Followup

The mask is to protect the doctor, not me.

I was a little bit worried about going in for the followup appointment at the trauma surgery ambulatory (I use the term loosely here) clinic this morning. I'd called the day before, gotten a voicemail instructing me to leave a message and a call-back number, which I did, in order to ask if they were still seeing patients at the clinic. Since the entire State of Louisiana is under a "stay home" order starting tonight, and University Medical Center is handling multiple COVID-19 patients, it seemed possible that they might decide to limit non-essential clinic visits. I never got a return call. So Candy dropped me off around 7:45 for my 8:30 am appointment. They wouldn't let her come with me, and before I could go in I got a quick screening and a surgical mask. I hobbled over to the elevator, checked in, and was promptly brought to an exam room where I sat, rather uncomfortably, for about an hour. My doctor finally arrived, we had a brief conversation where I asked him a couple of questions, complained about how much my back was still hurting (that's where most of the fractures are), and verified that nothing else was going on. I left about five minutes later wondering why we didn't just do that by telephone to avoid the potential exposure to SARS-CoV-2.

Desolate French Quarter

I was back at the home office for the rest of the day, where I set up a COVID-19 alert and page on our office web page . It's mostly just so I can keep track of things, but will hopefully be helpful for some other people as well. Danielle texted me this evening to say that she had finally gotten the official "stay at home" order up in Washington. She's a little worried about having to order her medications online since she can't really afford to have a gap. Hopefully it will all work out fine.

6 pm, sitting on the front porch covered in oak pollen

The weather here continues to be great for riding. At least that's how it looks out the window. I did manage to find a mint condition Campi Super Record rear derailleur on eBay, so at least the bike will be back in shape before I. Local riders are riding alone, or with just one or two friends, or staying inside and riding various Zwift rides and races. On the one hand, I'm kind of glad I'm injured because otherwise I might feel the need to go out and buy a power meter just so I can ride a bike without going anywhere while pretending I'm going somewhere. I have really mixed feelings about Zwift. On the one hand, I absolutely hate riding inside on a trainer. On the other hand, I like the technology side of it all. Meanwhile, the city is practically shut down now. The French Quarter and tourism industry is at a standstill. Hotels are empty, streets are empty, shops are empty.

Edith and Buddy Gulotta

The other day Glenn Gulotta let a few of us know that his father, "Buddy" had passed away last Saturday. Glenn's parents owned Gus Betat & Son, where the New Orleans Bicycle Club was born. For years they were the sole sponsor of the club, annually donating the merchandise prizes for the Tour de Louisiane. More than that, though, they would actually come out to the races to watch, so we all got to know them pretty well. Back in the 70s I used to spend a lot of time just hanging around the bike shop, sometimes even helping customers find the right bike, but mostly just drooling over the racing bikes and parts. At the time they sold a lot of the high-end Raleigh Professional and International bikes, Atala road bikes, and custom-order Bob Jackson and Pennine frames. I ordered my Pennine in 1972, I think, and still ride it. I brought color samples in to the shop so they could send them to England to match. When ordering the frame I picked out which lugs I wanted, where I wanted the braze-ons, which dropouts I wanted, what fork crown I wanted, where I wanted chrome, etc. A few months later it arrived, complete with a headset. I think the total price was around $120, which was a lot at the time. Anyway, I have some very fond memories of Betat's, Buddy, Greg, Glenn, Grant, and the other people who worked there. It's kind of sad that it's all gone now.