Skills

Last weekend I ventured up to Madison Mississippi for the Spooky Cross cyclocross races. This is a fairly low-key event designed as much for Rolando's flock of young kids as it is for the grownups (I use the term loosely since, you know, ... cyclists). With the combined "A" and "B" races not starting until 10:30, I didn't need to leave New Orleans until 6:30 or so, even taking into account that I-55 north from LaPlace to Ponchatoula was still closed from the horrendous superfog-caused crash almost a week earlier in which over 100 cars were involved and seven people were killed. Instead of taking the old two-lane highway 51, I took the Causeway to I-12, and then to I-55, all of which went quite smoothly at that time of the morning. Of course, I arrived way earlier than I really needed to. The weather for the weekend was clear and warm, and was probably one of the last such weekends we'll see this fall. I would be riding my Blue Norcross bike with its classic rim brakes and well-worn tires, neither of which I thought would matter much since I had no plans whatsoever of pushing my luck on this up-and-down course. My not-insignificant criterium skills do nothing but get me in trouble in a cyclocross race, and the fact that I have virtually no mountain bike or, for that matter, "gravel" skills doesn't help either. So the plan for me was to start near the back, lock up my rear wheel on every downhill, creep around the sharp turns, and power up the climbs, assuming I could remember how to shift the mechanical SRAM derailleur. At any rate, it would be a nice change of pace, and even though I'd be riding very conservatively, I knew I'd get a decent amount of intensity for 45 or 50 minutes.

I liked having both of the races starting together, especially since my highly questionable Category 3 cyclocross status put me into the "A" group where I clearly don't belong. I think that I got automatically put into Cyclocross Cat. 2 way back when they first started assigning separate CX categories, based solely on my Road category. At some point I got a downgrade to Cat. 3, but in retrospect should have gone all the way down to Cat. 4, which is certainly where I actually belong. Anyway, I started the race near the back as planned and was probably half a lap down near the end of my first lap where I had to negotiate the BMX pump track section, which I found slightly terrifying. Of course I took that part really easily and carefully and successfully kept both wheels on the ground throughout, so that was good. After a lap or two I started to feel a little more comfortable with the lack of asphalt under my apparently worn-out 33 mm clincher tires (I think I had about 35 psi in them) and started putting a little more pressure on the pedals, which rather predictably resulted in me crashing on a little downhill turn when I dropped the front wheel into a little hole that was hidden by the grass. Fortunately I was barely moving at the time, so there wasn't any significant damage. Soon enough I was lapped by a few of the lead riders like Jason, as expected. So I ended up with an average speed of under 8 mph, but an average heart rate above 150. Although I finished among the "A" race participants DFL, that was also apparently 3rd place. 

After the race I drove over to the Bike Crossing shop which is near the Natchez Trace, and rode around 40 miles along the Trace. There was a lot more traffic there than I would have expected, and I was glad I'd brought along my Garmin Varia radar tail light. I learned that riding a cyclocross bike with 35 psi in the tires for 40 miles is a lot harder than riding my regular road bike. That evening I went over my brother's place in Madison for dinner and a shower and a bed.

Sunday morning was basically a repeat of Saturday's races, except in the opposite direction on the course. That meant hitting the BMX track immediately after the start, and in the direction that presented a few places that I'd call "cliffs." Fortunately I kept it upright the whole time. There were a few more riders for the Sunday race but otherwise it went about the same as the previous day for me, which is to say I was focused mainly on improving my skills without breaking any bones. Mission accomplished. Unfortunately one rider went down pretty hard on one of the twisty sections. Hopefully he didn't break anything, but from the way he looked I couldn't be sure of that. I hit the road for home shortly after the race, so was back by mid-afternoon with nothing but a little scratch and bruise on my right leg to show for it all.

Monday was looking like it would be the last relatively warm day for a while, so I dragged myself out of bed and went out to meet the Mellow Monday group. That ride stayed fairly mellow, getting fast only briefly, which was good because despite my efforts to take it easy over the weekend I could definitely feel some soreness in my quads, and also my right shoulder that I'd landed on in Saturday's race. 

