Fine Anno Giri d'Orleans

Monday's Holiday Giro heads out along Marconi

Made it through another orbit of the Sun, and as is usual for this time of year my fitness has already been in a steady decline for over a month. Back in the day that was status quo for everybody because few had the mental fortitude to endure long workouts on wind trainers or rollers or cold, windy country roads. We rationalized that we needed the recovery, as if we were Pros who had been racing every week since February and actually needed it. We didn't, of course, but at least we were kind of all on the same page from November through at least the end of February. Then, however, came major improvements in winter cycling clothing with vests that were actually wind-resistant, and shoe covers that blocked the wind but didn't leave your feet in a pool of sweat, and technical fabrics that were soft an fuzzy on the inside but smooth and aero on the outside. I remember doing winter rides in cotton summer shorts and jerseys underneath snazzy jogging suits that did nothing to block the wind, and knit caps pulled down over our ears. You'd use safety pins at the bottom of your right leg to keep the baggy jogging pants from getting caught in the chain, and all you had for riding in the dark were reflectors and anemic arm-band lights that ran little flashlight bulbs on two C batteries that lasted about a week. Now, though, there's hardly any valid excuse for not riding outside on most winter days around here where typical pre-dawn temperatures are usually in the 40s to low 50s. Still, the allure of interactive indoor training "systems" like Zwift and Rouvy are certainly tempting and make it easier to do actual structured workouts, if that's your preferred form of masochism. It's not mine, though, and even though it is hard to get out the door into the dark on a cold windy winter morning, I still prefer the company of humans over avatars, and wind resistance over computer generated hills. Guess I'm crazy like that. Or stubborn. Maybe both.

Anyway, things have sort of gotten back to relative normal following Christmas. Earlier, I had thought I'd be able to log a lot of enjoyable mileage between Christmas and New Year's Day, the weather and that lingering head cold made that pretty much impossible and definitely inadvisable. Nevertheless, I ended 2024 with a record 14,179 miles, thanks mainly to the hot arid summer that didn't provide as many rain days as usual, I guess. Since I started logging rides to Strava back around February or March of 2012, I've ridden an average of 10,530 miles per year, including three or four significant orthopedically induced sabbaticals. All of which serves as compelling empirical evidence that riding more miles does not make you faster, although perhaps it has its psychological health benefits.

New Year's Day fell on a Monday this year, the net result of which was that I rode three Giro Rides in a row, each substantially different from the others. 

It was a rather cold start for Saturday's Giro, but there was a big group on hand and the wind was relatively light for this time of year. As we came down the overpass onto Hayne the riders at the front dropped the hammer, resulting is a lot of gaps and chasing and droppage. The sudden jump in intensity, and available draft, put me into the red almost immediately, and in consideration of my still scratchy throat and distaste for pneumonia I backed off, hoping that things might come back together, which of course they didn't. I ended up off the back with a couple others, so we took the Bullard shortcut, arriving at Chef well before the group, into which I merged fairly easily once it streamed past. There was a lot of action up at the front with riders launching attack after attack, but by then I was warmed up so it wasn't too much of a problem sitting at the back in the draft. The return trip was also pretty fast. Afterward, I rode down to Faubourg Marigny with Dan and Charles and Apryl for coffee before making my way back home.

Sunday's Giro, the last ride of the year, was mostly just nice smooth tempo. I think perhaps some, including me, were still a little unrecovered from Saturday's thrashing. 

11 years of Strava

After a night listening to a whole lot of fireworks (and around 3 am gunshots), I dragged myself out of bed for yet another Holiday Giro on Monday to get the year started off right. With the annual odometer reset to zero, and the starting temperature at least out of the 40s, it was a pretty typical holiday Giro - not particularly fast. There was lots of sun, and I was fairly over-dressed by the time we were halfway back, but the pace was relatively collegial and I'd already stuffed the wind vest in my pocket. 

On the way back I stopped with Will, Charles and Dan at French Truck on the Lafitte Greenway for coffee, which was quite nice. I had ordered a Redshift suspension stem for my cyclocross bike and it arrived later that day, so I went ahead and installed it so I could take a short ride. I'd gotten it in case I wanted to do any extended gravel riding, knowing that the 'cross bike wouldn't be too forgiving on my neck and shoulders and back without it. I have some 40mm gravel tires that I just can't seem to bring myself to install on the narrow aluminum 'cross bike's non-tubeless rims. They are tight as hell, so fixing a flat out in the middle of nowhere with cold hands would be problematic at best. I figured that the extra cushioning from the stem might allow me to stick with my regular 33 mm 'cross tires, since I have no intention of pushing my luck speed-wise on dirt roads anyway. The stem made quite a difference when riding on the brake hoods, especially since I had probably 45 psi in the tires, and if there was down side to it, I couldn't detect it. There's not nearly as much cushioning when on the drops, but the only time I'm on the drops on the 'cross bike is when I'm on nice smooth asphalt anyway. The stem is, of course, a little heavy, especially since I got the regular one and not the even more expensive lighter one, but saving weight and going fast on unpaved roads is definitely not a priority for me, so I'm pretty happy with it. I just need to give it a try on some long stretches of dirt/gravel, which are unfortunately in rather short supply around here. Maybe a trip out to the mountain bike trail at the spillway and some unpaved levee riding out there is in the cards. We'll see.

By Tuesday morning the weather had gone from warm and sunny to cold and windy. It was so cold and windy that I fully expected to be riding the levee alone and had decided to do a shorter ride even before I got there. Then, I was surprised to find Boyd waiting at the top. I was not surprised that my legs felt pretty dead. The two of us battled the 10 mph northeast wind out to the upriver end of Jefferson before turning back. By then I was really glad to have Boyd on hand because he was taking long pulls at the front into the headwind on his Pinarello Nitro. If I'd been up there alone I'd definitely have been going three mph slower, and probably would have turned back even sooner, but I was happy to have gotten in a ride because the forecast for Wednesday was offering no hope at all. Indeed, it was raining Wednesday morning, and in fact much of the day, so I took the day off. Besides, it was the first day back at work since Christmas and things were really busy at the office.

This morning's levee ride was pretty nice, even though the increasing northeast wind made the return trip feel a lot harder than it looked.