Summertime Crunch Time

Halfway through July and the rides are hot and sweaty. Just the way I like them. I have always felt better in the heat than the cold, and for me, 70° F is cold. Still, hot is hot, and it takes its toll.

The COVID numbers have been going in the wrong direction practically everywhere, and people are getting concerned. I am getting concerned. Tulane is planning on bringing students to campus in four weeks. We are planning on putting on a time trial in three. It's getting close to crunch time for both. Yesterday, Saturday, the Louisiana Department of Health inexplicably, and apparently without warning, decided to just stop posting numbers on cases, deaths, and hospitalizations on Saturdays. In the middle of an escalating epidemic. I know everyone's overworked, but lumping two days' worth of counts into Sunday's numbers is not helpful, especially to all of the people sweating out where this thing is going. Meanwhile, it seems like people are mostly not staying home. There are crowds walking down Bourbon Street every night. On the COVID testing front, New Orleans has been hovering around the 5.7 - 6.5% range for ten days, but trending up. Louisiana as a whole is worse, ranging from 9.20 - 11.3% over the same period. I'd be reasonably comfortable if those rates were closer to 3%. This weekend I really had to think twice about whether to do the Giro Rides. Group rides like those are the only thinks keeping me motivated right now, and I really doubt I'd find the self-discipline to push myself that much riding alone.

Gavin, after the Giro

This week was as standard and predictable, riding-wise, as ever. A fairly easy ride on Monday, 42 steady miles with the 6 am levee guys on Tuesday and Thursday, 29 miles with the WeMoRi in the middle on Wednesday, and another easy ride on Friday. None were particularly hard this week, so I really felt I needed the Giro rides. Both Saturday's and Sunday's were pretty well-attended. A bit of a east wind on Saturday kept the speeds down on the way out, making it relatively easy in the back of the group where I was. It felt so easy that I even considered riding up to the front to do some real work. Fortunately the feeling passed quickly. Sunday's ride was a repeat of Saturday's. On both, the group split on the way back as soon as we hit Hayne. That's unusual, actually, and by the time I realized what was happening, it was too late. I guess there was a bit of tailwind both days for that segment, so perhaps that's what it was. Anyway, I've gotten home every day this week soaked in sweat, so I guess it's summertime in New Orleans. The forecast for the next two weeks is basically the same every day. Highs around 90, lows around 80, chance of rain between 30 and 80%, and no promises.

Giro heading out on Sunday

Work has been getting more and more busy, and I'm about to pick up a big COVID-related funding tracking project that should be both interesting and messy. Mike Lew, over at Gray Cat Cycleworx in Hammond has started planning a Gran Fondo for March. I'm still expecting we'll be able to pull off the Time Trial on August 9, but the Tour de La will probably be up in the air for another few weeks and I don't think we'll get serious about it one way or the other until after the Time Trial. This evening I happened to check the Tulane Cycling Groupme and saw that one of the riders said there was a water leak at HQ. I knew immediately what it was. I called facilities to report it, and although I told them it was almost certainly a clogged air-conditioner condensate line (it's happened twice before), they sent a plumber, who then called me to meet him there so he could get in. The floor in the back of the suite was basically flooded and water was dripping from the big a/c unit above the bathroom and hallway. A couple more ceiling tiles were about to fall in. So of course the plumber called back and told them it was the a/c. We turned the unit off and hopefully someone will be in there tomorrow to blow out the line and mop up the water. I should mention that the a/c was set on something like 60°F.