Low Temperature, High Wind Winter Week

Three-fifths of the Sunday Giro. Would have been a great day without the wind.

The winter vortex dipped down into the south this week with unsurprising results. Monday was MLK day, which provided the questionably nice opportunity for a third Giro Ride in a row. It was kind of a typical holiday Giro, which is to say it wasn't particularly fast, and at least it wasn't too cold. Of course to me, 50°F always feels plenty cold enough, and you can bet my knees will be covered if it's below 60°, but there are always others for whom 50° doesn't seem to require much more than summer kit. The hourly forecast for Monday was calling for a dramatic temperature drop later in the day, and a Tuesday morning temperature in the high 20s. I'd love to post a bunch of photos, but operating a phone camera while wearing two layers of gloves is just not worth it.

Late Monday night I dusted off the old wind trainer that I hadn't used in about two years. I mean, you have to draw the line somewhere, and a morning temperature in the 20s fits that criterion for me. Tuesday morning I managed 55 minutes on the trainer at a average speed, which doesn't really mean anything, of like 13 mph. It was something, I guess. It was cold enough on Tuesday that I decided to make it a WFH day, like pretty much everybody else. Wednesday morning wasn't much better, though. The temperature was again in the 20s, accompanied by a stiff north wind. I went out anyway, knowing full well that the WeMoRi was unlikely to happen. Charles had said he was going to ride but would meet whoever might be out there at the same place I usually do. We met up along Wisner, and got to the end of Marconi at the lake a few minutes later than the WeMoRi usually arrives there. Looking east, there was no sign of headlights, so we figured everyone else had bailed and decided to just do half a lap around the park and then go home before any of our sensitive extremities succumbed to frostbite. As we found out later, thanks to Strava, Little Joe and MJ had indeed set out on the WeMoRi route earlier that morning, but Joe had flatted at Elysian Fields, so they were significantly delayed. I don't even know how they managed to change a flat with frozen hands, but they did, and actually rode the full route without ever seeing us, or vice-versa.

Friendly Friday a week ago - before the freeze

By Thursday the cold had moved away a bit, leaving us one morning with the temperature in the 40s. Fortunately, a few people showed up for the levee ride that morning, so we had a good ride out to Ormond and back. Later that day we learned that the construction crew had put up fencing from River Road up to the levee top between the bathroom at LaRose and the Jefferson Parish line. 

This was in preparation for a levee raise project there that will tear up the bike path there for at least a year. We're hoping there might be a way to circumvent the closure, but I don't think we'll know until it happens. It looks like it might be another week or two before they close it off. Coming home from work I got caught in a rain shower and was pretty well soaked. Glad I had my Assos rain jacket on. Friendly Friday the next morning had a low turnout of five or six thanks to the winter wind, and although it wasn't freezing cold, yet, it felt harder than I would have liked.

So that brings us to Saturday. The temperature was hovering around 0°C when I went out into an absolutely brutal north wind. I was wearing three or four layers of high-tech winter gear, but I very nearly turned back within the first mile. I arrived at Starbucks a little later than usual, but still with enough time for a cup of coffee. By the time 7 am rolled around there were just three others there. It was also the day of a gravel ride/race up in Hattiesburg that drew away a few riders who I guess wanted to pay money to ride where it was even colder and the roads weren't paved. The ride was about as miserable as you'd expect, given the wind that was probably averaging 12 mph with gusts up to 25 or so. We ended up turning onto the service road along the interstate and looping back, which made for a short 37 mile ride. Although the temperature was pretty low and I was fairly cold by the time I got home, the real story was the wind rather than the temperature. 

It was still better than being on the trainer.

That's a winter morning sky for sure.

Unfortunately, the weather on Sunday was a carbon copy of that on Saturday. So was the turnout! The temperature was again right at freezing, and the wind was again right at ridiculous. We ended up with five people, so we did the same shortened route as Saturday, but ended up adding a lap or so around the park before heading home. At the moment it looks like we'll have at least a week or more without any more freezing temperatures, so at least there's that. Hopefully I'll feel better on the rides once it warms up a little. I never did set up a northshore winter ride schedule this year. With this year's early Mardi Gras, and the unusually cold temperature, I guess I'll just play it by ear this time.

Meanwhile, there are a few races showing up on the calendar for March and April. Entry fees, however, are getting kind of ridiculous. Rouge-Roubaix is $150 for a fondo-style event with no or minimal course control or other support or prizes. I was looking at La Primavera over in Texas and those entry fees are like $50 and $60 for each day of the 3-day event. There's another gravel race in Mississippi in a couple of weeks. Those are $75. I'd like to do a gravel race, but most definitely not in the freezing cold and/or mud. The Auburn collegiate race weekend is February 24-25, so I may be going there if we have a couple of Tulane riders who want to do it. The Mobile races are scheduled for March 2 and 3, and the entry fees and prizes are both good, so that's a possibility. If I do Auburn, Mobile, and Rouge, that would be three race weekends in a row, which hasn't really happened for me in a few years. We'll see. The way things are going, I'm not likely to be in shape for any of those, but then again, I never am this time of year.