Long Winter Rides

Tulane and LSU riders ready to head out for the Saturday training camp ride up in Natchez

Friday evening I rushed over to the main campus to help out with the Tulane's spring activities expo where the cycling team had a table. Rather than cramming everyone into a couple of the big meeting rooms at the student center, aka the LBC, this year they had it set up at the old Fogelman Arena / Devlin Fieldhouse, aka the basketball stadium. As bait, they were supplying free pizza, popcorn and drinks which seemed to be reasonably effective. The spring expo is always a lot smaller than the fall expo that is typically held outdoors.

President Fitts chats with TUCA
riders at the Expo

Anyway, I think they signed  up a few new interested riders and there's a meeting scheduled this week, so that's good. After the expo I went home and dropped off the stuff I'd brought to the expo, threw the bike and a bag into the car and picked up Mike for the drive up to Natchez State Park for the Tulane Cycling training camp weekend. I was planning on driving back on Saturday afternoon, however, since I was scheduled to lead the NOBC Winter Ride Series ride out of Abita Springs on Sunday. We arrived at the cabins a bit after 10 pm I guess.  The Tulane and LSU riders were all busy playing some kind of card game or something, and I was exhausted, so I slipped away pretty quickly, claimed a spot on the couch in the next cabin and went to sleep.  The next morning I found Charlotte camped out on the floor sleeping on three of the couch cushions.  I didn't know she was planning on coming, but if I had I would have asked one of the guys to leave her a bed!  Lack of planning all around, I guess.

Heading out - Natchez State Park

The morning temperature was in the upper 30s, when we left for the Saturday ride around 9 am or so, and so everyone was pretty bundled up in winter gear despite the crystal clear sky. We were probably only ten miles into the ride when it became obvious that most of us were overdressed, though, so there were multiple stops for wardrobe adjustments and to wait for a couple of riders who were having difficulty with the low rolling hills.  I was pretty obvious that they weren't going to survive the whole 60+ mile ride, so at some point they got directions for a shorter route back to the cabins.

Flat #1. Took 4 tubes to get everyone
through one mile of gravel.

Of course, there was a short section of gravel along Cemetery Road that was part of our route. The road was pretty well packed down in most places, so it wouldn't have been a problem ordinarily, but of course as soon as we hit it, it became a race -- one in which I wasn't about to participate. Naturally, we were about 500 meters into the ride when the first rider flatted.  I stopped with Jerry to help with the repair and noticed he was rushing to get it done quickly, so I told him to relax because I was pretty sure the would be another flat tire before the end.  Sure enough, we rounded the next curve and there were a few riders fixing a flat.  We continued on to the end of the gravel, which was only maybe half a mile more, where the rest of the group was waiting impatiently.  After a while we started wondering why the guy with the second flat hadn't arrived so I started to ride back when one of the guys showed up saying that they had blown out two or three tubes trying to fix a big slash in the tire and the rider was walking back and we'd have to call to get someone to pick him up.  I went back there and booted the tire with a piece of Tyvek race number that I keep in my bag for just such a thing, putting maybe 30 psi in the tire since the slash was so big.  At least it got him rolling again.  We stopped a little later to put a little more air in the tire, but anyway he made it into Natchez. We left him at the Steampunk Coffee shop in Natchez and called one of the guys who had turned back early to come and pick him up.

Regrouping at Church Hill

Meanwhile, I discovered that I'd broken another aluminum spoke nipple on my rear wheel, but it was clearing the frame and brake, so I continued on with the somewhat wobbly wheel hoping another spoke nipple wouldn't go. These were some old super-light climbing wheels that I've pressed into service as my training wheels since the crash last October that took out my Mavic wheels. That was the third aluminum spoke nipple to break, so I'm sure there will be others, but I've just been replacing them with brass nipples one at a time for now. Anyway, it was a good ride even though we probably set a record for the most stops in a single training ride.  I headed back home after a quick sandwich to get ready for Sunday's ride.

There was a big group for the start of the NOBC WRS #3 ride

Sunday morning it was pretty chilly up in Abita Springs and once again I overdressed a bit. We had 20+ riders at the start, shedding a few at the turn-off for the short ride, and then a whole bunch around Enon, so we ended up with only seven for the last 50 miles or so. That worked out pretty well, though. Lenny, Jim, Mile Lew, Stephen, VJ, John Dias (yes, he's back on the bike) and I had a pretty good workout on the hilly loop north of Enon.

Only 7 did the full 80+ mile ride - weather was perfect
but got really windy toward the end

By the time we were heading back over the Watchtower Hill, Lenny and Mike were starting to come off the back and most of us were really feeling the miles. Jim went to the front after Tung Road and started towing us all back toward Barker's Corner straight into an increasing headwind, at which point we lost Mike and Lenny for a while. I was pretty tired by the time we pulled into Abita Springs with 80+ miles on the computer, but at least I felt like I'd gotten my money's worth out of the weekend!

I went out Monday morning for a spin on the levee, and between the wind and my sore legs I spent most of the time going 15 mph.  I knew better than to put any pressure on the quads, since I hadn't had a day off the bike in over a month and definitely needed a little recovery time.  This morning the temperature was a little higher and things got pretty fast along Lakeshore Drive for a while, but a few people pulled off after that so the ride out to Kenner was somewhat easier.  My legs felt surprisingly good.  They were still a little sore, but much better than they had been last Tuesday.

The Miles in the Weather

Totally worthwhile to have waited out the rain on Sunday!

Well, the power at the office went out again, so after an hour I got on the bike and rode back home. After the power went out the phones and internet went out too, of course, so sitting in a dark office with just my cellphone would have been a little crazy.  Anyway, I got home and realized it had been a while since I updated the blog. For the last week or so the weather has really been interfering with the regular group rides. There's been a lot of fairly unpredictable rain, temperature swings, strong winds, and all that standard winter stuff, except it hasn't really been all that cold.