As predicted, a cold front came through on Monday evening bringing a big drop in temperature and a strong north wind. The temperature was in the mid to low 50s when I got up, but there was a light mist falling, so I pulled on arm and leg warmers plus a base layer and some wind protection. I knew turnout would be low to nonexistent, but decided to ride anyway. When I turned on my headlight I flashed its "low battery" warning. I'd failed to charge it. Of course, that was a clear message that I should skip riding. Also, of course, I ignored it, put the light into its most power-saving mode, and rolled out into the cold mist. Naturally there wasn't anyone else up on the levee, so I figured I'd fight the wind and cold and what was essentially a light rain for a while and turn back around Williams Blvd. I ended up going a bit farther. Because of the weather the levee was pretty deserted. Most of the regular walkers and riders were missing, so turned the headlight off for a long stretch on the way out to conserve whatever battery was left so I would have something for the return trip where I knew there would be more pedestrians. I did see Pat heading out on his ride somewhere around Jefferson, but other than a couple of people who were riding to work I think I saw only one other rider. So basically is was a somewhat miserable solo ride. 

By tomorrow morning's WeMoRi the temperature is supposed to be down to 46°F with a 15 mph north wind. It's doubtful there will be much of a group, but I'll probably dig out some warmer clothes and venture out anyway. After that it should start to slowly warm up, and so the weather for Saturday's Tour da Parish ride should be fine. 

Meanwhile, the Tulane cycling team's kit order site opened up and will be live until the 13th, so if you want to get a jersey or whole kit, now's the time! The site itself is a little messed up at this point (the road suit option disappeared and the prices aren't showing) but I'm sure they'll get it straightened out soon. I like the design but don't know anything about the manufacturer. From their sizing guide I may be ordering the XS versions and putting my faith in the forgiveness of Lycra.

Seasons

Fall colors in New Orleans

Technically, it's Fall, and my Strava feed is full of beautiful images of winding roads and colorful foliage, none of which is here. As with gravel riding, we live in a fall foliage desert down here where the months of September through November offer only brief samples of windy arm-warmer weather interspersed with foggy humid mornings that morph into 80° days. There are a few imported trees that actually change color, although not usually until November, but mostly Fall just means that the Live Oaks drop a lot of leaves while those that remain just turn a slightly darker shade of green. All of which is kind of irrelevant since the weekday morning rides right now are completed almost entirely in the dark and photos are mainly of peoples' butts illuminated by headlights or a bunch of dark silhouettes partly obscured by bright red tail lights. 

Last weekend Danielle was in town for her high school reunion. We went to the soirée in the school courtyard Friday evening, which was surprisingly nice, but otherwise the weekend consisted of two Giro Rides interspersed with lunches and dinners with friends and neighbors.

Speaking of the Giro, Saturday's was a pretty fast one that featured some heavy smoke along Chef Highway due to a persistent marsh fire. We haven't had any significant rain around here for much of the summer and fall (I think we are something like 23 inches below normal), so the fire has been smoldering mainly underground in the dried out peat, which makes it almost impossible to extinguish. They are now pumping water *into* the marsh in an effort to control it. Anyway, we all got back without noticeable symptoms of smoke inhalation, and by Sunday the wind had shifted a bit so it wasn't an issue. Monday, however, was another story.

I went out Monday morning to meet up with the Mellow Monday ride. Although there was a dense fog advisory, there was none to speak of on the way out to City Park, but as our small group - I think only four or five showed up - the fog got heavier. Then, toward the eastern end of Lakeshore Drive, it went rather quickly from heavy to impenetrable. I was glad that we all had lights and that there was practically no traffic. I think maybe two cars passed us along the lake. Meanwhile, out to the west on I-55, there was a horrendous multi-vehicle pile-up thanks to the same "Superfog" that formed from the combination of regular fog and another marsh fire in that area. Over 100 vehicles were involved, eight people died, tanker trailers exploded, etc. Complete disaster. As I write, that part of the interstate is still closed as they finish cleaning up the mess and then inspect the bridge for structural damage caused by the crashes and the fire.

So Monday's ride was quite windy, but otherwise fairly mellow, but for some reason Tuesday's levee ride seemed kind of hard. Rich is back in town so we had three doing the full ride, which should have made it seem easier, but the wind direction that morning made it feel like most of the ride was either crosswind or headwind, mainly the latter. By the time we were halfway home my back hurt, my neck hurt, and my legs hurt, even though we weren't really pushing it. On the plus side, my new computer arrived at the house later that day. On the minus side, now I will have to spend hours getting it set up, installing software, setting up passwords, transferring files, etc. It's Wednesday now and I haven't even turned it on because I know that once I do I'll get sucked down that rabbit hole and won't want to stop until I have at least the most critical things working the way I want. That will include some software from the 90s (actually one from the 80s, I think) plus numerous online applications like Box, Teams, Dropbox, Slack, Quorum, Airtable, Zoom, etc. 

