Back on the Back

The streets were almost dry when I left home this morning to see how many people would be waiting at the Morning Call for the last Northshore training ride of 2006. Considering that it was New Year's Eve, and there was a Saints game, I wasn't expecting many. As I drove into the parking lot, I looked around for the usual cars, but didn't see any, so I parked, half-expecting I'd be the only one today. Then I glanced over to my right and saw Tim. He said that a bunch of the Herring guys would be in town for the ride today. That could mean only one thing -- it was going to be a couple of notches faster than usual, for sure. I think we had at least a dozen riders, maybe 15, at the start. Scott K went to the front right out of the gate and pulled steadily into the wind at 22-23 mph for the first five miles. I wondered if it was a good idea for me, on my first real ride in over a week, to be diving into the deep end this way. We lost a couple of guys within the first ten miles, as the pace stayed significantly faster than usual. I was being careful to keep my pulls short and sweet, and wasn't hesitating to let the blue guys into the paceline ahead of me. Jay and Jaro had also been sick over the holidays, and were keeping low profiles. Scott was hammering up all the climbs and by the time we were 25 miles in, the strain was starting to show. We waited at an intersection to regroup, but the rest of the group sent Jason up to tell us to go ahead, so it was down to six guys and me. After that, Kenny and I were keeping toward the back as much as possible! Tim flatted about halfway through the ride and I swear it took two inner tubes and three CO2 cartridges to get it fixed.

Anyway, we ended up with around 70 today with an average speed of something in excess of 22 mph. I was actually really happy to find that I felt pretty good toward the end, and even though I had obviously been doing as little work as possible, it was nice to know that I hadn't lost quite as much fitness as I had feared. It was nice to end 2006 with a good ride!

Rideless in the Rain

Well, another day without riding. Today was the first day I've really been up for a good ride, but of course it started raining before dawn and hasn't stopped since. Somehow, fate always seems to manage some sort of conspiracy like this during the winter, the net result of which is a long stretch of doing nothing and a few extra pounds around the middle. It'll be three weeks for sure before I feel right again, but if the weather cooperates I'll be on the northshore tomorrow morning for a long ride anyway. Not expecting it to be easy, at least for me!

Joey and Kelly D stopped by this afternoon for a visit before they have to head back up to NC. Too bad I never got to do any long rides with Joey this time, but between the illness, the weather, and an unexpected crisis, there was just no chance. Anyway, that and the copy of Road that I picked up at the local Barnes and Noble, were the highlights of my day. I might have to break down and get a subscription of Road this year.

Right about the time I was getting over the head cold that screwed up my Christmas holiday, we got word that the Mother in Law, who has moderately advanced AD, had been assaulted and sexually abused while in a locked Alzheimer's unit at the nursing home up in Baton Rouge. As a result, we spent most of two days up there helping deal with the whole thing, moving her to another facility, dealing with police, family, etc. Of course, the people form the home were trying to cover the whole thing up and she didn't get to the hospital until maybe 14 hours later after one of the staff called a family member about the huge black eye (among other injuries) she had. Unbelievable. It's enough to make you want to die suddenly and get it over with.

Lost Days

Although I seem to be finally emerging from the fog of the last few days, things are still a bit unstable. It certainly feels like I've just lost a few days altogether. The fever has subsided, but with a head that feels like it is full of jello, I'm not quite ready for prime time just yet. How convenient that I could schedule this little patch of illness for the holidays rather than use some of the sick leave time that I routinely leave on the table each year at work. The university is closed between Christmas and New Year's, so except for the occasional emails following up on ongoing issues, this would be a prime opportunity to enjoy some nice rides during daylight hours, catch up on work around the house, and generally kick back a bit and enjoy the season. The weather today is quite nice, so around noon I though I'd venture outside for a short walk and to see if I felt up to little ride. I guess not. The combination of this head cold and the drugs still has me feeling generally colder than the temperature justifies, and things are a little shaky yet, but at least I'm heading in the right direction. Perhaps tomorrow I'll be up for at least part of the morning levee ride.

