The Long November Weekend

Finishing up the Saturday Giro, heading into lake fog.

It wasn't until Thursday night that I knew we'd be doing a "holiday Giro" Thanksgiving morning. It's the kind of thing that everybody assumes will happen but nobody wants to commit to. So I was pleasantly surprised to see fairly solid turnout under the circumstances. Most people have some kind of family commitment on Thanksgiving, so the 7 am Holiday Giro works out pretty well. As is typical for that sort of thing, there were just a few people working the front that day, with most riders content to just tick off the miles back in the draft at a more comfortable effort level, all the while fooling themselves into thinking they were burning off calories that they hadn't yet actually consumed. In my own case, I was expected at my sister's house for a family Thanksgiving lunch, which for me was a turkey leg and at least one too many glasses of wine.

On Friday the only ride that was planned was apparently a secret, so I waited until the sun actually came over the horizon before heading out for forty-odd solo miles on the levee. There was this nice little tailwind behind me all the way out that made for a really pleasant ride until, of course, I turned around. It actually wasn't all that bad except in comparison to how nice it had been in the opposite direction. Later that day I got busy on some things around the house, one of which was taking a look at one of the two expensive pendant lights in the kitchen. It had stopped working a while back, and then suddenly started working again, and then stopped again. It wouldn't be the first time I'd wrestled with it, and knowing how much of a pain in the butt it was going to be, I'd been putting it off for a long time. The thing was clearly designed by designers who didn't give a rat's ass about how reliable or repairable or easy to install it might be, just as long as it looked pretty. I have to admit, it does look pretty, but like all things that are pretty, it came with a price. The entire thing hangs on a super-thin coaxial power cord that is secured at both ends by tiny little set screws, with other tiny little set screws to make the electrical connection to the super-hot halogen light bulb. After getting it down from the ceiling I made a connector for it so I could test it on the kitchen counter, and after some experimentation determined that there was a short somewhere in the cable or the electrical connections at either end of the cable. A complete dissection revealed the likely problem, which was that the heat from the bulb had basically melted some of the inner wire insulation and caused a short. I could hear the transformer clicking on and off to protect itself. Fortunately I had a spare length of cable. Unfortunately, replacing it would require the skills and patience normally reserved for brain surgery. I left it spread all over the kitchen counter so I could think about what would be needed.

On Saturday morning I did another Giro Ride, which turned out to be pretty hard, especially after a few guys at the front basically attacked the turn off of Hayne Blvd. and opened a big gap that the few of us willing to work were never able to close. Anyway, I kind of rushed back home afterward because there was a noon surprise party for my sister and I had to make a run out to the airport immediately before that to pick up my brother and his wife who had been visiting their kids in Texas and were stopping over in New Orleans for the party before returning home to Orlando. It all worked out pretty well, and although the early morning weather had been kind of wet and gloomy, by noon the sun was out and it was quite nice for the little event in Audubon Park.

Sunday morning I was up around 3:30 am to get them to the airport for a 5 am flight, and a little later to get me out to my third Giro Ride of the week. I'd been hoping for a northshore ride on Sunday, but the weather forecast was not encouraging and I couldn't get anyone to commit. I probably would have done a long northshore ride, even if there had been some rain, if I'd been comfortable I'd have some company. Riding by myself on country roads in the rain, however, was not going to happen.

Working again ... for now.

As it turned out, the Sunday Giro got a good soaking with rain on Chef Highway ahead of the next cold front. It's supposed to be in the low 40s tonight, so it will be long tights and base layers again for the Tuesday morning ride. After getting home, cleaning the bike, throwing the clothes in the washer, and taking a shower, I got back to work on that pesky pendant light. After much tedious work I finally got it all back together and working. I'm not entirely sure that Underwriters Laboratories would approve of the whole thing, but I'm pretty sure that it will be OK for a little while at least. I ordered a couple of LED lights for it in order to reduce the heat that the halogen bulbs generate, although I'm not really sure how hot the LEDs actually get. I'm assuming they run significantly cooler. We'll see.

Later that day I heard about a crash in Florida where a "distracted" woman had plowed into a whole group of riders, killing one of them and sending six or seven to the hospital. This is getting to be a regular occurrence. People need to put the phones down and watch where they are going. I can't imagine any valid excuse for mowing down a whole group of riders in broad daylight on a flat road at 8:30 am on a Sunday morning. None. I'm not buying the "sun in my eyes" shit. Had to have been going fifty miles per hour, judging by the damage to the car.

Also, Sunday was my birthday. Sad to say I am now Medicare eligible, which I somehow find to be extremely disturbing.

In other updates: The hole in the street in front of the house now has concrete in it, but still lacks the top layer of asphalt. Meanwhile, the road is barely passable and as a result the garbage men apparently decided to just skip picking up my garbage Saturday morning. I got the estimate on repairing the Tulane Cycling TV ($263) which I guess isn't too bad. As I suspected, it needs a new power supply board. Hope I can get that reimbursed. Last week at the annual LAMBRA meeting I got volunteered to be LAMBRA treasurer. Townsend will be President, Dustin will be VP, and Rolando will be Secretary. Ricky will continue as the Commissioner of Officials, Robert will continue as the results uploader, and Boedi will continue as upgrade coordinator, so that all sounds pretty encouraging to me. I guess I'll register for Medicare tonight, even though I am also signed up for my regular insurance through work. I need to talk with someone in personnel about all of that, I guess. I'm not sure what I'll be doing next weekend. There's cyclocross up in Ridgeland Saturday and Sunday on a course that is probably best suited to actual cyclocross bikes, and then I'm supposed to be officiating the following weekend for the LAMBRA cyclocross championship in New Orleans. That will close out the LAMBRA calendar for 2018.