Next weekend there are some small cyclocross races up in Ridgeland MS. I'm thinking I might go do those just for a change of pace, although there might be a little push-back on my absconding with the car for most of the weekend since Halloween is Tuesday and Candy has already been sorting out about fifty pounds of candy into little packages for the neighborhood kids. 

Wind and Arm Warmers

Saturday Giro cool-down on a wet Lakeshore Drive thanks to that north wind.

Well, I guess we are getting our first hint of Fall. Most of the regular rides last week were merely warm as opposed to miserably hot, but even as early as Monday the meteorological handwriting was on the wall for the weekend. On Tuesday there were only a few there for the morning levee ride, and by the time I was past Williams Blvd. I was on my own. There was a not insignificant tailwind that kept me going out to Ormond, but I knew it would be a long ride back, which of course it was. As often happens this time of year my training motivation was a little lacking, and every now and then I'd just sit up and coast or soft-pedal before slowly and somewhat reluctantly getting back up to a more respectable speed. I didn't feel guilty about it, though, because y'know, there's always WeMoRi. Granted, my WeMoRi the next day wasn't any thing to write home about, but in terms of actual training it was at least notable for a few moments of high intensity, mostly when I was about to be dropped. Thursday's levee ride was at least not a solo one. Charles and Jeff both did the whole ride with me. The nagging east wind was still there, though, so the ride back was a lot longer than the ride out had been. Along the way we saw an eagle fly right across the bike path ahead of us, having just grabbed some unfortunate creature off of the levee batture. A bit later, near the Jefferson playground, we saw a bunch of pipe that we surmised must be for the parish's plan to run a fresh water pipeline up the river a few miles to alleviate the predicted saltwater intrusion. Later that day the Corps of Engineers pushed their forecasts for the dates that saltwater might affect the city's drinking water - the levee ride starts from the "new" Orleans parish water intake. The bottom line was that it was probably not going to be a problem after all, leading the city and the university to put their mitigation plans on hold.

So an actual cold front came through Friday night, bringing a mostly north wind and dropping the morning temperature down to around 70°F. Not enough to justify arm-warmers or anything quite yet since the temperature drop wouldn't really be until that night. Saturday's Giro turned out to be a pretty fast one despite the wind that was probably ranging between 10 and 20 mph. I never put my face into that wind but felt like I got a pretty good workout just staying in the draft and not getting dropped! The thing about windy days like that is the constant level of concentration required, especially near the tail end of the paceline, as riders are moving around more than usual and the wind makes the pace more uneven. As bad as it was on the way out, I knew it would be worse on the way back, which of course it was.

Indeed, Sunday morning it was down to 60° which led me to pull on a base layer and hunt briefly but unsuccessfully hunt in the dark through my "winter stuff" drawer for real arm-warmers. I ended up using just my thin sunscreen arm-warmers that were more readily available since 60° isn't really what you'd call "cold." Still, I was happy to have the extra layers as I rode out to Starbucks in the dark. Speaking of the dark, more and more of the morning rides are going to be in the dark until we change back to Standard Time on November 5. I'd been thinking that Sunday wouldn't be as windy as Saturday had been, but didn't seem to turn out that way. At least the pace was a little more forgiving.

Back at home it was Halloween decorating weekend and the usual battle between Candy, who wants to put a bunch of things out in front that require electricity, and me who wants to not overload the extension cords that are all plugged into the same outlet so as to avoid burning down the house. Along the way I put back the old garden border that the roadwork people had removed (and of course not replaced) when they replaced the sidewalk. I then went out and got some plastic border to finish off the section where it was missing entirely. While I was at Lowes I picked up a couple of Azaleas to plant in front of the house to replace some of the plants we've lost over the past year and especially during the drought.

Speaking of the drought, it looks like we will be getting some significant rain around Wednesday as a system that crossed over Mexico from the Pacific is now in the Gulf. It's heading straight north so we won't get much of it, but the current forecast for Wednesday is looking like a 100% chance of rain and 17-20 mph east wind. I guess the timing of the rain will determine the fate of this week's WeMoRi.

Backpedaling

Sunday TUCA Northshore Ride - La Tung Road

After returning from Six Gap I figured it was time for an easy week that might allow for a bit of recovery. While a 250 mile week might not seem like an easy one, it is really never about mileage as much as it is about intensity, and if anyone is an expert in minimizing intensity, it's I. After the long drive back from Dahlonega that had me back home around midnight I made the easy decision to skip my usual Monday morning ride altogether. Besides, I had an early meeting that day and was going to be a little sleep-deprived anyway, and of course my bike was still in Six Gap mode with the race wheels and 11-32 and everything. Yeah, I could have ridden the Orbea, but it just didn't seem worth the effort under the circumstances. Also my legs still hurt. 

