Character Building

This morning I woke up early in order to get in a longer bike ride (my plan was to ride for an hour and a half). Drew was even kind enough to get up early too and come with me. We also were going to try out our new bike and tri shorts that we got over the weekend and see how they felt on the bike. Of course, the best laid plans never really work out. I had gotten dressed, eaten half my Clif bar, put on my shoes and walked over to pump up my tires only to discover that my back tire was flat. Ugh!

I took a look at the tire to see if I could figure out what had happened. I found a tiny piece of glass in the tire, but after I got the tire and tube off the rim, I couldn't find a puncture in the tube. However, something seemed to be malfunctioning with the valve. I decided my best option would be to just get ride of that tube and start with a new one. I put the new tube and tire onto the rim (why on earth does it take so long to get the tire back onto the rim!?!) and pumped up and was finally ready to go 45 minutes later. Clearly, I'm not the fastest tube changer, but I figure I'll only get faster as time goes on.

So, Drew and I head out for a shorter version of our original bike ride. We ride to the park and then are riding for less than a minute before I hear the sound of another flat tire! And then about 10 seconds later POP! My tube popped! I didn't really know why that happened or what had gone wrong, but after a quick Google search when I got home, it looks like it was most likely my own fault and that the tube was pinched between the tire and rim. After the popped tube, I picked up my bike and walked home with Drew. He offered to carry my bike for me, but I said that it would build character and I'd just do it myself. I got back to his apartment and took a really long shower to clean off all the bike grease that I had gotten all over my hands, legs and arms.

I'm hoping to make it to the pool at the gym later tonight. I'm just bummed that I got up early and had to miss a workout.