Finally...out for a bike ride.

Monday, May 31st, 2010

This was to be the day. The weather was perfect, though there was a chance of a thunderstorm later. My bike had no flats and waiting patiently in the garage. John was on his way over for a ride and I was going to get it done. I’d been trying for the last 6 weeks and something always seemed to happen. Not anymore.

John arrived right on time and very excited about his new riding shoes.

“See this hole here in the bottom?” He was pointing to a spot just under where his big toe would be on the shoe.

“Yeah – I see it. So what?”

“SO WHAT? Well…the air comes in through that hole and cools my toes while I’m riding. That’s so what,” he said with a smirk.

I suppose he’d forgotten the way that I sweat. I don’t think air holes for my toes are going to matter too much to me, but for him…okay. He was also bragging on his insulated water bottles, which kept his water cooler throughout the ride. Actually, that is pretty cool, but I refuse to pay $10 a bottle for such a feature. I just drink it warm. Man up, Johnnie Boy.

We headed out our favorite route…up Old Mill to County Line and then east on Dines/Pekin. I was feeling the heat and lack of riding, but we set a gentle, let’s just talk and ride kind of pace. I figured a two-hour ride for my first time back in the saddle in 6 weeks and so one hour in, we turned and headed back. Ten minutes later came the explosion.

“Oh damn!” I exclaimed as the tire exploded and I came to a quick halt. And I mean exploded. There would be no patching, but I did have a spare. No pump to fill it with, but I definitely had a spare.

“I’ve got one of these air cartridges for pumping up at least one tire,” John offered.

I decided instead to call Holly and offer her the opportunity to drop whatever she was doing and come and pick me up. I’d had four flats now and was starting to think that it was pointless to put another good tube on this rim. Something was wrong and I needed to run it in to the bike shop for closer scrutiny. At least I’d ridden 70 minutes before the blowout.

Holly was thrilled to get my call and immediately came to my rescue. John finished the ride back to my house and we ran the rim and tire up to Performance Bikes in Mayfield. Brandon looked it over and seeing no indicators on the rim, surmised that the problem was the crappy Specialized tire I was using. He thought the tube was squeezing through some hole in the tire and blowing when I hit a bump. He encouraged me to try another tire, which I purchased and will try.

So…kind of a ride. I’ll put on the new tire and if I continue to have trouble, maybe I’ll give up riding for awhile. Powers bigger than me…pissed that I’m taking my pulse while sitting in church…are probably telling me not to bike. I need to listen.

Bike duration: 70 minutes.

Training Heart Rate: 125.

Calories burned during workout: 1050.