Four Days in 2008

It seemed, this morning, like it had been infinitely longer than four days since I'd ridden, and if it had been cold and dark I seriously doubt I'd have been able to get myself out to the morning training ride. I had arrived back home around 10:30 pm, and after three extremely sleep-deprived days I somehow stayed up until midnight last night getting reorganized. My low-budget travel arrangements had made for a long trip, and that, combined with the nonstop conference activities were really starting to catch up with me. Even so, the last four days were pretty good. I learned some stuff, caught up with some old friends, made a few new ones, got a badly needed dose of enthusiasm. Some of these people at the research universities are truly awesome - what you'd call "unsung heroes." Every time I go to this meeting it really energizes me.

Election day was pretty memorable this year, but I still found myself with a couple of regrets. The conference always has a big party on Tuesday night - one to which I always look forward for some reason. So by 7 pm we were poised at the door ready to rush in and grab a primo table next to the dance floor, and once again our years of experience served us well. The NCURA band started up at 8:00 as usual, but one thing was distinctly different this year. There was an "election return" room set up nearby and everyone kept running back and forth from the dance floor to the television once the returns started coming in. Earlier that morning James Carville had told us that the networks didn't want to call the race early, but that if at any point we heard the words "Georgia is too close to call" we would know it was really over. Sure enough, I was standing there in front of the TV and heard them say those exact words!

My first regret that night, however, was that I was signed up for Hospitality Suite duty starting at 11:00, so I didn't get to be down at the party all the way to the end at midnight. The last hour is always the best. Always. Of course, with all the excitement about the election the hospitality suite was pretty busy too and when the bar shut down at midnight a few of us migrated to another region's suite where they had "extended hours." By 1:30 or so they were about ready to close up shop and I walked out onto the street with one of my colleagues from Florida (one of the few still standing)where we stood for a while seriously considering making a run down to Georgetown. Unfortunately, sensible heads prevailed and we figured we'd probably end up trying to find out way back home at 4 am in an even more inebriated state, which would make it really hard to get up in time for the "NIH Update" at 8:30 am. What were we thinking???? So my second big regret, especially after I saw the morning news reports and video of the crowds out in the streets of D.C. and in front of the White House, was that we hadn't thrown caution to the wind that time. So anyway, Tuesday was memorable, to say the least, and when I woke up Wednesday morning to go back to the conference I thought to myself, "Damn, if I was going to feel this bad in the morning anyway, I should have just stayed out all night." I sat through the long NIH Update and NSF update sessions, which were really quite good even in my severely dehydrated state, and shortly after noon started on the long trip back to New Orleans and the local reality. For some reason I was trying to save Tulane money on this trip and had booked my flight out of Baltimore, so that meant a walk down to Dupont Circle, a Metro ride to Union Station, lunch by myself, and a half-hour ride on the MARC commuter train to the airport. Even so, I arrived nearly three hours before my flight time and then discovered that my flight had already been delayed another hour. Luckily I had enough time to make my connection in Atlanta and got back home about on schedule. Oh, and those pictures above? Guess which two were still going strong by the end of the evening.

Soooo, this morning the weather was great once again and we had a good long levee ride. It was so nice to be able to ride out there without lights! Tomorrow morning I'll be heading up to COS for the USAC Local Associations Conference, which should be interesting. Lots of stuff I need to get done in the next week or so, however, and of course it will be another three days off the bike. I think I'll just call this a "detraining period."