Training Ride

So, after the scintillating success of that last thread I figured I better get another post up to bury it.  Either that or pull it…:)  However, its warts and all around here….

I’ve been amping up my training rides in preperation for Bike Virginia at the end of June.  I’m still way too fat for that ride so I’ve been shaving calories (well, not while I was in that hell-hole Miami) to get down to a better weight.  That’s going ok but you still have to put in the base miles to get ready for the ride.

I blasted out of work early today and figured to get in a two-hour ride before the Land Use meeting.  It was pretty hot but I was moving along – after crossing the Libera Avenue Death Zone (drivers here are like small children.  They believe if they don’t see you, you aren’t there) I was in a pretty good rhythm.  I was nearly to Hoadly Roadly (har har) when the back end of the bike started getting kinda loose.  I pulled over to find this:

Yes, she’s flat.  I was in a bottom with no cell coverage.  You might not notice that cell coverage there is lousy if you’re going 55 but when you’re standing still with sweat dripping off yer nose, it’s different.  So, I starting digging through my seat bag and found I had compressed air but no adapter.  Crap.  I started sending out text messages to my family indicating that I needed help.  That freaked them out as they could text back but couldn’t call.  Sarah was ready to call out the National Guard.  I figured there was nothing for it so I got back on the bike and started riding again.  After all, Lance once rode 10 miles on a flat to win the Leadville 100.  In any event, I had to get to the top of the hill to get any kind of coverage.

Riding a bike with a flat tire is a little like trying to walk with snow shoes on while wearing slippers.  It slides everywhere.  I was cruising along at about 7-8 miles an hour – taking it slow when I hard a loud pop from the back and the brakes started dragging.

That could mean only one thing.  A spoke has broken and the wheel is “pretzeled” – out of true so it wobbles from side to side.  At that point, the bike is impossible to ride.  The cell signal was a little better here (rode about a quarter of a mile) and I got some more texts off.  I walked a ways but that was just painful – bike shoes are engineered to be absolutely rigid.  It’s like walking with boards tied to your feet.  There’s also a cleat in the middle of the show under the ball of your foot.  Oh yeah, that was a lot of fun.  I walked about a hundred yards and managed to get a call to Sarah and give her my location.  I had to wait awhile on the side of the road and boy was it hot today.  I was already hot from the ride and the sun was baking my brains out.  I also had to stand the whole time b/c the bike path was too hot to sit on….Fortunately I had water.  On the bright side, nobody threw anything at me or screamed out the window and I didn’t crash when the wheel pretzeled….the Trek is over at Bull Run getting looked at, hopefully it isn’t too expensive….