Katrina

Well it has been a week since we evacuated New Orleans and I can't believe there are still people waiting to be evacuated. Thanks George for all your useless help. I really hope that someday we can rebuild our city and take into account everyone and not just the mid to upper class. I really thought this country was about all men being created equal, I guess they are just not treated equal. No matter the final outcome, New Orleans has a great man as its Mayor and I hope he leads us to a brighter future. I am very fortunate that I could leave the city when I did, I just feel like crap now that I have no means to help the others that are stranded there. Please email your congressmen or persons to get the feds to do something. We have rescue teams from all over the country helping, just not enough man power that our military has on hand. If you have a chance this weekend view Jerry Lewis's telethon, he will be not only raising funds for MDA, but also for the hurricane victims.

CRASH

Well yesterday started out well, but couldn't get that good rhythm in the paceline. Felt more like a race. We all had a hard ride until the end when Eddie dropped his glasses and looked back for them. As he did his front wheel left the pavement and he tried to correct, which is nearly impossible. I was unfortunately right behind him and he layed down right in front of me and I went sailing over the handlebars and next thing I knew I am standing in the grass. Although between leaving the bike and standing, I hit the pavement HARD! Left quite a bit of skin from both elbows, my hand, knee and back along with fabric from my jersey. The fortunate thing, if there really is in a crash, is that neither one of us broke anything. I am really sore on my right side and my left wrist, so it is going to take a while to get back to normal. Just hope my dogs don't mind shorter play sessions while throwing a ball for a while.

You know how hot it is?

It's so hot that when I took a shower this morning after my brick workout, I only used cold water and it wasn't cold. It was quite comfortable and I could have stood there all day. I even got into the shower after I had stopped sweating. Can't wait until fall.

The workouts are progressing well. I actually enjoy the bricks. Makes running alittle more tolerable. Not my favorite thing to do. I am going to continue this schedule for the next month and increase my running mileage and then begin the time trial position on the bike for the last month before the race. Need to get some swims in also. It will all come together. So far so good, just wish we could have a cold front come through. Right!

Sitters

I decided to roll on throught the meeting area since I was early and get a jump on things before I got caught by the group. Nice to just spin at 20-21 before the craziness. Well I caught up to Todd and we talked for a while only going about 15. A little too slow to suddenly jump to 25+. Anyway the group finally came by at Williams and we jumped in. Not very well organized but we did our best. I was helping with a mediocre rotation. Kept running into traffic and that can upset things a bit if your not paying attention, like most people. They seem to get mesmorized by the person in front of them and will just sit there.

We picked it up after the dip going about 27 and over the small bumps which was fun, rollercoaster effect. That pace continued until the turnaround. On the way back everyone was intent on sitting in. I finally had enough and came from 8 back to get in front and start a rotation. Fortunately a few took the example and we had about 6 rotating, then 5, 4, 3, 2 and I was pooped by then. Every now and then a new face would show up and finally at the end about 6 came through. Saving it for the finish. Pansies! Oh well it was a good workout and I will just think that I benefitted more than they did.

First Brick

Well it wasn't too bad, although it was short, 20 bike and 2 run. No big deal, just trying to get used to transition. Had a nice ride averaging 20-21 and then a good run, not too fast not too slow. But man was it hot. My body just cranks out the sweat. I have been drinking water all morning and still haven't gone. Hope one works up soon or I will be in trouble for the morning "long" levee ride. I hope to do this every monday and friday and work the run up to 5 miles before I start pushing the pace. I think I can get that in the next 3 weeks. Got to find that swim suit.

Legs of lead

Whew, hot this morning. Got up very late to meet the early group and time trialed it from the house for about 35 minutes until I decided the group would be uncatchable at this point. That really put a hurting on the ole legs and I really couldn't get into a groove this morning. I made it almost to the Luling Bridge and found the group on the way back, really scattered along the path. So I turned around in about the middle of the spread out group and soft pedalled until Eddie came screaming by on his tri bike with a couple of followers. I jumped at the opportunity to finally draft someone. All be it, it was alittle fast, 28 and he kept it up for about 3 miles. Then we held pace at about 26 and I was feeling really tired. Don't know what it was but everytime I got to the back of the group I didn't feel like I was getting a break. Just felt like I had to keep accelerating to keep up. Well I finally had it when we were finally going 24 and there were only 5 of us. I just felt tired and sat up and could only maintain 16. My legs just felt like lead and couldn't maintain the turnover I wanted. So I had another 10 miles to go and took me a good 45 minutes to finally get home. Sure hope I feel better soon.

