Last night was Opening Night at the Tuesday/Thursday Training Race on River Road.
I was excited to get out and see the old and new faces, catch up on old times, then cause people pain so that they could in turn cause me more pain. You know, my favorite thing to do in life.
It's as though all those hours spent on rollers, trainers, running at night, early in the morning, riding with a headlamp at the mall, swimming, all that crap comes together so that finally, after the DST rolls in, you can ride with your friends again on a crappy dangerous road, max your heartrate out, and get yelled at by the locals. I couldn't wait.
Unfortunately with all the things i had to do yesterday morning, i didn't pack my bike. No biggie i thought, i'll swing by the house and get it before the race. With BR traffic being what it is, that wasn't going to work. So i drove straight home, changed and headed out from the house, figuring i'd catch up with the pack around the first bend. Still time to socialize for a minute or two before all hell breaks loose.
Heading down Bluebonnet on my Easton's, i felt very fast. I guess b/c i've been riding most of the time on 700x28's capable of rolling over anything. I knew this would be a great day. I turned right on Nicholson, hugged the shoulder for dear life and was forced into some mud clomps. No biggie, at least for the first 20 or so, then blammo slammo. My rear tire blows out big time. The kind of blow-out that makes you wish you had brought your cell phone.
No biggie, i stop, inspect the tire and see a small slit in the sidewall.
No biggie, i'll find some discarded paper cup and patch that bad boy up.
Unfortunately, i must have found the only 100 feet of Nicholson with NO LITTER ON IT.
The best i could do was some cellophane potato chip bag, so i fold the thing 20 times, stuff it under the slit and hit the CO2.
Here's where the problem comes in, i'm thinking, if my sidewall doesn't bulge i'm gold. But it bulges so much i can nearly read the lettering on the cellophane.
So, on a wing and a prayer, i limped back home and got in 25 minutes on the day.
No biggie, i guess i needed the easy day.
There will be many other Tuesdays.
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2 comments:
I realize "dumpster diving" in the ditch to solve this problem has a certain "old school", nostalgic feel.
However, may I suggest a high quality boot made from an old tire secured via rubberband to your CO2 pump...
I would have to guess my high quality boot fell out the bottom of my lesser quality but trusty-nonetheless worn-out ziploc tube bag. I get a lot of wear out of those things.
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