As expected, I was not very "high-functioning" on Monday, but by Tuesday morning I was more or less good to go, so I headed out to the levee for the 6 am ride, only to find that nobody else was there. Just as well, I thought, since that way I could moderate my effort and help the recovery process along rather than possibly derail it by trying to stay with a fast group. Since I was solo and slow and had yet another morning meeting, I turned back at the Little Dip rather than go for the usual 40+ miles. Then, on Wednesday, I boldly went out to meet the WeMoRi. My legs were a lot better but still not 100% so I was definitely not going to be anywhere near the front. Of course sucking wheels at the back of the group does have its own risks. I jumped into the back of the group along Toussant and hung on with the hope that there would be enough of a lull on Wisner that I could recover from the acceleration, but wasn't quite that lucky. Subway was ahead of me and tried to close a gap when it accelerated but kind of blew up. I looked up and knew there was no way I was going to close that gap by myself, so I just sat on his wheel as we slowed down and discussed where to cut the course. So we got back in on the other side of the park and then somewhere on Lakeshore Drive the exact same scenario repeated itself and we rolled in probably half a minute behind the front group. On the plus side, I was able to pat myself on the back for not going too deep trying to chase.

Thursday morning we had some of the usual suspects up on the levee but as it turned out they all needed to turn back early for one reason or another, so once I was past Williams Blvd. I was on my own. I went ahead and did the full ride anyway, cruising at a moderate steady pace that might be described as Zone two. On Friday, instead of doing the 6 am Friendly Friday ride, which sometimes gets fast, I instead met the Tulane group for an easy 6:30 am levee ride. So with five fairly easy days behind me I figured I'd go ahead and ride the Saturday Giro.

Saturday Giro heading over the still partially closed Seabrook bridge.

Saturday's 6:30 am Giro turned out to be a pretty fast one, but the group was large so despite the fast pace I was mostly able to remain sheltered and keep my efforts short. I was still intent on doing a full week at lower than normal intensity, and felt like I was doing pretty well with that. Part of that strategy was to put together a Tulane Cycling northshore ride for Sunday. I knew we would have one or two riders who didn't have the volume to easily handle the 53 mile route I'd mapped out, even though it was not a particularly hilly one.

We rolled out of Headquarters at University Square about half an hour later than planned, but it didn't really matter since we weren't meeting anyone. I'd forgotten to put my third bike carrier on the roof, so I had two on the roof and one inside the car along with lots of wheels since the other car could just fit two bikes without front wheels. The weather was great and the air actually felt fairly cool for the first hour even though we hadn't started until 8:00. Abita Springs had most of the usual parking spaces along the fence blocked off for their weekly Farmers' Market, so we parked along the bike path where there were "business parking only" signs. Fortunately that didn't turn out to be a problem. 

The ride went pretty smoothly. Sean would up the pace when he'd come to the front which left one or two of the others struggling a bit on the little climbs. After the store stop at Enon we let Sean go on the Firetower climb in order to try and keep the rest of the group together. There were a couple of times when we  had to ease up a bit for one rider who was at that point where every little climb starts to feel like a mountain, but in general we were staying in the 18-20 mph range which was appropriate for this group. Afterward we had an early lunch at the Abita Brewpub before heading back across the lake. That afternoon I went over to Lowes and picked up (literally) a couple of sacks of concrete, once again straining my lower back, and finally finished patching up some of that broken concrete between the house and garage. It isn't very pretty, but it will suffice. Ever since the road work people tore up and subsequently replaced the road and sidewalk on the Pine Street side of the house we've had rats burrowing under the concrete in a few places. I tried this electronic rat trap that basically electrocutes rats a couple of weeks ago, and although I think one rat got zapped pretty well he unfortunately limped off to die someplace under, or in, the basement, resulting in four days of dead rat smell. I searched for the body but could never find it. Yesterday I put out rat poison in those little cat-resistant boxes, one outside the side door and the other in the garage. Hopefully the next fatalities will happen outside the house, but there are really no guarantees on that based on prior experience.

Monday Morning

This morning I went out to the Mellow Monday ride. It was fairly windy and I was feeling a little sluggish, so I mostly just followed wheels. A couple of guys were doing some work on the front but the speed was fairly controlled anyway.