A Saturday Ride in Mississippi

It was the last weekend in October, but you'd hardly have known it from the weather. After a string of seasonably normal chilly mornings, we were back to somewhat warmer temperatures by the weekend. Earlier, I had been considering making the drive up to Ridgeland for one or two of the small cyclocross races that Rolando puts on mostly for the younger kids, but I ultimately decided to skip what would have been at least an all-day road trip and stay closer to home where I wanted to take care of a couple of minor but nagging household tasks. As it turned out, Steve Martin and Charles were recruiting people for an 80-mile ride on Saturday starting at 7:30 am from the ball park north of Pass Christian. I eventually caved in and said I'd go, since the only other viable option for the weekend would have been back-to-back Giro Rides.

I rolled out of bed early Saturday morning and uncharacteristically checked my phone to find a text from Charles asking if I could bring a chain tool because Jess, who was also planning to go, had told him that one of the links on her chain had broken. Knowing that nothing is simple in the fifteen minutes before a group ride starts, I brought along a spare 11-speed SRAM chain, chain tool, and master link tool, even though I knew her bike was 12-speed. With a broken link, having just a chain tool without another master link wouldn't have solved the problem anyway. I headed out for Mississippi with an ETA of about 20 minutes before ride time, stopping quickly at the Starbucks in Slidell for my caffeine fix. I'd brought along a flask of Hammergel and two full water bottles, and even put the race wheels on since I knew the road hazards would be minimal.

Steve, Jess, and Charles

In the parking lot of the ballpark we swapped out the chain, which seemed to work OK despite not being a 12-speed version, and the group of seven or so hit the road right on schedule. It was still a little chilly in just summer kit, but I knew the temperature would be up to around 80° once the sun got higher in the sky. We haven't had hardly a drop of rain in weeks, so things were dry, the sky was clear, and there was just a moderate wind. As is usually the case with these rides, the pace was mostly pretty steady zone 2 with each rider taking long pulls at the front. I remember thinking, "this is just what I needed today." Steve's route was true to form, which is to say there were a lot of turns, but lots of nice smooth roads. I had loaded the map onto my computer the night before since don't really know the roads around there very well. Anyway, the ride was nice. We had a couple of store stops, neither of which I really needed. Since it had been fairly cool for the first hour or two, my two water bottles were more than sufficient, as was the flask of Hammergel. Over the last fifteen miles or so a couple of riders in the group started falling off the back on climbs and stuff, but we'd just ease up until everyone came back together.

Back at home that afternoon I got to work replacing some rotten wood trim on the front steps and painting some trim for the screen that was also rotten. I don't think I'll get to the screen until maybe next weekend, though. I also pulled the heavy iron decorative security things off of the front door sidelights, repainted them and the window frames behind them, and cleaned the dirty glass, which was what had been bothering me the most. It took two of us to get them back up since they are probably about 40 pounds each and you have to line them up with the holes in the window to insert the bolts.

Tomorrow is Halloween, and the forecast is calling for some badly needed but ill-timed rain that evening, so we'll see how that goes. I think a number of people are supposed to be coming over to the house, but I've totally lost track of who and when. Situation normal.

Today's WeMoRi seemed pretty fast, but there was a big group that kept things together, at least up until the last couple of miles. Somehow a big gap opened around the Bayou St. John bridge, and everything behind kind of disintegrated. Although I topped out at a bit over 34 mph, I never made any headway on the front group. It was a decent workout anyway, of course.

Saturday is the annual Tour da Parish ride over in "da parish." I think we have a few Tulane riders signed up, so I am assuming I'll be taking a couple of them to the ride. It'll be the last day before the time change, so I think the 7:30 am start is going to feel really early, but at least the starting temperature should be a bit above 70° and there shouldn't be any chance of rain. On the down side, there's going to be a pretty strong east wind, so that should make things interesting. I can never get motivated enough to treat this late-season ride as a race, which it isn't technically but definitely is realistically. That usually just means that I'll be at the mercy of the back half of the group, and if a big gap opens somewhere along the way, I probably won't be the one to close it.

