Easy Riding

Thursday

One thing I probably don't need is a ton of easy riding, but I have to admit it's kind of hard to resist when you're in a group with copious drafting opportunities, as have been most of my rides lately. One exception was last Sunday when the regular Giro was rained out as a little cool front came through. By early afternoon, though, everything had dried out and it had warmed back up into the 60s, so despite the 20 mph north wind I ventured out alone for a levee ride out to Ormond and back. Otherwise, though, the weather has been damned nice lately with early mornings mostly in the upper 60s. It's looking like we'll be in a gradual warming trend for at least the next four or five days, with highs getting into the mid-80s, so welcome to summer, I guess.

Local strade bianche?

The river, and hence the bike path, winds around quite a bit, but it's mostly an east-west affair which translated that day into a lot of crosswind, often partially blocked by the houses and stuff on the northeast side, so it wasn't all that miserable. Along the way I noted that the two-mile closed off part of the levee bike path is still closed off with no indication of progress toward re-paving. All of that was supposed to be finished by "late 2025" but here we are. Of course that meant I had to drop down onto River Road to get around it. Heading upriver along there on River Road is pretty sketchy because there is absolutely zero shoulder to the road and the edge is basically a crumbling ledge of asphalt and gravel. Cars will often wait to pass if there's something coming the other way, but not always. It's a lot better on the way back. For some reason there are maybe 18 inches of shoulder on the levee side, which makes it all feel a little more comfortable. Of course if I'd had a few more riders with me we could have just taken the lane, which would have required everyone except the mass murderers to wait and pass safely. Anyway, it was a little bit of a workout here and there, thanks to the wind.

Most of the regular morning rides this week have pretty routine except that attendance has definitely increased as have the morning temperatures. Considering that Monday and Tuesday featured more of the same strong wind, that's saying something I guess. A 20 mph northeast wind made the return stretch along Lakeshore Drive pretty fast on Monday, which is to say we spent a lot of time at around 30 mph. So much for the Mellow part of Mellow Monday. Tuesday's ride was kind of similar, and we had a good-sized group that went all the way out to Williams Blvd. on the lake trail. Even at it's usual Zone 2 level, that ride probably averaged 24 mph all the way out, but only 20 on the way back.

WeMoRi morning I jumped out of bed unusually early when I realized I'd forgotten to put out the garbage. Since it wasn't quite early enough to go back to bed, I ended up riding out to the lakefront earlier than usual, and probably could have met up with the WeMo group right about at the start, but instead I decided to just head east ahead of them. It wasn't one of the fastest WeMoRi days, so they didn't catch me until I was turning off of Lakeshore Drive onto Marconi, where I usually meet them anyway. Ben and Will from Tulane were in the group, but Liam and Dylan weren't. I learned later over coffee that Liam had nailed a pothole somewhere around Elysian Fields and then discovered he'd forgotten to bring a pump, so he called an Uber to get home. Dylan was still in convalescent mode from a particularly nasty respiratory infection he'd picked up. Anyway, at least the wind had died down by then, and for me it was a pretty good ride since the pace was easy enough in some places to entice me onto the front. I mean, by all accounts I should be doing a lot more longer high-intensity efforts and a lot less Zone 2 wheelsucking, but that seems to be a heavier lift every year. I should also be doing some heavy lifting, but that's a whole 'nother story. 

So this morning's Thursday ride turned out to be a remarkably steady one, and again, of course, mostly Zone two. It was a nice ride, though, and if I end up doing the planned long Saturday ride from Independence with the big boys, I'll be glad I kept this one relatively easy. 

Checking Strava later in the day I saw that Ben, Will, and Liam had done a morning levee ride during which Liam had crashed on that pile of gravel near the upriver end of Jefferson Parish where you have to drop down to River Road. From Strava it kind of looks like they got a ride home.

Wear the gloves!

