My doofus move this weekend...

This one is somewhat embarrassing but people may get a chuckle out of it and learn from my silly mistake (it was the sort of thing a newbie would do and I REALLY should know better by now). I spent a long weekend in and around Acadia National Park (was in the area for a half marathon and made a longer trip of it) and did some riding while there, including the carriage roads and the paved road that loops through the park and is 20 or so miles. On the loop road, which I did the day after running the half, I really felt like I was dragging and working a lot harder than usual to maintain my usual pace. The road was fairly hilly and I was down a couple of gears from what I would usually be in, but I chalked it up to riding on day-after-half-marathon legs and didn't think too much else of it since I didn't hear my brakes rubbing or anything like that. The next day I did a ride on some of the carriage roads just before I had to drive home and still felt sort of slow but again didn't think that much of it. Well, when I was loading the bike into the car to come home I found something that probably explains everything...the rear tire was nearly flat!! Crap. On the one hand I felt pretty dumb for not thinking to check that, and on the other I was relieved to know it wasn't just me being a complete wimp (I'm not a high-performance rider by any means, but this was ridiculous and besides, 20 miles wouldn't normally wear me out like it did that day, not even close)! Now, I had pumped up the tires right before leaving for the trip and have never had a flat with these tires before, and I would have thought that if the tire went flat while riding it would have been noticeable so it must have either suddenly developed a slow leak or else something went wrong when pumping it up (like letting out a lot of air when detaching the pump from the valve...I remember some coming out but didn't think it was that much). I checked the tire and tube today and didn't see anything obvious so I am leaning toward the theory that I goofed pumping up. We'll see if it holds air. And, just to top it off it looks like the wheel is a little out of true now (not surprising) so I will have to either take it to the LBS or true it myself next time I am at the co-op.

You didn't notice that the handling seemed a little off? You must have been tired after the Half!


I like a really stiff ride. I normally keep my tires around 120 psi and I notice that the bike doesn't corner as well when its a little low. Last weekend they were at about 100 and I could tell by the handling that they just weren't as stiff as normal. Thom told me to suck it up and just enjoy a cushier ride. :D

Veronica