Tour de Jefferson Week

Thursday morning TUCA levee ride

Last Sunday was the annual Tour de Jefferson ride, just across the river, and complete with its usual complement of six U-turns and copious traffic cones, at least one of which took a rider down. The week started off chilly and windy, as often happens this time of year. I went out to meet the WeMoRi group, wearing arm-warmers and base layer, and battling a brutal 20 mph NE wind. I wondered if there would even be a group to meet, under such meteorological circumstances, and if there was, if the waves crashing over the seawall would render Lakeshore Drive inadvisable. Both questions were answered when I saw the group heading the opposite direction as I made my way down Wisner. As I suspected, they had skipped the LSD segment and opted instead for an extra couple of laps around City Park. I cut across the park on Filmore and rode down Marconi until I saw them coming, then jumped onto the tail end shortly before the turn onto Toussaint. As usual, I was immediately in the red, hanging on for dear life as we made the turn onto Wisner. Being the last rider through that turn is never a good thing, and being the last rider when you are already gassed and there's a north wind is a recipe for disaster, which of course ensued shortly thereafter when I blew up trying to close the gap. So I again cut across the park, this time at Harrison, got back into the group, got gapped off the back around the overpass, then thankfully towed back to the group by Marconi. Not my best WeMoRi.

Thursday's conditions were much the same, but instead of my usual ride I met up with the Tulane group for an easy levee ride, followed by a coffee stop at Breads on Oak where we employed the gift card Carly had given us when she borrowed one of the club's bikes earlier. Friendly Friday was cold, dark, and windy, so although there were a few fast tailwind segments, it was otherwise reasonably friendly.

With the TdJ approaching on Sunday, Saturday's Giro group was just big enough to provide a little shelter from the 10 mph northeast wind and keep things more or less together. The group was kind of indecisive, with a lot of riders hovering in the draft and reluctant to put themselves into the wind. Still, it was by no means an easy ride if the 29.5 mph average speed coming back down Hayne Blvd. is any indication. Fortunately, I managed to avoid doing much damage to my ageing legs.

I had been contacted by Rich Hirschinger who was in down for a few days with a dental conference and asked about borrowing a bike, as he had done a few years ago. His only day to ride was Sunday, so when I told  him that pretty much everyone would be doing the Tour de Jeff, he went ahead and signed himself up, so I got the old Orbea set up for his saddle height, put a fresh tire on the front wheel, and just generally cleaned it up. We had a number of Tulane riders signed up for the event, and I was scheduled to pick up Abbie from campus, so on Sunday morning I loaded the two bikes onto the roof, picked up Abbie and her bike, swung by Le Méridien hotel to pick up Rich, and arrived at the Estelle Playground just a bit after 7 am for the 8 am ride start. The weather was pretty nice, with a clear blue sky, moderate wind, and starting temperature in the 60s.

The Tour de Jefferson, as usual, attracted practically all of the usual Giro Ride riders, along with all of the Westbank riders, so there was a pretty strong group crowding the start as things got underway. From prior experience I knew what to expect, of course, but as usual wasn't sure I wanted to fully commit  to what would likely be a fairly unrelenting pace interspersed with sprints out of each U-turn.

After the mile or so of neutral rollout, Bill Burke, who was driving the lead car, hit the gas and so did the front of the group. In a heartbeat the speed went up to around 28 mph into a moderate headwind as the group sprinted for the first U-turn just a mile and change away. As usual, chaos ensued rounding the U-turn as those of us toward the back  had to slow to 10 mph as the front of the group was ramping up to 30 with the tailwind. Many gaps opened up, and the next mile was a pretty frantic and fractured 31 mph chase that split about half the group off the back for good. I barely survived thanks to the draft of a few valiant riders. That scenario would repeat itself a few times over the course of the 50-mile ride, but the first one was by far the worst, and for some of the subsequent ones I made sure to move up closer to the front before the turns, which I was monitoring on my computer, at least until something went awry with the navigation about 40 miles in. After that first split we lost all of the Tulane riders except Evan, who was doing a nice job of staying mid-field and out of trouble. At one point we were making a right turn where the right lane had been marked off for the ride by a seemingly infinite row of traffic cones. Unfortunately, as we approached the turn the row of traffic cones curved to the right earlier than the riders, and Sidney, who had his GoPro running, went down, but wasn't badly hurt and still finished the ride. You can't see traffic cones when you are in a group like that, and it was obvious that the riders in front of him expected the row to continue straight along the lane divider when all of a sudden then next one was a foot into the lane and the one after that two feet into the lake. The rider ahead of him swerved to avoid the first one, and went around the second one on the left, while Devin rode straight into that one.

