Rumblestrip

Sunday on the northshore

Finally back to a full week of riding last week. Most of the weekday rides were fairly uneventful unless you count me almost hitting (actually I did brush it with my shoulder) one of the "safety posts" turning off of Lakeshore Drive onto Marconi after the WeMoRi. I was a few riders back and I guess they cut inside of the last post, which of course I couldn't see. 

Friendly Friday was very windy

Thursday's levee ride was pretty nice, although quite windy. As we were coming back, I guess around the bridge or playground, we say Julia heading the other way. Nothing unusual about that. However, as it turned out she crashed shortly after that. Dustin had her doing a sprint workout and when she started a sprint something bad happened with her drivetrain that landed her on the asphalt, apparently mostly on her head. When she got up her chain was broken and the rear wheel was off the bike. Perhaps the chain broke and jammed everything up. Anyway, I got home and was eating a quick breakfast when I checked my email and found a not from her dad asking if I could accompany her to the hospital. Dustin had picked her up and was dropping her off at her house, but she'd cracked her helmet and had some possible concussion symptoms, so a CAT scan was in order. By the time I picked her up she was looking pretty good, not repeating herself, and otherwise showing no concussion symptoms, so that was good. We went over to the UMC ER where it took maybe an hour and a half to get a scan, which didn't show anything abnormal. The only bad part of the whole thing was that the guest internet was apparently not working in the emergency room so I couldn't really do any work even though I'd brought my laptop for just that purpose. 

Saturday I went out into the wind for the Giro. We're finally getting back to where there is some significant light in the sky by 6:30, which is nice. Of course that's all going to go away and we'll be back in the dark again when we shift back to DST in March. There was a pretty stiff north wind blowing, which meant lots of crosswind. Fortunately there wasn't a whole lot of horsepower on hand, and I think some of what was there rolled off the front early, so the pace was fairly tame. That didn't mean it was easy, though. I spent the whole way out along Chef Highway in negotiation with the rumble strip. I am still being a little cautious about hard efforts since I was sick, and even today still have some lingering post-nasal drip issues.

Since nobody had been able to commit to the usual Saturday Northshore ride we decided to do one instead on Sunday. The temperature was in the mid-40s for the 8:30 am start and there was a significant east wind blowing. I was trying out a new stem - same 90mm length but a little bit of rise to this one. We had only five riders on hand despite the promise of a sunny sky and rising temperatures. Kyle was on a brand new bike, with a multitool in his pocket. Stanley P had come down from Baton Rouge. Steve and Randy filled out the other two slots. Nobody was interested in going very hard, so most of the ride was at a nice moderate pace. Kyle stopped a few times to make various bike adjustments. He had also not been on the bike much lately. He and Stanley were starting to struggle a bit toward the end. I think the only significant effort I made was from the Firetower climb to Tung Road. Kyle and Stanley had dropped off as the climb started, and we knew they wouldn't have any trouble getting back since by then we were only a few miles from the Lee Road ballpark where we'd started. It was a good ride for me. I had been a little worried about doing a really hard ride, so the way it worked out was perfect. The new stem seemed to work out well. It's probably just a centimeter or so higher, but I think I could tell the difference, which was a little surprising.