Saturday's Eagle

Last Saturday I went out to the Giro Ride knowing it would probably start raining in an hour or two.  The radar seemed to be giving us a reasonable chance of getting in a few miles, though, so I went anyway.  Well, I walked into Starbucks, got a cup of coffee, and walked out to find it already starting to rain.  I gulped down a couple of sips and took off, coffee in hand, as a front started blowing through.  It was all I could do to control the bike in the crosswind -- with one hand -- without spilling my wonderfully hot coffee.  I got home pretty wet, but it's only about four miles so I wasn't soaked or anything.  It rained for a while and then by 11 am the streets were almost dry again and the sun was out, so I went back out and did a nice solo 50 miles on the levee out to the Spillway and back.  Along the way I found the eagle's nest along the bike path in River Ridge, along with both eagles.  I also stopped at Williams Blvd. to talk with a French couple that had ridden down from Montana on super heavily loaded bikes.  They had stopped to eat lunch on the bench there.  I gave them some directions and let them know that there was more rain coming later in the evening. Pretty sure they made it to their destination in the garden district before then.  Saturday night it rained as expected, but the forecast for Sunday's long ride on the northshore was looking pretty good with the rain ending right around the 8:30 am start time.

No power at office!

So Sunday I headed across the lake to meet up with 20+ riders at Abita Springs only to find out that there was still a line of rain heading our way. Although a couple of people took off in the rain, and subsequently froze their butts off, the rest of us hung around under the big gazebo, or in the nearby coffee shop, to wait it out. By 9:30 the rain had left, along with almost all of the riders.  There was a pretty strong wind blowing, and it felt a lot colder than the thermometer would suggest, but Steve and I headed out on the 80 mile course with the streets already starting to dry out. We ended up cutting out four or five miles since there were just the two of us and the battle with the wind was getting more and more real.  We were both hurting a bit over the last ten miles or so, but I was happy to have gotten in almost 78 miles to nudge my week's total just barely aver the 300 mile mark.

I rode solo again on Monday, trying to take it easy, which was difficult because it was still pretty windy.  Then on Tuesday's group ride I found my legs were still hurting from Sunday. Unfortunately, the pace was pretty fast, so my plan to sit in at the back and take it easy didn't exactly work out. Wednesday's WeMoRi was fast in some places and not so fast in others, and although it's not very long, for me at least, I could still feel Sunday's ride in my tired old legs. Sucks getting old.

It was damned windy out on the lakefront this morning.

Last night a cold front came through and when I went out at 5:40 am I was greeted by what must have been a 15-20 mph northwest wind.  What I wasn't greeted by was anyone at the meeting spot, so I rode out to the lakefront alone.  As expected, there were only a few people out there. I think we had five for a while along Lakeshore Drive, but by the time we were on the bike path heading west into the wind blowing off the lake it was down to just Bjarne, Jeff and me.  We weren't killing it, though, so it was fine.  We turned around a little early to compensate for the slow speed and came back with a bit of a tailwind at a more conversational speed.  I think we'd all had about enough eschelon for the day.

I think I'll try and disassemble Danielle's scooter tonight.  It stopped on her last week and we had to walk it back home about a mile.  It'll start right up and then immediately die, so I'm suspecting a vacuum or fuel delivery problem.  The only trouble is that the engine is entirely encased in all manner of plastic, so it'll probably take me an hour just to have a look.  The Tulane organizations fair is tomorrow evening, and after that I'm heading straight up to Natchez for their training camp. I'm just doing the Saturday ride, though, and heading back Saturday afternoon so I can lead the NOBC Winter Training Ride Series #3.  The weather, of course, is looking a little sketchy.  Saturday morning in Natchez will be in the upper 30s. Sunday in Covington is looking a bit warmer and sunny, so hopefully that will work out.  Also hopefully my legs will still be functional enough to ride 80 miles too.

Winter Training Rides

Yeah, the fog was pretty thick on Saturday.

The unexpected recurrence of unseasonably warm weather we've been having down here lately has been kind of a mixed bag. While I would never go so far as to complain about sustained January temperatures in the upper 50s through the mid-70s, it hasn't been without some issues, the primary one being fog. On a morning with the temperature in the upper 50s, I might normally venture out wearing little more than summer kit for a long weekend training ride, but when you look out the window and see everything shrouded in a thick blanket of fog, your plans, or at least your wardrobe, require a bit of adjustment.  When it's as foggy as it was Saturday morning for the Giro Ride, you know you're going to be good and wet. It's like riding in a cloud. For me, that meant arm-warmers and wind-resistant base layer, and even knee-warmers. By the end I was regretting having left the shoe-covers at home.

Sunday's WRS group coming over the watchtower hill from the easy direction.

Despite the fog, we had a pretty large turnout for Saturday's Giro, and with such a cluster of blinking tail lights, combined with the typically low early morning traffic volume, I wasn't feeling too concerned. My only real worry was that place where we merge onto I-510, crossing two lanes of interstate traffic, on a curve, in the fog. If I'd thought of it sooner I'd have tried to convince everyone to take Bullard and the service road instead, but they were at the front and I wasn't and it was too late by the time I realized it would be kind of risky.  Incredibly, the front of the group didn't wait until it was all clear and basically pulled in front of a tractor-trailer rig. Luckily the driver wasn't going super fast and saw what was happening and slowed down -- a lot. It was kind of lucky that everyone made it across that time.  A number of riders turned back either at the end of Hayne or when we got to Chef Highway, but as it turned out, the ride down Chef was smooth and controlled and there was practically no traffic, so that was good.  I was very surprised that the fog never really lifted until I was on my way back to the house on Jeff. Davis.

So on Sunday we had our first NOBC Winter Ride Series ride on the northshore.  This is a revival of the old winter series we used to do, but rather than start in November, we're now starting in mid-January thanks to all of the cyclocross entanglements during November and December. I also decided, somewhat unilaterally, to push the start time back to 8:30 so that the sun will at least be above the trees. We're also starting from Abita Springs so that there's a fairly easy 20 miles or so at which point the short ride can split off.  After that, there will be a few designated Sprint Zones (like the WBL has) with the rest of the ride being a little less aggressive so that most riders are able to stay with the group.

Ben and Dustin spent a lot of time on the front riding
easy tempo which kept things together nicely.

Last Sunday we had a few of the Nth Degree Junior riders on hand, being shepherded by Stanton.  I think it worked out pretty well.  We did around 67 miles with a few fast sections and they all stayed together until the last then miles or so. By the end of the last Sprint Zone up the watchtower hill and continuing to Tung Road we'd lost a couple of riders, so when the front of the group continued on, I turned back to pick up one of the Juniors and Charlotte and Stanton who was keeping track of the last Junior. Afterward about ten of us had lunch at the Abita Brew Pub.  Basically, it was a really enjoyable ride and the Sprint Zone sections were fast enough and long enough that I felt like I got a pretty good workout.  I'm already looking forward to next week's ride.

