Spontaneous, out of context post in the more or less randomly created "BIKE COMMUTE STORY", Sunday, February 28.
Saturday was a beautiful day but I did very little with it.
Sure, I went to the Farmer’s Market as I usually do. Another
bittersweet event as Richard Markert, the owner of “Taste” in the Market, was
moving out and moving on to become the Executive Chef at “Olive or Twist” out
on Perkins. I’ve really enjoyed having breakfast at “Taste” on Saturday
mornings, getting to know Richard and the crew, and feeling the camaraderie of
the place.
Alas, no longer. As when Chelsea’s closed, I’ve lost another
favorite place to eat, chat, and hang out with friends and acquaintances.
Richard and crew were having a little “so long and thanks
for all the fish” gathering after the Market closed at noon. I had come early that
morning to beat the anticipated crush of well-wishers eating their last brunch
at “Taste” so I had time to walk home, get my bicycle, and go back for the last
hurrah.
Did I mention there was wine?
Beautiful day or no, by the time we were finished it was
nearly two o’clock, I was a little buzzed, and feeling a little gloomy. I had
thought to go for a nice ride but, as time passed, I became less inclined to do
so.
Ah well . . .
Sunday opened sunny and bright. The wind was up, a little
gusty, and out of the south, a sure harbinger of warmer weather, increasing
humidity, and storms in a few days (maybe) but for now, sunny, cool, breezy,
and just a great day. I got ready to go and saw my phone battery was running
low so I plugged it in. Or so I thought.
As I finished my pre-ride preparation I grabbed my phone to
go and saw that I had not actually plugged it in. The battery was even lower
than before. Damn! Now I was delayed by my tech! I wrestled with the idea of
leaving the phone behind but the phone won.
Forty-five minutes later with a partially charged phone I
left. At last! The feeling of being underway is almost always terrific and this
was one of those times.
As soon as I turned downriver on top of the Levee the wind
hit me in the face. Ah . . . crap . . . headwind and a stiff one at that.
I found the right gear and headed south into the wind. When
I reached the Vet Med trail head I was holding an internal discussion on
headwinds, good or bad? Thinking about an entire day riding into a wind like
that made me want to turn around and enjoy an excellent tail wind, but I
didn’t.
If I was on tour (and one day I hope to be) I would have no
choice but to continue. I worked at
finding the best way to NOT fight the wind and suss out how to best deal with
it. Another golden opportunity to learn (also known as “suffer”).
My first goal was to see the bald eagle down by Farr Park. I
had heard the nesting pair had returned, successfully mated, and brought two
more chicks into the world but I had not seen them yet this year.
The nest isn’t obvious until you get fairly close to it on
the gravelly unpaved path. There aren’t any really good geographical markers
out there and the batture trees look pretty much alike. Well, they did. This
past high water event on the River saw a lot more barges being rammed into the
tree line to hold them in place. Quite a few trees are now leaning toward the
Levee. In one or two places the batture is dry enough to see scars in the sand
and grass where barges sat grounded in the batture.
As I was bouncing down the gravel path I noticed a figure
standing on the River side of the Levee near where I thought the nest would
be. I've seen others looking at the eagles from that spot. The closer I got the more human the figure appeared. It began to walk up to
the top of the Levee reaching it as I arrived. Turns out it was a German
petrochemical engineer working for BASF.
We chatted a bit . . . okay . . . I did most of the chatting
. . . turned to admire the eagles and comment on what seemed to me to be the rather
surprisingly large size of the chicks, one of which I had confused for an
adult. I am so very happy this mating pair has returned to this nest for at
least five years.
When I turned to go upriver to the Farr Park access I was so
very happy to now have a tailwind! Even the gravel seemed smoother with that
hand on my back.
