Bad Week

Sunday Giro

Just when you are starting to think you might be starting to get in shape, Mother Nature swats you right back down to the ground. I'd had a nice enough time at the March 4th Mellow Monday ride, but knew that the weather was going to get worse by the end of the day. 

By mid-day it was storming with no end in sight. I waited at the office, hoping there would be a break before it got dark, but eventually submitted to my fate, which in that case was a very wet ride home. I pulled on my rain jacket and waterproof cap and rode out of the parking garage onto aptly named Perdido Street, which was already under about six inches of water. A couple of blocks later, crossing S. Claiborne, the water was so deep I could barely keep the bike moving. Switching over to Gravier things were no better. The water wasn't quite so deep on the sidewalk, so I rode there instead of in the street where there were already a couple of stalled cars. The problem, however, was that I couldn't quite see where the sidewalk ended, so naturally I rode off the edge once, which meant putting a foot down into about two feet of water. And so it continued. Of course I was completely soaked from the waist down by the time I got home. At least it wasn't very cold.

Tuesday morning it was still wet, so I didn't get in my usual morning ride, but at least I did make it out to WeMoRi, which had a smaller than normal turnout. Things looked better Thursday morning but I had an 8:15 am appointment for a checkup at Ochsner, so didn't ride that morning. In retrospect, I should have gone out early and put in a few miles. I had been nursing a scratchy throat for a couple of days, but it wasn't progressing, so I went ahead with the checkup, which was mostly routine blood work and conversation with the current Resident at the primary care clinic. That resulted in my getting a Shingrix booster shot before leaving. By evening I was already feeling the effects, which included a mild fever, headache, and various other aches. That kept me off the bike for Friday and Saturday.

Saturday afternoon my brother and niece were in town. Thankfully I was starting to feel a little more normal by then. I'm not quite sure how much of the headache and fever were caused by the vaccine or by a head cold, or by allergies (the oak trees are just about in full bloom). At least I got some decent sleep Saturday night, so by Sunday morning I felt like I may as well head out to the Sunday Giro. It was cooler, and with the time change having happened that morning, it was dark. I figured I'd have a cup of coffee and leave my options open in case I didn't feel quite as good as I thought I did. Turnout was pretty low that morning, thanks to the strong north wind that accompanied a little cold front, and probably also to the fact that Rouge Roubaix had been on Saturday. That made the Giro relatively mild, as Giro Rides go, and so I was feeling fine hanging out near the back and staying in the draft. Rouge Roubaix kind of lucked out in that the rain didn't seem to have had too much of an effect on the unpaved segments of the course. In fact, I suspect that it may have made them faster by packing down the rocks into the damp ground. Lance Abshire won the 92-mile race at just under 4:02, and the post-ride photos I saw showed bikes and people that were fairly clean, so the roads must not have been too bad. I ended the week with what was probably my lowest-mileage in a long time.

Monday morning it was again down into the 50s, where it will apparently be for the next couple of mornings too. I rode out to the Mellow Monday ride in the dark, arriving right when they were rolling out. Dylan was spending a lot of time on or near the front on his Tri bike, pushing the pace a bit into a significant northeast wind. It got fast when after the Seabrook loop when we picked up more of a tailwind, so it was maybe a little harder than I'd have liked for a Monday, but really not all that bad. Charles was back in the group after being off the bike for three or four days with another COVID infection, but it didn't seem to keep him from taking a few hard pulls on the front. Hopefully I'll be able to get back my usual routine this week, but there's a lot of rain in the forecast for the next week or two at least.