On the Road

The plan for Thursday had been an early solo ride, a quick drive up to Baton Rouge to pick up some stuff from the one of the lawyers involving the mother-in-law's estate, and then a prompt return to the office. No such luck. At least I got in an hour's ride. The drive to Baton Rouge ended up being by way of Madisonville to pick up one of The Wife's sisters, who is co-executor of the estate. Then there was the traffic jam heading into Baton Rouge, and a long drawn-out inventory, an even more drawn-out lunch, a visit to the old family house, etc., etc. The bottom line was that I didn't get home until after 5 pm, to be greeted by a zillion emails, some of which I still haven't answered. It wouldn't have been so bad, except that on Friday we were planning to get up at 4:15 am so we could hit the road to Iowa City at 5:00.

So Friday I drove 928 miles in a rather beat-up rental Ford, burned maybe $120 in gas, and finally arrived a mere fourteen and a half hours later, amazingly within five minutes of my Microsoft Streets schedule, which was pretty surprising since it's not like I was really trying to stay on that schedule. By the time I arrived, though, I was damned tired and essentially brain dead.

So I'm up here in Iowa where the low temperature tonight will be in the 30s. I brought the bike because I wanted to ride the 31st annual Old Capital Criterium on Sunday, and I'd be kind of excited about that if it wasn't for the forecast that is calling for a high in the low 50s and rain. Even that wouldn't be too bad if it weren't for the course profile and the fact that I just discovered that I'd brought a set of racing wheels that didn't have a cassette on it (and I didn't bring my tools). I guess I'm going to have to play this one by ear and see how the weather looks for my start around 1:30 pm. I mean, I'm looking at a criterium with a seriously steep climb and equally steep descent, on wet and unfamiliar roads, in what, at least to me, will be freezing cold temperatures and very likely actual rain if not the dreaded "wintery mix." I think I'm going to have to leave my options open on this one. I haven't even been on the bike since Thursday. I'd wanted to get in an hour or two today but ended up stranded at a shopping mall for (I kid you not) four hours. Sheesh. I nearly fell asleep on one of the mall benches -- more than once. The only good part of that experience was when I saw a guy wearing a T-shirt that said "The Hippies Were Right!"

I hope tomorrow it's either pouring down freezing rain, or completely dry. That would make the decision easy.