Pretty (and) Dark

It was just a tad cooler this morning. Enough for me to zip the jersey up another notch. Not all the way up, you understand, just a little higher than usual. We're not expecting to get back to normal temperatures around here until around Monday or Tuesday. When I went to turn on my little Vista rear light this morning, all that was there was the back part of the clip! It must have flown off on my way home yesterday. Damn. I had two new NiMH rechargable batteries in that puppy. Well, only a couple more dark mornings before the time change, so I'll get by without it for now.

We had a great view of the eclipse last night. I took a bunch of photos with my digital at a bunch of settings, but didn't get anything very good. The moon was strikingly bright and large before the eclipse, since it was still just above the treetops. It was still bright this morning as I rode out to meet the group on the levee. We rode a good 10 miles before it was light enough for me to read my computer. There was a low mist coming in from the river, curving over the top of the levee in places. When I was at the back of the group the sight of the long line or riders in the pre-dawn light with the mist was really pretty. I was wishing I had a camera, but at the same time knowing that I'd never be able to capture such an image. That will just have to be one to store away in my head. The ride was pretty steady at around 24 mph most of the time and I was feeling kind of disconnected. My left knee has been feeling a little odd since the races last Sunday. I probably made one too many hard over-geared efforts and should give it a little rest.

The Daughter's gymnastics team had their banquet last weekend. We didn't make the trip up to Iowa this time - it's a long way to go and a lot of money to spend, and we'd do better to save it for the meets. Not that The Wife didn't plead her case, of course. The Daughter was awarded MVP for last year, which was a real surprise since she only competed two events in most of the meets. It will be an interesting season this year.

I'm still trying to wrap up the Rocktoberfest paperwork. As soon as I get the check for around $300 from our treasurer for the insurance surcharges and 1-day license fees, I'll attach that to the Chief Ref report and accident report and copies of 1-day licenses and forward the whole mess off to the USAC. We ended up with police expenses, including the 2-hr minimum costs for the cancelled date a couple of weeks ago, of somewhere around $1,000. Along with the other usual costs of portable toilets and numbers and pins and that sort of thing, my guess is that we'll come out just a tiny bit ahead, which is all we really ask for. This race does have the potential to be about three times its present size, however, and perhaps we will move in that direction.