The other day I ordered some Creatine/D3/K2 gummies to try out for a month or so. I'm not normally one for supplements, but they were on sale at Costco, so worth a shot, I guess. Since I've been essentially poisoning some mitochondrial pathways with statins for the past few years, I suppose it can't hurt, and besides, all the cool kids are using it nowadays. I also made an impulse purchase of titanium bolts for my handlebar stem. With "dripping sweat on your handlebar" season fast approaching, I'm uncomfortable with the steel bolts that came with the Cervelo. I'd always opted for the Ti bolts on my Bianchi because the steel ones are guaranteed to start getting ugly after a few months of being soaked with sweat. I doubt the 1g of weight savings will make me faster, though. Actually, I kind of doubt that anything that would pass USADA scrutiny will make me faster at this point. The place where I order the bolts from apparently spent the whole next week at Sea Otter, so it took a week for them to ship out, not that there's any urgency anyway. I expect that tomorrow's Friendly Friday ride will be fairly spicy, considering the weather and all. There's another long ride on the dance card for Sunday. If I don't chicken out on the Saturday ride, I'll have to see how it goes before committing to that one.

Massive Relative Effort

It's all relative, of course. Last weekend I tagged along with three Tulane riders to the Sunny King Criterium and Choccolocco Road Race up around Anniston AL. The collegiate races also served as the SECCC Conference Championships, so I was glad that the team was represented, even if only in the Collegiate Cat. 4 races. Coach P was also racing in the regular Cat 2/3 races. Sunny King has a long history in this area, so I was glad to finally make my way there, even if I was fully expecting to be rapidly shelled out of the back of the 50+ and 40+ races myself. The Saturday criterium is a pretty big deal, especially for the Pro Men and Women, and is part of the USA Crit series, so although the collegiate Cat. 4 and my own 50+ criteriums would be over well before lunchtime, we were definitely going to hang around for the evening Pro races that didn't start until after 4 pm.

Josiah, Liam, and Ben picked me up in the Biology 12-passenger van right on time at 2:00 pm for the roughly 6 hour drive up to Oxford or Anniston or wherever the hotel actually was. Unfortunately, Ben was just coming off of a round of antibiotics and related off-bike time so would be taking photos rather than racing. This was rather disappointing because I felt like both Liam and he had definite podium possibilities. 

Saturday morning we made a quick stop at the same Starbucks where we'd left Chris and his broken collarbone back in 2022 on the way back from the Georgia Tech race, while Julia, Dustin, and I did a little ride up Cheaha mountain. It was a short drive to the crit course in old downtown Anniston near the abandoned railroad track that is now the Chief Ladiga bike path. We were practically the first to arrive, so we slipped past the traffic cones and parked about twenty feet from the course half a block from the start/finish. It was still pretty chilly when we arrived but as soon as the sun cleared the horizon it warmed up really quickly.

The Collegiate Cat. 4/5 race was one of the first, so after a solid warmup on the bike trail, Liam and Josiah lined up for the start. The course was a 1 km rectangle with wide turns and generally good pavement, so it was going to be fast and not particularly technical. The long finish straight was slightly uphill so the corresponding back side was slightly downhill. I'd been a little concerned about turn #3 following the downhill, but as it turned out, coming into it at 30 mph wasn't much of a problem.

There were about 30 riders on the line for the Cat. 4/5 race. Liam and Josiah started in the front row, which was good. My sense was that the pace in general wasn't super fast, which I'd expect for this category. Liam was spending a whole lot of time in the wind at the front for most of this race, and was definitely not having any trouble doing so, although it probably cost him a little bit by the end. Josiah, who was coming off of being sick a couple of weeks ago and was still not in top form, was staying safely in the middle of the group. He would eventually come off the back with about ten other riders toward the end of the 30-minute race. Liam unfortunately drifted a little too far back in the last laps, but still finished a respectable 12th. 

