DESTINY!

Somethings are meant to be.  And some are not.  Today was one of those days where my desire was continually thwarted.   The original plan had me riding in the kitchen; so planned because of the weather forecast of cold north wind and scattered showers.  First, I slept in.  For those who are not regular readers, my usual waking hour is between 3:30 and 4:00.  This morning I dragged my body out of bed at 5:00.  My usual routine when not going to the gym takes between 60 and 90 minutes and includes coffee and a few word games to exercise my mind.  

Time slipped away and before I knew it, a crew arrived to take out our dead and unwanted bushes.  This landscape has been in the ground for almost 40 years and I wanted no part in having to get them out.  They were still hard at it when I left to get my hair cut.  The appointment was at 11:00 and I was home by noon.  Then came lunch.  I wasn't feeling all that energetic so delayed setting up the bike in the kitchen.  Instead, I reclined in my recliner and relaxed.  That morphed into a nap.  I came to refreshed but really not feeling like riding the trainer.  We have the display for the outside thermometer set up in the computer room and upon passing by on my way down the hall I noticed the temperature was 50 degrees.  Hmmm!

I went outside and found that the sharp north wind had abated and the sun looked like it wanted to come out.  Eureka!  I could get in an hour at Old Settlers Park.  Immediately I went inside and changed into bike gear, filled a water bottle and jumped in the car.  The bike and gear live in the car so I didn't have to load anything.  Off I went.

The new plan was to do my "oval" workout.  This is a steady one hour in a parking lot doing an oval about 333 meters per lap, similar to the size of the Alkek Velodrome.  I parked and prepared to unhook the bike from the rack.  Then I noticed I'd forgotten the computer.  We all know that if it isn't on Strava it never happened.  After a momentary pause and expletive, I realized I had my phone and could run Strava on that.  I wouldn't have cadence or power but for this ride I knew what gear to use and really didn't need the stats.  So I went to the front seat, got my phone and returned to grab the bike.

My rack is inside the car and the front fork is mounted.  When I grabbed the front wheel preparatory to releasing the bike, I uttered my second expletive, maybe a third.  The tire was flat!  I took this as a sign that maybe today wasn't meant to be, returned to the front seat and drove home.

Back home I used my "ride time" changing out the tube.  Several years ago (Sept 25, 2010) I posted detailed instructions on how to properly change a tube .  First you check the old tube to detect the location of the leak and if found, check the similar location on the tire to be sure the cause still isn't in it.  The stupid tube didn't have a leak.  I plunged it under water and got zero bubbles.  I triple-checked the tire inside and out.  All was well.  I still installed a new tube.  As of this writing, five hours later, the tube still hasn't lost any air.  We shall see what it looks like in the morning.  And speaking of morning, it looks like I will have two days of decent weather to ride outside.