell out of it anyway. 

Meanwhile, the city started tearing up two blocks of street to apparently replace the water, sewer, and drain lines that run underneath it. The notice they left at the house said it would be completed by the end of January, which I don't believe for a moment. By "completed" I assume they mean the pipes will be replaced and they'll dump a bunch of riversand and rocks on top of everything and leave it like that for a year or so until they get around to actually paving it. In the meantime, I'm treated to the sound of bulldozers and dump trucks all day going back and forth to the piles of sand and rocks they deposited on the corner.