It was quite an interesting ride in yesterday morning, a bit scary even. It's been dark more and more often as I'm leaving which is no big deal. I've ridden in rain plenty of times, and while unnerving at times I can still deal. Yesterday morning it was foggy. I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to see the road and worse yet the drivers wouldn't be able to see me. I decided to get off the main route and take one of the side country roads that would get me out of traffic. This was a mistake as I knew it would be darker, but I had no idea how dark and foggy it would be. With no street lights and no lines on the roads I propelled myself through the soup with only a vague knowledge of where the edges of the road were and the turns in the road. It really took all my concentration to stay on the road and squash thoughts of would happen if I hit something or mistakenly made a turn where there was no turn to make.
After I made it back on to the main roads I was at once relieved and thrilled by the ride and being on high alert for the last 20 minutes. It was the first time that day that I brought my own sanity into question, but not the last. The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful. I made good time.
Morning Commute:
Odo: 1,341.3 miles
Dist: 25.92 miles
Time: 1:38.59
Avg: 15.7 mph
Max: 25.5 mph
The minor ordeal that followed really brought me to think that it's time to check myself in to the nearest mental institution. After a couple hours at work someone pointed out to me that my front tire was flat. That's okay! I was prepared with a patch kit, spare tube, and a pump. Certainly I was covered. Let the series of unfortunate events begin. During lunch I changed my tube out with the spare I had brought along. The change went smoothly, and I spent the next 45 minutes pumping up the tire with my tiny air pump. While it is nice that it's so small and portable it really isn't that practical for trying to pump 100 psi of pressure in to a road tire.
Once I got it pumped up I set it aside to see if it was going to hold air since it was a patched tube. After about 10 minutes there was a sudden pop! and the familiar sound of air escaping. I took a look at it, and the tire was still inflated. Turning the wheel to inspect it I realized I had pinched the tube and the pinched part had inflated and then popped leaving a whole about the size of a contact. DOH! Back to the first tube which was also a patched tube. After examining it I realized the air was escaping from the edge of the patch, not good. I tried to double patch it, but it was just no good, it wouldn't hold air. At this point I probably should've just called it a day, but I will not be defeated! There is a bike shop a couple of miles from my workplace, so after work I got changed, packed up, grabbed the bike, and jogged it over to the shop. Sounded easy at the time, but it turned out to be quite a tough jog, up and down hills, across a college campus, and finally to the shop.
After a quick tube change I was on my way. By this time My shoulders are tired from fighting with the air pump, and my legs are tired from the run to the shop. You know what? It was a beautiful afternoon, so I decided to suck it up, swing on my 15 lb. backpack and take the long way home. It's official I'm insane, send out the men in white coats.
Afternoon Commute:
Odo: 1371.7 miles
Dist: 56.33 miles
Time: 3:47.16
Avg: 14.8 mph
Max: 30.6 mph
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