The Master 50+ race had a pretty stacked field of 38 riders that included at least a couple of current/past national champions. Knowing full well what was likely going to happen, I lined up at the back where I wouldn't get in the way too much when I inevitably blew up. As usually happens when the start is fast and the air is cold and/or dry, it wasn't more than a couple of laps before I was in some minor respiratory distress and slid off the back where I could maintain a more age-appropriate pace. Before the end of the 50-minute race I'd be lapped at least three times. Each time I'd get into the group near the back and do a couple of fast laps before dropping off again. It being the first criterium I'd done in two years, and the first on the new bike, it was not that bad of a strategy, actually, and it wasn't like I was exactly soft-pedaling anyway. Strava proclaimed the ride "Tough Relative Effort," which seemed about right given my 154 bpm average HR. So it was a solid workout for me despite the lackluster performance. The Cervelo felt good through the fast corners, even if a little bit twitchy the rare times when I had to touch the brakes. Having spent practically the entire time on the drops, my neck was very angry with me afterward, however. Pirmin's Cat. 2/3 race looked quite fast, but he was always in a good position near, but not on, the front of the large group. In the final few laps I guess things started to get sketch, and he dropped back as a matter of self-preservation. USAC still had him listed as Cat. 5 since he'd just gotten a USAC license and never requested an upgrade based on his results from Germany. I sent USAC his almost full results list and Trish said she'd approve an upgrade to Cat. 3, so he submitted that request, but the system, using a methodology apparently not susceptible to analysis (likely AI) would only approve an upgrade to Cat. 4, so I sent Trish an email about that this morning. Anyway, he ended up rolling through with the field in 23rd position out of 54 starters.

Later, as I was sitting in the rapidly diminishing shade near the finish line, someone who probably recognized me walked by and handed me two tickets to the VIP hospitality area across from the finish, so Liam and I went over there and enjoyed the free food and drinks for a while as the Pro Women were racing. In that race there was a bad crash in the last corner and I think one of the women was Medivac'd out in the helicopter that was on site.

On Sunday we again arrived at the nearby road course just off of the Choccolocco forest early, which gave Liam and Josiah a chance to pre-ride the 12-mile circuit. The course was, at least by my New Orleans standards, quite hilly with a few little climbs hitting 9 or 10%. None of them were longer than maybe half a kilometer at best, but I knew the faster groups would get split up eventually. 

The three-lap collegiate Cat 4/5 race started around 8 am and it looked like the pace was generally pretty conservative with the group mostly remaining intact for at least the first couple of laps. Somewhere on the last lap Josiah came off the back with a few others but Liam was staying easily with the main field. There was a short climb about 300 meters from the finish, and unfortunately a rider tried to shoot a non-existent gap on the right, slipping off the edge of the road and crashing. Naturally, Liam was behind that which took him out of contention for the finish, although he did manage to salvage 12th out of around 30 despite having to practically stop when the sprint started. I was at the finish getting ready for my own race to start and when I heard there had been a crash in the feed zone, and Josiah was still missing, I rode over there to see if he was the one who had crashed. He wasn't, and in fact showed up right about when I was riding back, finishing 19th.

My road race was a 40+ age group, so I wasn't expecting to be with the group for long. I wasn't. When we made the first turn right after the start the pace ramped up over 30 mph, briefly 36 mph, and by the time we were three miles in and hit the first significant little steep climb I was audibly gasping for breath. When the rider in front of me opened a gap, I didn't even try to come around. The two of us were together off-and-on for about three of the four laps, although the other rider would often drop off of my wheel on climbs (not that I was climbing very fast) and then reappear on the flatter sections. I was just focused on the workout, which Strava ultimately tagged as "Massive Relative Effort," which in reality only reinforces how low the effort levels of my regular rides have been. I was about halfway around the last of the four laps when the Cat. 1-3 women's group caught me. I moved over so they could go through, but was surprised how slowly they were going. For the rest of the lap I just rode far enough behind to be out of the draft, occasionally having to coast so I didn't roll all the way up to their wheels. I actually spent a lot of time basically riding alongside the motoref. Finally, when they saw the 2 km to go marker, one of the women attacked. It was short-lived, however, and I was again right behind them a minute later. So anyway, I was practically DFL for this road race, but on the plus side it was clearly a solid and apparently badly needed workout for me. I don't know why I am having so much trouble with the first efforts in races like this. I've always had some trouble with fast starts, but the older I get the worse it seems to be. By the time I finished everyone was anxious to hit the road for home, so I jumped in the van still in my kit and changed in the car as we drove to the nearest Chipotle for lunch.

