33% down

Piece of crap new tube...tear indicated by arrow.

Day ten was another interesting day on the bike.  I was very sluggish waking up this morning and on my ride to work.  Although the bike was running well, my legs were feeling the desperate ride from yesterday evening.  Not too much unusual about the morning commute.

Work was work and my legs locked up like concrete because I sat around all day.  I know I’m not putting in that much mileage for cycling but the whole brake issue from yesterday drained me.

Around noon time I headed out to lunch (walked to Crystal Cafe) and on my way back in I checked out the bike; and would you believe it, A FLAT TIRE!  The rear tire was completely flat.  I used my hand pump and nothing.  So, in my tie and dress shoes, I took the tire off and took a look at the tube.  A split down part of the seem….a brand new tube defective.  Go figure.

I replaced the tube and put the tire back on and pumped up the tire as much as I could with the hand pump.  I probably only got about 20-25 psi in it and I need around 70.  Guys from work, whom I’ve never even met, responded to an email when I asked if anybody had a foot pump.  I even got a phone call from Manny who was willing to let me use some of his CO2 cartridges.  It was cool to see the quick feedback for a fellow biker.

I opted to go to Matheny’s Motors where my buddy and his grandpa work.  They hooked me up and I was back on the road home.  I was just going to really take it easy and give me legs a break but the ride started quick and with a little wind to my back I decided to attack the ride some.

I made the return trip in 48 minutes…yesterday took 65 minutes!  I was pretty happy about the ride…has me looking forward to the time trial possibly scheduled for the end of next week.  Things are going well now I’m running out of food so I’ll be hitting up the grocery store this weekend…wait till you see how I’m going to take care of this.

Until tomorrow, peace.

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~ by dowlere on June 10, 2010.