Under the Influence

Well, I've spent the Christmas holiday under the influence of numerous OTC medications in an apparently futile attempt to hold off this cold. Although I was glad not to have awakened Christmas morning with a sore throat, I was pretty unhappy about the steadily rising fever. Looks like this will cost me a good week's worth of training, but I can at least take some comfort in the fact that the weather has been about as miserable as I. Today was six hours at my mother's house breathing cigarette smoke and feeling lousy with no sign of improvement and hardly any appetite. I did manage to force down a couple of slices of lemon merangue pie and a glass of wine, though.

Great Day ... to be sick

OK, so I'll be on the couch today hoping to avoid being really sick for the rest of the holidays. Sitting here surfing the web, imagine my surprise to find a photo from way out of the past on the RideTrash blog (you might want to shield the eyes of the kiddies first). The Mulholland Massacre ride in L.A. is using a photo from a time trial on River Road in Baton Rouge that was taken in 1984. I wonder where they got it from? I've had a copy of it on the NOBC site, in the history section, for years. Wierd. By the way, that's Adam Watts of Adam's Bicycle World (recently re-named simply Bicycle World) who was holding rider Eddie Padilla.

Yeech!

Rain all night, then the fog rolled back in with a cool front, so now it's dark and damp and nasty. In classic fashion, I think I'm getting a head cold, so I'm popping zinc lozenges, for lack of anything better, and hoping for the best. The Daughter called to say her flight tomorrow (which routed through -- you guessed it -- Denver) was cancelled, so The Wife somehow got her on the only remaining seat on any airline flying into New Orleans tomorrow. She won't tell me what it cost. The weather is supposed to clear up at some point, but I sure don't see any sign of that from where I'm sitting. Another day off the bike and I will be sick for sure. Don't know why, but that's just how it usually works out.

So it's 1 p.m. and I'm the only one left at the office, as usual. The whole place is basically a ghost town now, and I'm about ready to pack it in myself if I can convince the workaholic to do likewise.

Spoke too Soon

The quiet day I was expecting went up in flames early this morning. An article in "Inside Higher Ed" (you all read that, don't you?) listed lobbying expenses at a bunch of universities and reported ours at about double what it actually is. At least we were in good company! Our office and Public Relations were all over it, of course, along with a few other universities for whom they had made the same mistake. Since I'm the one who actually does the lobbying reports that nobody cares about except when this sort of thing happens, I was pretty busy. After a flurry of emails with the editor, I think we got it straightened out and have been removed from the listing in the article. At least it was a web article where that sort of thing can get fixed right away and not a print article where it will be there forever. Then someone sends me a photo from the local news website showing street flooding a few blocks from my house. Of course, they failed to mention that there's a bunch of major underground street work going on at that intersection right now, so probably the storm drains are either blocked or temporarily closed off. Either way, I hope the people over there who just finished repairing the hurricane flood damage didn't get wet again.

Christmas Colors

Lots of Christmas Colors on the ol' radar map this morning, and although it's worse elsewhere, this ain't no picnic either. The rain had already started when I arrived at the little neighborhood get-together yesterday after work, and it hasn't stopped for a moment since. There will be no bike riding for me today. Mostly, I'm expecting it to be a pretty boring day. Lots of people are already on vacation, the students are gone, and all that remains is a scattering of lame office Christmas parties.

Yesterday my office met for lunch at Herbsaint, which was pretty nice, although of course the conversation always comes back around to work and politics, which in my office are rather closely intertwined. After lunch, everyone except I took off, so it was a very quiet afternoon. Unless something unexpected flares up, today and tomorrow will be likewise, I'm sure. Just as well, I guess. I could use the sleep! After yesterday evening's little party, where I drank wine, took pictures of the kids (and adults) swinging at the pinata, and drank more wine, I went home and sacked out early. I got to work uncharacteristically early this morning. Since I couldn't ride, I drove in with The Wife and brought along the little Christmas gifts for the folks in the office. This year they all got Starbucks stuff. Those Starbucks folks are pretty sharp. I've got to hand it to them for never missing a good marketing opportunity. Pre-assembled christmas gift boxes with coffee, cookies, holiday theme mugs, etc., each with a convenient gift card and ribbon.

