Winter Rides, Circle of Life

Monday morning on the lakefront

Although unsurprisingly cold and windy, last week took some unexpected turns. It started on a cold Monday morning with an unusually small group for the Mellow Monday ride. Still feeling the effects of the prior weekend, I happily backed off when the pace finally picked up heading back on Lakeshore Drive, and was a little surprised to find I wasn't the only one. The two or three who had ridden off the front sat up and waited, so for all intents and purposes it was indeed a mellow ride. Cold, but mellow. Tuesday morning was just a complete washout and I didn't even bother to look out the window when the alarm went off since I could hear the rain and the car tires outside on the wet road. I told myself I'd go out for a few miles later in the day, which of course didn't happen. I didn't really feel too bad about that because I knew I needed a little break.

Wednesday morning was in the low 40s or high 30s, but with a strong north wind. In the dark I trudged into that wind out to the lakefront, turning down RE Lee (recently re-named Allen Toussaint Blvd.) and making a U-turn just before a lone rider in black went flying past. Looking back I could see the headlights of what I assumed was "the group" to which I latched on about thirty seconds later. The lone rider turned out to be Brett. I hung onto the back of the little 5-rider group, trying to get my physiology to acknowledge that it needed to adapt, and wondering if these were all the riders in attendance. Looking behind, I couldn't seen any other group, although as it turned out there was one. The brutal north wind had blown the group apart on Lakeshore Drive long before, so I guess I was with the break. I was being careful not to interfere with their rotation since I didn't feel like I had anything to contribute and would probably just slow them down. Jaden was in there occasionally offering sage, but otherwise ineffective advice. By the time we got back onto Lakeshore Drive people were looking pretty tired. I saw Jaden come past Lisa and motion for her to get on his wheel just before he launched an attack to which the rest of the group mounted absolutely no response other than an implied sigh of relief. At that point I started taking a few pulls since any attempt to chase anything had obviously evaporated. It wasn't until after we went around the traffic circle at Elysian Fields that I finally saw the rest of the group a minute or two behind  us.

Thursday morning group at "the pipes"

Thursday morning was colder still, and just as windy, for the levee ride. There was a surprisingly good turnout despite the weather. It was a pretty normal ride except for the unrelenting north crosswind and a brief stop near the end when Pat's computer mount broke off. That afternoon we drove across the lake to the Northshore Humane Society place to look at adopting a dog that Candy had seen on their website. This little mixed breed dog is maybe nine months old and is still being treated for heartworm and skin problems but they offered to let us take him home on kind of a trial basis, which was a little surprising, but anyway we headed back home with a dog that they had been calling Willie Wonka. 

The dog

Keeping with the theme we will probably call him Charlie for simplicity (one of the characters in the movie). I was expecting some drama dealing with a new dog that had presumably never been house trained. Fortunately he settled in well, quickly figured out that he shouldn't do his business in the house, and started methodically gathering up all of Renzo's old toys to hoard on a particular dog blanket on the floor. We kept him in the kennel the first night, and let him sleep in the living room the second night, and he has now moved into the bedroom without incident. He has to go back on Thursday to be neutered and get some more of his shots, at which point we can officially adopt him.

Laura

By Friday I was pretty tired of riding in the wind but went out to the Friendly Friday ride anyway where again only a handful showed up. I took it nice and easy since I was expecting a long and windy northshore ride on Saturday followed by a long ride out of Independence with the Tulane riders on Sunday. When I got home on Friday I learned that my sister in law Laura had died, which we all knew was coming but were hoping it would be much later than it was. I had planned a 60-something mile northshore ride for Saturday, but the forecast was calling for a low temperature Friday night in the upper 20s, which would mean something around 34° for our 8:30 am start time, along with more north wind. That evening I checked around with some of the riders who usually do these rides and most had already decided to skip it, so I ended up cancelling it at the last minute and re-setting my sights on the Giro where it would be warmer. Naturally, Saturday's Giro had a smaller than usual turnout, but it was still a decent group. For some reason I was feeling pretty tired and when the pace ramped way up on the Interstate stretch with the tailwind I lost the draft and figured I'd best just cruise the rest of the way solo. A moment later, though, Jaden came by and motioned for me to get on his wheel. That got me back in contact with the group shortly after turning onto Chef, so that was nice. I decided I'd better stay out of the rotation, but once the speed settled down a bit I went ahead and started taking some pulls anyway. It turned out to be a good ride, and I felt like I hadn't done so much damage that I'd be suffering on the Tulane ride the next day.

The Sunday group at a turn

Sunday's ride had seven, which is probably about the perfect number for this sort of ride. This was 90% zone 2, I'd say, which was fine with me since I already knew I wasn't going to be able to make it to the race in Gainesville the following weekend. I was supposed to help with the driving for that collegiate race but had to back out in order to attend Laura's memorial service in Orlando, to which we will be flying. I think it's probably been three years since I was on an airplane. Anyway, we should have pretty much the whole family there, so that's nice. With the LAMBRA race calendar coming together, I'll have an opportunity to race in Mississippi the following weekend, so that should work out fine anyway. We'll drop the new dog off at Northshore on Thursday and they will board him until we pick him up on Monday.