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.
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| 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.
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