kurthiggins.com

Ok. Who told my bike I went running the other day?!

‘Cause the bike rebelled and flatted twice on my final ride of the year.

The front tire went while descending a hill. Swapped in a new tube. then less than two miles later the rear tire went! I pretty much gave up at that point. Not ’cause I COULDN’T fix another, but ’cause I DIDN’T want to fix another. I was about half a mile from the Hess station on Exit 17, so just turned around and went back to the station to call for support. Liane graciously came to my aid and picked me up. Thank you, Liane. 11.96 miles. Groan. So much for the 40 I was shooting for.

It was a gorgeous day and the ride started out well enough. Heat packs in all extremities to combat the 35 degree temperatures. I was nice and comfortable. I didn’t even realize the pit zips were unzipped until the downhill by exit 17 where I got the first flat. Thirty-five mph with open pit zips in the same number of degrees temperature is not a pleasant thing. The sun was comforting and warm while I replaced the cranky tube. I couldn’t find any debris in the tire on any noticeable punctures from the outside. Not a good sign–past experience has shown me this is likely to flat again from an unseen gremlin.

The salt crystals spread the day before glittered like diamonds. The road was mostly wet with only a few dry spots where the day’s sun had blotted the asphalt. Apparently old tires and wet roads are a recipe for doom. Who’da thunk? (read sarcasm) Hmm, I checked my tire log on BikeJournal and they seem to only have 2301 miles on ‘em. A lot less than the 3400 and 3090 I got on previous sets. Oh well, there are lots of cuts in the tread, I should retire them anyway.

Here is the ridiculous map with something new! Exciting new Google Pins showing the location of flats! WooHoo. Ain’t technology grand? You know what would be nice is if the Pins could link to photos in Flickr. I’m sure that kind of mashup won’t be too long in the making.

This finishes my greatest year of cycling. Just shy of 5000 miles at 4866–slightly fewer miles than last year, but the 24 hour event and 15 centuries make up for it. I feel very good about the accomplishments I made this year. Next year’s goals are still tentative.

Happy New Year everyone!

This entry was posted Monday, January 1st, 2007 at 7:54 pm and is filed under Cycling. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.