So since my only goal for this ride was to avoid being dropped from the front group, things were going along nicely. There was a decent number of riders willing to work at the front, so the pace stayed pretty fast throughout, and a couple of small breakaways that might have been successful on another day were nonetheless pulled back. There was a little sprint for the imaginary finish line prior to the right turn into the park where the actual chip-timing antennas were, with young Connor taking the win. I just tried to be close enough to the front to stay out of trouble, so never got above 31 mph, and  have no idea what placing that would have been if the timing had ended there. I think I was around 14th under the banner after the turn for whatever that is worth. 

Anyway, I was really happy that we had a good turnout of TUCA riders, with Dylan, Josiah, Evan, Joey, Abbie, Jess, our alumnus Rich, and myself. I still haven't quite decided if I want to drive up to Ridgeland for one of two of next weekend's small cyclocross races. That may end up being a last-minute decision. On the plus side, the weather should be fine. The following weekend we'll have the 10th annual Tour da Parish down in St. Bernard, which usually plays out in similar fashion to the Tour de Jefferson.

Tuesday morning heading back into the rising sun

Mellow Monday this week was reasonably Mellow despite that northeast wind that just won't go away, and then on Tuesday things got fast when Maurizio took the front on Lakeshore Drive. I was a couple of minutes late getting to City Park for some reason, I just went straight on Wisner, meeting up with the group on Lakeshore Drive. The group kind of fractured at some point, and then as usual most of the riders turned off for home at the end of Lakeshore Drive, leaving just Jeff and me for the out-and-back to the casino. Jeff was on his TT bike, and with a little bit of tailwind we stayed in a comfortable 22-23 mph range all the way out, dropping down by one or two mph on the way back. This morning's WeMoRi was a little unusual, I guess. I could see the group's headlights approaching as I turned onto Marconi, but was then surprised to find a group of only four riders as I hopped into the draft at the back. I wasn't expecting the break of MJ, Nick, Steve, and Scott to survive too long, since there seemed to be a pretty big group behind them. For most of the time Scott and I were just hanging onto the back as the other three rotated at the front, which was probably a good thing for the break because if I'd started taking pulls it would probably have just slowed them down. Anyway, I guess the main group just didn't have the motivation to mount a sustained chase, because with our average speed of 25 mph, the break was never caught.

The Cusp of Winter

Sunrise is an hour after the start of the 6 am rides now.

It's October 15 and I haven't yet pulled on the arm-warmers, but there's a cold front heading our way that should bring the Thursday morning temperature down to the mid-50s, so I guess I'll have to fish them out from the bottom of the drawer soon. Of course, it will be only temporary. Winter doesn't really come to stay until late November at the earliest around here. Still, I'm already dreading having to make those pre-dawn wardrobe decisions.

Recent rides have been pretty routine, and as always happens this time of year, I'm somewhat motivationally challenged even though there are at least three events coming up that I expect to ride. This coming weekend is the annual Tour de Jefferson, which is always kind of an alternate Giro Ride. Rich H from LA will be in town for a dental convention and will be borrowing a bike and riding that before he heads back west. We have a few Tulane riders signed up as well, so that's good. It looks like the cold snap will be on the way out by Sunday, so that ride should start with the temperature in the mid-60s and end in the mid-70s I guess. Then, the following weekend, there's Spooky Cross up in Ridgeland that I might do again just for fun. I haven't decided if I'll do both days or just one, but at any rate it will be a nice change to get on the 'cross bike for a little bit. The next week will be Tour da Parish, so I'll be doing that as will, I guess. After that it will be time to start thinking about long winter rides. They just paved the section of Isabel Swamp Road that had always been gravel. That adds another (fully paved) crossing of the Bogue Chitto river, so some new northshore routes for the winter rides are more feasible now.

