Long Days, Long Week

I am feeling pretty wiped out right now, but I'm not seeing any rest for the weary in the near future.  It all got busy last Thursday when The Wife and I showed up at Ochsner Hospital for 5:00 am, on her birthday, so she could have her hip replacement surgery.  I paid a bit over $2,000 to the hospital despite the fact that we have the most expensive insurance package that Tulane offers.  The surgery went really smoothly and surprisingly quickly.  I guess this sort of thing is pretty routine nowadays.  She was out of recovery and in a room on the 9th floor before noon, calling her office to check up on things there.  The original double room overlooked Jefferson Avenue to the north, which wasn't really worth opening the blinds for, but nobody else was there so it was fine, if a little cramped.  By Friday she was feeling quite good and hoping to go home, but they needed to get in some more PT and OT, so she didn't get out until Saturday morning.  She was in such good shape that I went out and did the Giro Ride on Saturday before heading over to the hospital.  I got there just as they were signing discharge paperwork.  I was surprised how little pain she was feeling and how easily she negotiated the fourteen steps up to the house. She was supposed to be under some restrictions as far as walking and bending were concerned, but by that afternoon she convinced me to drive her and her walker over to Barnes & Noble so she could look at Nooks.

Anyway, things were going pretty smoothly so on Sunday morning I went out and rode the Sunday Giro too.  That's not to say I had a lot of free time, however. Since last week I have of course had to pick up additional duties such as dog-walking and feeding, laundry service, meal preparation, grocery shopping, and nursing, some of which has been for our geriatric dog Cosmo for whom I have a veterinarian appointment this afternoon.  I am not entirely sure if he will be coming back from this one.

Tuesday Morning on the Levee.  The fog got worse as we went upriver.

Meanwhile, I missed a little race up in Alexandria last Sunday that was promoted by Ed who had just had an appeal hearing with USAC for some issues arising from his association with a club in Lafayette.  He is kind of an odd character, as are his races.  Anyway, I didn't lose any sleep over missing that race and was just glad that I had been able to get in a couple of good rides.  The rest of the week has been a series of long days.  I've been getting up at 5:30 every morning so I can deal with the dogs and stuff before riding, and I am really starting to miss that little bit of extra sack time.  Fortunately, I have been able to get in my usual morning rides.  I had planned on doing the lakefront training  race yesterday, but in the early afternoon The Wife called to tell me her leg has suddenly swollen up rather dramatically, so I rushed  home to make sure we weren't dealing with a DVT or something.  The doctor wasn't particularly concerned, so I eventually went back to the office, but then forgot completely about the training race until I left again around 5:45.  It would have been pretty tight anyway, so I guess it's just as well.  On Tuesday I met with the mayor's office folks and police department people about the Tour de Louisiane criterium that we'll be having there on June 8, which is sneaking up on me really quickly this year.  They wanted a change in the course to avoid going past a new hotel that will be having its first fully open weekend.  Then this morning they called and are worried about a popular brunch restaurant that is now on the altered route.  I've been holding off on finishing the Race Bible until I can make the new criterium map, so this is delaying things a bit.  I'm sure it will all work out fine, but until I know for sure which course we'll be using I can't make the map and I can't make a decision on where the finish line and officials will be.  Meanwhile, I'm still waiting to see some action on the Tulane Cycling space renovation work that was held up by the student activities people, so that has cost us three weeks delay so far and may cost us an extra five thousand dollars for a card-swipe system.  I am hoping there is a cheaper way around this but at any rate I now have to come up with a Risk & Safety Management Plan and Access Policy document.

There's a nice road race up in St. Francisville this Sunday that I am planning on riding. I'm just training through this one, since my schedule has been kind of screwy lately, but it should be fun anyway and it's only a two-hour drive, which is really nice.  With so much going on I don't feel like I am in race shape at all, but as I see it, that's no reason not to race!