It feels good to put a week in the books here in New Orleans. I just finished my first ever Saturday Group Ride here in New Orleans, they call it the Giro. It’s essentially an out and back that’s about 35 miles one way. They ride out easy from really close to our apartment along Lakeshore Drive, pretty soon after that, the gas goes on and it stays on all the way to the first turnaround point. Today, that meant about 45 minutes and just under 20 miles.  This all sounds great, right? The only caveat is the whole SEVEN in the morning meeting time. I woke up at 630 this morning. Insanity.

The whole early, early wake up call is pretty wild in my world, but it was a bit more bruising this morning with the low 40s temperatures and blasting, raging, howling wind. I’ve never ridden in anything like it. I was a bit nervous to ask the question, but I posed it to the New Orleans Biking Godfather, Randy Legeai: ‘Is it normally this windy?’ He, thankfully, responded to the tune of nope, it really was pretty bad.

I rolled up to the meeting area where Randy told me to go and damn near dropped my jaw on the ground when I saw the sea of bikes outside of a tiny shop. The number was akin to one of Athens’s smaller WBLs. It was big. I was surprised.

We rolled out easy, shivering along Lakeshore Drive, but it didn’t take long for the speed to ratchet up. I saw two guys off in the distance riding away, so I figured it would be good to go ride with them. I like to ride hard. I rode across, pulled through for awhile, then got really hot, so I stopped, took off my jacket, and waited for the chasing field.

I rejoined the main group, sat in for a little bit, then figured I’d go back to the break. So I did. I thought that was the coolest thing ever. I have always dreamed of doing something like that. Once I got back to my two friends, we rolled on out to the point where they said done. I got a bit frustrated after a little while, because I had no clue where we were going, why we were going hard, or if there was even a sprint at the end. I found out that yes, there was a reason, and it was simple: they ride hard to the first turn around point, which is Venetian Isles. No, there was no sprint.

After that, we rolled forth in a tidy echelon in the blazing crosswinds and after a certain point, we turned around and headed home. We rode easy for a while on the homeward journey, but then the frogs got froggy, and we were at it again. It was awesome. I haven’t ridden that hard in a long while.

I really liked the ride. I wish I could ride like that everyday. I love going hard and having fun. That’s what bike riding is about to me.

The best part about the ride? I was home before ELEVEN. I rarely ever start my rides before 11, let alone finish them at that time. Good stuff right there. I won’t say I’m a convert to early riding, because I think I’m going to pass out in a few minutes, but I do see its merits.

Much more to talk about, but I figured the Giro deserved a post.

It took more than a little while, but at long last, I’ve gone through and edited the pictures from Christmas in Colorado. Whew. Up next are the Monroe pictures, and after that, well, I think I’ll be completely caught up at least for a second.

Of note when it comes to the Flickr pictures – how to get the bigger sized pictures…in case you don’t already know. If you click on a specific set, say in this instance, the Christmas one, then click on a specific picture, say this one, you’ll see a small magnifying glass right over Oma’s forehead. Click on that! Then you’ll end up with a much bigger picture, but if you’re planning on printing, you’ll be best served by saving the biggest of the possibilities – Original, which is just above the picture on the right (Square, Thumbnail, Small, Medium, Large, ORIGINAL!).

Sorry if that was completely unnecessary, but just in case…

Now, off to New Orleans for us. We had a great weekend in Monroe, now it’s back to working on being a good New Orleans resident. I think we’ve got two solid weeks ahead of us in one place! Yahoo.

I had an awesome week of training in Athens – I did my first 25 hour week in I don’t know how long. I got a lot of riding in and a lot of solid work otherwise done. I’m happy about the trip.

The best part? I finally found out what it is to get stronger through training. Traditionally, I train hard, get tired, more tired, a lot more tired, then rest, rest, rest, and finally feel better after a certain amount of time. This go around, I felt better and better each day. It was really cool. I can say for sure that I’ve never felt so good at the end of a solid week of training.

I even got nine hours of sleep last night! It’s amazing. I haven’t gotten that much sleep in eons. It was like a rest day before I even woke up.

I’m excited to get back to Monroe this weekend. I’m minutes away from leaving on that eight hour journey. Ashley is heading up from New Orleans as well, so it’s going to be a happy intersection for us in about eight hours.

I guess I should get to driving. Monroe isn’t getting any closer.

