Calm and Quiet

Well, I guess it's just that time of year again. There wasn't much action up on the levee this morning, and so I had another rather quiet solo ride. Although the thermometer at the house was telling me it was something like 38°F, it was really more like 32° up on the levee. Whenever the wind is really light, my outdoor thermometer tends to fib since it's mounted on the front porch wall.

As I left the house I could feel the cold sting on my cheekbones and knew it would be a cold ride, but I was a few minutes early today, so I just shifted to a lower gear to cut down on the wind chill. Then, as I approached the end of Willow Street, I heard the train whistle. It was just a few blocks away, so I sprinted to Monticello Street and bounced across the tracks, glancing to the right to make sure I wasn't cutting it too close. The railroad crossing there isn't in very good shape, and when I heard the sound of something hitting the ground behind me I knew immediately what it was. The jolt had dislodged the guts of my tail light, leaving just the clip and back plate attached to the bike and depositing the batteries and circuit board in the middle of the street. Fortunately, there were no cars in sight, and after collecting the pieces and reassembling everything, it still worked. Now, this isn't the first time that's happened. In fact, I had a rubber band around the light to keep everything in place, but I guess it had slipped down enough that it came apart anyway. Guess I need a stronger rubber band.

So today the wind was calm and the levee was quiet. I waited a few minutes just in case someone else was riding, but nobody showed, so I took off down the road. I had neglected to put my wind-shell gloves on over my regular ones, and after a few miles my fingers were starting to sting. One thing I tend to do when it's cold is to remain locked into one position on the bike. In this case, the combination of cold and lack of circulation in my hands was the problem. Once I changed positions my fingers warmed up a bit and all was well. Granted, I was not going very fast, spinning along in the 39 x 14 or 15. The problem with riding my yourself when it's cold like this is that you start thinking of things like hot coffee and warm showers. Sure enough, I turned around quite early today, thinking to myself, "I'll have to remember to reserve a Spin bike at the Reily Center for tonight."

So yesterday was the inauguration. Big show. What sticks in my mind the most? Aretha Franklin's hat. Only Aretha could possibly have gotten away with that.