North winds

We may have some relief in sight. There was a northerly wind this morning and we had cloud cover for the entire ride. Thank goodness, because I worked my fanny off. Matt had his nice new time trial bike but he was civil on the way out. Others just couldn't seem to get organized. Donald kept letting gaps form and would just sit on. So I said to myself, "Fuck this, if anyone else wants to work they will follow". I went around him and we had four of us working together. Nice little paceline holding 23-24 into the wind. I was pretty tired at the turnaround, but the tailwind coming home was nice, at least until it became a crosswind and the pace really increased. Matt picked it up when Donald decided to play and we were hitting 30. There were many just hanging on, then a gap formed and we had 3. We pushed hard until Florida Ave, where we met up with some traffic which really slowed us down and about 4 others then caught up. We picked it up again and kept it around 25-26 for a few miles then all of a sudden only 2 were working, myself and Randy. Finally Matt came around and we were going 28. That dropped everyone else and finally Randy and I were dropped at the Huey P when Matt went to another gear. I had had it by then. Kind of hard to keep the fluids up when you don't get much time to gather yourself after taking a pull. I think it will take me all day before I have to pee. Just hope the wind holds for the day and brings some needed rain.

Wet shoes

Keeping up with the riding, just not with the heat or my posts. Anyway, had the maiden voyage of the new shoes, Nike Poggio III. Nice, with the exception of sweat retention. My feet are 6 inches above ground but I am still standing in water. Once the sweat reaches the mesh do you get any relief. The shoes seem to run on the hot end, but that could just be the weather. I look forward to wearing them in the winter. Everything else about them is right on. As for the ride, nothing out of the ordinary. Had Luke and David put in a small attack. Found out later it was to get back at Jeff from the day before. I don't think it bothered him at all. VJ dropped a water bottle on the return trip which got everyone to slow while he went to retrieve it. Just wishing it would rain! Can anyone send us some cool weather?

Thirsty Thursday

Another hot day to ride. Boy am I glad I have decided to ride with 3 water bottles. Sure makes a difference recovering after the ride. I literally look like I just got out of the pool when we are done. When I see some of the guys that don't even have a bottle, I wonder how they manage the rest of the day. I even drink water all day long to replenish the punishment I am dealing my system every morning. I am actually looking forward to a beer ar two this evening.

As for the ride, it was fairly civil when you look at who showed up. No one rode too agressively and it just suited everyone. Similar to how the last few stages of the Tour have been going for the peleton. Just hanging around until the finish. We all thought Howard would lay down the sprint at the end but it turns out no one reacted, so I jumped and no one was there. Got up to 31 which made me feel good that I could get above 30 on my own. Other than that just maintained 23 to 26 for the rest of the ride with a long spell at 18 at the turnaround. Not bad.

POW!

The weekend was full of cycling and I loved it. I got over 115 miles for the two days and felt great. Nice that the wife didn't mind so much, especially since I got home sunday before she even got out of bed. Just glad I was able to get to bed early enough to have enough zzz's before riding. I decided to skip monday's ride and recoup from the previous week, but the running bug got to me. So I went out that evening and put in a quick 2.5. Just enough to really get you sweaty.

The morning was no different. Talk about sweating. I was glad I had 3 water bottles for the ride. We had a nice little tailwind on the way out and the group wasn't too large. I sat at the back until going through the dip when I almost flew off the path. Just before the climb on the other side there is a small hump and you go over at an angle. Well if you are leaning too much, like I usually do, your backend gets airborn and scares the bejezzus out of you. Well today I had to do everything I could to stay on the path and thankfully I did and didn't cause anyone to crash behind me. A small gap formed as I was collecting myself after the near grassy experience. I got back on and then found myself heading toward the front rapidly. Woo, what's going on here? I am just maintaining pace and everyone else is dropping off? I guess so. Then I saw what was happening up front. Riders were starting to attack. The group did well and didn't panic. Just maintained pace and slowly brought back each escapee. But as soon as he was passed another would attack. Well if this keeps up I will be up there soon. Sure enough I was, but I really didn't attack, I just maintained 27, what 27! I didn't even realize we were going that fast. I kept an eye on the shadow I was casting and nothing was behind me. No help, so just keep going for as long as you can. As I neared the Luling bridge I said this is probably it for me. Looked back and still had about 50 meters but I am dying here. So I drop a couple of cogs and stand up waiting to be swept up by the group. Didn't do so bad as I was able to maintain 5th wheel and then eventually got to the front again before we turned for home. I felt pretty satisfied as we had left everyone strung out along the levee.

