To start the year off right me and a couple of my cycling buddies decided to head over to
St. Francisville a town just a few minutes north of Baton Rouge. The area around St Francisville is famous for all the antebellum plantation homes in the area and probably has the best road riding in the state due to its hilly terrain (for Louisiana), low traffic and great scenery. Its also the home of the
Rouge Roubaix, the biggest road race in the state that attracts roadies from all over the south. It covers a 100 miles of some of the finest and not so finest roads in the area. The race contains three gravel sections on the course with the second two containing the most difficult climbs. I am planning on entering it this year, using it as good training for the
Cohutta.
The three of us set out on the course and initially I felt pretty good dropping my friends on most of the climbs. After the first gravel section I started feeling a little twitch in my legs so I decided to stop at a little convenience store on the side of the road where some hunters were admiring there new year score.
I picked up a nutter butter and a gatorade for some sugar as there wasn't much selection inside. We headed out and when the course dumped us out on Hwy 24 (a very smoothly paved road) a head wind picked up making the going tough. My legs were going downhill fast and knew I was going to be in trouble when we got to the second gravel section. As soon as it pitched up the cramps started and I was forced to walk the initial steep climb. My other riding partners were feeling much spunkier then I and were waiting for my at a little store on the top of the climbs. At that point we all were pretty spent so we decided to bail out on the 3rd gravel section and just head home.
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