Riding Alone

I peered through the slats of the Levelors at the wet street below and glanced at the clock. 6:15 am. Dan Bennett had called on Friday to say he was in town for a few days and we had planned to ride out to the Giro Ride together. I figured I'd better check to the radar, and what I saw didn't look good. It was definitely going to rain. The only question was exactly when and how hard. I keyed in a one word text message "Abort?" After a brief discussion we decided to play it safe, so a little while later I hopped into the rental car (the Volvo is still in the body shop) and drove over to Starbucks in a light drizzle. The Wife's up in DC for a meeting until Wednesday, so I'm home alone which usually means I eat a lot of left-over stuff from the freezer and the toilet seat stays in the "up" position.

Well, the caffeine got me going and next thing I know I'm at Lowes buying a fluorescent light fixture, wiring, switches, etc. As I'm wandering through the store I hear the rain beating down on the metal roof way above my head and think "good decision." I made a dash for the car but ended up soaking wet anyway. It poured rain for a long time, but eventually the weather moved east and the sun started to come out. So the morning was spent installing a new light above the washing machine down in the basement. Of course that little project kind of expanded into a general clean-up session.

Finally, around 3 pm, I went out for a ride on the levee. By then the weather was great, of course. I guess it's been a while since I've ridden two and a half hours alone. I'm sure it must be a good thing of course, but it tends to make me feel a little self-conscious. Anyway, the entire 23 miles of levee were lined with people fishing. The water is starting to come down fairly quickly now and I guess this will be the last weekend for levee-fishing. It's amazing how big the fish these people are catching. They're not the only ones fishing, though, because there are tons of birds - herons, egrets, ibis. Anyway, there were lots of people out since the weather was so nice. I was pretty much just in cruise mode, looking at the scenery in the small ring. Guess I'll do the Giro Ride tomorrow with Dan.