cyclefreaks

So, today was to be our last long ride, down to 50 miles. We were relieved to have the break at 50, a feat we once thought was going to be impossible.

We knew it was going to be raining, however, so we were still dreading the ride. It would be 4 hours of being wet.

We started the day late, slept in til 10:00 and Cory made waffles. We finally got out around 11:00 and about 1/2 mile from home, Cory had a flat. At least it wasn't raining yet.

He tried to fix the flat, but this was our first experience with the CO2 canister. 2 canisters later, we still don't have the flat fixed, so I just rode home, got the car and returned with the pump. Aired up the flat, drove home, rode back to meet Cory on the bike. All good.

It started to sprinkle pretty early on, but it was just a light mist so it wasn't too bad. The wind was a major bitch though, and it was a hard ride. We rode to Bill's corner, turned right for about a mile and then proceeded to turn around to head home. Screw this, we'll go to work and ride indoors.

A little ways from Bill's, Cory notices his flat has returned. We decided he should turn back to wait at the store and I'd ride on, get the car again and come rescue him. So I'm off. The wind is to my back now and I'm making pretty good time. Much easier on the return.

About 5 miles later, around mile 12 for the day, I notice that I'm really bouncy. I gear up, thinking maybe I have too small of a gear for the speed I'm going, but still bouncy. I look back and sure enough, now I have a flat. And Cory has the phone, 5 miles back.

I get off the bike and start walking. It's a loooooooooooooooong damn way home but there's nothing else I can do. And of course, the rain gods thought this an opportune time to open up the skies and start dumping on me. It poured. I put on my rain jacket (for all the good it did me) and trudged on. Walking in cycling shoes is no picnic folks, let me assure you. Aside from the scraping of the cleat against the road, I've got basically hard, flat rubber for soles.

About 4 miles later, someone did finally stop. I was terrified that he might pull a gun and demand I get in his truck, or be a woman-hating, cyclist-despising murderer. But he claimed to be a lawyer, so I figured it'd be okay to use his phone. Of course, at this point I'm about 30 minutes from home, but I at least wanted to let Cory know why I'd been gone so long. I was worried that he would be worried that I'd had an accident in the rain or gotten run over by some asshole. In all its horribleness, at least it was only a flat.

I finally made it home, got the car and drove to get Cory. We returned, changed clothes and headed to Total Rehab to ride the spinning bikes for an hour.

All total, I got 4 hours of exercise in today. It just didn't actually happen on a ride. I don't know the ramifications of missing a long ride, but at least we got our 70 out of the way...

by the way, on the way back, we passed a peloton and 3 of the guys had stopped to fix a flat. We turned around to make sure they had what they needed. I told Cory, a group of cyclists like that are going to have what they need, but just for the sake of Karma, we should stop and ask anyway.