Shirley Landry Benson Pace Center in upper 9th Ward.
My weekend adventures have spread in distance and geography. 60 miles on Saturdays, 40 miles on Sunday, 12 on Monday, 12 on Wednesday and 30 on Friday night... MS Tour is first weekend of October.. I am physically and mentally ready. The Laplace run is 60 miles non stop, 1 banana, 3 bags of Fortified Jelly Beans, and 4 bottles of Gatorade. Its all intermittent river levee, so the opportunity to climb the levee, ride in mud, grass, rocks, water, and jump ditches are all there.
Crossing the spillway, added pleasure. The new levee in St John is nice, but in St Charles it's having a hard time getting around chemical plant pipes on the levee. I can't pass through NORCO for a while , I found a 6th toe trying to poke out the side of my right foot and my left ear keeps sagging.. The Rivers very low right now , catfish are sitting in lawn chairs on the bank wearing sunglasses and drinking mint juleps. The levee is a nice ride but it can be boring and lonesome. I especially enjoy the sulphur intake in Norco, gives my skin a nice yellow glow. Last Sunday I rode to the quarter , cruised around , shot out Rampart and before I knew it I was at the bridge on St Claude that protects Chalmette from the rest of the world at the corner of Poland Ave. I am fearless or nuts, so I crossed the metal bed of the draw bridge, risky, very wavy, slippery, I survived it twice, going and coming...Next trip I hope to get as far as Paris Road, want to see if it really looks like Paris. As soon as I cleared the bridge a Tug with barges was coming through, the bridge went up . glad I was on this side , it stays up a long time. I worked in Chalmette a long time ago on the corner of St Bernard Highway and Chalmette Ave. I've had many a lunch at Rocky and Carlos and some other good places down yonder. The Kaiser Plant was still open then, different world.
I like riding in the heat, it motivates me to strive and push. It was hot....
I've never explored Poland Ave , this was a good chance, I took Poland Ave East, nice older neighborhood, turned on to France Road, and found the France Road Overpass over railroad tracks, its long, there was construction , so going downhill I stood up , grasp my handle grips and watched for hazards at 23 miles per hour, I jumped a few crevasses in the construction , suddenly it appeared 8 inches front of my front wheel, a chunk of broken concrete the size of a brick, the same color as the street, it sat in camouflage, front wheel popped up about a foot, I had time to squeeze my handle grips, twist my ass so the back wheel missed it, contorted my body to maintain balance, managed to get the front wheel to fall forward rolling, didn't fall down in the middle of nowhere. My adrenalin level shot up instantaneously but afterward I had a big smile on my face.
Reached the High Rise , went under, got to Old Gentilly Road, headed back toward home, Franklin Ave to Lakeshore Dr. where a lady caught the big Goo right off the seawall at the point.
On Bastille day eve I was on the Riverfront in the Quarter about 9:00 pm , people were milling around , bike cabs were lined up on the walk, I nestled between Kevin and Debbie and shared my fortified Jelly Beans, they explained to me the fireworks show was about to start in the River in celebration of Bastille Day, great fireworks show, made some new friends , went to Bourbon and said hello to Andy, he's at the Swamp now,got home about 10:30. Saturday had my first look at the collapsed Claiborne Towers, I didn't know much about the Towers but had a great deal of experience in the Walgreens under it. Bought my first baseball glove there, it was a Micky Mantle Pro "$4.99". Also bought our silver aluminum Christmas tree there. Later I became friends with the inside phone booth. Our phone was a party line phone in my parents bedroom, dad went to bed at 8 o'clock, If I wanted to talk to little miss you know who you are, I grabbed some nickels , a pack of Winstons and camped out in the phone booth. It was private, comfortable, and secure, could have lived in one of those things. My Mp3 player is up to over 1100 songs, from 1940 to last week, every genre imaginable, my love of biking runs congruent with my love of music, a match made in heaven when both are employed for pleasure. Yes, pleasure, just like running once your captivated and enthralled there's no pain issue, only pleasure. Endorphins, Serotonin, Valium, all those drugs the make you feel good, when I was quitting smoking my doctor told me that every cigarette gave me a little high and therein is the addiction, I must replace that good feeling with another good feeling, better living through modern chemistry. When I smoked I was a runner, ran 10 Crescent City Classics, had a smoke before and after the race, I could see that eventually my knees would die so I got involved in biking. Bottom line, riding my bicycle makes me high, and at 61 1/2 years old all I want is to feel good, I deserve it. My blood pressure last week was 105 over 75, so with that in mind, my motto is "IF IT FEELS GOOD, I'M DOING IT".........
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