Friday, May 24, 2019

Forced Rest

   The temperatures are on the rise, which means I need to start getting my ass in the saddle earlier to avoid the sun’s full fury.  I made a solid try to be on the road early this morning, but once there nothing was going my way.
   About three miles out of Danville, Va, I got my first flat on a long and steady incline.  I wasn’t too pleased but flat tires are bound to happen!  It’s never fun to have to stop on a hill but it pales in comparison to fixing a flat alongside a busy road.  I got to do both in one sitting. Yaaay. I added to the problem when I forgot to disconnect my dynamo connector before removing the wheel, which stripped a bunch of wiring.  Just for the record, I was mad at that point.  Easy fix. Don’t care.
   I thought about turning around right then and there.  I had a funny feeling about riding on what I wanted to be a rest day, but pushed forward anyway.  I really should know better by now.
   A few miles later, I got another flat, and then another.  All of which could have been avoided if I would have noticed that I never put rim tape on my new rim after I had the dynamo installed.  I was so busy with the big stuff (closing out my Navy career, moving, visiting friends and family, coordinating with Project Hero) that I never noticed the wheel was missing rim tape until flat number five on this trip.
   So, six miles into my day I used all of my back up tubes and the closest bike shop was back the way I came.  In fact, I wouldn’t see another bike shop for about two or three days with my current route and, at my current rate, I would need at least twenty-fives tubes to get there, so I turned around.
  Once back in Danville, I met up with Rob Collie at the local bike shop.  That dude is awesome and you don’t even need to talk to him to figure it out.  Just go into his shop and see the amount of people that are just hanging out with him.  It’s like a local biking watering hole with a wide variety of riders.  I met Chris, who is just starting out; Joe, who probably has some great stories; two Allens (one is “Fast Allen” and the other is “Slow Allen” but they both told me that they were the slow one); a sweet woman named Jessie; a very chatty old man who while riding his bike saw a bear recently; and Alex who is doing a downhill race this weekend on a sweet new set up (Good Luck, bro!).
   As I was leaving his shop to find a place to stay for the night, I told Rob that he needed to get more space and open a bar in his bike shop, but I am afraid if he did that then he wouldn’t ever get any work done!  Thanks for all of your hospitality and support, man.  Maybe one day we can pedal together! 

1 comment:

  1. Mark - Good road music, 'Live Bullet' album by Bob Seger.
    Roll on brother!

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