For the entire 6 hour drive home we were streaming the replay of Paris-Roubaix on Josiah's tablet. Otherwise it was an uneventful drive except for when we spotted Tulane Water Polo team alongside us, also on their way back from a competition. On the way there we had found the Tulane Frisbee team on its way to some event. Of course in both instances there was an exchange of sign language and clues to figure out what team they, and we, were on.

It's Tuesday morning and after my usual 38 mile Tuesday ride I think I can still feel a little bit of Sunday's road race still in my legs. Situation normal.

Wind and Rain

There was a good group on hand for last Saturday's Giro, bolstered halfway through by a few of the usual suspects u-turning off from the SaMoRi to join in. This has become a pretty regular occurrence lately where riders start with the 6:30 group and then join the Giro somewhere on Chef Highway, adding a few miles and perhaps a little more intensity to their rides. The ride itself was moderate, as Giro Rides go, with long stretches of paceline in the 25-26 mph range, so no problems for anyone I think. The temperature was comfortably in the low 70s and there was a light tailwind on the return, but things were already looking unpromising for Sunday. Indeed, when I awoke early Sunday morning I could hear a light rain falling outside and so I just pulled the covers over my head and waited for daylight. The hourly forecast at that point was offering a little bit of hope for the afternoon, but as forecasts often due, it lied. For all practical purposes, it rained all day. Things were not much better on Monday morning either, so like Sunday, there was no morning ride. The cool front had moved in, dropping the temperature by ten degrees or so, and bringing with it a stiff north wind. On the plus side, the rain ended early and the humidity dropped quickly, so by 1:30 pm I was ready to head over to the levee for a ride.

I always find solo rides on the levee motivationally difficult, which is to say I tend to want to cruise along looking at the scenery and scanning the treetops for eagles. Unfortunately, 12 mph north wind made it hard to take it very easy, even though much of it was crosswind. Out at the western edge of Jefferson Parish where the bike path has been closed for the past year, I noted that no discernable work had been done since my last visit a couple of weeks earlier. As predicted, getting the bike path re-opened is going to be months behind schedule. As a reminder, the closure began in April of 2024 and the official announcement said, "This two-mile construction zone is expected to remain closed through at least mid-2025." If you're counting, mid-2025 came and went ten months ago. Meanwhile, the leaking fire hydrant at my house celebrated its one-year anniversary recently. Still leaking of course, but I digress. My Monday afternoon ride felt harder than it should have, thanks to the wind, but at least I didn't flat, which is always a danger if the bike path is damp.

So on Tuesday the rain chances went one way and the wind went the other, and so most of the westbound ride was at 27-28 mph, which was great, but the return trip was at more like 14-15 mph, which was not great, and seemed to take forever. At least we picked up a few riders when we got to Jefferson Parish, so that was nice. It was also rather chilly - like 53° - when I left home. I'm holding out some hope that the chilly few days we had this week will turn out to have been the last until Fall.

It was a little warmer for Wednesday's WeMoRi, and for some reason the early morning wind wasn't too much of a factor, so it turned out to be a fairly typical ride with some fast segments, gaps to close, and a bit of intensity despite my best efforts to avoid same. I was already thinking about this coming weekend's planned trip up to Anniston for Sunny King where my primary goal will be to remain upright and not get pulled before the halfway point of the criterium. Criteriums around here having been in such short supply for me in recent years that I'm afraid I'll be pretty rusty at that.

This morning it was again quite windy, mostly from the east, so we again had some fast westbound stretches. After Lakeshore Drive it was just me and Jeff, and he was planning on turning off at Bonnebell. Fortunately we came up on Keith who was waiting for us at Bucktown, so at least I wasn't left to my own devices. Then, just as we got to the turnaround at Williams, Matt showed up, so we had three for the return trip, at least until Keith unexpectedly dropped off the back. It was a good 10 mph headwind all the way back, so just maintaining 17 mph was difficult, and I guess doing so behind me, which is where Keith was, made it even worse.