Another week down, and it’s time for some more travel. We had an awesome weekend in Athens, but now it’s time to head back to New Orleans. It’s possible that I might stay in Athens for a few more days, but I’m not quite sure at the moment. The weather is going to be incredible the next three days here…oh so tempting. I hate being apart from Ashley though, which makes it less tempting. I joked about it a few days ago, but it would be really nice to be able to teleport back and forth from New Orleans. I guess a private jet would suffice.

I’ve been taking a lot of pictures lately – check them out on Flickr or be my friend on Facebook! Haha.

I should be sleeping right now, but once again, I’m entertaining the difficult decision: work late or wake up early and work then. I usually opt for the late working, because there’s no guarantee that I’ll wake up early enough to get my work done.

My goal this week is to get at least three days of eight hour sleeps. I think it’s possible.

My other goal this week is to keep the momentum going with my biking. I’m starting to feel reasonable again, so I don’t want to see it all go away again.

I’m having a hard time keeping my mind focused on one particular idea to write about. I can’t edit pictures. I can’t even waste time on the internet. I think that’s a good indicator that it’s time to go to bed.

Ashley bought me a magazine on Mardi Gras today… I just realized that I’m going to be able to enjoy one of the coolest events in the world – right in my own backyard in just a few weeks time. That’s worth mentioning, and THAT is worth looking forward to. I feel like this is some kind of extraordinary gift, and I want to take advantage of every minute of it.

That’s all. Sorry for all the blubbering.

I’m leaving for Athens in about six hours, and I’m actually not looking forward to it. I’m falling helplessly in love with New Orleans, and I like it. I think Ashley likes it that I’m liking it so much.

I can’t say enough how incredible this city is. It’s not incredible like Paris or London; it’s incredible like I’ve never seen anything like it.

I’m excited to explore as much of it as possible with Ashley on foot, bike, car, whatever. I’m glad to be able to call Kenny Bellau a friend, because he’s the best tour guide I could ever dream of. We did a 50 mile ride around New Orleans today that took in damn near everything. It was amazing. I didn’t take any pictures, but rest assured, there will be pictures in the not so distant future.

In the meantime, I posted a whole bunch of new pictures to Flickr – two more sets just from the past eight hours! We took a walk across the street to the lake this afternoon, then we went down to the Marigny for a drink with Ashley’s friends: Lauren, Susan, and Gioel. It was a really great evening. I’m looking forward to going back to Mimi’s.

I AM excited about my upcoming mini-training camp with Broglio for the rest of the week. It’s going to be great.

Ok, gotta get back to work – bags to pack, car to pack, work to do, BAH.

I bet you thought something serious was to follow. I’m just kidding. We’re sitting in our amazing apartment in New Orleans being lazy. I’m trying to rustle up my one man, er, woman troop, but she’s not budging. There’s a whole city to explore I cry! She still doesn’t budge. There’s a beautiful sunset to gaze at. No movement. We can go ride on the St. Charles streetcar! Nope, not even a hair moves.

We can go look at birds…

Ooooh! That sounds nice.

I think we’ll go do that. Then maybe we can go for a little walk.

We’re absolutely loving it here in New Orleans. It’s a really cool city. I feel at home already. I just posted a big chunk of pictures to our Flickr page. Check them out if you get a chance!

We left Monroe yesterday night around 930…so we arrived in New Orleans at 130 in the am four hours later. It was a typical Jered/Ashley travel evening. We unpacked our world into the condo and three hours later we were finally going to sleep.

Check out Flickr for some pictures of our new home and for a few shots of our stroll down Bourbon Street (the first time Ashley has allowed me the pleasure, haha).

More soon. I gotta get some sleep – biking in the morning. Should be a wee bit chilly.

After a solid week of biking – 14 hours! I’m starting to feel a little less like a reject on the bike. It’s Monday, so I’m not doing too much today save for PEZ work and a million other things on my computer.

Thanks to Ashley, I can count watching her try on hundreds of different clothes from morning to night as one of my day’s responsibilities.

Typical conversation: Ashley, I gotta get back to work. This article isn’t going to write itself. Ashley: Ok, so what do you think about this shirt?

Haha, I love her to death.

It snowed this morning here in Monroe. Not much or anything, but the precipitation was most definitely of the frozen variety. We tried to donuts at Shipley’s, but of course we arrived three minutes late. Not cool.

We’re moving down to New Orleans on Thursday, so we’re starting to get excited about our next adventure. I’ll write some more about that soon enough. But first, back to editing and cleaning Ashley’s room of MY stuff. I hate to think that my crap is adding to the disarray. Seriously though, this room is coming along amazingly. We’ll take a picture soon enough.