Knucklehead

Today almost was a repeat of Tuesday. I didn't ride Tuesday due to inclement weather, but I had to go out. Glad I did, because it only sprinkled for about 30 minutes and we seemed to have missed all the heavy stuff as the path was pretty wet in some places. We had a decent pace going 23-24 but seemed a bit slow for a thursday ride, therefore people were taking longer pulls. So not much action until the end of the ride. I happened to be at the end of the paceline, about 10th position, when Matt picked it up on the front. Well since the ride wasn't too tough I decided to see if I could catch the 3 that were off the front. I had a little trouble getting through but once clear of the group I ramped it up over 30 and was making good ground on them. As I got within 10 meters I noticed that a cop in his SUV was driving pretty eratic along the path. Moving to the right then the left and driving off the path. Well Matt started to draft his vehicle and when the cop pulled off the path he passed him. Not a smart move since there is an speed limit of 20, of course it is not posted, but we are suppose to be aware of it. He was going 30, and the cop pulled back on the path, determined his speed while everyone else knew what was coming up. We sat up and started yelling all kinds of stuff. This isn't a good situation because the cops will be out looking for us to be above the limit. Well the blue and red lights came on and he pulled Matt over to have a little chat. Ole Billy Bob was impressed with the speed Matt was going but not about the safety issues. Knucklehead! Just made us more visible and now if any complaints come in from the little ole ladies, we have a black mark against us. Dummy had to say, "Well I only ride up here once a week." Yeah, but most of us ride up there everyday.

830

830 miles for the month just on the road bike, 915 with commuting added in. Maybe someday I will break the 1000 mile barrier for the month, but not this year. I need to start picking up the running miles for the Triathlon in October.

Sunday I got in 60 miles. I headed out to the lake to meet up with the Giro. But I left late and had to stop and adjust my cleat on the left shoe. Therefore I knew I was going to miss the group. So when I finally reached Lakeshore Drive I just took a right and kept on going, right into a nice headwind. I thought "Boy is this going to suck by myself". I just tried to keep it around 20. I ended up riding for 90 minutes by myself before the group came by me in the same direction as me. Turns out I wasn't late after all. Well they had a nice clip of 24-25 going and I jumped in. A few of the guys asked if I had gotten lost. I just said they were late. HA!

Well things took a while to get going on the return from Venetian Isle and we just pedalled at 22 for a while then as we were approaching the Chevron station we ended up hitting above 30. The light was red so it was hairy getting through. A gapped formed and then that was the end of the group. I went with 5 others and we worked solidly until Jazzland road then there were 4 total. We had a great paceline up until the Shoney's. People started dropping like flys. Rob kept up his pace and I was with Scott, we eventually caught Rob on Hayne's Rd and picked the pace back up to 25-26. When we came to the first bridge near the casino they had a gap of about 25 meters on me because I had slowed for a red light. I blasted up the hill and Rob and I ended up dropping Scott. We kept our pace high until the next bridge over the canal and we both took off mano a mano. Rob got to the top first as I eased up near the crest, I was done. Felt good to be out there but I kept wondering about the rest of the giro. We weren't really going that fast and no one caught us. Oh well, maybe someone flatted. Didn't see anything relating to a crash on Randy's site so that made me feel better about taking off. Well looks like I need to get my running shoes in order. Only 11 weeks to go.

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.

Humbled

I was ready for a steady fast ride this morning. Well that didn't happen. Surge here, bridge up there, catch your breath, attack and bridge. No rhythm today, just yoyo riding. that just hurts.

I was feeling it as we were about to turn around and eased up. I soft pedalled to the end, which was a mistake. I almost missed the boat for the return. As I dropped down and hit 27 to catch the group as they were passing under the Luling bridge. That hurt and we were going 24 for a little while. As I was talking with Matt we had a gap form and we had to hit it again to catch up. A small group of 3 went off the front and the rest continued at a reasonable pace. Then Paul jumped and I went with him. I was at 33 and still couldn't catch his wheel then as he caught the three he looks back at me and says "Just wanted to see if I could catch them". Crap a gap opened again and I had no gas left. The group then swallowed me up and hit the gas. As I was looking for somewhere to hide a few of the sitters wanted me in front of them. So I am out of the saddle trying to latch on again. By this time I am sweating buckets and am all over my bike. I had a bad feeling about what was coming. Sure enough more surges and then I was done with 8 miles to go. Uugh! Thankfully a few others were also and we made it back at a much easier pace.