Drone photo before the repairs

Meanwhile at home the roofers arrived last week and re-did the shed roof section in the back of the house that had started leaking when we had all that rain a few weeks ago. The Daughter sent me a little drone to keep me from climbing up there on the extension ladder, which was probably a good idea. Hopefully that job will hold up for a few years. The leak had stained the beadboard walls in the little back bathroom, so once the roof was repaired, I re-painted it. I still had the cans of dried-up paint from when we remodeled the kitchen, so I was able to bring photos of the sticker that shows the color mix over to the local Sherwin Williams store for a match. Fortunately I got a big discount thanks to my brother's family discount there, because the retail price for a gallon of that premium paint is around $90. It came out just a little bit lighter than what was there, but both shades were basically white anyway, so it didn't really matter. I first filled in the gaps that had developed over the years between a few of the boards. It took a fair amount of time and a fair amount of gymnastics to paint the ceiling and all that beadboard, working around the sink and toilet and window and two doors and ceiling light, but at least with the expensive paint I didn't have to put on two coats.

So the morning temperatures lately have been generally in the low 70s and upper 60s, and although I've been just a bit chilly at the start, it hasn't yet required more than regular summer kit. The Tuesday and Thursday morning rides have been picking up good-sized groups by the time we hit Lakeshore Drive, so that's nice, but almost everybody has been turning off by the time we hit West End, leaving just two or three of us for the out and back along the Lake Trail, so that's all been pretty much Zone 2, or less. This morning, for example, it was just Matt and me riding side by side and chatting the whole way.

Wednesday's WeMoRi seemed pretty fast, the strong north wind having already decimated the group by the time I jumped in along Marconi. Any time there's a north wind along Lakeshore Drive you know riders will be popping off the back of the group one by one the whole time since there's not enough road handle a crosswind eschelon of more than six or seven at best.

On Thursday, there were just three of us who did the whole ride out to the casino, and that was only because we picked up Carey on the bike path. There was still a good NE wind, so we were rolling pretty well on the way out, but took it easy on the way back.

Saturday Giro Heading Out

As they have been for a while now, the Friendly Friday ride had a big group, which translated into a fast pace. The northeast wind was still with us, so the tailwind segments were pretty fast, as expected. 

Nice big group with perfect weather

Finally, by Saturday the wind had died down to almost nothing. Turnout for the Saturday Giro was really big, as it has been lately, and although the pace, unsurprisingly, got fast, it was pretty easy to sit and recover in the shelter of such a large group on a windless day. The faster sections were done at average speeds of 27-28 mph, so although it could have been faster, it was still a worthy workout. Sunday's Giro was much smaller, and if it was slower, it didn't feel that way with fewer wheels to hide behind. Yesterday we had a nice turnout for Mellow Monday, and for some reason TJ went to the front and pulled us all along for the entire length of Lakeshore Drive at a speed fast enough to keep anyone else from wanting to take over. It ended up being a fairly fast ride, especially for a Monday.

This morning when I rolled up to the group at NOMA about thirty seconds before 6 am, I was surprised to find Maurizio. He's in town for a bit doing some consulting work. Fortunately for all of us he was taking it easy today!

Six Easy Gaps

Six Gap 2024 - Damp but Doable

My 14th trip up to Dahlonega for the annual Six Gap Century was not without its complications, but it went fairly well, considering. Hurricane Helene came ashore on the eastern part of the Florida panhandle Wednesday night, so there weren't any significant effects in New Orleans. The problem was that (a) it was moving at something like 20 mph to the north, and (b) the storm tracks were sending it right over the Atlanta area by Thursday. So it wasn't until the middle of Thursday that I was reasonably confident that we would be able to make the trip at all, and it wasn't until Friday that we knew we would have the two Tulane minvans we'd requested. One of the five riders who had been planning on going had already decided to stay home by then, so with two vans and two hotel rooms we would at least have a lot of space to work with. Also, by Friday, Big Rich was stuck at his house up in Ashville, NC where the storm had had ended up. Roads to his house were completely washed out, and he had no water or power service. Fortunately he has a whole-house generator, but unfortunately only half of his propane tank left with no way for anyone to refill it any time soon. That situation had not changed as of Monday, as far as I know.

