Yesterday I spent the whole day at home because the A/C had gone out (again) and I had to wait for the service guys. It turned out that some components on the condenser circuit board had gotten fried, shorted out, and therefore the system thought the refrigerant pressure was too high and shut down the compressor. That little glitch, along with topping up the refrigerant that is apparently leaking very slowly, cost just a hair under $1,000. If the leak gets worse I'll probably be looking at something more like $4,000. This is why I can't have nice things, like race wheels less than ten years old.
So there's another Tropical Depression about to enter the Gulf now. Hurricane season doesn't officially end until the end of November, but generally if we can get through September things start to settle down considerably. This one, which is still going by "TD-16," is expected to become a Tropical Storm shortly and could make it up to Hurricane status by Sunday when it should be coming ashore around Alabama and the Florida panhandle. If it actually sticks to that track we will be on the "good" side, which means north and northeast winds.
This morning the WeMoRi was finally back to its original route, or at least mostly its original route, now that the Wisner Overpass, closed since December of 2015, has been re-built and re-opened. I rode out there a little early, and since I could now go straight up Wisner to the lake I hit Lakeshore Drive considerably earlier than usual. It was super-windy as it's been for the past couple of days, and the lake was really high - up to the top two steps on the seawall - because of the consistent east winds. I was actually just a couple of minutes behind the group, which was apparently taking its time riding into the headwind. I rode all the way down to Elysian Fields, turned around, rode all the way down to Marconi, and still couldn't see the group. I rode back a minute or two and then finally saw the group coming over the levee a the Swim Hole, so turned around again and made it to the turn onto Marconi just as the breakaway came flying by. I jumped onto the last rider, gasping and wheezing and drooling as one does when going from 14 mph and 85 bpm to 27 mph and 150 bpm in half a mile. Suffice it to say I was already gassed as we turned onto Robt. E. Lee. The small breakaway group of maybe eight started coming apart at the turn onto Wisner and two of us were spit out the back. I was still trying to catch my breath and couldn't do much except hang on for dear life. A couple more guys came out of that break, and we saw Eddie C. at the base of the overpass putting his chain back on, but we never caught the lead group. I'd been hoping that after sprinting to the top of the overpass, and then again on City Park Avenue, they would ease up after the turn onto Marconi, but no such luck. Back on Marconi we were thankfully absorbed by the main group around Harrison Avenue. There was coffee and cake for the group at Robert's grocery since it was a "birthday ride."
This evening I'm going to have to hustle to get over to Baton Rouge to officiate the first race of the Wednesday night track series. Given the rush-hour traffic, I'll be lucky to get there by 6:30 (it starts at 7:00) even if I can get out of the office a little early. My regular track bike is out on loan to Jerry, so I'm thinking about bringing the old Viner with me so I can ride a few laps, although the tires on that bike are about twenty years old, so I won't be doing anything dramatic on them. I'm more concerned with the base tape separating from the casing than from the rim. I pumped them up yesterday and they seem OK, but you never know. If I'm really pressed for time this afternoon I may end up leaving the bike at home anyway.
On Sunday I'll probably go up to St. Francisville for the annual collegiate ride. It's also the annual MS Tour weekend, so I'm sure some people will be doing that.
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