It truly is amazing what a pair of properly inflated tires will do for your Wednesday afternoon ride. Last Friday I dropped Louise off at my LBS to see if they could figure out what was going on with her tires. Before ChelanMan, I had a friend put in new tires, tubes and liners but ended up with a flat rear tire the night before the race. I pumped it up the morning of the race and spent the entire 12 miles worrying that I was going to go flat. Another ride a couple weeks ago was cut short because both tires were going flat. Not wanting to run into this problem in Tahoe, Louise and I made a trip to Arlberg.
The super helpful guy in the repair shop took apart the rear wheel and blew up the tube. No holes. What?! That tire was definitely not keeping air. Further inspection revealed that it could have either been the spokes poking through the wheel in a few places or this open hole about the size of a jellybean in both wheels. Hmm....guess maybe if I had ridden her sometime during the first year I owned her, I might have figured this out sooner? Any ways...I left Louise there overnight so she could be sanded and patched and new tubes and liners put on her. My new BFF also promised to do a quick tune to make sure Louise was in tip top shape for her CA/NV debut.
What a difference. First ride around the loop in several years took place on Labor Day with my usual partner in crime. We managed a pretty good pace for the 10 mile loop and I was impressed at how much easier it was. Perhaps the tires? Or perhaps all the extra work I've been doing over the past couple of months to get in better shape?
This afternoon's bike ride was all sorts of fun. Locked my car keys in the trunk when getting my bike out. Good thing the car was unlocked or that would have really sucked. Got my heart rate going for a little bit, that's for sure. Needed to keep a good pace tonight since I was racing the thunderstorms, maybe finish in under an hour? Easy. I think. I wore a pair of biking shorts that I bought a couple years ago when us SAC Angels were plotting to do STP 2009. The Pearl Izumi UltraSensor Short. I swear I tried these on when I bought them. The rise must have just grown about six inches while being stashed in the bike bag. I could pull these suckers up under my armpits!! Sheesh. Well, at least I didn't have to worry about plumber's butt for a change. Heh. They were comfortable to ride in. Slippery though. My second heart rate increase happened when I shifted a bit backward on the seat and my slippery shorts kept on going. Thought for sure that I was going to fly off the back of the seat and hurt myself.
After all that, the ride was fairly uneventful save the fish on the bridge, the wind and racing the train just for giggles. Reached my goal and finished the 10 miles in exactly 45 minutes (even with taking one wrong turn). This weekend is the long ride, two times around the loop for an even 20 miles. Anyone want to join me?
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