Southern Winds

Yeah!  Warmer weather for a while.

With our weekend of freezing weather in the rear-view mirror, I woke up this morning to a relatively mild 55 degrees, rising to 61℉ a couple of hours later when I got back home.  It's 72 ℉ right now and looking like we won't see anything lower than 59 for the next ten days, which is also about when we'll see the winds swing around to the north. The next few days are going to feature warm temperatures and significant southeast winds. I'll take that over freezing and strong north winds any day of the week. We'll probably have a few days with pre-dawn temperatures over 60, which means I may even get to ride with bare knees. Granted, my personal knee-warmer threshold of 59 is kind of high compared to most, but I'd rather keep those old tendons nice and warm rather than risk any winter tendinitis. Plus, these old knees are probably running kind of low on lube anyway.

So this morning I rode out to the lakefront wearing knickers, base layer and long-sleeve jersey with a thin wind vest on top. It was very cozy, but once we got to Lakeshore Drive I knew the vest was going to have to go into the pocket pretty soon, which it did.

The group wasn't too energetic this morning, which was a bit of a surprise considering the warm weather.  I think a few people were missing.  After we got off of Lakeshore Drive and onto the bike path VJ, who was on his TT bike again, started spending long, long times at the front. He wasn't going super-fast or anything - mostly in the 25-26 mph range - but everyone seemed pretty content with that.

Regrouping after the turn-around in Kenner and riding straight into the rising sun.

As we turned around out at the casino boat in Kenner the sun was just starting to peek above the horizon. A little while later I noticed Mike W had somehow appeared in the paceline, weaving and bobbing as usual but otherwise just sitting in like the rest of us. That one cog on my cassette that was skipping on Sunday seems to have settled in, or more likely the chain has settled in, because I didn't notice any skipping at all this morning.

Yesterday evening we picked up The Daughter and her two dogs from the airport. Some time early that morning our own dog had somehow, with remarkable stealth, gotten a freshly baked lemon meringue pie off of the kitchen counter. It apparently landed upside-down on the kitchen floor and he helped himself to, thankfully, mostly just the crust.  That evening when I got home from work I discovered the remnants of a bag of potato chips on the floor in my office along with dog vomit all over the living room. I think that one of The Daughter's dogs has taught him that it's OK to get things off of counters and tables to eat.

As Cold As Advertised

Cold and Clear Sunday Morning Ride

It was the coldest weekend so far this year down here on the delta. Even south of the relatively warm lake Pontchartrain waters we dipped down to 28 or so, and spent a lot of time around 32. Friday evening I sent out an email confirming that I'd be riding the Giro since I figured a lot of people were probably on the fence about it. All I got back was one response from a rider wondering if I was serious or not.

So Saturday morning I pulled some long tights over my knickers and headed north in the dark. I was well prepared for the temperature, having accumulated enough winter riding gear to stay fairly comfortable down to the mid-20s, which almost never happens around here anyway, and if it does it doesn't last long. The problem Saturday morning wasn't the 30 degree temperature.  It was the 22 mph north wind. Thanks to the complications involved in finding and layering on the clothing needed, I was running a little late, but when I arrived at Starbucks there weren't any other bikes there.  As I picked up my coffee the barista asked how many other riders I was expecting to show up.  I replied, "Maybe just me today."  I was almost right.  A few minutes before 7 am, Taco showed up. I could tell when he looked around that he was surprised I was the only one there. Having grown up in a place where your ancestors were Vikings and spent time working in Siberia, thirty American degrees barely qualifies as chilly. So we headed out to Lakeshore Drive where we could see the waves crashing over the seawall.  I would have taken some dramatic photos, however I needed both hands on the bars to keep from being blown off the bike, and even if I could have fished the camera from my pocket without crashing I'd have had a lot of trouble pushing the little buttons through the two layers of gloves that were keeping my hands toasty.  We had to turn onto Filmore and take Leon C. Simon to the bridge because the east end of Lakeshore Drive was pretty much under water from the water that had been coming over the seawall. Going over the bridges required a firm grip on the bars to keep the crosswind from taking my front wheel out from under me.  Anyway, once we got onto Hayne Blvd. I tucked myself into Taco's draft and pretty much stayed there the rest of the ride.  Since there were just the two of us we decided to take Bullard to the service road on the way out in order to avoid the stretch on the Interstate.  For similar safety reasons we turned around at Chef Highway. I ended up with 40 miles of mostly drafting and was pretty much done.  Taco continued on to the river levee and rode another 60.

Sunday morning the temperature was about the same, but the wind had calmed down to the high single-digits. I was again the first to arrive at Starbucks, but this time a few more riders showed up. Four of them.  That allowed for a nice steady Giro Ride that was faster than Saturday's.  Over the course of the ride the temperature went from 30 to almost 40, although there was a lot more ice on the edges of the road than I'd seen on Saturday.

Next week is looking to be much warmer with highs in the 70s through the weekend. I've had about enough of winter lately, so I'm looking forward to that.

Weekend Winter Weather

Heading back along the Kenner lakefront bike path on Thursday it was windy but otherwise pretty nice.

Things started going downhill yesterday.  I had made it out to the WeMoRi on Wednesday, which was fine - temperature in the low 50s.  We had a nice brisk training ride without much of the fog we'd had the day before. Thursday morning's weather was similar, maybe even a degree or two warmer.  I'd gone out a little over-dressed like I often do this time of year. It was so freaking dark, though. I have never really gotten comfortable with these group training rides in the dark. To make matters worse, they have started working on some new sections of the seawall on the lakefront and have two new stretches of the right lane blocked off. So on Thursday we made the loop out at Seabrook and as usual the speed ramped up  heading back to the west on Lakeshore Drive. We crossed Harrison at around 25 mph, which wouldn't have been bad except that was where the right lane was closed.  So we go plowing through the only truly terrible section of asphalt, in the left lane, in the dark, in a paceline. Well, water bottles start flying off the bikes and I feel my front wheel make a solid hit in one of the many little potholes that, of course, I couldn't see and probably couldn't have avoided even if I could have seen it. Thirty seconds later I feel my front tire going flat. Most of the group waited while I fumbled through changing the tube with gloves on while trying to see through my fogged-up glasses, still pretty much in the dark.  Took about twice as long as usual, but we were back on the road soon enough. For most of the rest of the ride it seemed like VJ was sitting on the front on his TT bike like a mother duck with all of us ducklings lined up behind him.  I got back home just as it started to rain. Looking at the forecast, I wasn't too hopeful about Friday.

