About-Face

Well, our little taste of Fall was nice, but it's over now. Those cooler and drier North winds made a complete about-face yesterday evening leaving the city awash in thick steamy Gulf air. At least the hazy atmosphere isn't stagnant, thanks to a brisk Southerly breeze that makes it all more tolerable. Some time in the early morning hours it must have rained, and when I stepped out the door this morning the skies were still cloudy and the streets quite wet. For a moment I considered staying inside. Fridays are usually my easy day and there's really not much difference between on-the-bike and on-the-couch recovery, but I felt like riding anyway. The levee, of course, was practically deserted this morning, and I rode slowly, avoiding the little puddles on the bike path so my shoes wouldn't get too wet. Three or four miles at 22 mph was the extent of the exercise portion of the ride, the rest of the time I cruised along at 17 and looked at the scenery. The only thing I hate about these solo easy rides is that after a while my head starts going over its to-do list. Currently, that list is really, really long, and if anything paralizes a linear-thinker like me, it's an unprioritized to-do list. With four different items currently competing for the #1 spot, I'll end up with a half-assed job on each and a lump of frustration. I really envy those people who seem to be able to juggle seventeen things all at once, even though the do tend to drive me crazy with their lack of attention to detail. Of course, if one kind of brain worked for everything we wouldn't need each other, would we?

So by the time I got back from riding my rear tire had about 20 psi left in it. Riding on wet streets, and especially on the levee bike path, is almost guaranteed to leave a bunch of tiny sharp things in your tires. I wasn't too surprised.

Life is full of tiny sharp things that let the air out of your tires.

There was a movie premiere at Tulane earlier this week. Check out the little video:
http://www2.tulane.edu/tulane_talk/tt_092206_video.cfm