March Already

Saturday after the Bay St. Louis ride.

Tuesday was the last day of February and already the Azaleas were starting to fade and the Oak tree catkins were getting ready to fill early March with pollen. With the coolest weather all week barely below the mid-fifties and daytime temperatures pushing the 80s it was really starting to feel like Springtime. Of course I know better than to put away all of the winter clothes just yet, at least most of them. Any excursions into the frozen north, aka anything north of Lake Pontchartrain, will still be susceptible to chilly mornings for a few more weeks, but I think it's at least safe to put away the shoe covers and thermal tights. 

Tuesday's levee ride ended up with just three of us for the full distance for some reason and was just a pretty normal ride. One of the Destrehan eagles was visible, as it has been for weeks, standing guard at the top of a tree just upriver from the nest, although I didn't notice any activity in the nest itself. Wednesday's WeMoRi was warm, humid, and fairly fast with a light south wind that I don't think was quite strong enough to have split things up on Lakeshore Drive.

On Thursday we had another relatively warm 73° morning with just a light breeze. Those conditions brought out a slightly larger group, at least for the start. We picked up Steve somewhere out toward Destrehan. The pace was steady at 22-23 mph mostly, so fairly comfortable paceline with one brief stop when Charles' tubeless rear tire sprung a leak and sprayed a fair amount of sealant that seemed particularly reluctant to seal in the 90% humidity. After holding his finger over the hole like the little Dutch boy it eventually sealed itself and we were back in action. 

Saturday almost ready to ride.

Friday morning I got up as usual, rummaged through the bike clothes drawer, pulled out shorts and jersey, and then heard something unexpected. Peering through the window blinds I was surprised to see that the street was wet and there was a light rain falling that, for all practical purposes, hadn't really been in the forecast. It was a brief little rain shower that was unfortunately perfectly timed to kill my morning ride. I consoled myself by deciding to go ahead and do the Saturday ride out of Bay St. Louis that Steve and Charles had pulled together. It was looking like we'd have a nice sunny day for that. Saturday was also Rouge-Roubaix day up in St. Francisville. I have mixed feelings about doing Rouge. On the one hand, my brain says it should be interesting, competitive, and fun, assuming I survive. On the other hand, my body says, "WTF are you thinking?" I'd probably need more than a standard dose of Naproxen. With the added gravel segments, that would at least be dry this year, it would be a rough ride with my regular 25 mm tires and rapidly degenerating bones and joints, and that's assuming I didn't find myself upside-down and on the ground clutching another broken collarbone thanks to my rather undeveloped off-road skills. Later on Saturday I'd see Strava posts from Will W who crashed out and Maurizio T who had three flats.

So on Saturday I headed straight into the rising sun to meet the 8:00 am group at the Washington Street Pier in Bay St. Louis. There was a charity ride going on from our usual starting location across the bay in Pass Christian and, as it turned out, also a small footrace starting from the Pier where we parked. Turnout for this ride was pretty good with ten people. For reasons unknowable it seemed like my legs were achy the whole ride but fortunately the pace never really got out of hand, and aside from one Strava segment called "the wall" that really isn't, the low rolling hills were more about the scenery than the pain. We had a nice 68 mile ride with an average speed just under 22 mph which is what I'd call "moderate," followed by a stop at The Blind Tiger restaurant near the marina where I ordered a Coke only to get the dreaded, "Pepsi OK?" response. Anyway, I played it safe with a fairly well-done cheeseburger, which was probably a good call under the circumstances. By the time I headed back home the temperature was well into the 80s.

Sunday was a Giro Ride, and considering the prior day's Rouge-Roubaix, I wasn't surprised to find us missing some of the usual horsepower at the front. There was a bit of a northeast wind blowing and that, combined with the aforementioned paucity of horses, made for a kind of frustrating eastbound ride down Chef Highway where almost nobody seemed willing to get a nice smooth paceline going. It was one of those rides where three people take their pulls and then nobody else comes through, the pace slows down, the people who just took pulls go back and do it again, etc., etc. After the turnaround I rolled past most of the group that was stopped at the tree and soon found myself with VJ who was on his TT bike. Shortly after that Will W and Nolan showed  up so we latched onto them as they ramped up the pace to 28-30 mph. I might have taken one short pull that whole time. Then Will decided to sprint for the Goodyear sign which split everyone up for a while. As Nolan, VJ and I eventually re-grouped, Will just stayed 30 seconds ahead in TT mode, where he pretty much stayed until our lackluster chase was disrupted by traffic and red lights and he rode off into the distance on Hayne. Anyway, it was kind of a welcome bit of intensity for me. I never saw the rest of the group, although it looks like it wasn't too far behind us.

This morning's Mellow Monday ride was super humid with a light fog along the lakefront. The pace was suitably mellow, which was nice because I could definitely still feel some of the weekend in my legs.