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!