Heading for home was much more civil until POW! Holy shit was someone shot. John's tire blew big time. He ended up with a hole in the sidewall. Luckily Todd used an old race number of Randy's and placed it between the tube and tire. Good ole tyvek. That stuff is great in the winter for a chest warmer. We got started back up after leaving a pool of sweat on the levee and went at a very civilized pace 20-21. We gradually picked it up and caught up to a few guys that didn't wait but soft pedalled while the flat was being fixed. Then things got nasty. We had a little headwind and the pace continued to grow. 22-23 we had 6, 23-24 we had 4, 24-25 we had 2. Where is everyone? Finally Rob comes around but now we are doing 26 into the wind. Ouch, but at least there were 3 of us. We had a tight little rotation working and got a huge gap on the rest. I finally had enough when we reached the Huey P and shut myself down. Did I mention it was hot? Whew!

As usual... HOT

The dog days of summer are here. Yesterday's ride was at a civil pace and nice, but hot. Today was a little squirrelly and hot. On the way out no one seemed to be able to maintain a constant speed. Once the rotation dropped to about 6 riders everything was fine. Just when others tried to join in the mix, well it mixed it up. Anyway we had a good time on the ride razzing each other and cracking jokes. Made me feel pretty good that I could still laugh, carry on a conversation and maintain 23 to 25 without any problems.

We had lots of traffic to deal with today. Strange how somedays there are tons of people out on the levee then nobody is there. I guess some of the group can't handle the obsticles as well as others. Rest day tomorrow, hoping for rain to cool us off a bit here.

Hot and tough

I was actually early to the meeting area this morning and there all ready was a large group, so I pedalled through and decided to see if Robin was around the parking area. I needed to put a washer in my headset and he had the tools. He was in kind of a rush so I decided to forego the repair until after the ride. I picked up the pace and eventually caught up to Todd. We chatted for a bit then Rob and Matt came screamming by on their time trial bikes. No way let them go.

A few minutes later the group caught us and I decided to play it smart today and sit at the back for a while. It was kind of windy and I didn't mind not working too hard for a change. Well that all ended around the parish line. I got tired of watching the terrible way part of the group was trying to work a paceline at the front and decided to get in the mix. Things started working better and the pace increased. I was following Donald so everytime he started up the fast side I would slide over. Then I stepped on Charlie's toes alittle when he decided to get on Donald's wheel. I apologized but got no response from him. As soon as he got to the front he gapped the group. Fine go ahead, but everything broke down. People were everywhere, so I bridged up and we worked together until the dip. I don't like following people through there. Made it through unscathed and then we had Todd and VJ with us.

Things began to get tough. The pace upped to 26-27 from 24. I started to feel pretty drained but managed to hang on and occasionally pull through. I was glad to hang on with the leaders until the end this time without giving in to the insanity pace.

We started pack farily civil and seemed to have a headwind again, but the pace at 23 was reasonable. Had a decent number of people taking pulls and then there were 5, then 4, then 3, then 2, then noone and I was up front. I just held the pace at 23 and finally someone came through. Ok time for a break. I got back to where I could sit in and then observed why no one was going to the front to help out. Donald get's it in his mind sometimes that the pace should be what he would like it to be. If it is too fast well he will just sit on the back of the rotation and then everyone else will do the same. Fine, I'll sit here too for a while. Once we hit 20 I said this is enough and went around. Strong head wind, but I kept it around 22. Finally got some help and we made it back safely in a realitively quick outing.

Stopping at Robin's vehicle, I finally realized how freaking hot and tired I was. Thank you Robin for the bottle of water. The rest of the ride home was much more pleasant. I am still learning patience on the bike, but it feels satisfying to work your ass off in the process.

Wrong shorts

Well the ride went well but my package didn't turn out so well. I have to remember to not wear the shorts that are a little to big on the longer rides. the ole willie was rubbed raw this morning due to the rising temps and all the sweating I do on the bike. Thank goodness for Boudreaux's Buttpaste. This stuff works wonders and I wouldn't even be able to walk without it. The shower this morning was a new level of pain but I got through it. Time to buy some shorts that are the right size. Tired of this experience.