Water, Water

It seemed strange to be watering the plants and grass around the house at a time when the river level is climbing up the banks of the levee. All those disastrous rain storms up the river are now rushing between the levees while we're sprinkling city water on plants that haven't seen rain in a couple of weeks.  I rode out to the levee at the usual time, only to find a train blocking Monticello Street.  I didn't figure it mattered, though, as I'd been expecting to do an easy recovery ride anyway.  Then the train stopped.  Then it backed up.  Finally, it cleared the tracks and I rode up the levee to the bike path just after I saw David B. go flying down the road ahead of me.  Fortunately, he wasn't going too fast because of course I couldn't resist trying to chase him down. I came into his draft somewhere past the playground.  I said hello, but I don't know if he heard me.  In fact, I don't know if he ever knew I was there.  Since I was already running late, I turned back early and took some time to look at the river level.  I guess it was only a foot or two higher than it had been on Friday, but there are now a lot of long stretches of batture that look like rivers with a noticeable current.  This morning they opened part of the Bonnet Carre spillway and it's looking like they will probably open it fully in the near future.  By the weekend they will have to decide whether to start opening the Morganza spillway. 

So back at the office I suddenly realized it was 10:30 am and of course today was Stage 3 of the Giro d' Italia. I checked Cyclingnews but it was apparent I'd just missed the finish.  Something was odd, though. The last line of the live ticker read, "We're going to close the live report now but we'll keep you updated on the site."  A minute or two later I learned that a rider had crashed badly on the descent, and half an hour later my worst fears were confirmed.  Belgian rider Wouter Weylandt had been coming off the tail end of the group on a fast descent.  He looked back to decide whether to chase or drop back to the group behind. His pedal or handle bar clipped a low wall and he went down hard, fracturing his skull.  Despite quick medical attention, he died before getting to the hospital.  A very sad day for the Giro.