Lazer Focus

Thursday on the levee

Last week was kind of a busy one that included a holiday Giro on MLK Day. On Tuesday I had an ophthalmologist appointment, and as I suspected the scar tissue behind my left lens implant had gotten pretty bad. So I was quickly scheduled for a YAG laser capsulotomy the following Friday, which wasn't really a surprise since we'd already seen some scar tissue forming soon after the initial surgery. More on that later. Meanwhile, the following day, I had to to the dentist to have one of my antique tooth caps glued back on, which was good because at least I can chew my food on one side of my mouth while I'm waiting for the implant on the other side to be completed. 

So, getting back to bicycle riding, Tuesday's long levee ride was fairly routine except that it somehow felt harder than it should have to me. I still have some lung congestion even now. The WeMoRi the following day felt a bit better, but I had to kind of rush back home afterward to make the aforementioned 8 am dentist appointment. Given the age of that crown, that I had stuck back on temporarily with denture adhesive, I was afraid the dentist was going to want to do another implant, but fortunately whatever part of the tooth that was still there looked fine, so we just re-glued the crown to it and added to the long list of things that will eventually need to be fixed. On Thursday I went out to the levee and found, well, nobody. Wednesday's ride had been super-windy and that situation hadn't changed a whole lot by Thursday. I ended up doing a somewhat shortened ride out to The Dip. I had been checking the hourly weather forecast for the northshore for days and by Thursday it was looking like we'd be OK for the Winter Ride, so I sent out a 75-mile route and hoped for the best. The Friendly Friday ride featured a strong and gusty north wind, and of course a small turnout, so it never got really fast, which was fine.

On Friday afternoon I jumped on the bike and rode over to Ochsner Main for my ophthalmology appointment. I was assuming it would be an assessment and that I would then be scheduled for the actual YAG capsulotomy at a later date. A quick look at both dilated eyes and it was determined that I should have the procedure done on both eyes, and as it turned out they could do that on the spot, so I moved down the  hall to a room with a sign on the door advising you to wear eye protection and about ten minutes later I was good to go. Of course my eyes were still dilated but fortunately I'd brought my sunglasses. The procedure made a huge difference, especially for my left eye, so that was good, although I don't think my eyes were back to normal until the next morning.

Saturday was the start of three back-to-back long rides. The first was the Saturday Giro which had a pretty big turnout, which of course meant it got fast. On the way back Lisa nailed that big hole/crack in the turn from Lake Forest onto Bullard and burped the air out of her tubeless tire. A number of us stopped at the gas station with the bullet hole to help. I had one tube with a long enough stem, so that went into the tire and we were back on the road.  Unfortunately, that tube was apparently leaky, and by the time we were approaching the Casino overpass the rim was starting to bottom out. She ended up stopping a number of times to put more air into the tube but I think eventually resorted to calling for extraction.

On Sunday I headed across the lake to Abita Springs for the 8:30 winter ride. The temperature was still in the low 40s when we started but the sky was clear and it would eventually warm up by twenty degrees during our 78 mile ride. For reasons I cannot begin to fathom we had only 7 on hand which surely contributed to the pace remaining fairly steady and moderate. I enjoyed the route, which included a bit on Thigpen and Isabel Swamp gravel, but was disappointed to find Wardline road pretty torn up and clogged with dump trucks - on a Sunday. 

Monday was MLK day so as usual there was a holiday Giro. Turnout wasn't bad, considering, but there was clearly more traffic than on the weekend, some of obviously didn't consider our smallish group to be worth slowing down for. For me, I was kind of glad that the pace remained under control. Yesterday, Tuesday, there was some rain around and the streets were wet, so I was kind of surprised to find a few people up on the levee for the 6 am ride. Although the temperature was in the 60s, I was sometimes feeling kind of chilled despite arm-warmers thanks to the constant wheel spray and occasional light drizzle. We did manage the full ride, but I arrived back home pretty wet and cold. I rinsed off the bike, lubed the chain, and quickly jumped into a hot shower.

Today's WeMoRi was nice and warm with a good turnout that included a new well-experienced rider, Cynthia, from Australia who fit right in nicely. She is a med student doing her 3rd year at Ochsner in the University of Queensland - Ochsner program.

Things for next weekend are still up in the air weather-wise with significant rain in the forecast for both Saturday and Sunday so we'll have to see what the hourly forecast looks like on Friday before deciding what will or will not work for Sunday's northshore ride.