December Too Soon

The holiday Giro riders starting to arrive Thanksgiving morning

On the first of December I finally broke down and changed the house thermostat from "Cool" to "Heat." It was the first time I'd fired up the heater since the new system had been installed over the summer, so I was glad that there were no surprises and the house didn't burn down. It's been pretty chilly, by my standards, since the day after Thanksgiving, with one little cold front following the other, yielding morning lows in the 47 - 52° range, along with the usual winds. As always happens this time of year, my thoughts switch from cool, expensive equipment to warm, expensive clothing, and getting out the door into the chilly early morning darkness becomes more and more of an uphill battle. 

Monday morning

My birthday was a week ago, on Monday, and is now more of a reminder of how time flies than anything else. So to lessen the blow, I had already bought a pair of last year's Bont mountain bike shoes for the 'cross bike that were on sale. Candy then ordered for me a pair of the new Bont Vaypor road shoes to replace my old ones that have accumulated almost 72,000 miles despite the fact that I still think of them as my "new" road shoes. Again, tempus fugit. They were not cheap, but I guess if I amortize the cost over five or six years, it doesn't seem quite as bad. I remember buying cycling shoes from the local shop for $30, so the sticker shock is real. Danielle, who is currently in Okinawa, send me a front and rear light kit, so that was nice since I was wanting another set so I wouldn't have to move the Garmin Varia from one bike to the other. Anyway, the Monday morning ride was the usual Monday morning ride, and things were quiet at work, and there was cake that evening.

There was some rain that night, so the roads were pretty wet when I reluctantly rolled out on Tuesday morning. As you'd expect, turnout for that ride was minimal, but there were still three of us left for the stretch out to the casino and back along the lake that featured a few puddles in the usual spots, and a fair amount of wheel spray. It was still reasonably warm for the pre-Thanksgiving Wednesday WeMoRi that featured a larger than usual turnout and a number of heroic but mostly unsuccessful attacks, and finished up with Lisa well off the front after launching off of the Bayou St. John bridge with Eddie.

I was "working from home" along with practically everybody else since it was the day before Thanksgiving and there wasn't a whole lot going on. The weather was still nice ahead of a cold front that was expected to come through on Thanksgiving day, so late in the afternoon I snuck out for a casual ride on the levee. As I made the u-turn out at the parish line where the bike path is still barricaded, I saw a fully loaded rider on a recumbent climbing the levee from River Road. He (Andre Wakeford) was riding the Southern Tier route, having started in San Diego. Since I was already in sight-seeing mode anyway, I rode along with him all the way back at about 10 mph. Google maps was telling him to get off of the bike path and onto River Road, so it was good that I was there to tell him to stay on the bike path. I led him through Audubon Park and sent him on his way down St. Charles Avenue after letting him know that he was going to run into a little problem when he got to the West Pearl River on Highway 90. I never heard back from him, so hopefully he managed to haul those 90-pounds of bike and gear over the barricades at the closed bridges, since the only alternatives were I-10 or a 90-mile detour. He does seem to have a blog, so perhaps we'll eventually see something about his ride through New Orleans. Anyway, I ended up riding over 60 miles that day since the forecast for Thanksgiving day was not looking too good.

Last warm ride of the week

Thursday morning the radar was surprisingly clear for the Holiday Giro Ride, although it was looking like the rain and cold front would start moving through around mid-morning. Nonetheless, we had a nice turnout for what turned out to be a reasonbly brisk and warm ride that featured an increasing southwest wind. As we got close to Lakeshore Drive at then end of the ride we could see the line of approaching clouds, and indeed got a brief little sprinkle of rain, but fortunately got home well ahead of the actual cold front that didn't really arrive until that evening. Of course Candy cooked a big turkey, so we'll be eating that for a couple of weeks, I guess. The cold front, and the rain, came through mostly overnight, so when I woke up on Friday morning the streets were still quite wet. Realizing that I didn't have to go to work that day, I decided to wait  until things dried up a little before venturing out. I ended up hitting the road around mid-morning and suffering through a  rather chilly and windy levee ride. By the time I was heading back the sun came out, so that made it a little better, despite the 14 mph north wind.

By Saturday morning it was starting to feel like winter. The temperature was down to the low to mid-40s and there was a strong northeast wind. I pulled on my new NeoPro bib tights for the first time that day and headed out for the Giro wearing at least three layers, but saving some pocket room for the wind vest that I knew I'd be removing later because there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The eastward segments of the Giro were all relatively slow but hard pushes into the wind, and the southward and westward segments were more like 28-32 mph efforts. Fortunately the group was large and there were lots of places to hide. Also, there were really only a handful of riders willing to be at the front for any length of time. By the time we were heading back it had warmed up into the 50s. 

Audubon Park

I got home, had a little bit to eat, and decided to try out the new mountain bike shoes and the 36 mm Continental Terra Speed gravel tires I'd put on the cyclocross bike. I was pleasantly surprised by both. The shoes felt great and the cleat position seemed fine, although I will definitely want to add some Specialized insoles. I had about 40 psi in the tires, and was surprised how much more smoothly they rolled than the regular 33 mm cyclocross tires. Of course, I knew they would feel better, but I didn't think the difference would be quite so noticeable. I rode down Broadway, which currently features a few stretches of gravel due to unfinished road work, and then rode some of the Audubon Park bridle path and levee top, before doing a few miles on the levee bike path and returing via Broadway. 

Sunday's Giro was just as cold and windy as Saturday's had been, so I was again bundled up in winter gear, unlike Steve who was still riding in just shorts and arm-warmers. Again, it warmed up lot on the way home, but at least I'd been cozy warm on the way out that morning.

It looks like we will still have a couple of cold mornings before things warm up. This morning it was right at 50° when I left home, but there was a strong north wind blowing. I immediately wished I'd worn a wind vest, since I could feel the cold morning air blowing right though my jersey and base layer. It was chilly, but not bad enough to turn back, although I must admit that the thought did cross my mind. The next ten days are calling for another little front on Thursday, and then a significant chance of rain for a number of days as the wind shifts back around to the southeast and we wait for the next cold front to arrive, so situation normal.