Finally!

A morning without fog. Not only that, it was well above 60F at the crack of dawn, so although lights were still needed for a while, thanks to the overcast sky, shorts were the order of the day.
Rain is in the cards later today, so I was glad to be able to get out for a warm and dry ride for a change.

We had a pretty decent sized group today, but really not as big as I would have expected given the conditions. I guess the holidays are already taking their toll. At some point in the ride, on the way out, the speed picked up. I looked up to see who was on the front. I don't know exactly where he came from, but it was Matt. Later, when he dropped back, I thought something about him looked odd. More odd than usual.

There was a nice tailwind all the way out, so speeds stayed high, but I knew we'd pay the price on the return trip. After the turnaround I got a better look and discovered blond hair poking out from under Matt's helmet. Hmmmm. Don't seem to remember Matt's hair as being that color. Apparently his mid-life crisis is starting to kick in and he has dyed his hair. Anyway, the ride back was fairly brisk, considering the headwind. My legs definitely felt better than yesterday.

Heading out to our office lunch soon and then the rest of the day will be up in the air. Naturally, it's getting ready to rain. Looks like the weather is going to be kind of iffy through Christmas. Here's a pic of Matt without his helmet. I hear all the guys down in the Quarter think it's very attractive.

7 for 7

Here it is already noon and I can barely see the lower parts of the nearby buildings. Yeah, this will be seven straight days of serious fog. The pads in my helmet haven't been dry in a week. When I got to the levee this morning for the long Tuesday ride, Luke was the only one there. He was already trying to talk me into turning around early before I even came to a stop. Eventually, though, we accumulated a decent-sized group of, maybe, ten or so.

It was good and foggy again, of course, but not terrible. Visibility was maybe a quarter mile on average, so the biggest issue was really the dampness. Most of the group turned around at the dip, but four or five of us went all the way out to the end. We had started out a few minutes late this morning and I knew there was a headwind waiting for us on the way back, but, hell, I needed some riding time. Two of the guys we were with live out by Ormond, but they turned around with us and rode back all the way to the dip, so that helped. After that, it was just Donald, Glen and I. I was mostly correct about the headwind, so our pace was limited to 21-22 mph most of the way back. Donald is still trying to get back in shape after some time off the bike with back issues, and my own legs weren't feeling too hot today. Eventually, my feet started getting cold from being wet, even though the temperature was probably in the low 60s. Anyway, it felt like kind of a long slog today, and I arrived back home a good 15 minutes later than usual. I don't remember ever having this many days in a row of riding in the fog like this. Of course, it's always a little worse along the river than it is elsewhere in the city.

It is getting kind of quiet here at the university, as is typical leading up to the holidays. Tomorrow our little office will be heading over to Herbsaint for our annual Christmas lunch, and although I'll be in the office through Friday, not much is likely to happen during that time. How's this sound?

"Here is where dark, rouxy gumbos find common ground with lemony gnocchi seared in olive oil, where small plates of house-made spaghetti come outfitted with fried poached eggs, where parmesan beignets stand in for croutons on carefully composed spinach salads, and steamy piles of dirty rice escort crisp confit duck legs."

Yummy, eh?? You might not find "rouxy" in your English dictionary.

Unbroken Chain

Well, the fog wasn't quite as bad this morning, but it was still heavy enough to keep the headlight on and get everything good and wet during the morning levee ride. It was only Joe and I at first, but after a while I heard John say "I'm here" as he latched onto Joe's wheel. This is the sixth straight day of heavy morning fog, and it's starting to get old. By the time I went to work, it seemed like the fog had just gotten worse instead of better. In fact, the tops of the taller buildings downtown were still in the fog until late afternoon. The Weather Channel isn't offering much hope either, having issued a Dense Fog Advisory earlier today:

"THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEW ORLEANS HAS ISSUED A DENSE FOG ADVISORY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING TO 10 AM CST TUESDAY. DENSE FOG IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS THE REGION AGAIN TONIGHT AND PERSIST INTO TUESDAY MORNING AS LIGHT WINDS AND ABUNDANT MOISTURE COMBINE TO PRODUCE IDEAL CONDITIONS FOR FOG DEVELOPMENT."