So anyway, by Friday night, four of us were good to go. I had already installed the Wolftooth Roadlink derailleur extender so I could use the 11-32 cassette that I reserve just for Six Gap. It's a bit of a kludge, since the short-cage derailleur can't really handle the full range, but by pulling the Roadlink back a bit I can make it work without having too much slack in the small-small combinations. It worked fine last year, and it would work find this year as well. The only remaining concern was the possibility of rain on Sunday. By Saturday morning the forecast was looking pretty good, though, which at least relieved some of my concerns about flying down unfamiliar wet roads at 50 mph with wet carbon rims and rim brakes. Considering that I was barely recovered from the 150 mile ride around the lake the prior weekend, and the fact that I was expecting wet roads, I had already decided to make this year's ride a low-stress one.

So on Saturday morning Dylan, Josiah, Jack, and I met up at HQ after picking up the minivans from the Claiborne lot, with a plan to leave at 7 am. Only Josiah had ridden any of the course before. For Dylan and Jack it would be their longest rides ever. Dylan had spent the better part of a week cobbling together one of the Tulane bikes, and although we never quite got it shifting right down around the 11, 12, and 13 cogs, I was pretty sure that wouldn't be a problem since the only thing that is really important for this course is how your two lowest gears work. Jack was riding an old carbon and aluminum SyCip, which was another of the Tulane bikes that someone had donated to the club years ago. When he showed up that morning I was a little concerned about a couple of things. Although he is in great shape generally, he didn't have much riding experience. Worse, the lowest gear on the bike was a 39 x 25. I've done the ride like that, and although it's possible, it is definitely not the best way to go. He also had only a single bottle cage on the bike, and no spare tube or anything.

The drive up to Dahlonega was fairly uneventful. Since they close Saturday packet pick-up at 4 pm, and we lose an hour as we drive into the Eastern time zone, there's really no way to make that without leaving really early. We'd be staying at the elegant Motel 6 about 20 minutes from Dahlonega in Dawsonville, so it just didn't make much sense to even try to make packet pickup or even to do a short ride Saturday evening. We did scrape up a tube, CO2 cannister, and inflator for Jack. It was looking like the roads might be wet, so I was a little worried about flats even though they are pretty rare on those roads.

Sunday morning we were out the door just a little after 6 am, and when we arrived at the high school a bit past 6:30 the parking lot was already beginning to fill up. We quickly headed over to packet pickup where Jack switched his registration from the 3 Gap route to 6 Gap one. Such optimism and confidence! By 7:20 we were still by the car, which was way late for the 7:30 am start. I rushed down into the middle of the horde of riders as the others went to fill their water bottles. I don't think I have ever started so far back in the group, but since I wasn't planning on trying for a fast time this year, it didn't matter much. We were off right on time, and back where I was most riders weren't pushing the pace at all. It was about 60° and the roads were kind of wet, but it wasn't looking like rain. I felt fine for the first couple of climbs, as usual, going mostly around 9 mph without much stress. 

Around mile 87

The second Gap, which is really the third significant climb, is Hogpen, which has some of the steepest sections on the course. For most of that I was in the 5-6 mph range, often in the 32 and trying to keep my cadence up. Unfortunately my cadence sensor had moved in transit and wasn't working. Unlike some years, I was being super cautious on the downhills. It was foggy at the tops of the climbs and the roads were damp. You could see where trees had fallen across the roads here and there, and although they had all been neatly cleared, there were wet leaves all down the center of the roads. Since I wasn't focused on time this year, I wasn't willing to take any chances with that and therefore spent a LOT of time on the brakes, which I think actually made things feel a little more sketchy than if I'd just let it roll. Anyway, the net result was that my max speed was only 43 mph, which is at least ten mph slower than I've done in the past. On the plus side, I finished with all my skin and no broken bones.

