Great, horrible, weird ride today
Well, I set myself a new goal for this year, riding in the Hotter'N Hell in August. I talked friends of mine into doing it with me, and we have been getting together for rides to prepare. I have not done a lot of cycling this winter and today was to be my first >30 mile ride, and we planned to push the speed as well.
It was all fun and games till the horrible and weird started. Horrible: Darren, his first day in clipless, went off the pavement and had a terrible wipe out. He says he just started staring at the road and phased out; I think he probably was a little heat stressed (at that point it was nearly 100, and we were 24 miles into the ride. He had not eaten enough before the ride and we are still pushing him to drink more than 20 oz of water over a couple of hours). There was an abulance parked in the shade that came over and checked him out. He got a little woozy at one point so they got him into the a/c, took his vitals which were all okay. They told us that it was likely his colar bone is broken, but since he was not really in pain they said it was up to him if they transported him or not. I called a friend who came and took him and his bike home and my other riding companion, Will, and I were to bike the rest of the way back.
We thanked the EMTs, hit the road again. In a few miles we come across another rider we had been chatting with and he joined us. He rides the lake for fun and to watch out for people in need (called himself a 'first responder'). As we went along we came across someone changing a flat, "First Responder" (I will call him FR from now on) asked if he had what he needed and fell a little behind me....well, he intended to move behind me, but he did not get all the way behind, hit my rear wheel and fell behind me. He was fine, he said so we went to help the flat tire guy.
Flat tire guy put on a new tube, pumped it up (Using FR's pump)...nothing. Take it off and discover it has a hole in it. But that's okay, I have another tube he can have. He pumps it up...nothing....it has a hole in it, but that's okay FR has a tube he can have. Pumps it up...great! But wait, in removing the pump he pulls out the stem! Flat tire guy thanks us for our attempt at help and walks off towards the bike shop. FR decides it is time to head home, this has been too weird a day.
Great: I did 30 miles in the heat. I feel pretty good and did about 14mph on average, which is pretty good for me.
Terrible: Darren is at the hospital now (he wanted to watch the USA/Brazil soccer game before he would go) and is probaby broken.
Weird: Three bad tubes in a row...when does that happen?!
BarbaraAlys
who wonders if she is bad luck.