Great. More of the same. Anyway, John and I traded long, even pulls this morning at a steady 21 mph as the condensing fog dripped from the fronts of our helmets onto our noses. At least it wasn't cold, otherwise we might have thought we were in Seattle. My legs were still feeling kind of stiff from the weekend rides. At work, things are already getting into that odd schizophrenic state that the holidays always inspire. Some people and projects seem to suddenly go into hibernation for the duration, while other people shift into manic mode, compulsively trying to wrap up old projects before the end of the year. Just for the record, I fall distinctly into the former category.

The 2007 LAMBRA race calendar is still shifting around a bit. Frank Moak called this evening to say that he was swapping dates with one of the Baton Rouge time trials, and one of the road races near Meridian, MS is looking to move to a different date too. Every time one race moves, it causes a ripple effect all through the calendar. Even so, it's important that we get a reasonably solid calendar out there pretty soon, or there will just be more conflicts with events in neighboring states. Texas officially announced their Texas Cup calendar recently. As usual, the Tour de La conflicts with the Matrix Challenge, but luckily Texas has more than enough riders to go around. At any rate, I'm set to announce the LAMBRA calendar at the end of the week, ready or not. I know it's hard for some of the promoters to nail their dates down this early, but they'll be glad they did when their events sneak up on them as always seems to happen.

Laura sent in the club's team kit order, along with a big check, today, which is probably about the earliest we've ever gotten it done. Naturally someone called me tonight to see about ordering his stuff! I wonder when the stuff will arrive.

Another Day in the Fog?

I was sure that after five straight days of riding in the fog, we were finally done with it. Indeed, there was hardly any fog around when I drove out to the Morning Call this morning to see who would show up for the Northshore ride. Training rides at this time of year are always kind of sketchy, attendence-wise, and this one was not exception. Only Sam was there when I arrived, so we loaded up the Volvo and hit the Causeway. It was looking good. Clear skies and no significant fog at all. Until, that is, we hit the north end of the Causeway. Damn! The fog just got thicker and thicker the farther north we went and by the time we were at the parking lot where the ride was to start, I was wishing I hadn't left my tail light at home. As it turned out, we had only eight riders today, but it was a good group and everybody was pretty much on the same page. I thought it would be a good day to take the unpaved "Dusty Road" route to Enon, since that would keep us off of relatively busy Lee Road, so after a few miles to warm up we hit the red dirt and gravel for a couple of miles of slip-and-slide. Actually, the road was nice and dry and the gravel wasn't deep, so it was a pretty easy traverse today. We were over half-way through the ride before we finally started to get some glimpses of the sun overhead, and finally, with twenty miles or so left, the fog was gone and the temperatures well on the rise. Since the bikes were already dirty, we decided to make our return trip via Isabel Swamp Road, which also has a mile or two of dirt. This road was surprisingly hard-packed and some sections felt just like smooth asphalt! Although we only logged about 60 miles today, my legs were definitely feeling it by the time we got back.

Is This a December Giro?

The fog wasn't too bad when I left home, but the closer I got to the lakefront, the thicker the fog became. I had worn my vest because I knew I'd be wet by the time I got out there, and I guess that today the only choice was between warm wet and cold wet. Warm was better. The Giro groups was somewhat small, thanks to the thick fog, and the pace remained moderate all the way out to the turnaround. Only a few people in the group had tail lights, and it was definitely a bit on the dangerous side today. I was kind of surprised when so many riders decided to continue and do a long ride out to Fort Pike. Personally, I was more than happy to turn around and head back, as my wet feet were already starting to get cold and the prospect of a 90 mile ride in this soup didn't seem too appealing to me. There were just a few of us heading back together, but soon Todd got on the front and between VJ and he, we were soon rolling along at 25-28 mph, which lasted until we hit the service road. Then, along Hayne, I accidentally rolled off the front when the pace slowed down, trying to avoid getting cold. Finally on my way home, the fog eased up as I headed away from the lakefront. It was kind of a miserable ride for me today, after which we headed up to Baton Rouge to visit The Wife's mother. That was pretty depressing.

