Well, low 60's and sunny today, so off to the trail I go... Or do I?

Well, I was ready to put my bike on the car rack, but first I inflated the tires... except the rear tire was flat as could be. I swear a couple times, since the tube was only a week old, put on last week at the tune-up. So I get it off, put on a spare, start inflating it at *POP*. Guess my spare tube had a flaw in it... at least I found out at home and not on the trail. Of my last tube comes out and goes on.

So a pit-stop is in order to pick up more tubes... delaying the start of my ride till almost 3pm. So much for my early start.

So I'm off on the trail, and there is a little wind, but it's nothing to complain about, just makes it feel chilly in the shade. When I hit the starbucks (my normal half-way point) I'm feeling pretty good, so I decide to continue on instead of turning back. This was probably my mistake. as I'm going down the trail the back end of my bike starts sliding around. I pull over and it's obviously lost air, so top it off with my hand pump and continue on. By the time I hit Boat-House row, it's squirming around again, but when I top it off I get a rush of air, and it's flat as could be. Good thing I stopped off for more spare tubes, huh? So another pit stop and I'm back on my way. I make it to the Art Museum before turning around.

Right around conshehocken I see a cute young lady on the side of the trail, so I ask if everything is okay, but she says no. I jam on the breaks to see what's wrong. She explains that she was riding along, and a cute puppy catches her eye, so she proceeded to ride into a concrete pylon dividing the trail from the road. DOH! to make matters worse, the bike is brand new, only her second ride. She broke off one of her aero bar pads and her front break was jammed into the tire, so I bent that back into place for her and told her my story of three tire changes...

So I did my good deed for the day. Now here is my question, Would I have been a total A$$ if I had asked for for a date? For the record, I didn't. I figured she had enough on her mind, and the last thing I wanted her to think is that I helped her for some ulterior motive. This is probably why I'm still single...

Anyway, total for the day was 42 miles, equal to my longest ride last year. Strange, the only time I blew a tire last year was on the day I did 42 miles, following the same path. There is a metric century coming up in two weeks, with one option is a 47 mile ride. I'm thinking about it...

--T

That ride sounds way to painful to me. I hate stuff like that that keeps going wrong. I would have gone and sat in the sun instead! Did you check the surface of the wheel and the inside of the tire to make sure there was nothing there irritating the tube?

I spent the past couple days bike shopping! Finally! The long drawn out story is in my gym log. Bottom line is I believe I have made a choice! Bring on the roads! LOL!

As for hitting on the cycle chick on the trail...From a chick's point of view... I don't think there would have been anything wrong with after talking saying something like "Do you like to ride this bike path when you're not running into concrete pylons? Maybe we could get meet up for a ride some time." (Bike ride that is.... ) If she's not single she'd let you know and what's the worst she could say? "No, because you may be a cycling serial killer."
You really have nothing to lose. If the answer is "yes" then you exchange numbers and if the answer is "no" then you both cycle away. Go for it!

Happy riding!

The odd thing is I actually did check the tire/rim between each blow out, and found nothing. Also, all three flats were in different locations... Just one of those days I guess.

Thanks for the advice on asker her out... guess I'll know better for next time.

--nw

That's weird about your tubes. Hopefully all will be OK now. Maybe just a bad couple tubes.

My sister had gotten a flat last year when we were riding trail a lot in Canada. It was right after I changed her bike back to fat tires (after having slicks on it). I realized the problem was the stem wasn't straight through the opening in the rim so it was rubbbing. I know you said your flats were in different spots so that wouldn't be the case but just something I've done when changing tires.

Thanks for the thumbs up on my bike. I am really looking forward to getting it. I guess Wednesday will be the day. I'm getting it at Downingtown Bike Shop on business 30 towards Thorndale. I also looked at Shirks and Exton. Didn't bother going into any of the Bikelines. But I felt I got a fair amount of rides in at those 3 shops and feel good about my decision. When you test rode your Sequoia was it behind the bike shop in the parking lot? I wasn't sure if I could ask to take it to that trail nearby (by Main Street Exton) or if everyone rode behind the store. They were going to give me a decent deal on a Giant OCR1 which was a nice bike.

How's the mtb shopping going? If you don't see anything at Exton I would definitely recommend Downingtown or Shirk's. I guess Shirk's (East Earl) would be a bit of a drive for you though. But they had a decent selection. And some great deals.

A friend of mine does a lot of mtb trail riding up at Marsh Creek. He says there are some horse loops that are decent and not real tough trails. I told him I'm chicken to ride rough trails clipped in. LOL! I've never ridden real mtb clipless. But I'm sure not taking them off now that they're on even leaving fat tires on it. When you get your mtb maybe we can check out those trails. They might be a decent place to start for getting the feel of your mtb.

Well enough of all that.... did you get a ride in yesterday?