Tuesday, May 17, 2011

STARS ALIGNED

Yesterday we had a great day to ride: mid-60's, slight wind. Five of us left the park at 8:30am, because I had a doctor's appointment later in the afternoon. Two of the folks I had not met before, although Rick, recently retired, had sought advice on doing the TdF and had purchased my book. My plan was to just get in some mileage, having done a hard workout Sunday.
We did 33 miles at around 15mph and my heart-rate average came in at 106, so I definitely wasn't working.
One of the things I hate is changing a flat, even more so when riding with strangers. But, once again (this happens more often than actually having a flat on the road), I finished the ride and when I got home and prepared to hang up the bike, I found the rear tire flat.
Well, the rear tire was twenty months old, and the front one sixteen, and I had purchased replacements a few months ago, so this morning I sat down in the kitchen and installed new tires and tubes. One of the new tubes didn't hold air. The old one that went flat had a pinhole leak, found by submerging in water. I had replaced the rear and was finishing up the front when I noticed some printing on the tire. Specifically, I saw "rotation" followed by an arrow. Pook!

As it turned out, both tires were mounted in the proper direction of rotation so I didn't have to take either off and turn it around. Lots of little irritations had been avoided. This is a good sign.

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