Saturday night was a little party at Robin's place. It's always nice to see all of your riding friends wearing civilian clothes. Some of them clean up surprisingly well. The jambalaya was tasty, the wine (and champagne) were great, and the company was entertaining. Nonetheless, I was good and kept it down to four or six glasses of wine since I was planning on doing the Northshore ride on Sunday. I took some photos, too. 'Tis the Season!

More of the Same

It was just more of the same thing today - fog, wet streets, and lingering morning darkness. I had little enthusiasm for getting on the bike this morning, but fear of fatness somehow got me out the door anyway. Two jerseys, arm-warmers, and shorts were barely sufficient despite the relatively warm 59 degree air temperature. I doubt the relative humidity has dropped below 80% for the last three days, and of course in the morning it's always right at the dew point, or vice-versa, which is to say the air is fully saturated.

There was a heavy mist that was just short of rain, and I could immediately feel it on my face and arms where the dampness just cut right through the arm-warmers. For the first few blocks I fought off the voice of reason that kept whispering "go back home you fool" in my ear. One has to be careful about listening to the voice of reason sometimes. As usual, once I was thoroughly dampened by the fog and the chill had begun to stabilize, it was all better. You can never trust your instincts for those first couple of miles, you know. Sometimes new riders entering one of their first races will ask me what they should do. I often tell them to stay calm, near the front, and out of the wind for the first half of the race. By then, it will be clear what they can do for the second half. Training rides are like that too sometimes.

So anyway, there were just two of us up there today, except for a brief visit by Howard. Pretty standard Friday spin. Things should be getting a bit better, weather-wise, over the weekend, and there is nothing really cold in the forecast for at least the next week, but I'm sure the usual holiday chores and errands will consume much of the available riding time. That's OK. It's only December, right?

The area clubs and race promoters have been doing a great job of working out their final event dates, and I'm just waiting for one more date before putting the 2007 calendar up on the website. Hopefully most of them will be able to stick with their dates, because moving a race around after it is initially scheduled is never a good thing.

Someone posted a link to a bunch of photos from the NCURA party that was part of the D.C. meeting I attended in November. This is the band that is composed entirely of research administrator types (except for the woman who is actually on the NCURA office staff in Washington). Yeah, I'm in there somewhere.

The Daughter finished up exams last night, and will be leaving soon to visit with her roomate's family in Wisconsin, finally finding her way back here a couple of days before Christmas. We keep saying we'll take a couple of days off and try to make some progress on the stalled kitchen project, but it doesn't seem to be happening. When I was younger I'd just put in a few all-nighters and the thing would be done. Nowadays I'd rather have a couple of glasses of wine, put my feet up, and pretend I don't care until I fall asleep halfway through Jay Leno's monologue.

Cloud Ridin'

The city was socked-in with fog again this morning, and as I sit here looking out the window on the 25th floor, all I can see in all directions is misty white nothingness. Down at street level, though, it's now more of a light mist than a fog and I guess it will be another hour before my pant legs dry out from the commute in to work.

Earlier this morning I was determined to ride, regardless of the fog, perhaps a bit motivated by a midnight call alerting me to the unexpected death of one of the Neurology faculty members. Life is short. It was just like riding in a cloud this morning. Water droplets accumulated quickly on the leading edges of everything, and my clear glasses didn't make it three miles before I had to pull them off and put them in my pocket. With both lights flashing I arrived at the levee to find only Joe, but after we got going we picked up first Jeff and then Keith. All the way out to River Ridge the combination of darkness and fog kept our speed down to 20 or so, and even so there were a few spikes in the heart rate monitors when we came around the curve at the pipes to find a Jefferson Parish police SUV cutting the curve and heading straight for us. In fact, the most dangerous things up there today were the police cars. Once we got out to Kenner the fog was much thinner and I was finally confortable turning off my light. Since we were so few of us, we turned around at the 'dip' today. It wouldn't have been a bad day to do the whole long ride, but we weren't going fast enough to get everyone back on schedule. The return trip was a couple of mph faster, thanks to the improved visibility, and we saw Eddie C on his unlit TT bike looking kind of concerned and obviously going more slowly than usual. Somewhere along the way we lost Joe, but I'm sure he eventually found his way home.