So I woke up on Friday and checked the radar first thing.  It looked like I had a couple of hours before the real rain, but  the streets were still wet and the temperature was already falling because of a cold front that was pushing through. Although the temperature was only 48, I knew it would be even lower by the time I got back.  Also, there was already a light mist falling that I could see in the beam of my headlight as I waited for the Garmin to pick up its satellites. I'd decided to ride the old rain bike and had stuck my rain jacket into my pocket since there was pretty likely I'd hit some rain. By the time I got to the levee, just a couple of miles from home, my arms were already getting wet, so I stopped and swapped my vest for my rain jacket. With a strong north wind blowing, and all the clothes I was wearing, and my glasses already fogging up from the mist or fog or whatever you want to call it, I didn't even bother to look at the speed very much. The old Pennine probably weighs at least ten pounds more than the Bianchi, so I just plugged away at what turned out to be 14-17 mph mainly just to log a few miles that were supposed to be easy but didn't always feel that way. Fortunately I was only planning on doing 20 miles or so, so even though there were a couple of little rain showers along the way and I'd forgotten to put on my shoe covers, I wasn't really too cold or wet by the time I got back home.

This is fun??

The weekend, however, is looking pretty bad. The low tonight is supposed to be 29, although I'm sure it won't actually get quite that low right in town.  The rain should be over by then, but the predicted 21 mph north wind is likely going to keep a lot of people from getting out on the bike for the Giro. I had been planning on starting the NOBC winter ride series on Sunday but we decided to postpone it one week because temperatures on the northshore Sunday morning will be 26 and I'm pretty sure nobody is going to want to ride in that.  I could probably handle it for a couple of hours with proper wardrobe choices, but I'm not likely to make the trip unless I have some firm commitments from a few others... in writing.  I'll just have to play this weekend by ear, I guess. At least it's not as miserable as it is up in Hartford for the cyclocross national championships.  For the life of me I can't figure out why anyone would thing that kind of racing is fun!

Wet Asphalt

Strange name.....

It's been raining off-and-on almost all day.  It started early in the morning, and when I heard it at 6 am I rolled over and went back to sleep for a few more minutes.  But soon enough curiosity got the better of me and I checked the hourly weather forecast and radar.  You know, if you ride bikes long enough you eventually become an amateur meteorologist.  You also get pretty good at identifying roadkill and birds, but that's another story.  So I stared at the radar and figured I would have about a two-hour window when it wouldn't be raining.  Of course, the asphalt would still be wet, but at least the water wouldn't be coming from both above and below.  On the plus side, the temperature was in the low 70s, so getting wet would not be the deal-breaker it would on a colder day.  I decided to head out, around 9:30, on the old Orbea rather than subject the Bianchi's bearings and chain to what I knew would be a wet and gritty couple of hours. Things were going pretty well on the way out.  There was a bit of wind to deal with, but the levee bike path was pretty good and although there were a few really wet places, for the most part it was fine. I figured I'd ride out to the "big dip" at St. Rose, which would give me a 2-hour round-trip of around 35 miles.  Well, I was just about a mile from my turn-around when, of course, the rear tire started going flat. I wasn't surprised.  Riding on wet roads increases the chances of flatting exponentially. So out at the Dip I stopped to change the tube. I easily found the shard of rock that had caused the puncture.  Then, when I tried to put the new tube in I discovered it was one of Danielle's 650C tubes.  Luckily, I had another spare tube. After a couple hundred strokes of my trusty Silca mini-pump (this was my back-up seat bag, not my regular one) I was back on the road.

Turning around, I picked up a little tailwind and was cruising along nicely when a pretty good little rain shower passed over me and got me good and wet. Pretty much exactly what I was expecting - a flat tire and wet feet.  I got back home in precisely two hours, so at least that worked out.  I was feeling pretty proud of myself just for getting in a ride on such a day when, an hour later, the sun came out and the streets dried up.  If I'd waited until like 1 pm I would have had a much more dry ride, but a few hours later we were back to non-stop rain.  Ben stopped by to pick up the key to the Tulane cycling facility because the card-swipe lock was malfunctioning again.  It seems to do that every six months or so when the battery dies and I have to put in a service request to get it fixed.

Well, tomorrow it's back to work.

Almost

On the last day of the last month of 2016 I pulled the bike down off its hook and rolled it out into the darkness. The forecast on weather.com was somewhat at odds with the reality above me, and I wondered if my last ride of the year would end up being a very short one.  The Garmin seemed to be stuck in "working" mode, probably updating its firmware, so I started Strava on my phone.  It wouldn't do to have the last ride of the year go unrecorded. It was about ten minutes before the Garmin started recording and about fifteen when a light rain started to fall.  I was most of the way to Starbucks already, and the rain was really light, so I pressed on, lured by the promise of that cup of hot Christmas Blend.  I'd dressed for temperatures in the 50s, despite the thermometer reading that was closer to 65.  I was expecting to get wet, the only questions being "when, how much, and for how long?"

At Starbucks there were just a couple of riders when I arrived, one of whom was one of the Nth Degree Juniors.  Ed and Stanton had arranged for a few of them to ride their first Giro Rides this morning.  I sat under the canvas awning listening to the raindrops and sipping my coffee as I checked the radar.  This little shower would be past us soon, so we'd at least be able to get in a few miles.  Rob had already bailed, but other riders started to arrive and by the time we were heading east on Lakeshore Drive there was a decent enough group.  Everyone in the group was award of the Juniors, which helped to keep the pace smooth and manageable.  Ed did a couple of pre-announced 5-minute intervals, and Jaden rode off the front a few times, but otherwise it was a very civilized Giro. We were almost back to the Casino bridge on the way back when it finally started to rain.  Fortunately it was a very light rain.

After the last of the group turned off on Harrison to finish their rides at Starbucks I continued alone on my way back home thinking, "Well, I almost made it back without getting wet."  Almost.  By then I was wet enough to be glad I'd over-dressed that morning but I never got wet enough to soak my socks all the way through, so the timing almost worked out perfectly.  Almost.

Almost 12,000

Back at home I uploaded the ride to Strava and checked my total 2016 mileage.  11,913 miles.  Almost 12k.  Almost. Still, a pretty decent year mileage-wise, comparable with recent years despite a missed week early in the year when I was sick and a number of missed weekends due to officiating or Tulane Cycling road trips.  Considering that I don't make any particular effort to accumulate a specific number of annual miles, it's kind of amazing how similar the past few years have been.  Tomorrow we're looking at a 50% chance of rain most of the day, so whether or not 2017 will start with a ride is going to be up in the air.

Winter Wet in Washington

The Chehalis Western Trail

The forecast wasn't looking very encouraging when I packed my bags, but not my bike, for Olympia last week. Our 7-day stay was offering no more hope than two partial days without rain, and since we were going to the Pacific northwest where the roads don't dry out until late Spring and moss grows on the north side of basically everything, I wasn't feeling very optimistic about being able to ride. There would, however, be a couple of bikes at the other end of the transcontinental flight, so I filled a bag with winter riding gear, shoes, pedals, and helmet, hoping for the best.

We arrived in Seattle after two remarkably on-time flights, rented a car, and made the drive down to Olympia under, of course, overcast skies with occasional light rain.  Overcast skies with occasional light rain pretty much defines winter in the upper-left corner of the contiguous US, once you add "with temperatures in the 30s and 40s." We were staying at a brand-new Hampton Inn about half a mile from The Daughter's house. The place was all shiny new and all of the staff acted like they'd just stepped out of hospitality training school.  Danielle and Shannon's new place was nice, even though it was packed with three visiting family members and three visiting family dogs in addition to Danielle's two dogs. If you'd like me to do the math for you, that's 7 people and 5 dogs.

A little park on the bike trail with a much-appreciated
bathroom.  Danielle's old Cannondale worked out fine.

The first chance to ride was the day before Christmas.  The streets were soaking wet, but it looked like the rain would hold off for a few hours.  I went to the garage to swap out Shannon's SPDs for my Keo pedals and hit a brick wall.  The drive-side pedal had pretty much welded itself to the crankarm.  I'd brought my pedal wrench, but couldn't get the thing to budge despite resorting to standing on the wrench, heating up the crankarm, etc., etc.  After half an hour I gave up and resorted to Plan B, which was to use Danielle's 650c Cannondale.  I think the frame size on that is 42.  Fortunately, there was enough seatpost, so I set it at my usual 65.1 cm, moved all of the steerer spacers from above to below the handlebar, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it would suffice.  Granted, the reach was way short, but since I'd be riding pretty slowly anyway I didn't figure it would matter much.

Just as the rain started and I headed home on Tuesday.

The temperature was 37F and the streets were wet, but it was still the best shot I'd have for a couple of days.  I downloaded a Strava Route from Danielle's account and uploaded to my Garmin 500, which was something I'd never tried before, but since the 56 mile loop would take me places I'd never been before, and I'd probably be cold and wet for the last half of it, I figured it was well worth experimenting.  As it turned out, it worked great, which is to say I never missed a turn despite starting out in the wrong direction and having to turn around after a mile or so.  I was wearing long tights on top of thermal knickers with shoe-covers, two layers underneath my winter riding jacket and a wind vest on top.  Long gloves with wind-resistant shell gloves over them completed the ensemble unless you count the liberal amount of chap-stick on my nose, lips and cheekbones.  As it turned out, I was plenty warm enough for the first part of the ride which was on the bike path.  Although it was covered with wet leaves and branches in a lot of places, it was otherwise pretty nice. After 12 miles on the Chehalis Western Trail bike path that I'd ridden a couple of year earlier I turned off onto a nice country road with a few little hills and some nice scenery, eventually riding through the town of Tenino.  From there I picked up "Old Highway 99" which I had hoped would be another nice, nearly abandoned, old country road.  Unfortunately it was relatively busy which kept me on the wide shoulder to the right of the rumble strip, which would have been OK except that it was covered with rocks and mud and stuff from all of the rain, and of course it was soaking wet.  By the time I got back into Olympia I looked like I'd just done a cyclocross race.  I took the bike into the back yard and hosed it, and my shoe-covers, down before peeling off the soaked clothes and throwing the whole muddy mess into the washer.

Christmas day was pretty much spend on the couch while three people worked the kitchen and a humongous turkey roasted in the oven.  On Monday we made a trip up to Seattle to take the Underground Seattle tour and visit the market and generally get out of the house.  It was pretty freaking cold and overcast the whole time, of course. The underground tour was interesting, as was the market, so worth the trip.

Underground in Seattle. Looked like my basement.

The next morning, on Tuesday, I stared at the weather map for a while and eventually decided to try and get in some miles before it started raining again.  The streets were still just as wet as they'd been three days earlier, and there was definitely more rain on the way, but by the time I headed out in the early afternoon the temperature was up to a relatively balmy 44 degrees.  Knowing I'd probably end up in the rain, I dressed almost as heavily as I had earlier in the week.  I made it about 17 miles before it started raining, so at that point I turned back to retrace my route back to the house. I arrived back pretty well soaked from head to foot, so the bike got another wash with the garden hose and the clothes got another trip through the washing machine. Anyway, considering the forecast when I'd left New Orleans, I was reasonably happy to have gotten in 94 miles during the visit.

Arctic Wolf at the Tacoma zoo

On Wednesday the weather was the best we'd seen with sunny skies and relatively moderate temperatures but we had a road trip that day to the zoo in Tacoma and by the time we got back from all of that it was too late for another ride.  Sunrise in Olympia was around 8 am and sunset around 4:30 pm, and riding in the dark on wet unfamiliar roads would have been a spectacularly bad idea during a holiday visit, so I put Danielle's seatpost and handlebars back where I'd found them and packed up the riding clothes.

Mount Ranier through the car window on the way to Tacoma.

The trip back home was not without its complications. We'd left ourselves plenty of spare time for the drive to Seattle since we'd have to return the car and there was a chance we'd get stuck in rush-hour traffic.  As it turned out, the traffic wasn't a problem at all.  We turned in the car and caught the shuttle to the airport where the Alaska Airlines check-in kiosk kind of crashed on us with a message reading "Oops!  Something went wrong.  Please see an agent."  As we were waiting in line for that Candy realized her phone was missing and we figured it must have fallen out in the rental car. We got the bags checked and then headed back to the shuttle and car rental station where, luckily, they had found the phone.  Finally returning to the airport we went through security where the scanner found a crumpled up cash register receipt in the bottom of one of my pockets which triggered a full body search.  I have no idea what the rationale for that might be.  Anyway, they failed to find any weapons of mass destruction on my person and we finally made our way to the gate, which we quickly discovered had been changed to another concourse.  It was a good thing we had given ourselves a whole extra hour!

Back on home turf Friday morning

On the long non-stop flight back home I re-read Erin's book "Postcards from the Sky" that I seem to read every time I'm on a long flight since it's one of the only books I have on my iPad.

Finally this morning I was back on my own bike with the temperature in the mid-40s, so I headed for the levee bike path and had a nice 50 miles, meeting up with Pat and Steve and Charlie and a couple of others along the way.

A Little Late

I thought I had plenty of time. It's probably less than a mile from my house to the 5:45 am meeting spot at the end of Nashville Avenue, so when the alarm went off twenty minutes before that I didn't rush. But there was a complication.  It was cold enough (around 40 degrees) that I'd need to make some wardrobe decisions. That always seems to suck up more time than I expect. I decided on a thin short-sleeve base layer, a warm long-sleeve base layer on top of that, a long-sleeve jersey on top of those, and a light vest. Then of course the dog wanted to go out.  By the time I got downstairs it was already 5:41.  I hurriedly put on shoes, then shoe-covers, riding gloves, then long gloves, and stuck my antique winter helmet cover over my nearly new Giro helmet. I rushed outside, turned on the tail and head lights, hit the start button on the Garmin that was still searching for satellites, and took off.  It was 5:45, so I was pretty sure I'd miss whoever was there. I blew past the deserted meeting spot and headed north into the wind scanning the road ahead for blinking red lights.  Nothing there.  I was probably two minutes behind Brian and Rich. Finally, as I rode down Jeff Davis Parkway, I saw a blinking red light in the distance turning left onto Canal. A little while later I turned onto Canal myself and could see that I was catching them, albeit slowly. I was all the way at the cemeteries at the end of Canal Street before I finally made contact.

On this chilly December morning the Tuesday morning ride's turnout was a little bit on the thin side, which was to be expected. I was pretty well dressed, maybe just a bit over-dressed, for the conditions, and it didn't take long for me to unzip the wind vest a few inches, but I never felt the need to pull the zipper down any farther. Like yesterday, the wind was mostly out of the north, so it was going to be an echelon day.  Unfortunately that put a few people into the left lane on Lakeshore Drive, which caused some problems when the drivers rushing to get to work went past. Otherwise, it was a good ride and my toes arrived back home in somewhat better condition than they had the day before.

Winter Wind

So for the record, December 19 was the first day I resorted to the riding jacket and shoe-covers.  I was glad I did, too.  While the 38-degree morning temperature might have been OK on some days, the 15 mph north wind made it feel a lot colder.  Despite the Facebook Event I'd sent out a couple of days earlier, there wasn't anyone waiting for me up on the levee at 6:30 am.  I was not even slightly surprised by that. Perhaps if I'd done a good long hard training ride on Sunday I would have skipped riding this morning. In actual fact,  however, I'd spent most of Sunday looking out the window at the incessant rain while sitting on the couch eating anything that didn't run away when I reached for it. I was so tired of watching Hallmark Christmas movies that I went to bed around 8:30.  I'm sure the guy eventually ended up with the girl and she decided not to take that great job offer in New York or marry the rich guy or whatever in order to stay in the cute little country town with the white Christmas and Santa's sleigh, and reindeer, and where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.

My mellow Monday ride wasn't quite as mellow as usual.  With what seemed like mostly crosswinds and headwinds the whole time, maintaining 19 mph took a bit of effort. After ten miles or so the cold was starting to get to my fingers and toes, but I was determined to at least put in the miles this morning, even if I did occasionally see 13 mph on the computer, which I did. On the plus side, the levee bike path was practically deserted. I saw a few of the regular dog-walkers, and one cyclist on her way to work, but there were long sections where I could comfortably put my head down as I plowed into the wind.

There's an article in VeloNews today about a survey and prospective study that Chris Stockburger, who is now an orthopedist, is doing out of Wash. U. on cycling related injuries. Should be interesting. if it's done right.

So it looks like I have, at best, four more riding days this year.  I'll probably end the year with something like 11,700 miles, more or less, depending on the weather and other complications. I missed a chunk of riding in January when I got sick and was off the bike for almost a week, and then a few weekends were lost due to officiating duties or travel to collegiate races or whatever, so I can't complain.  I do wish more of those miles had been in races, though.

December Rain Day

Dramatic weather change as the cold front arrived

Man, the weather's been all over the place lately, at least around here.  I know I shouldn't be complaining.  After all, I was able to ride every day this week, except today. It's 11 degrees at noon in Chicago, and 31 in Olympia where I'll be next Thursday. Here it's more about the dramatic weather swings rather than the absolute temperature.  Sure, I could go out right now in the light rain and gusty wind and, properly attired, get in a good ride (and probably a couple of flat tires), but it'll be nice and dry tomorrow, and it's December, and I'm going to be off the bike for a whole week soon anyway, so why risk it? I think this morning, however, at least deserves mention.  I left home shortly after 6 am to ride out to Starbucks where the Giro starts. The temperature was a relatively balmy 61F with a light south wind.  I rode out in the dark wearing just my summer kit.  I'd checked the weather and they weren't predicting rain until around 10:30, so it seemed like getting in the Giro ride was a viable option. I walked into Starbucks, picked up a coffee, and when I walked out the door it was like I'd stepped through a portal into an alternate universe. Within minutes the wind shifted from southerly to northerly and from nearly calm to 30 mph gusts. As I hurried to finish my drink I could hear the canvas awning above me flapping wildly in the wind. A few minutes later as I stood up to leave I heard the raindrops. Fortunately, the rain was still very scattered and light, so I surfed the tailwinds back home, arriving still mostly dry.  The temperature must have fallen ten degrees in the interim. I felt like I should at least get some character points for trying.

Thursday morning on the lakefront

The prior week of riding included everything from warm wet streets and flat tires to cold and windy conditions. I think it hit 80 degrees a couple of days ago. Thursday morning's ride was another one of those crosswind days out on the lakefront that made for a long morning. Yesterday's Giro Ride was pretty nice.  The weather was still warm and the wind wasn't too bad. Although the streets were kind of wet because they were sweating from the humidity, there was a good turnout that kept the pace brisk but fairly consistent. Out on Chef highway we passed a few of the earlier SaMoRi group on the side of the road fixing a flat.  Then, on the way back, they turned around and got in with our group. It turned out they had had like four flats. The rest of their group was ahead of us, and a while later, on Hayne, we caught up with them, so we rode back in to Lakeshore Drive with an unusually large group.

Heading back on Hayne Blvd. with the Giro

Things at work have slowed to a crawl. Exams are over for most of the students and the response I get to most things lately has ended with "after the holidays." Dustin and some of the Tulane riders did a ride yesterday on some of the Rouge-Roubaix course, which was probably pretty nice except for the gravel, or because of the gravel, depending on your perspective.  Personally, I am not much of a fan of riding a road bike fast over loose gravel on unfamiliar roads. In fact, I have kind of a love-hate relationship with Rouge-Roubaix.  I don't know how many times I've ridden it.  Maybe five or six times.  One thing I am sure of, though, is that I've never finished it in any condition better than shattered. Those last twenty miles have always started as torture and ended as hell, even when I was in pretty good shape and placing respectably back around '05. For the past few years I've instead been officiating the race in consideration of my increasingly fragile bones and risk-aversion.

Anyway, thanks to the relative lag at work I'm ticking off items on my LAMBRA transition list, changing contacts on websites, paying the web hosting and insurance, and generally trying to put things in some sort of order so the new officers don't have anything urgent to deal with for a couple of months.

We'll be heading off to Olympia on Thursday for about a week. The warmest temperature in the forecast for that period is 48 degrees and the coldest 34 with the usual chance of rain for the Pacific northwest.  I'm not bringing a bike.  I'm kind of considering bringing shoes, pedals and riding clothes just in case an opportunity arises, but it probably won't be worth it under the circumstances. I'd practically need to bring a whole separate bag just for riding clothes, I think.

December Transitions

Sunday's races in Natchez were nice and mostly dry, in stark contrast to the prior week.

Just realized it's been a while since I logged anything here.  That's always an indication of how pre-occupied I am, I guess. I have always found December to be a difficult month. The weather around here is always entirely unpredictable in December, kind of like the elections that we always have in December.  And then there is the ever-present threat of Christmas hanging over my head. It's always money I don't really have, food I shouldn't really be eating, drinks I really shouldn't be drinking, and rides I really shouldn't be skipping.

So two weekends ago I drove up to Ridgeland, MS to help officiate the cyclocross race there. The weather forecast was pretty bad - basically rain and cold the whole weekend. Halfway there the windshield on the Volvo started leaking, so I had drops of cold water falling onto my left thigh.  Before I left to return on Sunday I stopped at the drugstore and got some of that putty stuff you use to stick pictures to the wall of your dorm room and used it to seal up the seam at the top of the windshield. The rain was lighter on the way home, and I only had one drop of water fall onto my leg.. so I guess that was good.  Someone cracked the tail light a couple of weeks ago and that's currently being held together with packing tape.  I guess I'll have to bring the car in after the holidays and get all that fixed.  What a pain.

The mud at Ridgeland was impressive

So the Ridgeland race was held in a semi-private park with mountain bike trails and is actually a pretty great place for a cyclocross race. There's some real terrain, some singletrack, and a nice big shelter with electricity. There was only one problem this year - the weather.  Yeah, I know the cx guys like to compare themselves to Belgians, which is a joke best appreciated by real Belgians, but when push comes to shove, racing cyclocross in mud with the consistency of peanut butter during a rainstorm in 40-degree weather can't possibly be much fun. Even just sitting there for six hours freezing my butt off in front of a computer was pretty painful. About halfway through each race riders would start to run out of brakes, or to be more specific, brake pads.  I think the local shop sold all of the disc brake pads they had in stock between the end of Saturday's races and the start of Sunday's races. The races themselves went fine, although turnout was a bit low, probably thanks to the weather.

Some of the NOBC crew at Apolline for the meeting

That Saturday night we had our annual LAMBRA meeting and elected (more like drafted) a whole slate of new officers,  I was glad to see enough people step up to the plate to fill out the slots.  I don't even remember how long I've been president of LAMBRA, so it will be nice to take a step back as we get the new officers up to speed over the next month or so. I hope they know what they've gotten themselves into! My main goal is to handle the even permit approvals and try and transition the LCCS points series from a manual process to an automated one via the USAC system, like they do for the Florida series and the recent Alabama cyclocross series. Hopefully I'll have a little more time to give to the NOBC and Tour de La next year. The following Monday we had an NOBC party where we "elected" new officers, so those transitions are also in the works. I'm hoping to focus more on the Tour de La for 2017 since Bob and Roberta are backing off a bit from their prior roles as president and secretary/treasurer where they had been doing a lot of the legwork and fundraising.  Although I can write up a pretty good sponsorship proposal, I'm quite awful at the actual fundraising part of the process, so hopefully I'll have some competent help!

All that were left on Thursday.

This past week we finally got some actual cold weather, which is to say we actually fired up the central heat for the first time. It even dipped down into the upper 30s for a little while. The local morning training ride turnout has been down a bit as a result.  Thursday morning it was cold and there was a pretty stiff wind blowing for the early morning ride.  Rob was out there on his track bike for some reason and was really pushing the pace. He ended up off the front on the way back on Lakeshore Drive, taking a couple of guys with him.  The rest of the group was left scrapping for shelter and without much apparent desire to rally a chase.  Soon, one of the breakaway riders came back, then the other. Then Rob went home at the end of Lakeshore Drive, along with most of the others.  We ended up with only four for the ride out to Kenner, one of whom lives out that way and went home when we were halfway back, so it turned out to be a rather slow, but somewhat painful ride.  Even so, knowing I would not be able to ride on Sunday at all, I was glad I hadn't hidden under the covers.

Too much traffic to avoid the water!

On Friday there were just four of us for the Tulane coffee ride, which wasn't too surprising since classes were over and final exams were looming.  It was even colder than Thursday had been, and extremely windy. The north wind was blowing water over the seawall along the lakefront, and the combination of wet legs and cold temperatures made me very glad our next stop was Fair Grinds. Last Saturday I went out to meet the Giro Ride, arriving at Starbucks a bit after 6:30 am.  I was the only rider there.  I got my coffee and sat down inside since it was pretty cold and windy, and waited ..... and waited.  At 6:45 I was starting to wonder if I'd be riding by myself.  Finally riders started to filter in, but the count was still very low by the time we rolled out at 7:00.  Pretty much nobody seemed to want to push the pace that day.  A few people rolled off the front early on the way back, but the rest of the group was definitely in winter ride mode.  I'm pretty sure it was the slowest Giro Ride we've done all year, at least most of it.

Yesterday I went up to Natchez for the final cyclocross race of the season, which was also the LAMBRA cyclocross championship. The weather was really nice.  It was a little chilly sitting there doing nothing, but for the riders, they barely needed arm-warmers.  Turnout was pretty disappointing, which I don't really get. Wes puts a ton of work into setting up these races, so there are good courses, food and drink, parking, good results, announcing, series podiums, race podiums, championship medals, series trophies, and nice weather, plus lots of advance notice, facebook events, calendar listings, etc.  For all that, there was a total of maybe 40 riders.  For the women's race there were more officials and announcers than there were riders. Now, cyclocross may not be quite my cup of tea, but if I wasn't still dealing with this wrist injury that won't heal I probably would have ridden one of the races on my old mountain bike or the old Pennine just for fun like I did last year.  Anyway, I'm still trying to figure out the CrossMgr software, but at least it keeps me occupied when the actual races have only six riders in them. Having come from a time when results were rarely published, often wrong, and never deeper than the prizelists, I feel a certain obligation to get placings and finish times for everyone in the race.  I think it may be some form of cycling-related OCD. Anyway, the officiating was pretty painless, and the drive down US 61 from Natchez to St. Francisville is one of my favorites - 4 lanes, no traffic, nice scenery.  Of course, from there to New Orleans is pure hell, especially on a Sunday evening. It was basically an hour and a half of not being able to use cruise-control.

Anyway, so far the month of December has been pretty bad for me as far as riding goes.  A few missed days because of cyclocross officiating and a lot of slower-than-usual training rides.  It'll only get worse later in the month, I'm afraid.  I can't wait until January when I'm hoping to finally get some winter rides on the northshore together.

Crosswinds

The cold front that came through Wednesday morning turned everything right around pretty quickly. When I looked at the radar early yesterday morning there was an ominous line of heavy rain moving in our direction.  Outside, the streets looked a little wet. I had a morning meeting, and looking at the hourly forecast it was looking like I could probably get in a ride, but then the rain was going to hit exactly when I would be riding to work. I decided it would be a good day to skip a ride and go to my meeting half an hour early. It was a good decision. I got there right before it started raining.  The cold front, and all of the really heavy rain, came through during the meeting. Afterward I hopped on the bike to make a run for the office before the next line of rain arrived, but hadn't gone five blocks before I had to stop and put on the rain jacket, so I aborted the attempt and headed for the on-campus PJs coffee where I waited it out with a blueberry scone until it was just a light drizzle.

This morning the temperature was a little warmer than expected - around 50F - so I went out dressed fairly lightly. It would have been fine except for the wind that was screaming out of the north at 15-20 mph, so I was a little chilly at first. I rode out to the lakefront with the usual crew, and of course the wind along Lakeshore Drive turned out to be pretty brutal. Rob was out there on his track bike for some reason, and was kind of pushing the pace.  Heading east we had a cross-headwind, so it was pretty slow going with a line of riders clinging to the gutter imagining that they were drafting, which they really weren't. After the Seabrook loop there was a little bit of tailwind component to the crosswind, which just made it faster but not easier.  Things were pretty broken up by the time we got to West End where all but four of us called it a day.  Brian, Geoff, Rich and I made it out to Williams on the bike path.  With the crosswind, the four of us needed the whole width of the path to eschelon. As they say, it was a "table for four." The best draft was when I had my front wheel all the way up alongside the bottom bracket of the rider ahead of me.  That kind of thing requires constant attention, so although the speeds were low, the stress level was pretty high.  At one point I dropped back a bit to take a picture and almost couldn't get back on. Even so, I was glad I stuck it out.

The weather this weekend up in Ridgeland where I'll be officiating cyclocross is not looking very nice, at least for those of us who will be standing in the mud all day. The chance of rain for Saturday at race time ranges from 75% to 85% with a temperature of 49F.

Saturday night we'll be having the annual LAMBRA meeting and electing new officers. I'm kind of looking forward to cutting back on the LAMBRA work a little bit so I can focus more on the NOBC and Tour de Louisiane.

Wet Roads

Not too wet at all in some places - heading back along the lake in Metairie.

The first thing I did this morning was look out the window to see how shiny the streets looked.  There  had been a little of bit of rain just before I'd turned in for the night, and the forecast was kind of all over the place, which is to say they were using the word "scattered" a lot. The second thing I did was to check the radar, which looked fine. The decision to go out for a ride when the streets are wet can be difficult. For sure, your bike is going to be a mess when you're done. Possibly you'll slip on some bit of slick road or paint stripe or manhole cover and crash. Your chances of flatting go up exponentially when the streets are wet. So it was no big surprise when I arrived at the meeting spot at 5:45 am and nobody else was there.

Not looking too good for tomorrow morning's ride

The temperature was a balmy 70 degrees, maybe a couple of degrees higher, with a damp and humid south wind.  I rode out to the lakefront to find a few of the usual suspects, and down the road we picked up the already disconnected group that does a lap of the lakefront as we're (well, I'm) riding out there. I assume someone had flatted.  As we approached the loop at Seabrook, someone else flatted but told us to go ahead.  I think a couple of guys stayed to help anyway. The pace was easy today, which kept the wheel spray to a minimum, but as we neared Elysian Fields Matt dropped back, apparently with another flat. The rest continued on, but by the time we were on the bike path there were just five of us left. With the easy pace and partial tailwind we were taking long, steady pulls all the way out to the casino. Coming back, we had more of a headwind, and eventually lost two more people as one turned off to head home and another dropped off the back, possibly with yet another flat (we didn't notice he was gone until later).

I rode back home into a moderate headwind, and as I came up the driveway onto the sidewalk I felt my front rim hit the ground. I guess if you're going to flat, having it hold out until you're standing at your door back home is the best scenario.  I walked around to the front and sprayed the bike with the garden hose to remove most of the road grit, brought it inside, dried it off a bit, and lubed the chain. Despite the 40 miles on wet roads, I really wasn't too wet or cold, and considering the forecast for tomorrow, and the fact that I'll be off the bike all weekend to officiate cyclocross up in Jackson, I was glad I'd ridden.