The Tulane kit store finally got opened this week. It had been delayed for months while Dylan was negotiating some sponsorship arrangements, and of course at this rate it's unlikely orders will be received before the end of the semester. A credit for one jersey was included in this year's dues, which made the total cost at least seem less shocking. The prices for cycling clothing have really just gone through the roof over the past couple of years, and although $109 for a jersey seems expensive to me, it's really kind of a bargain nowadays for custom a race-cut jersey. They got a fit kit from Cutaway, who is the vendor, and so I went over and tried on a Small jersey which seemed to be sized fairly normally. I'll assume the bibshorts are likewise normal size-wise. Voler stopped doing triathlon stuff, so that's why we ended up with Cutaway, which I'd never heard of before.

Not Quite Summer Yet

Friday

It's been so nice to get up in the morning with the temperature hovering around 72° lately. No tenuous wardrobe decisions, no freezing north wind, summer kit, warm toes. Granted, at some point next week it'll briefly drop back down to the mid-50s, but I'm probably the only person who thinks that's cold. Last Wednesday's WeMoRi was good, even if it didn't quite go as planned for me. I got to Lakeshore Drive at my usual time, but apparently the group had gotten up to speed unusually early that morning. As I was heading east, I saw them coming my way, and could have made the u-turn and gotten into the group if there hadn't been a car coming at the same time, but my instinct for self-preservation along with a quick risk-benefit calculation screamed "Nope," so I continued to Beauregard and onto Wisner where I went in circles for a couple of minutes until they showed up. On the way home, just before we got to the Wisner overpass, my rear tire blew out. I must have rolled over something big and sharp because we all heard it as it made a couple of revolutions of the wheel before being ejected along with all of the air. I put a new tube and booted the slash for the easy ride back home where, fortunately, I happened to have a new tire just waiting for such an event.

On Thursday, after the usual out and back on Lakeshore Drive, those of us left for the ride out to Williams Blvd. met up with the Metairie morning group with Glenn and Russell and a number of others. We had a little tailwind on the way out, so with a group of maybe eight or so it was nice.

Friday 

This morning's Friendly Friday ride had a big turnout. Our meeting spot is essentially where the Crescent City Classic finishes in City Park. The finish line was already set up and some things were already barricaded off in preparation for tomorrow morning's event, but it wasn't an issue for us at 6 am. The ride turned out to be a pretty fast one by Friendly Friday standards, so that was fun. Somebody must have pinch-flatted on the big bump that we are forced to ride over just past the Elysian Fields traffic circle now that they have blocked off the right lane to make it a bike lane that we can't safely use. I was hanging onto Lisa's wheel as she pulled the whole group most of the way out to Franklin Avenue, so I didn't even know we'd lost anyone until we were on the way back. It looked like four or five people had stopped between the levee and Franklin for that flat. I don't know if any of them got back with us. 

Afterward, I rode down to the river with Charles to meet up with the Tulane coffee ride group that had a very healthy turnout now that the weather is so much better. Coffee at Tartine and then it was back to the house. I need to bite the bullet and register for Sunny King and the road race, even though it feels a bit like paying an entry fee to my own execution. Should be a fun trip anyway, though.

Meanwhile, Shannon finished the Arizona Monster 300 endurance run in the wee hours of the morning with a time of 6d13h45m. As usual they had live tracking via Spot and trackleaders.com, so I'd been following everything since last Friday. At one point a day or so ago her Spot tracker apparently died, so she was MIA, at least for me, for half of a day until the organizers got that fixed. I can't even imagine walking or running that far with much of it being on remote trails in the middle of nowhere, in the dark. 

Yesterday I was also following the Artemis II moon mission that seems to be going quite well so far. It seems like most of the flight is essentially automated and the astronauts are there for testing and backup purposes. Hopefully everything will go smoothly. I remember watching the TV coverage of the Apollo 11 moon landing and recording the audio from the TV onto my little reel-to-reel tape recorder. At some point I re-recorded that onto a cassette tape that is still around here somewhere. The coverage of that was quite different from what we have now, of course, and the audio was pretty rough by comparison.