Coulda

The bedside alarm sounded in the dark and with one eye open I shut it off. When the backup wristwatch alarm started its beeping, I looked out the window. It was way too dark. Outside, the streets were wet and the fog was thick. Really thick. I briefly considered going out for a ride on the old Pennine with its wide tires and full fenders. After all, although it was wet and dark and foggy, the temperature was pretty warm. I could have ridden.

I didn't. My own morning inertia, combined with the need to transfer lights to the other bike, and the inherent danger, however minimal, of riding in a dark fog on city streets, was enough to tip the scales in favor of a day off. It doesn't take much on a Wednesday morning. Much of the fog had lifted by 8 a.m. when I arrived at the office, but even by 10:00, when the RiverCam photo was taken, it was still around, shrouding the tops of the taller buildings downtown.

Things are moving along with finalizing the '07 LAMBRA racing calendar, thanks to the work of the area clubs and promoters. I think we'll have a pretty decent season on the books, albeit with the usual slowdown after mid-July. I still need to do the revision of the bylaws that is needed following the annual meeting earlier this month, but that shouldn't be too difficult and it can definitely wait until the holidays if necessary.

So the news today is the official announcement that our Senior Vice President for Health Sciences is moving to Chicago where he will be president and CEO of the Loyola University Health System and Medical Center. The real surprise (there had been well-founded rumors for a while) is that he will be leaving at the end of January, leaving us with quite a problem. As you can imagine, it is still very hard to recruit quality people to New Orleans. That is, assuming the President doesn't eliminate the position entirely, which has become a bit of a trend at local universities lately. Just to remind us that all is not normal, yesterday we lost water pressure for a couple of hours, which was probably about the time that a major water main broke over on the West Bank in Algiers, which is the bend in the river that you can see in the photo above. They are saying that it may be until Thursday before they have that one fixed, and in the meantime the residents in that area are under a "boil order." Up in D.C., the Dems are going for a year-long Continuing Resolution for this Fiscal Year, rather than finish up the appropriations bills that Congress (they) left behind. This will cause some problems for the federal funding agencies and, of course, our research grant recipients, until the agencies know exactly how much funding they will actually have for the year that is already one-quarter past. Of course, the Dems are blaming the Republicans for everything, as usual. The next time the Republicans take control of Congress (which is likely to be quite a while at this point), they will blame the Democrats for all of the problems. Personally, I blame them both for not being able to work together like adults. At least down here in Louisiana we make stupid decisions quickly, forge ahead with them decisively, and move on.

Too Warm for Arm-Warmers

I was rather overdressed for this morning's affair on the levee. The skies looked overcast, at least as far as I could tell at 6 a.m., so I figured I'd go with two jerseys and arm-warmers since it might be foggy and/or raining. As it turned out, it was neither and with nine or ten riders in the group the pace was brisk but not brutal. Ronnie was lobbying for an early turnaround, but I think almost everybody ended up doing the whole ride except Luke who apparently flatted right when we started out and Courtley who got held up coming across the lake because they were "caravanning." The causeway police will do that when it gets really foggy, although she said that it didn't look foggy at all to her. Anyway, it was a pretty typical and uneventful 44 mile morning ride. Some slightly cooler air is on its way and I'm expecting to see some rain around here this afternoon when it arrives.

In the meantime, we're trying to wrap up the LAMBRA racing calendar, which means I will be harassing various promoters, with escalating frequency, until I have solid dates and event information from them. Wish me luck...

