Bike Ride to Baton Rouge I.E. Monsoon

NOLA to Baton Rouge: 123.7

Total Mileage: 1001.8

Today we headed out bright and early so we could get tourist at a reasonable hour. The morning started out a bit rough as we had to get out of NOLA. The roads were wet from an early morning storm and the potholes were awful. Combine this with tons of traffic lights an fit took us about an hour to get eight miles. But after that it was definitely smooth sailing as we headed out on a bike trail and then picked up a road which twisted and turned with the Mississippi.

A few miles after our first lunch stop (the rule of 90 90 means we bike over 90 miles and/or it is hotter than 90*) we found out that the road was closed. Instead of biking about a mile down the road, we had to add an extra 10 miles to our trip. As we were wrapping up the detour, the skies opened up and we were soaked in a matter of minutes. Thankfully it was warm out and so was the rain so we were able to keep trucking through.

Another rule of thumb is I there is lightening we have to pull over. The thunder had been rumbling in the background for a whole, but then the lightening started up. I saw a tractor shed and we hung out for a bit. The rain was crazy, but we did have some time to take pictures on said tractors and take a dance video.

Second lunch was supposed to happen at mile 85 and as we road up to mile 85 there was no alligator and no van. W kept biking until 91 and when we could not find Ben we decided to give him a call. I turns out that he was still at mile 50. Several groups had gotten holed up because of the thunderstorm and someone had shredded a tire so the van had gone back. Starving and tired we were able to find a hole in the wall deli and scarfed down hamburgers and French fries.

 

The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful. One more rainstorm, no major hills and a few wrong turns later we found the host. We were the first group to arrive and slowly over the next two and a half hours the rest of the riders started riding in.

 

After dinner a couple of us headed a couple of blocks over to checkout a rooftop bar which was recommended by the father of the parish. The weather had cleared and the view of the city, the river and the old capital.