Team Kit Season

It is not uncommon for a team kit order to drag on into December or even January, with actual delivery not being accomplished until some time in April.  And so it was truly amazing that both the NOBC and Tulane Cycling team kit orders were completed in the early fall, and even more amazing that both orders arrived within a day of each other.  One thing that has really simplified the whole process has been the ability of the manufacturers to set up team stores on their websites, thus relieving the clubs from assembling orders, collecting payments, sending deposits, sorting out who gets what, etc., etc.  Nowadays we just get a great big box, inside of which are a whole bunch of individually wrapped orders, each with the rider's name on it.  The Tulane box arrived at my office on Wednesday afternoon.  By Thursday afternoon David and Carly had stopped by, made up bags with team water bottles and kit orders for everyone, and hauled them away for distribution.  By 7:30 am this morning I'd already seen two of the team members wearing their new kits up on the levee.  For myself I had ordered only a new Tulane jersey, a long-sleeve NOBC jersey and a pair of NOBC kickers.  The Daughter, however, had ordered a whole lot of Tulane gear since she doesn't have the stockpile of old stuff that I have.  Well, actually she has a lot of my stockpile right now.  Maybe I'll get some of it back now!

I did indeed venture out to the levee again this morning. It was overcast and damp, and the streets were a little wet with more rain in the forecast.  I wasn't surprised that I was the only one at the meeting spot by the Stacks.  It was just as well, since my neck and upper back are still in pretty bad shape from that beating they took in Jackson last Saturday.  By the time I was twenty minutes in to my ride those muscles were screaming again, and so when I got to Williams Blvd. I stopped to stand for a while.  It didn't really help much.  On the way back I met up with Woody, which at least took my mind off of the pain for a while.  I'm now thinking that it is probably going to be a couple of weeks before this tissue damage is healed and I can ride comfortably for more than half an hour at a time.  Sucks, really.  Tomorrow I'll ride out to the Giro in the morning, but I'm fully expecting to be turning back somewhere along Hayne Blvd.  There are family commitments starting by 10:00 am anyway, so I wouldn't have been able to do the whole ride regardless.  On the plus side, I have reserved a meeting room at Tulane for the annual LAMBRA business meeting.  On the minus side, I now need to send out the notice about that to everyone, make up an agenda, create a brief presentation, make arrangements for lunch since it will be during Thanksgiving break, drop off a check for the room rental fee, get the planning calendar set up, etc.