The best quote I've seen so far on Jefferson's re-election came from a political analyst at the University of New Orleans: “We've just re-elected the least-effective member of the House of Representatives.” All those people who didn't bother to vote this time need to be horse-whipped.

Back to "Normal"

(First, you might want to look at this article on doping in sports from the LA Times)

Much warmer this morning, but being a Monday there were only a few for the levee ride. Ronnie and Joe F. decided to do a long ride, so after the turnaround that left just Donald and me. Donald happily pulled all the way back. He just loves that for some reason, and I could find no cause to complain about it, myself, so I spun along behind him taking in the scenery and mulling over the two big events of the weekend. Anyway, it looks like the weather for the next week or so will be fairly normal - maybe even a bit warmer than normal.

The first was yesterday's Saints game. I'm not much of a football fan, and even less of a fan of disappointment, so I've never followed the Saints very well. Past teams always seemed to be playing football more because they had to than because they wanted to, and they had a particular knack for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory at the last moment. Well, something's changed. These guys were in shape, well-trained, and playing for keeps and it was a beautiful sight to behold, once you got past the tatoos and greasy dreadlocks sticking out from under the helmets.

The other shocking thing I witnessed this weekend was the re-election of Representative Bill Jefferson in what Donald aptly described as "another OJ verdict." Indeed, there was no rational reason to re-elect the guy. His record on the Hill is dismal IMHO, and then there was that little matter of the as-yet unexplained $90,000 in his freezer that the FBI happened to stumble across in the course of a bribery investigation in which two of Jefferson's buddies have already plead guilty. This was a case of that certain segment of the metro area (his district is quite gerrimandered) again pissing on the "system" as they did when they re-elected the Mayor, who, BTW, has been pretty hard to find since that election. Of course, it didn't help when the Jefferson Parish Sherrif (part of that parish is included in Jefferson's district) raised a big fuss because Jefferson's opponent in the runoff, who was pretty damned weak herself, when interviewed in the infamous Spike Lee "documentary," accused his police department of being, basically, racist when they stopped the refugees from crossing the Mississippi River bridge after the hurricane. That pretty much took away the suburban votes. I won't be too surprised when Congress slams the door on Louisiana next session. All I know for sure is that Jefferson sure doesn't represent my interests. Anyway, looks like more of the status quo unless the FBI finally has the nerve to come down on him.

Back on the home front, some good news about the Rouge-Roubaix road race. The promoter who had been doing it the last few years really didn't want to take it on again. Luckily, one of the guys on the Baton-Rouge based Delta Racing/ Raising Cane's Racing club stepped forward to continue this classic. Better be ready for the first weekend in March!

A December Weekend

Friday night was the Psychiarty & Neurology department's Christmas party, which they cleverly incorporate into a two-day conference. This year it was held at the Lowes hotel on Poydras St. The view from the 10th floor conference facility was really nice on this clear and cold December night. The good ol' Hibernia Bank cupola, lit up in its traditional holiday colors (they also do purple and green for Mardi Gras) was easy to find, although the photo really doesn't do it justice. Looking the other way down Poydras St., toward the river, you see the back of the casino and the entrance to the Riverwalk. Despite the cold, things were very lively down on street level. Back up on the 10th floor, though, we had a nice little party with lots of boiled shrimp and hotel wine. Well, maybe a little too much hotel wine.

Saturday morning was pretty chilly and so I happily waited an extra hour and met Courtney out on the lakefront at 8:00. After leaving the house, I immediately made a u-turn to slip my knee-warmers over my tights. No point freezing those beat-up old joints! We rode the usual Giro route, and when we were on Chef Highway we saw the regular Giro group on its way back. Maybe "group" is an overstatement, because there were only seven of them. Apparently a few were doing the "long" ride out to Slidell, but we never saw any of them. When the group went by, one of them made a U-turn and Courtney thought it might be Robin. We slowed down, and kept looking back, but the rider didn't seem to be catching us. Then he stopped. I figured there was a problem, so I turned around and rode back to him. As it turned out, his freehub, or at least the pawls in it, were shot and he could pedal all he wanted but he wasn't going anywhere. He was parked four miles or so down Chef Highway, and I ended up pushing him the whole distance so he wouldn't have to walk. That's kind of hard on the old back, by the way. I had to switch sides a few times. Luckily, the road is pretty much all flat, but when we had to go just barely uphill to go over a low levee, it was amazing how much harder it got. Apparently an extra 150 pounds makes a difference on the uphills. Who knew! Anyway, we had a pretty nice ride on Saturday, and didn't miss much by not doing the regular Giro.