What's left of  the derailleur
and hanger

Somewhere early in the ride, Jack's rear derailleur caught a spoke and destroyed the wheel, derailleur, hanger, and dropout, so his ride ended very early. The rest stop that used to be on top of Hogpen was moved down the the bottom somewhere, and since it was at nearly 50 miles, and I uncharacteristically needed to pee, I decided to stop there for a few minutes. Although I hadn't put much of a dent into my two small water bottles, I topped one of them off, and picked up a couple of gel packs while I was there. A little group of mostly NOLA Fixed riders was there, so I hung onto the back of that little paceline for a while until we started up the Unicoi climb. That one isn't as steep as Hogpen, but I was still taking it easy, staying mostly in the 6.5 to 9 mph range. Again, I took the downhill carefully, staying in the 30-40 mph range. 

There was fog at
the tops of the 
climbs.

By Wolfpen, around 75 miles in, the cloudy sky was starting to sprinkle occasionally, and for a little while that qualified as legit drizzle. It never got to the point where you'd call it rain, but for much of the last 25 miles my feet were getting cold. I had been slowing going through the flask of Hammergel I had in my pocket, and would finish it off in the last few miles, but I doubt I drank the equivalent of a full water bottle during the entire ride thanks to the cool temperature and cooler pace. Coming down the last downhill where you make that 180 degree downhill turn at the traffic circle a rider came up to me and commented, "Well, that was fun!" He was going at a nice pace, so I pretty much sat on his wheel for the last ten miles through the rolling hills to the finish.

Coming into the finish at the high school

So I finished this year feeling none the worse for wear with one full water bottle and two gel packs still in my pockets. Although my back and neck were hurting as usual, the quads were still in reasonably good condition, considering. My Garmin showed a riding time of 6:37, and my chip time ultimately showed 6:41. Interestingly, I had times of 6:37 twice before, in 2018 and 2019, but I'd call this year a record slow year. I've been under 6 hours five times in the past, so I think of anything over 6:15 as a slow one.

Back at the car, where Jack had been languishing with the broken bike for at least 4 or 5 hours, I loaded the bike into the van and wandered off to the cafeteria for something to eat and drink, and later to change into civilian clothes. Dylan and Josiah were still MIA an hour later, and I was starting to wonder if they had run into a problem, so I walked down to the finish area to wait for them. They finally rolled in with chip times around eight and a half hours, having enjoyed the rest stops quite a bit. By the time they got something to eat and changed clothes it was around 4:00 pm, which was the latest I'd ever started the drive back, not counting the broken collarbone year. 

There was a light rain falling as we left Dahlonega, but it was never any more than that, so the drive back to NOLA was fine except for the traffic going through Atlanta where apparently nobody knows how to drive. At one point we were just to the left of a semi when I guess somebody cut him off and he slammed on the brakes and started skidding into our lane just ahead of us. Luckily he got it under control and the car, or cars, involved in the accident pulled over right after we went by. That could have been much worse. The other SNAFU was our search for a gas station that would accept the Tulane fleet credit card. My minivan was already showing the "Low Fuel" warning when we pulled into the second gas station where the card didn't work, so I pulled out my own card and put a couple of gallons in just to be on the safe side. Luckily we found a Love's just a few miles down the road after that. We arrived back in New Orleans around 1:30 am, and after filling up the cars with gas and dropping Jake off, and unloading stuff into my basement, it was probably around 2 am before I went to bed, which was harder than you might think because of the half gallon of coffee and the Red Bull I'd had during the drive. It was less than four hours later that I was out the door to the Mellow Monday ride, which was, mostly, mellow. This morning the Tuesday lakefront ride got a little fast for a while on Lakeshore Drive, but after that it was just Matt and I doing a very easy out and back to the casino. My legs felt fine, although my back and neck are definitely not back to their usual moderate level of pain. 

Chip times for riders listed as Louisiana: