When the Sun Shines

Saturday Giro warmup - summer already?

While the north and northwest part of the country shivers, or skis, in brutal cold weather we have been treated to some unseasonably warm weather around here. Most mornings have had temperatures in the 60s or 70s which is a bit warmer than usual, even for us. Highs have reached the 80s on occasion.

Thursday's levee ride, for example, offered temperatures in the 70s, albeit with the generally southerly crosswind that was a fixture all week. Locally, the azaleas are in full bloom and the live oaks are dropping last year's leaves like Cat 5s in a hillclimb. And yeah, those traffic cones you see in the photo are still designating the still-unfinished road work that was started in December of 2020 (sigh...). Anyway, the warmer temperatures do seem to have awakened a lot of riders who we haven't seen too much of over the past few months. Rouge Roubaix is scheduled for next Saturday and a number of local riders are preparing, at least mentally, for that. I haven't ridden Rouge in quite a few years now, and although I was a little bit tempted this year the combination of the additional gravel sectors and the high cost keeps me on the sidelines. Well over a third of the 90+ mile route is unpaved, which is probably about double what it was the last time I rode it, and although I'm quite sure I could finish it, I think I'd be neither competitive nor comfortable. Assuming I survived. Anyway, good luck to those who will be riding it. I suppose the wide rims and tubeless tires and disk brakes and all the other stuff will keep it from being quite as brutal as I imagine.

The Friendly Friday ride was a good one, with the temperature around 70° and a nice little group that didn't get going very fast until we were on the way back from the Armory. There was a nice sprint that took us up to 32 or 33 mph but overall it was reasonably "friendly."

Sunday

By Friday I could tell that the weather for out last Sunday ride of the NOBC Winter Ride Series would be pretty nice, so I mapped out a 77 mile route that included some of my favorites like S. Choctaw and Factory and Section and Fairhaven. With that in mind I went into Saturday's Giro Ride with the idea of being a bit conservative. 

Again, we started out with the temperature in the 70s and a good-sized group on hand even though a number of the usual suspects had apparently opted to do the earlier SaMoRi, which probably meant that it was faster than usual. Anyway, our group did have some horsepower at the front that kept the speed high all the way out to Venetian Isles. There was hardly any wind, though, so it was easy to stay in the wheels as long as you were attentive and didn't let a gap open. After the turnaround the pace remained conversational for quite a long time until a nice steady rotation developed at the front that kept things rolling along at 25-29 mph. Going around the infamous corner at Lake Forest and Bullard someone hit the equally infamous hole and flatted, affording those of us who waited a nice little break.

Sunday morning was just a bit cooler, but still well up into the 60s at sunrise. Driving across the Causeway the windshield was continuously being splattered by clouds of little knats that have been activated by the warm and humid weather. Over in Abita Springs we had a relatively large turnout of close to twenty that included Mike Lew and John Eagan along with Pat and Steve and the other regulars. I was a little bit afraid that the speeds would get out of hand, but I think everyone was happy to enjoy the summer-like temperature and enjoy a bit of the scenery, so most of the ride was solidly within Zone 2 with the stronger riders taking longer pulls. Other than one short section on La 60 where it felt like we were intruding on a lumber truck parade, traffic was light for the most part. Well, at least until that little stretch on Highway 21 that always makes me feel like I'm riding the shoulder on an Interstate Highway. It's always later in the day by the time we get there, and by then it seems like everybody it out in their cars rushing to who knows where as fast as they can. Anyway, it was a good ride and I felt properly drained by the time we rolled back into Abita Springs.

This morning it was again warm but with a brisk south or south southwest wind. I was out the door a little early, which is always the case when the temperature is warm and you don't have to think about what to wear. I could definitely still feel last weekend's rides on my legs, but it wasn't too bad. It was more just leg soreness from the distance and little climbs than actual fatigue, since neither of the weekend rides had been super hard. The group was maybe a little bit smaller than usual and since we were missing a couple of the instigators the pace remained conversational for most of it. There wasn't even any sort of real sprint at Marconi, although a couple of people did put in a little dig on the Wisner overpass.

Mardi Gras Week

"Mardi Gras Week" isn't really a thing. The Mardi Gras season, if there is such a thing, starts on 12th Night and ends at midnight on Fat Tuesday, and the only thing certain about the whole thing is that Mardi Gras will be on a Tuesday. Which Tuesday that might be depends on a number of things, including the phase of the moon ... literally. From a local cycling perspective, there isn't much impact on the early morning training rides except for those riders who actually ride in parades and/or have kids and ladders and stuff that they have to get to and from the daytime parades. Except of course on Tuesday when all bets are off. There is, however, a Mardi Gras morning Giro Ride anyway that will generally get people back home in time for Rex but not for Zulu or the morning downtown walking parades.

Thursday on the levee

So anyway, most of the regular morning rides were affected more by the weather than the parades. As usual for this time of year we were riding the temperature and wind roller-coaster. Wednesday's WeMoRi temperature was in the 60s which made for a nice fast ride, and then our Thursday levee ride was likewise fairly warm but featured a pretty good southeast wind which meant a lot of crosswind segments. Things, however, were changing.

Mother Nature had something to say about Friendly Friday this week.

I rode out to the Friendly Friday ride directly into a50°, 20 mph north wind and wasn't surprised to find only one other rider at the City Park Museum of Art. We headed out anyway, knowing full well that parts of Lakeshore Drive might be flooded as often happens when a strong north wind blows a lot of water over the seawall. We were struggling along at like 16 mph for much of this ride, and of course found LSD closed and flooded at Franklin Avenue where we turned back to the west. Then, between Marconi and Canal, the road was also flooded, so basically we did a shortened, slow ride. Fortunately, the forecast was calling for a gradual warming trend all the way through Tuesday that would top out in the mid-80s. One of my nieces came in from Madison on Friday night to get a little taste of Mardi Gras parades on Saturday.

Saturday Giro

Saturday's Giro Ride started out pretty cold. It was about 40° when I rolled out from home into a pretty significant northeast wind. That kept the speed pretty low on the way out and of course pretty fast on the way back but otherwise it was a normal Giro for this time of year. By the time I got home I was pretty significantly overdressed. After that and a quick shower we hopped on the streetcar for a ride down to Napoleon, where it always ends on parade days, and then walked down to the Columns to meet up with my sister and brother in law to watch a couple of back-to-back parades. Candy bailed early but we stayed until almost the end of the second parade before walking back to Napoleon to catch the streetcar back to Carrollton.

By Sunday things were finally warming up and the wind was finally dying down which made for a nice Sunday Giro. I had had a dentist appointment the prior Wednesday that involved cutting and drilling and stitching, and although I'd felt pretty good by Friday it seemed like it got more inflamed on Saturday. Fortunately I had a fair amount of penicillin handy from prior recent dental work, both mine and Candy's, so I started on that although I wasn't expecting much improvement until maybe Monday, which turned out to be the case. Candy and I again hopped on the streetcar and then walked down to Magazine Street to watch most of Tucks, which is one of my personal favorites, before walking all the way back home as streetcars seemed to be in somewhat short supply.

I was off from work on Monday, and looking at the forecast I could see that although the day would start off a bit on the chilly side, it would warm up a lot by mid-day, so I decided to sleep a little later and wait to ride until the sun was high in the sky, which turned out to be a bit after 11:00 am. By then the temperature was in the 70s but there was a pretty strong 10+ mph wind blowing out of, mostly, the west. Since this was supposed to be a recovery ride I was trying, with limited success, to keep my effort level fairly low. That meant staying well under 20 mph for most of the way out. After turning around at The Dip, I picked up nice tailwind that made it easy to cruise back downriver in some places at 24-25 mph but with a heart rate that rarely cracked 130 bpm. It was a nice ride on a sunny day. That evening we had neighbors over for dinner. My jaw was still feeling a bit inflamed but it wasn't bad enough to keep me from sleeping well Monday night.

Happy people on Mardi Gras

For Tuesday I decided to skip riding altogether. My jaw had calmed down by then, so I figured I was good to go for the usual Mardi Gras routine. By 8:00 am the truck floats that follow Rex were already lining up along S. Claiborne playing loud music and sometimes blocking the gradually increasing traffic. Our plan was to ride out to Napoleon to watch Rex, and then ride down Prytania to somewhere around Poydras where we would lock up the bikes (three U-locks, a big cable, and a small cable lock) and walk from there to the Quarter to take in the sights. Rex started at 10:30 and was right on time, rolling through smoothly. The crowd along Napoleon is very family oriented and relatively uncrowded, so it was quite nice to be able to actually see all of the bands and floats and everything. We then headed downtown at a nice easy speed and got to Canal Street well before the first of the Rex parade. By then it was pretty warm, probably close to 80°, with a clear sunny sky. Thing were just kind of getting started in the Quarter so it wasn't too jam-packed in most places along Royal and Bourbon. The warm weather meant there was a lot of skin on display, some good, some not so good, but everyone was having a good time. I took a bunch of photos as usual and I guess we were already heading back home by 2:30 or 3:00. As we crossed Canal Street we could see the Rex floats making the loop there near the end of their route. Riding back along Prytania we could see the seemingly endless string of truck floats making their way down St. Charles.

So it was back to the routine on Wednesday. I was still nice and warm so I went out to meet the WeMoRi in summer kit, surfing a strong south wind out to the lakefront. I'd left a few minutes earlier than usual so I turned east on Lakeshore Drive and found the group, turning around near Franklin to join it and being mindful of the direction of the not insignificant wind. When the group came around the corner onto Marconi we were surprised by someone with a couple of dogs who was right in the middle of the street. The group swarmed around them with only a mild case of panic on both sides and continued on. The south wind kept the speed down as we went south on Wisner but after coming over the top of the bridge the group got a little bit scattered. Then Jaden picked up the pace along City Park avenue with MJ and me in tow. MJ kept the hammer down and next thing I knew it was just the two of us as we picked up the tailwind on Marconi. MJ was drilling it all the way, with me hanging on for dear life. I took an occasional short pull but mostly he was pulling. I of course figured we would be swallowed up by the group soon enough, but when we went around the traffic circle at Elysian Fields we saw that the group had somehow been reduced to four or five, which I guess MJ took as encouragement that he could hold them off, which he proceeded to do. So that turned into a nice little effort for me, and I was glad I'd had an easy day on Tuesday.

A Few Good Rides

Last week was a mixed bag. My usual Tuesday levee ride got pre-empted by an 8 am meeting downtown, so riding-wise that was a lost day. Wednesday morning the temperature was well into the 60s with a pretty good east or maybe southeast wind. I rode out to the lakefront as usual and cruised down Lakeshore Drive glancing over my shoulder in search of the telltale cluster of WeMoRi headlights. Soon after turning onto Marconi Rob and Jaden flew past me so fast that I didn't even consider trying to latch on to them. The group came up on me as we made the turn onto Toussant and I easily tucked myself into the draft. They weren't going all that fast, maybe 24 mph, so my physiology soon recovered from my abrupt increase in effort and I gradually moved up a little closer to the front. I could see a flashing tail light way, way in the distance that must have been Jaden and Rob. I guess Rob headed home after City Park Blvd. as he often does, and so Jaden came back to the group on Marconi as half of the group ran the red light at Harrison right in front of a police car that didn't have its lights (any of them) on. Being New Orleans everyone just took that in stride and continued on. I think Jaden peeled off a little later to head home. There was a surge after the Elysian Fields traffic circle, a re-grouping, and then as usual a full-gas mile at 29-32 mph from the bridge to the "finish" at Marconi. It was fun.

The forecast for Thursday had been calling for rain, and indeed it had rained a lot overnight, but by morning the rain had ended, leaving the roads just a bit damp. It was enough to keep everyone but me from showing up at the levee, where the road was nearly dry. Once again I did a shortened ride out to the Dip and back, and as usual it was at an inadvisably low intensity level. Then on Friday, with the temperature at almost 60°F, we had a pretty big group for the Friendly Friday ride that turned out to be considerably more fast than friendly, thanks in no small part to a brisk north wind.

By Saturday morning the temperature was in the low-mid 50s with a not inconsequential north wind, and I guess that, combined with the first of the big Mardi Gras day parades, or perhaps the phase of the moon, resulted in a remarkably small group of about a dozen for the Giro Ride. That turned out to be a pretty nice Giro with a few short fast segments and, at least for me, a bit more intensity than normal because of the smaller group and resulting increased time in the wind.

For Sunday I'd planned a 77-mile route on the northshore, and considering that the morning temperature up there was going to be in the 40s, still with some north wind, I wasn't real sure how many would be showing up. The area around the Abita Springs gazebo where we usually park was barricaded off because they had postponed their Saturday parade until Sunday, so we were parked along the Tammany Trace rather than along the school fence. Surprisingly there were about a dozen on hand for this ride, including Jorge, Keith D, John E, Apryl, Charles, Evan, Chuck, Brandon, Doug, and Reggie T. The sky was clear, so thanks to the abundant sunshine I found myself somewhat over-dressed pretty quickly, but otherwise it was a great ride. The pace was a bit faster than the prior weekend's century, but never got out of hand. One or two turned back early but otherwise everyone stayed together until we turned onto Old Military where the combination of the accumulated miles and a couple of little surges took a couple of riders off the back. A few of us waited at the end of Old Military for those since you really don't want to be riding down Highway 21 alone at that time of the day, even on the shoulder. I neglected to take any photos, unfortunately. I just had my phone, and taking photos with a phone while wearing gloves is really a little difficult and risky despite the Cat Tongue gripper stuff I have stuck to the back. 

Monday's Mellow Monday ride had, for reasons I can't imagine, only Charles, Dan, and I. We made that one into a true mellow Monday ride. The only intensity I had was when I had to chase them down after arriving about a minute late. Tuesday's levee ride had a pretty typical turnout and with a southeast breeze we were rolling pretty well all the way out to Ormond. The return trip was a bit slower, of course, and the wind direction had us switching sides a couple of times as the bends in the river changed, but other than feeling a little harder than usual it was a good ride. Rouge Roubaix is looming in the near distance now, although the chances of me impulsively signing up for it are kind of low. With the additional gravel sections and high entry fee the risk of broken bones kind of outweighs the benefits for me. There will be over 100 for the fondo-style start, so the first twenty miles or so will probably be chaos as the stronger riders try to shed the weaker and sketchier ones quickly, and those in-between with strong legs but perhaps questionable skills push themselves too hard trying to stay with the front group. 

Ahundred

The Saturday Giro waiting for the Seabrook bridge

After three consecutive rainy Sunday mornings I was starting to lose hope that we'd be able to get in a long northshore ride as part of the annual winter ride series. The week had started out about like prior recent weeks, which is to say it was chilly, windy, and/or foggy, but the forecast was calling for the next cold front to come through on Thursday rather than on the weekend, which meant that Saturday and Sunday would be cool but sunny. Finally.

By Wednesday I was pretty sure we'd be able to go for a full century ride on Sunday. Whether I'd be doing that alone or with a group was still an open question, of course. The WeMoRi had a good-sized group on hand, and although the pace was brisk it wasn't hard enough to prevent me from putting my face into the wind a few times. Thursday, however, was a different story. It was cold, with a fairly thick fog when I arrived at the meeting spot on the levee, which was rather predictably deserted. I'd dressed with the expectation of being wet from the fog, so I figured I'd go ahead and ride alone out to the big dip and back. A mile or so after I started I found Howard who said, "Is this it?" as he turned around to join me. Then a little while later we picked up Mark M. Even with a light tailwind going out the pace remained pretty calm but even so we lost Howard somewhere around the parish line. As we approached out turnaround at The Dip I commented, "I think we'll have a bit of a headwind all the way back," which turned out to be the case. Our earlier 20-23 mph pace immediately dropped to 18-20, and after a while Mark remarked, "My legs feel like jelly." Around that time we picked up Howard again. Anyway, by the time I got back home I was quite wet, inside and out.

A Friendly Friday on the Lakefront

Friday morning was the coldest of the week and perhaps that was what kept the Friendly Friday ride so Friendly. Well, that and the fact that a lot of people were anticipating some hard or long weekend rides. Will was kept in check by his plan to drive over to Gainesville for the Swamp Classic races. Charles and I were by then committed to doing the Saturday Giro and then 100 miles on Sunday, so we were happy with the relatively sedate pace.

Saturday's Giro turned out to be fairly fast. We came down the overpass onto Hayne Blvd. into a stiff northeast wind that, thanks to the levee, felt more like a direct headwind. There were a few surges right away that disconnected a number of people from the back who mostly ended up taking the Bullard shortcut. As we rounded the turn at the end of Hayne we saw Geoff and a few other riders from the 6:45 SaMoRi off to the side fixing a flat, I guess. As I was to later learn, the SaMoRi had gotten off to a very delayed start when someone had a dead shifter battery and they tried unsuccessfully to find one at Matt's house. The ride down Chef featured a number of surges but in general stayed together, and thanks to the SaMoRi's late start we caught up with that group out a Venetian Isles which made for a much bigger group heading back. That was all going along nicely until we came over the casino overpass and, as always, it got really fast heading for the Seabrook bridge sprint. Up ahead, though, I could see a lot of brake lights and stopped cars on the bridge and knew the drawbridge was either about to open or had just closed. Of course it was the former and we all had to stop for a while until it came down again. Then the bridge tender walked out and with a big length of chain and had to do some kind of kludge that is apparently standard practice now in order to keep one of the metal grid spans from popping up. I assume something is broken and they're just using some kind of hack rather than actually repairing it for now. Afterward I ran into Dustin and a couple of the Tulane riders who were doing a little ride and some criterium practice in the UNO parking lot.

So Sunday's weather on the Northshore was looking pretty good. The wind was light, the sky would be sunny, and the temperature would be rising from the low 50s to the upper 60s during our planned ride from Abita Springs up to State Line and back. Apryl had driven over from Gulfport or Biloxi, Pat and Steve were there, Charles was there, Ray and Evan were there, so by the time we rolled out at 8:30 I think we had nine. Although a few turned back along the way, the ride was never super-fast, I guess because everyone knew the rolling hills would take their toll eventually. My vest went into my pocket within the first hour and I would have put my knee-warmers there as well if I'd had the space. The ride was a really nice kind of zone 2 paceline with everybody taking pretty long pulls and nobody attacking the climbs, so for the most part six of us stayed nicely together until the last fifteen miles or so, which is pretty normal. I had mapped out the ride on Plotaroute but had neglected to look closely at the detail, which turned out to be a bit of a problem. Either Poltaroute or I had selected some of the wrong roads here and there. I had picked the wrong turn to make the loop up at State Line, but fortunately I was familiar enough with our usual route that we just ignored that turn and continued to the correct one. There were a couple of other places where I think Plotaroute must have been in "bike ride" mode and routed us onto some essentially parallel smaller roads rather than the ones I'd intended. Regardless, we didn't get lost and all was well. Thanks to the moderate pace and perhaps my lower mileage prior week I was feeling pretty good and was kind of taking longer and longer pulls as we got closer to the end. We eventually lost Ray somewhere around Tung road, but he knew where he was and arrived back at Abita Springs just a few minutes after we did. When we got back I noticed that we were still just a little bit short of the 100 mile goal, so we rode down the Trace about a quarter of a mile and back to make up the difference. All-in-all it was a really pleasant ride, and IMHO perfect for this time of year. Other groups were up in St Francisville riding parts of the upcoming Rouge-Roubaix that I probably won't be doing myself now that there's even more "gravel" than in the old days. I am clearly not built for that kind of stuff.

Wind and Water

Saturday at the Spillway. Remind me not to stand next to the tallest guy next time.

Our winter weather roller coaster is still rolling along as usual. It always seems that the end of January and the beginning of February are the most difficult. I went out Tuesday morning despite the predicted High Wind Warning that was scheduled to begin around noon (30-40 mph, gusts to 55) and unsurprisingly rode mostly alone. Given the strong ESE wind and temperature in the 40s I made the executive decision to turn back at The Dip, logging 33 decidedly Zone 02 miles. It was still very windy for the WeMoRi the following day, although by then the wind had shifted around more out of the northwest. Turnout was predictably lower than usual but not too bad under the circumstances. With the group's speed swinging from 16 to 30 mph, depending on the direction, I got in a bit of intensity, albeit not in the usual places.

Thursday was kind of a repeat of Tuesday, but with a little less wind. Again, I rode mostly alone, and again, I turned back at The Dip. I wasn't in the mood for a fight so it was a pretty easy ride.

Friendly Friday on Lakeshore Drive

Then on Friday I went out to meet the Friendly Friday group with the temperature still in the 40s. By then the north wind had subsided a bit, resulting in a reasonably friendly pace. If I'd needed a recovery ride, this would have been good, but I really didn't have much from which to recover. 

For Saturday I was scheduled for a ride out to the Spillway with the Tulane riders. This was the first part of an in-town "training camp" weekend for them. Fortunately the temperature was on the rise by the time we started, around 8:00 am. I was a bit overdressed as usual, especially considering that there was a good bit of sunshine. The temperature was probably around 56° when we started, but nearly 70° by the time we finished. Fortunately the pace was pretty easy since the 50 mile ride was a bit of a stretch for a few of the riders who hadn't been doing much in the way of training lately. Still, it was a nice ride. Arriving back at the club's University Square HQ we ordered pizza and hung around for a while. 

That evening was a meetup for dinner at the big outdoor patio at Barracuda on Tchoupitoulas, which was nice. At that point the weather forecast for Sunday was not looking very good and they decided to do a little "intro to weight training" session at the Reily Center instead of a ride. I was leaving my options open since I was feeling a little mileage-deprived and was still holding out some hope that the Sunday Giro would happen. So I woke up on Sunday morning and the first thing I did was look at the radar. Surprisingly, it looked pretty good. All of the heavy rain was north of the lake and there were only a couple of tiny spots of light rain scattered around the southern part of the state. The temperature was above 60° and the SE wind was fairly light, so I went ahead and headed out to Starbucks hoping I wasn't the only one who had checked the weather. Although the group was smaller than usual, we still had a good number as we rolled out along Lakeshore Drive. Even so, we were clearly lacking some of the usual horsepower and riding into a little bit of headwind, which kept the speed along Hayne Blvd. in the mid-20s rather than the high 20s. Then, just as we were coming off of that first segment of Interstate, the raindrops started to fall. Looking to the south, where we were headed, it was obviously raining even harder, so the entire group turned right onto Lake Forest to head back. I'd been thinking it was just a little brief shower but no. It rained steadily pretty much the whole way back, and when my shoes started filling up with water I thought to myself, "I knew I should have worn the wool socks today." 

Tuesday morning after the turnaround

On Monday I went out to meet the 6 am ride at City Park with high hopes. The temperature was up into the upper 60s and the wind was light. For some reason turnout was kind of low, however. Go figure. The ride was pretty easy this time with Mark M. occasionally jumping off the front but with little action otherwise. At least today's levee ride was for the full distance, even though there were just three of us who did that after a few turned back at Williams Blvd. The pace was moderate so I was taking slightly longer pulls than I normally do when the speed is higher. There was a very light south wind and the temperature was in the mid-60s, but it was quite foggy. I'd gone out wearing two jerseys, arm-warmers, and full-finger gloves and did not regret doing so. We were approaching Powerline Drive on the way back when I felt the rear tire going soft, which didn't last long because I was on the rim a minute later and Charles and I had to stop to fix it. Everything was wet and gritty from the fog, which is basically the recipe for flats on the levee bike path. 

On the plus side, it looks like we may finally have some decent weather next Sunday after three consecutive Sundays of rain. If that forecast holds, I'm thinking of trying for a northshore Century ride, assuming more than one person can be convinced to do that. Excuses abound this time of year, of course, but it looks like the temperature will be from the mid-50s into the high 60s on Sunday with a moderate mostly east wind that shouldn't be a problem since we'll be going mostly north and south from Abita up to Stateline and back.

Alone and Wet

Saturday Giro

The past few days have been warmer but wetter - two things that always seem to go together this time of year. Thursday morning I looked out the window, slightly surprised that it wasn't actually raining as had been predicted. The street was good and wet but the radar didn't look too bad, so I figured I'd head over to the levee and see if anyone was going to show up. The evening before I had lent my old Orbea to Irvin T., a visiting rider from B.C., Canada who happened to ride the same size as I. I'd then volunteered Charles for Sherpa duty so he could stop by the Marriott on his way to the morning ride and show Irvin the way. But at 3:30 am Charles and Big Rich both bailed, citing the wet streets. Unsurprisingly, nobody was up on the levee, but I'd dressed with the idea that I'd be getting a little wet and I was already there, so I went ahead and rode. There was a bit of a tailwind on the way out that lured me into doing the full ride out to Ormond, despite the occasional light rain. Fortunately it wasn't cold. I was approaching the Huey P bridge on the way back when I felt the rear tire going mushy and knew I'd picked up one of those shards that always seem to cause flats on the levee when its wet. As usual when I'm riding alone, I was content with an easy 19-20 mph pace.

The Friendly Friday ride had a good turnout, including Irvin, but lacking Charles who had slashed his tire shortly after meeting up with Irvin. As Friendly Friday rides go, this one had a pretty big turnout and consequently got quite fast coming back on Lakeshore Drive, which pretty much shattered the group. Irvin then missed the turn onto Canal and basically got lost a bit. When we got back to the Museum I rode back out to Wisner looking for him but he was nowhere to be found. As it turned out he had gone back downtown via St. Bernard Avenue.

Saturday's Giro had a good turnout despite a questionable rain forecast. The last time I checked they were predicting rain by 9:00 am, however, so getting in most of the Giro before that was at least feasible. This time Charles and Irvin both made it, arriving just before we started. I had given Irvin a complete rundown on the Giro, including where shortcuts were and what the options were if dropped. The pace was about average for the Giro that morning, so it wasn't too hard to sit in the draft, but somewhere along the way Irvin lost contact. Judging from his Strava it looks like he lost contact around the end of Hayne. Then he apparently didn't turn at Chef and ended up on Almonaster where I guess he stopped to look at a map. As we were returning on Chef I saw him coming the other way at which time he made a u-turn and got onto the back of the group. Unfortunately, we were probably going 28-30 mph at that point, so he was soon off the back again, although I think he did get together with someone else. When we got to Hayne the pace ramped up again to the high 20s and gaps started opening up all over the place. I was able to get into what I think was the second group. I think Charles was with another little group just behind. So we get back to Lakeshore Drive and as we're riding past that section where there are houses near the traffic circle, I see Eddie D with his bike on the grass talking on his phone. We stopped to see what the problem was and found out that Charles had crashed on the bridge and taken a few spokes out of his front wheel, so they were arranging for someone with a car to go rescue him. A few of us started to ride back to the bridge, but a few more riders, including Irvin, came by and told us that Matt was already on the way to pick him up. Fortunately, it happened as they were sprinting up the bridge, so the speed was low and the injuries minor. 

Fred's memorial bench in Abita Springs

By the time I started back home it was beginning to rain, again, so I got home wet and cold, again. Later that afternoon as I was cleaning the bike, again, I discovered that both of the plastic locknuts on my Look Keo pedals were loose. They rely on Loctite to stay in place - locknuts are generally a thing of the past nowadays when weight-saving is the name of the game for manufacturers. One of them was just a few threads from coming off of the spindle entirely, so I was lucky I'd noticed it. I ended up taking both of them apart and re-greasing them, but it was too late to save the left one. Water must have gotten into that one some time ago and the inner bearing was shot. I put it back together even though it was a little rough and I'm sure it will be fine until I get a new set. That's the first time I've ever had a problem with Look pedals. That particular set had a bit over 44,000 miles on it, so I guess I shouldn't be complaining. In a related note, the Bianchi Sempre Plus mileage is now a bit over 98,000 now. I still think of it as my "new" bike.

Longhorn on Old Military Road

I had a northshore training ride planned for Sunday but on Saturday afternoon I sent out messages saying that the forecast looked like rain. Depending on which forecast you looked at, it was going to be either raining or raining a lot starting around 9:00 am. I posted a suggested route anyway, with the notation that if it was raining I wouldn't be there. I went to bed Saturday night fully expecting it to be raining by 4 am, which is what the southshore forecast suggested. Then, when I woke up Sunday morning, I was surprised to see that it wasn't raining and the radar did not look that bad at all, so I decided to go ahead and drive over to Abita Springs. I was hoping that a few of the northshore riders might show up, but was going to ride regardless. It certainly didn't look like the weather would be any better on the southshore, and indeed it looked to be a little worse. 

I got there around 8 am for the 8:30 am start and was, of course, alone. A little group did come by that was doing the Talisheek loop, but it was only 8:15 and I didn't want to leave with them in case someone expecting to do the 8:30 ride showed up. Nobody did, though, so I headed out alone, determined to get in a few miles. Well, I wasn't ten miles in before a light rain started to fall. The temperature was in the mid to upper 50s, but suspecting that I might get wet, I had put on my Goretex wind socks, long-sleeve Gore base layer, knee warmers, long-sleeve jersey, and Gore gloves. I was also wearing a wind vest that I had planned to take off once I warmed up. That never happened, though, because there was a steady light drizzle for most of the ride and of course the streets were wet. I made a few changes to my planned route in order to minimize time on the busier highways, and got back to the car, thoroughly soaked, with 60+ miles and no flats, so I was happy with that. The Giro Ride had been rained out anyway, so it's not like I missed anything. I was glad that I had a dry towel and change of clothes in my bag! So despite a lot of weather issues last week I logged 320 miles anyway, thanks mostly to the long Monday ride and my own obsessiveness I guess.

This morning the temperature was back down in the 40s and I made the snap decision to take the day off.

Lazer Focus

Thursday on the levee

Last week was kind of a busy one that included a holiday Giro on MLK Day. On Tuesday I had an ophthalmologist appointment, and as I suspected the scar tissue behind my left lens implant had gotten pretty bad. So I was quickly scheduled for a YAG laser capsulotomy the following Friday, which wasn't really a surprise since we'd already seen some scar tissue forming soon after the initial surgery. More on that later. Meanwhile, the following day, I had to to the dentist to have one of my antique tooth caps glued back on, which was good because at least I can chew my food on one side of my mouth while I'm waiting for the implant on the other side to be completed. 

So, getting back to bicycle riding, Tuesday's long levee ride was fairly routine except that it somehow felt harder than it should have to me. I still have some lung congestion even now. The WeMoRi the following day felt a bit better, but I had to kind of rush back home afterward to make the aforementioned 8 am dentist appointment. Given the age of that crown, that I had stuck back on temporarily with denture adhesive, I was afraid the dentist was going to want to do another implant, but fortunately whatever part of the tooth that was still there looked fine, so we just re-glued the crown to it and added to the long list of things that will eventually need to be fixed. On Thursday I went out to the levee and found, well, nobody. Wednesday's ride had been super-windy and that situation hadn't changed a whole lot by Thursday. I ended up doing a somewhat shortened ride out to The Dip. I had been checking the hourly weather forecast for the northshore for days and by Thursday it was looking like we'd be OK for the Winter Ride, so I sent out a 75-mile route and hoped for the best. The Friendly Friday ride featured a strong and gusty north wind, and of course a small turnout, so it never got really fast, which was fine.

On Friday afternoon I jumped on the bike and rode over to Ochsner Main for my ophthalmology appointment. I was assuming it would be an assessment and that I would then be scheduled for the actual YAG capsulotomy at a later date. A quick look at both dilated eyes and it was determined that I should have the procedure done on both eyes, and as it turned out they could do that on the spot, so I moved down the  hall to a room with a sign on the door advising you to wear eye protection and about ten minutes later I was good to go. Of course my eyes were still dilated but fortunately I'd brought my sunglasses. The procedure made a huge difference, especially for my left eye, so that was good, although I don't think my eyes were back to normal until the next morning.

Saturday was the start of three back-to-back long rides. The first was the Saturday Giro which had a pretty big turnout, which of course meant it got fast. On the way back Lisa nailed that big hole/crack in the turn from Lake Forest onto Bullard and burped the air out of her tubeless tire. A number of us stopped at the gas station with the bullet hole to help. I had one tube with a long enough stem, so that went into the tire and we were back on the road.  Unfortunately, that tube was apparently leaky, and by the time we were approaching the Casino overpass the rim was starting to bottom out. She ended up stopping a number of times to put more air into the tube but I think eventually resorted to calling for extraction.

On Sunday I headed across the lake to Abita Springs for the 8:30 winter ride. The temperature was still in the low 40s when we started but the sky was clear and it would eventually warm up by twenty degrees during our 78 mile ride. For reasons I cannot begin to fathom we had only 7 on hand which surely contributed to the pace remaining fairly steady and moderate. I enjoyed the route, which included a bit on Thigpen and Isabel Swamp gravel, but was disappointed to find Wardline road pretty torn up and clogged with dump trucks - on a Sunday. 

Monday was MLK day so as usual there was a holiday Giro. Turnout wasn't bad, considering, but there was clearly more traffic than on the weekend, some of obviously didn't consider our smallish group to be worth slowing down for. For me, I was kind of glad that the pace remained under control. Yesterday, Tuesday, there was some rain around and the streets were wet, so I was kind of surprised to find a few people up on the levee for the 6 am ride. Although the temperature was in the 60s, I was sometimes feeling kind of chilled despite arm-warmers thanks to the constant wheel spray and occasional light drizzle. We did manage the full ride, but I arrived back home pretty wet and cold. I rinsed off the bike, lubed the chain, and quickly jumped into a hot shower.

Today's WeMoRi was nice and warm with a good turnout that included a new well-experienced rider, Cynthia, from Australia who fit right in nicely. She is a med student doing her 3rd year at Ochsner in the University of Queensland - Ochsner program.

Things for next weekend are still up in the air weather-wise with significant rain in the forecast for both Saturday and Sunday so we'll have to see what the hourly forecast looks like on Friday before deciding what will or will not work for Sunday's northshore ride.

The Cold, and Other Maladies

No, not the kind of cold you're thinking of. It was another week of managing the status of my still-congested lungs, thanks to the cold that started around Christmas. Managing a cold while still doing group rides is perhaps a skill, or perhaps just stupidity, so whether skilled or stupid I somehow managed to accumulate 299 miles last week despite a few shortened rides. Take Wednesday for example. There had been all sorts of dire warnings about severe thunderstorms moving through on Tuesday, but the timing kept being pushed back. Ultimately the line of storms blew through in the wee hours of the morning, accompanied by some impressive thunder and rain. It was all over by the time I looked out the window at 5:20 am, but the streets were still plenty wet. On the plus side, it wasn't very cold, so I went ahead and over-dressed like I've been doing for the past couple of weeks and headed out to meet the WeMoRi which, as I might  have guessed, consisted of only five riders. So it was kind of an easy ride that was shortened when we turned at the Elysian Fields traffic circle because the eastern end of Lakeshore Drive was still somewhat underwater. Although the larger fields I'd been hoping to draft off of wasn't there to keep my effort level quite as low as I'd been aiming for, the pace was nonetheless pretty moderate so I don't think I did too much lung damage.

Thursday's levee ride had a decent turnout and featured a nice temperature in the mid-50s, so that one was pretty normal. Then on Friday the Friendly Friday ride was actually quite friendly, which is to say that it never got very fast. Toward the end I pushed a bit going up the Bayou St. John bridge, which of course resulted in a brief coughing fit, so I backed off and caught back up by turning around early on Canal Street. 

That evening we walked over to the streetcar barn to watch the Phunny Pforty Pfellows start their annual 12th Night streetcar ride, stopping for a quick dinner on Carrollton beforehand. There was a pretty good crowd on hand for the event that essentially kicks off the Mardi Gras season. The next day it was time to start taking down the Christmas decorations, which is a long process still in progress. Then, of course, it will be time to put up the Mardi Gras decorations. The highlight of the day, though, was when the city finally picked up the garbage that was supposed to be picked up on Wednesday. Despite having gone from twice a week pickup to once a week pickup (without reducing what we are paying), they have now resorted to bringing in additional contractors to pick up what the actual contractors can't, or won't.

The batture trail - you can see where the water level was last year when the river was a flood stage for so long that the trees started sprouting roots five feet above ground.

The Saturday Giro had a somewhat smaller turnout than usual, perhaps thanks to the gravel race/ride that day up in Oxford. As a result, the pace remained quite steady and relatively subdued, which was fine with me under the circumstances. Before the ride while I was having coffee at Starbucks, Samuel (one of the Tulane riders) showed up. It would be his first Giro, so I was a little concerned that he might be getting in over his head, but as it turned out he did impressively well and survived to the end where he received lots of encouragement and questionable advice from a few of the regulars. That afternoon the weather was so nice that I jumped on the 'Cross bike and rode out to the batture trail that starts just downriver from the old country club. I was happy to find it entirely dry. That was a nice change of pace, even if it was a short one. On the way back I ran into Bill Burke. He had just told me that the Etape de Tour de France that they were trying to get going for New Orleans was officially not going to happen. He said it was mainly because of the City. Wish I could say I was surprised.

Later that night I absent-mindedly bit into one of the candy canes that had been hanging on the tree and pulled the cap off of one of my teeth on the opposite side of my mouth from where I had a tooth pulled in December. The next step in getting the first gap filled isn't until February (waiting for the bone graft to heal), so now I am missing two of the main teeth that I need in order to actually chew food. The cap is currently being held on with denture adhesive which of course doesn't hold for long. I have an appointment tomorrow for the cap and I'm pretty sure that is going to result in another extraction and implant so I don't know how that's going to work out.

Flat Number One

Sunday's Giro had a more normal group on hand as we rolled out from Starbucks, which was a little surprising because the forecast  had been for rain. I had scheduled an 8:30 am northshore ride for that morning but looking at the forecast it was obvious that it would start raining over there by 9 am or earlier, so that got cancelled, but it looked like we'd be OK on the southshore until at least 9 or 9:30.  Well, we didn't get halfway down Lakeshore Drive before Jaden flatted and we had to put a tube in his tubeless tire. I lent him a CO2 to speed things up, and Jaden was pretty quick with the repair, so we were back on the road fairly quickly. The group kind of kept rolling easy, so we had a bit of a chase after fixing that and didn't catch until the very end of Lakeshore Drive. Then early on Hayne there was another flat. That time the group kind of kept going, although maybe at a fairly easy pace. That left us with Jaden, Dan, Chris, and me. Jaden was determined to catch the group, which we could barely see in the distance. I took a pull or two before the coughing started so I spend the rest of the time sitting on the back of the 3-man time trial. We didn't catch them until we turned onto Chef, and under the circumstances I was just happy that I was still around. The rest of the Giro was pretty normal. The minute I walked back in the door at home after the ride, the rain started. It rained for most of the rest of the day.

When my alarm went off on Monday morning, and considering my accumulated mileage from the prior week, I made an executive decision to take a rest day. Tuesday morning it was a little chilly but the wind was calm. Surprisingly there were only four of us on hand for the levee ride, and only three after Bo turned back at Williams. Charles had an early meeting so we turned around at the big dip. For some reason the ride seemed harder than it should  have, at least to me, and I arrived back home quite over-dressed and sweaty. Then I rushed off to an eye exam that I'd made because the vision in my left eye has started to get kind of cloudy. I figured it was scar tissue from the cataract surgery a couple of years ago. It had been noted at one of my follow-up appointments earlier but wasn't causing any problems until fairly recently. My self-diagnosis turned out to be correct, so now I  have ophthalmology appointment on Friday and will probably end up having to go back in for a YAG capsulotomy on that eye. Fortunately those are generally quick and easy. 

Giri

New Year's Eve cool-down along Lakeshore Drive

The weather around here has been a pain in the ass, but not for the reasons you might expect this time of year. This lingering chest cold isn't helping much, either. For the past four or five days we've had unseasonably warm temperatures, which by themselves would be awesome. What hasn't been so awesome has been the accompanying morning fog and wet roads. Those things, combined with the usual holiday disruptions, have resulted in smaller than usual numbers showing up for the early morning rides. New Year's Eve was Saturday, and for that one we had a pretty decent turnout. The temperature was in the low 60s and the wind was fairly light, and although the streets were wet it wasn't all that bad. Rinsing the dirt off the bike with the garden hose has practically become routine lately, but sometimes I just lube the chain and leave everything else dirty because I know it will all be a mess the following day anyway.

Heading out on New Year's Day in a light fog

New Year's Day was another Giro Ride. It was cooler - in the mid-50s to start - and a bit foggier, and turnout was unsurprisingly lower than normal. Will and Brett were pushing the pace up at the front, but there wasn't much wind so it wasn't too difficult to sit in the draft toward the back where my sometimes impressive coughing fits wouldn't disturb too many people. As we made the right turn off of Hayne onto Paris Road I thought I'd drop back to the end of the line since I knew it was going to get faster there. Glancing back, I saw Howard a couple of bike lengths off the back and rather than plug the hole myself I drifted back onto his wheel thinking he would close it up right away. He made a brief effort but the just kind of sat up suddenly. I think I actually had to touch the brakes for a moment. By the time I came around him I knew I wouldn't be able to close the rapidly increasing gap without putting my congested lungs into difficulty, so I just settled into an easy solo cruise for the rest of the way out to Venetian Isles. Fortunately there was hardly any traffic. I got back into the group shortly after it has started back and the rest of the ride was fairly uneventful. Every time I would have to make any sort of sustained effort above 145 BPM I'd start to cough a bit and have to back off. Fortunately those were rare instances. So I ended up 2022 at 13,266 miles, a bit fewer than last year but higher than most of the prior ten years.

On Monday many people were off work, it being the "official" New Year's vacation day, so of course there was a third Giro Ride that day. Well, sort of...  It was almost 70°F with a moderate south wind, which would have been nice if it hadn't been so damned foggy and, of course, wet. By 7:00 there were only four of us at Starbucks so we decided to just do a shorter ride, turning around at the end of Hayne. Having just four riders out on Chef Highway in the fog just didn't seem wise anyway. So that ended up being a fairly easy ride. Going up the Casino overpass on the way back I was sitting on Christian's wheel as he pushed the pace just a bit. Sure enough, just before the top I started to cough again and decided it was a good time to back off. I caught back up at the top of the Seabrook bridge when they all stopped to walk across the steel grate. I was glad we hadn't done the full Giro because I wasn't really feeling all that great anyway.

The forecast for this morning, Tuesday, had been looking really bad on Monday night. It was supposed to start raining around 5 or 6 am and continue, with storm warnings, for about 24 hours. I was not expecting to be able to ride, but since weather forecasts around here can be unreliable I looked out the window at 5:30 am to see that it wasn't raining. Checking the radar, I saw that they had pushed the bad weather arrival back until 11:00 or noon, so the morning ride was going to be fine. Well, sort of...  As often happens when there's a warm humid south wind blowing across the Mississippi, the levee bike path was fairly foggy at 6 am despite a significant wind of around 10 mph. There were just three of us - Charles, Chris M, and me - on hand, and when Charles said he was going to have to turn back at the Dip because of a work meeting there were no objections. On the way out there were a number of places where the fog was so thick we had to slow down for fear of running into a pedestrian or something. Fortunately there were very few of those. Chris kind of blew up at some point on the way back and dropped off. He'd mentioned that he hadn't really been on the bike much for the past few months.

When I got to the office this morning there were emails from everyone else saying the would be "working from home" today because of the weather forecast that features a "Severe Storm Risk" notice mentioning wind, tornados, and hail. Looking at the weather radar right now at 10:30 it doesn't look that bad. The timing of the heavy thunderstorms has been pushed back to 2:00 pm. I guess I'll play it by ear and make a run for home early so Candy doesn't have to come out and rescue me and my bike later in the day.

Hard Holiday Weather

Scout Island trail

Each year of late Strava has this "Festive 500" thing where people try to ride at least 500 km over the holidays, from December 24 though December 31. That kind of distance over eight days, 310 miles for those of us still measuring things based on the length of somebody's foot, isn't outside of my normal routine, although I suppose there have been years where meeting that goal provided a bit of motivation to get on the bike when the holidays might otherwise provide ample excuses for missing a day or two. This year, however, I suspect only those with legit OCD might not have thrown that goal out the window already. By Thursday the 22nd we were already being inundated by dire warnings of  winter Armageddon, which around here just means it will be significantly below freezing for a significant amount of time. Such events are rare enough that it isn't unreasonable to just take those days as "rest days" and carry on when it warms up, which usually happens by the following day. This time, though, the following day would be a bit worse.

So with faucets dripping to keep them from freezing Friday morning the 23rd started out well below freezing. I was already coming down with a sore throat, so things weren't looking too good for me, but nonetheless I waited until 2:00 pm when the temperature was barely above freezing, and took the cyclocross bike out with the idea of riding some of the trails on Scout Island in City Park where there would be some protection from the 10-15 mph north wind. The ride was just to move my legs and get out of the house, with no effort to do anything that might resemble training. It was quite nice on the trails, actually. Afterward I decided to ride to see what Lakeshore Drive looked like. That mile or so right into the freezing north wind was brutal, and Lakeshore Drive was closed because of the ice on the road from the waves breaking over the seawall. My average speed for that ride barely cracked 10 mph.

Friday night was, I think, even colder, and so on Christmas eve I again waited until afternoon when the temperature was up to around freezing before going out for a short solo ride on the windblown levee. At least the sun was out. I got in 30-odd miles, again at an agonizingly slow speed. The sore throat was still there, and so I was expecting it to all evolve into a chest cold any day.

My brother and niece came in on Christmas day, and between the cold I was nurturing and the cold temperature outside I didn't have any trouble convincing myself of the wisdom in staying off the bike on the 25th and 26th. On Tuesday it was still pretty cold and windy, and I was starting to get some chest congestion, so I went out at 6 am to the levee with the idea of sitting on the back at the lowest possible effort level and turning back early to minimize the chances of turning it all into pneumonia. As it turned out, it was just Charles and me, so we just did an easy ride out to Williams Blvd. and back. On the plus side, the temperature was supposed to be much warmer on Wednesday. 

Since I was already coughing and generally feeling pretty much under the weather I wisely decided not to go out to the WeMoRi and instead aim for a solo ride later in the day when it would be over then degrees warmer. 

I headed out under a nice blue sky around 10:00 am with the idea of keeping the effort level low so as to avoid doing more harm than good. Considering the much-improved weather, and trying to ignore the gradually increasing southeast wind, I put a gel in my pocket just in case I found the motivation to do a longer ride. Knowing that I was already suffering from a chest cold, I went ahead and pulled on the leg and arm-warmers even though I knew it would be in the mid-60s. Up on the levee, and lured by a nice tailwind, I cruised along at a minimal effort level all the way out to the end of the bike path at Gramercy, about 44 miles upriver. I knew it would be a very long ride back, almost entirely into a strong headwind, but I was determined not to push myself too hard. I probably averaged 14 mph at best all the way back and was quite suitably tired and hungry by the time I got home.

With the chest cold in full effect I waited until after noon to go out yesterday, again with the idea of just putting in a few easy miles on the levee. I ran into Charlotte on the way out, so we rode together until she turned back a bit after Williams Blvd. I was not feeling too bad, so decided to continue to the little Dip. I rode a little bit harder on the way back, which again was largely head and cross-wind. This morning, Friday, the forecast had been calling for rain and thunderstorms by 7 am, but when I awoke that had all been pushed back by a few hours. Even so, I decided not to risk it by going out to see who might show up for Friendly Friday. I could have ridden and stayed dry but perhaps it was better to skip it until this chest cold clears up a bit more. It's been raining non-stop now for hours and things will probably be wet until at least 3 pm, so prospects for today are looking rather bleak. Just as well, I guess. With one more riding day left in 2022, I'm a bit over 13,000 miles for the year, which is more than adequate. Here's the past ten years;