Finishing Off 2018

Audubon Zoo Lights

I woke to the sound of wet tires on wet roads on New Year's Eve. I turned the alarm off without even looking out the window, although I admit that I checked the weather radar ten minutes later. There's always hope, you know. In this case, however, the thought of yet another wet ride on wet roads followed by cleaning the bike for, I think, the fourth day in a row, was just too much. I pulled the covers up over my head and didn't put my feet on the floor until at least 7 am. After a cup of coffee and a somewhat over-ripe banana I checked the radar again. It looked like there might be a window of an hour or two without significant rain. I rolled out from the house a bit after 8:30 on the old rain bike for an easy ride on the levee. Although I got a bit of light rain for the last five miles or so, I logged the final 26 miles of the year, nudging my annual mileage up to 12,391 - just a bit higher than my 2014 total of 12.379. It always amazes me how close my annual totals are. Over the past five years, my average works out to 12,131. Riding along the levee I noticed that the big old dead tree near the country club where the eagles often perch had apparently been blown down during the recent storms. Not to worry, though, as I saw both of the eagles perched on a nearby tree as I went by.

It was very busy in the kitchen

So the holidays went nicely. Danielle and Shannon were here for a week and a half. I got in some nice rides, even though a lot of them were wet and messy, and we're planning on a nice New Year's Day ride on the levee tomorrow out to the Spillway. After that I guess it will be back to the grind, but the past couple of weeks have provided a nice diversion.

We went to the Zoo to see their new Christmas lights display, which was fairly impressive. Then, right on queue, the dishwasher stopped working. Actually, it was working great but would hang with one minute left on the timer, apparently waiting for the water temperature to get up to the proper level, which wasn't happening. All indications are that it is a bad control board. With the impending holidays and no time to wait for a new $250 control board to arrive, we hustled over to Lowes and bought a new one, which of course wasn't cheap. I got to work installing it and, of course, discovered I needed a different fitting for the water supply connection. Naturally it was half an hour before closing time at Lowes, so I had to rush over there to get what I needed, but it all worked out and we were happily washing dishes later that night.

High Point - City Park

Christmas Day was over at my sister's house following a visit with Dad at Poydras Home. Candy had made something like five pies. There's still a lot left a week later. Also cookies. Also chocolate.

Christmas Eve Giro Ride Group

The weekend before Christmas I did three Giro Rides, including the Holiday Giro on Christmas Eve, so that was nice. By Monday's ride, though, it was getting pretty windy and the forecast for the rest of the week wasn't looking all that good. We did manage to get in the WeMoRi before the rains started, though. Thursday was super-windy, and there were only a couple other riders out, so we did a shorter levee ride, turning around at the Big Dip. It still felt like a workout, though. Friday morning was a wash-out, but the rain stopped in the afternoon so I went out for a long solo ride to Ormond and back. Everything was wet and dirty by the time I got back, but otherwise it was good. I wasn't expecting much of a turnout for the Saturday Giro, considering the threat of rain, wet roads, and holidays. By the time we started I'd already decided to turn back at the end of Lakeshore Drive. It was chilly and wet and I knew if I got rained on I'd be really uncomfortable. I didn't regret my decision. Again I had to wash the bike and lube the chain and throw my dirty clothes into the washer.

Dec. 30 Giro - Lots of fog, but not too cold.

That afternoon the weather improved a bit so we went out to City Park so I could explore the Couturie Forest trail which I hadn't seen since we used to do mountain bike races there. There's a big "hill" there that was originally a dump for debris from construction of the nearby I-610. Back when we rode mountain bikes there it was basically a pile of broken concrete and rebar and dirt. This was before mountain bikes had suspension. Also before City Park knew there was a trail back there. Now there's a "lookout" on top of it and nicely laid out trails with occasional signage and lots of newly planted trees. It was nice, although in a more civilized way than it used to be. Anyway, Danielle and I walked the trails while Candy walked a lap around the golf course and Shannon did a long run around the park.

Poydras Home Visit

While we were there we rain into Dustin and a few other riders who were still on the bikes from the Giro Ride. As it turned out, only two riders did the whole Giro that day, and they ended up riding around the city, eating pastries, and fixing flats. Later that afternoon we send Danielle, Shannon, and the two little dogs back off to Olympia and returned to a very quiet house.

It's almost 9:00 pm right now and I can hear fireworks all over the place. The streets are still wet and the temperature is in the 60s. The city is doing three or four separate fireworks displays this year. It remains to be seen whether I'll still be awake to hear the last one at midnight, but after that it will be back to the regular routine I guess, at least for six days until the Phynny Phorty Phellows and Twelfth Night Revelers kick off the Mardi Gras season!