Whatever

Friday

So here we are at the tail end of March when it can be summer one day and winter the next, which is pretty much how things went last week. Tuesday morning there was a light rain falling when I awoke, my response to which was a whispered "f*^k this" and an extra few minutes of sleep. Seeing as it was a Tuesday, and the forecast was for sunshine later in the day, and it looked like I'd be able to skip out of the office a bit before 5 pm, I decided I'd ride out to the Tuesday Loops ride at 6 pm. Tuesday Loops is kind of a strange one, but it is not without its upside. It consists of three laps of a course that goes from City Park out to the Lakefront, and then back to City Park. Each "loop" is maybe eight miles, of which half is done at a conversational pace, and the rest at a fast pace. Everyone re-groups after each lap, which makes it an especially good training ride for newer riders, or just those who might not be quite in shape enough to stay with a long fast ride. The downside, at least for me, is that the course includes three traffic lights and a particularly inadvisable hairpin turn at the bottom of the Bayou St. John bridge. The group is reasonably careful, but I just find all the starting and stopping kind of irritating. Anyway, I figured I could do two laps with the group and be home before dark, and at least get in a few miles with a couple of short efforts. It worked out fine, and it was great to be riding in summer kit, in daylight, which isn't as common as I'd like this time of year.

By Wednesday morning it was considerably colder with a strong north wind blowing. I went out to the lake to meet the WeMoRi, and by the time I got there the group had been pretty much shattered already thanks to the crosswind coming off the lake. I jumped onto the tail end of what was left of the group on Marconi, at which point one of the guys looked over at me and remarked, "It was carnage." Riders who had been dropped were taking shortcuts all over the place to get back into the group. By the time we got to the end of Wisner we'd picked up a few more, but a car was stopped at the light at City Park Avenue, leaving just a couple of feet to its right. The first few riders slipped through but then the rest of us had to basically come to a stop in order to squeeze through one at a time. By then there was a huge gap that I think only one person managed to bridge. I ended up alone, so I just continued, eventually making a u-turn on Lakeshore Drive to pick up the diminutive group on its way back from the Elysian Fields traffic circle. It was a workout. I think that maybe three riders actually did the whole route.

It was still windy on Thursday, and with just Charles and I on the levee, once Scott turned back at Williams, it felt like a much harder ride than you'd guess from the speed. By Friday, I'd decided to do the Saturday northshore ride despite the fact that it would be stacked with strong riders, so my plan was to take it as easy as possible. I was running a couple of minutes late, and knew I'd miss the start, so I headed straight to the lakefront to Wisner. That worked out OK and I met up with the group shortly after I got there.

On Saturday I headed north on the Causeway to Abita Springs for what I was certain would be a good ol' fashioned ass-kicking. Peyton was about to head off to Europe with the national team for a month's worth of racing. Also on hand were Ben H, Eddie C, Stephen M, Stephen L, Mark G, Nick L, Blake M, Reggie T, and all of the usual suspects, making for a good-sized group of 12-14, I think. I decided from the outset that I would stay at the very tail end of the group, at least until after the planned excursion up and down the infamous House Creek Road segment that was probably about 45 miles into the 60+ mile ride. I wasn't the only one who was somewhat unprepared for the fast segments. The group split on Million Dollar Road when the speeds went up to the 30s, but fortunately we regrouped at the end. Then of course it split again, followed again by a regrouping. We were about halfway down Factory Road when somebody up front put the hammer down once again. I was at the tail end, and when the rider in front of me let the gap open I decided to just stay where I was rather than try to make the bridge up the second group that was itself chasing the lead group that was going full-gas. It was maybe not the wisest decision because I probably could have made it into the second group. So anyway, the two of us rode together to the end of Factory where we turned onto Lee Road. Up ahead I could see the second group closing on the front group, so they must have eased  up a little bit, but the rider I was with was cooked, so I continued on ahead of him, still losing ground the whole way, of course. I was figuring that by the time I got to House Creek Road the front group would probably already be on its way back up the hill, so my plan was to get back in with them there. I got to House Creek and rode about halfway down without seeing anybody before I turned around. I didn't want to have to make a u-turn on the 8% grade a little farther down, since I was assuming the front group was about to appear at any moment. I got to the top and turned onto 40, but looking back couldn't see anybody. I started wondering if they had been going so hard that they were still ahead of me. If not, I was sure they'd catch me pretty soon anyway, so I just continued on. Well, fifteen miles later I got back to Abita Springs where I was surprised to find ... nobody. As it turned out, they had indeed been coming back up House Creek when I was there, but had stopped for a long time at the top to wait for someone. I probably missed them by just a minute or two. It was a pretty good workout anyway, you  know, the kind that Strava calls a "massive" effort. 

So on Sunday it was back to the Giro. The route has been fluctuating from week to week since the bridge was closed, but the group, which is understandably much smaller than usual, seems to be slowly narrowing in on a consensus of sorts. We went straight out to Chef on Press, which still has some bad patches where the road has been torn up, and then all the way out to Venetian Isles on Chef. That worked out pretty nicely. On the way back we took the traditional Giro route via Lake Forest and Hayne, then turned down France Road to get back to the Danziger bridge. Fortunately nobody went down on either of the two diagonal railroad track crossings. It's a toss-up whether Dowman is a better choice, though. For some reason the group stayed on Chef after the bridge rather than going back to the lakefront.

This morning, Monday, it was around 70°F but for some reason there were only three of us who showed up for the Mellow Monday ride. Well, that's not counting Dylan who had gotten stuck a at a train crossing and had to find us along Lakeshore Drive. I think I was still a little bit tired from the weekend. It should be warm with a strong south wind tomorrow morning. The word going around is that the levee work upriver from the Jefferson Parish line is supposed to start tomorrow, so we will have to play it by ear. It should be possible to drop down onto River Road to bypass the two mile construction zone, so I think we'll give that a try and see whether it is feasible or suicide. The speed limit there is 35 mph, but there is zero shoulder to the road and probably some truck traffic. If it's bad, we will have to investigate some other options because it'll be only about 11 or 12 miles from the start to the path closure.