Now I know to be more aware of what's going on and less worried about keeping the pace high. Sit in if I have to and be patient. I just may take a nap today at work. Always a good place to get some rest. HA!

Wet without rain

It's so humid now that your wet and it isn't even raining. Steamy and sticky can wrap up how the weather is down here now. We are in for a nasty summer, as usual.

Just a short jaunt today, 20. Got home early to take care of some chores before our party saturday. The wife has gone loopy and has me doing crazy chores around the house so everything will look perfect. Too perfect if you ask me. Got to show some faults to others or they don't think your real. Anyway it's number 40 for me and should be a good time. Looking forward to that first cold beer.

Wet with sweat

Didn't feel so hot this morning, but I was soaked to the bone after the ride. We encountered two flats, someone running off the road and a 10 mph crash. All in all still a good time. It maybe time to spilt the group up somewhat for safety reasons, especially on tuesdays. There seems to be alot of people showing up and most are just ones that want to hangon for a fast ride. If they get in the rotation they end up pushing themselves too much and make it dangerous for everyone else. I think I will try to get some to ride earlier perhaps and see what happens.

Getting back to the ride, the flat tires were times to really get the sweat going. As you stop by the roadside and your body has no other means to cool you but the sweat from your pores, it just comes out in buckets. When you are moving it doesn't seem so bad but I am sure I sweat just as much. The legs were spasing earlier today at work. I think I have finally caught up in my liquid consumption, but will continue to pore them down my throat throughout the evening.

I didn't see the guy get run off the road but it is in a bad area that many don't know how to handle. There is a short descent with a shicane at the bottom. The first corner has a small rise in it. The leaders need to be aware of the group and push through quickly then ease up some to let the rest come through unscathed. Well this doesn't seem to ever happen and today this guy got caught in the wrong place and had no where else to go but in the grass. He then got left behind as half the group sat up but the leaders kept on going. We had a hard chase after the gap had grown, but managed to latch on before things got to out of hand. Lot's of up and down surging so I am feeling kind of tired. The wife wants to run later this evening, so if we do I may not ride tomorrow to catch up on some zzzzsss.

Yawn

The eyelids were heavy this morning and have been for the last few days. Can't seem to get enough rest even when I am not doing anything. I am thinking it is my diet. I have lost some weight and now I think I need to be eating before all workouts and not just before the long ones.

We had a small group today and set out at a nice easy pace, no faster than 20. Perfect. I almost feel asleep at the back of the group. The road was mesmerrizing and a few times my eyelids did close as if I was to drift off in slumber. That changed on the way back. Noone was interested in heading home quickly so I went to the front and started doing 20. After a while I decided to let the next guy have a turn. He kept it at 20 to 21 and was slowly catching two tri guys that had gone around us. They went hard for a minute or two but we were slowly gaining back on them. Then John got to the front and he decided that we had to catch them. I just continued with my pace of 20 to 21 and let him go. He drifted back thinking we were having a hard time. Nah, go ahead.

He picked it up again and passed the two guys. We were still gaining on them and finally passed them a few minutes later and John had quit. So I decided to jump. I was at 26 for about half a mile and David came around me. I didn't think he felt like going hard but was glad to see him there. John had latched on also. Shortly after David came around he pulled off and then John quit, again. Pissed me off, so I took off and left everyone. I kept it around 25 to 26 for then next mile and got myself in a little oxygen debt but the ride was over. I stopped at the playground and spoke with Robin about a headset issue then softpeddaled with Joe the rest of the way home. I thought I was teaching someone a lesson today, but I instead taught myself to stick to my own gameplan of easy monday.

5 years

Today marks the 5th anniversary of Catherine and my marriage. We have had some bumpy rides, but we also have had some great times. I love this woman more and more each day. It has been a slow process of understanding each others quirks, but I enjoy seeing things continue to progress toward a better union of our marriage. I believe that she thinks I am off the deep end every now and then, and she is probably right, but I can always count on her to bring me back to reality. Without her I would be lost. I am always greatful for the time we share and will share. I love you Cat.