When I woke up on Sunday I heard something I wasn't expecting. Rain. The forecast was for only a 20% chance of rain, so I checked the radar. It looked like it would be over soon, so I went ahead and headed out to the Morning Call meeting spot where I really didn't expect to see anybody. Wrong again. Sam, Scott and Paul were there ready to go, so we headed across the lake through another little rain shower, hoping for the best. By the time we arrived the rain was over for good, although it was still overcast. The group was small as it often is for the December rides when the weather is sketchy, but we ended up doing a really nice 65 miles of moderate riding with lots of stops. Although it was in the 40s when we started, it must have been 60F by the time we got back. Stopped for lunch at the Abita BrewPub after the ride with Paul, Scott and The Wife, where I had a big ol' hamburger and fries with my Turbodog. Couldn't resist.

Put up some of the Christmas decorations today. It's the time!

Undercover

"...beep...beep...beep... the outdoor temperature is 32 degrees fahrenheit." The old indoor-outdoor thermometer next to my nightstand is of the "talking" variety, and although I rarely use its voice feature it is set to sound an alert when the outdoor temperature exceeds 100F or dips below 33F. I don't think I've heard it in over a year. However, thus was I awakened this morning. Since it is a Friday in December and I've not skipped a day in a while, I pulled the covers over my head and contemplated my good fortune at having the use of the car today. The wife is staying at a hotel downtown while working a conference that started early this morning. One thing I've always thought would be a nice invention for guys who train in the morning is a programmable alarm clock that takes into consideration the outdoor temperature and weather conditions. For example, if it's below 32F, the usual 5:45 am alarm could be automatically delayed for an hour - or two. Approaching rain could trigger an alternate alarm message. Cold rain could turn the damned thing off altogether , email the office that I'm sick, and start a pot of coffee!

So this morning I was like a normal American. I made some coffee, fried an egg, hopped into the Volvo with the heat cranked up to "high" and the electric seat-warmer switched on, and merged into the rush-hour traffic. That traffic was particularly unusual this morning, as it turned out. The combination of interstate highway construction, some sort of water source, and freezing temperatures resulted in a couple of nice little ice slicks on the local I-10. Numerous surprised motorists did some unexpected automotive ice skating, resulting in a pile-up of cars and a complete shutdown of the interstate. Man, a couple of degrees below freezing and all hell breaks loose around here! As a result, the inner city thoroghfares were full of impatient and disoriented commuters clutching their cellphones in one hand, coffee in the other, and driving with their knees. Since I have to attend a little work-related party at a downtown hotel this evening with The Wife, and since I have been recruited to take a few photos for the organization's website, I finally broke down and stopped by the infamous downtown Wal-Mart to pick up a 1 gig SD card for the new camera. Maybe I'm behind the times a bit, but it still amazes me that I can casually pick up a gigabyte of high-speed RAM on a card half the size of a cheap potato chip for under $50. In fact, it's not uncommon for me to have something like 70 or 80 gigabytes of various forms of memory in my messenger bag at one time. I love it. I want more! OTOH, I'm sure the folks in Silicon Valley and wherever else sloppy programmers labor will do their best to make sure I need at least that much memory to, say, operate my kitchen toaster (or run Windows Vista).

It's looking like it will be another cold night tonight, and considering the fact that I'll be doing a little partying, I may skip the 7 am Giro and instead meet Courtney at the hopefully warmer hour of 8:00. That is, if my alarm goes off...