Riding Alone

After the complete wash-out that was Sunday, a cold front finally shuffled through some time after midnight leaving behind damp streets, cold temperatures and wind - lots of wind.  I was off work so I didn't worry too much about getting to the levee exactly on time, especially since I wasn't expecting anyone to be there anyway.  One extra bonus we sometimes get following a good rain is a bike path littered with sticky dead earthworms.  I'm not exactly sure what causes this mass suicide, but it can make for a really messy bike ride.  As expected, I was riding alone on Monday, and although it was cold and windy, I wasn't going very hard which made the riding reasonably tolerable.  As often happens when I'm riding alone, I spotted the bald eagle sitting atop one of the big power line poles on the batture, and although the light wasn't very good I stopped to get a few photos anyway. Preparations for the partial bike path closure seem to be moving along, and on Monday I could see where the fencing was set to close off the path at the upriver end of Ochsner hospital.  I guess that the first section to be closed off completely will be from the Orleans parish line to that point, which is maybe half a mile or so.  Along the batture there were two of the big crew quarter barges that the Corps of Engineers uses, along with a huge tugboat and lots of parked cars.  It looked like they were staging an invasion.

Fortunately the bike path was still open Tuesday morning when I went out a little later than usual.  Since I'm off work there wasn't any good reason to ride in the dark, especially since the temperature was in the upper 30s and the wind probably around 12-14 mph from the north.  I dressed warmly since I was planning on riding for a couple of hours at as easy a pace as the wind would allow. At least the sky was finally clear.  I was out around LaRose, I guess, when I saw Steve and Kurt coming toward me.  They turned around and we rode out to Ormond where Steve headed home.  Kurt rode with me back downriver to River Ridge before turning back himself.  I got home with just enough time to shower, change, and ride over to TISM for a physical therapy appointment and about an hour of back and shoulder strengthening work that will probably leave me a bit sore.  I guess the next twenty-four hours will be pretty busy.  Rumor has it that they may try and move my dad from the hospital to a nursing facility, although which one still seems to be up in the air.

So perhaps I'll find some time in the next few days to complete the new SafeSport continuing education module that I'm supposed to have for my official's license.  The reaction among many officials on the listserv to that new requirement, plus the new background check requirement and cost, has generally been, to put it succinctly, "this is bullshit."  It is becoming very clear that a lot of our officials, especially those who typically officiate just one or two races a year, for free, aren't going to renew.  I think this is going to be a problem.....