New Orleans: Beer, Liquor, Food, and (consequently) Recovery Rides

I flew down to New Orleans this weekend to recharge my batteries and Visit my Alma Madre. The folks at Tulane U. decided it would be a good idea to fly me down and interview me for their admissions video, and who am I to argue with people shoving free airfare in my face??

Given the relationship and history New Orleans and I had back in college, I was pretty worried that I was going to single-handedly undo all of the hard work I've done up to this point in the training season and end up in the french quarter with no pants on (again). I'd lost 5 lbs this month, and was getting into a good groove with the 6 day-a-week workout schedule. What better way to disrupt all that hard work with copious amounts of heavy,delicious food and car-wreck inducing alcoholic beverages??


Luckily for me, the weather was fantastic. Even luckier for me: an old riding buddy had an extra bike for me to use. Hoo-Ha! All is not lost.

Not only did I get to hit up all of my old and favorite alcoholic and culinary stomping grounds, but I also got to hit up my old cycling territory: The Mississippi River Trail (or MRT for all you acronymaholics).


The MRT is a glorious stretch of bike path that lies on the tippy-top of the Mississippi river levee. It goes out for at least 25 miles. Best part? No cars allowed, and its flat. Worst part? It's flat. And Windy.

It's a pace-liner's dream.

When not in a pace line, it makes for an interesting ride.


Usually what happens is you end up flying on the way out. Gee, You feel so good and strong, zooming along in your big ring without a care in the world. you could go on like this forever!

Then you turn around, and are slapped in the face by the invisible hand that was gently pushing you along the whole time. Thanks! You end up grinding out those same miles on the way back. Whoopie.

Aside from that, the Levee path has a fond place in my heart. I developed into a road rider on that path- starting out as a huge Fred on his Gary fisher with knobby tires, a camelbak, baggy shorts and platform pedals and eventually turning into a spandex- wearing, clipless pedalling, skinny tire rollin' fool that I am today. I've got this path to thank for that.

The sights on the levee are pretty unique. you pass a golf course, huge bridges, ghetto projects, grand plantation mansions, Oil Refineries, and Barge Loading facilities. You can imagine the looks I used to get when I would walk into the Blue-collar convenience store for a Gatorade all decked out in spandex.


I met up with my old cycling cohort Mikey and our friend Scott, who just started cycling, and off we went for a friendly little jaunt along the Mississippi. We took it slow, caught up, had a few laughs, and snapped a few photos. It was good to see those two, and i enjoyed drooling over Mikey's new BMC Street Machine (Mikey, email me pics and a description of that hot piece of gear if you want it features on here as bike porn).


I got to use his old steel LeMond from the 90's. It was pretty entertaining to ride it, considering the frame was 3 cm too big for me, and the crank arms were 175mm (as opposed to 170's that I run on mine). I felt like I was pedaling a penny-farthing or something... It did, however, have the old Shimano RSX 7-speed components, and I was really impressed at how well they shifted.

I took it out again the next day to clear up my hang over, and got a good 45 mile Endurance ride in. Just what I needed.

Going for a ride those two times was a good bit of damage control for the delicious crap I was going to eat and drink. Namely, This:


You can order a triple-bypass on the side, if needed.

Now I'm back home, relishing the fun I had, and the fact that my silly cycling tan lines are back. I look like a redneck farmer with raccoon eyes, and boy does it feel good.

Back to training!