kentcowgill.org/blog

My DSL line is still down, but I think turning 30 (happy birthday to me!) motivated me to get out on my bike a little more. For instance, my mom sent me my birthday present via FedEx, which of course refused to leave the package without my signature. So I took the opportunity to ride my bike to the fedex station... 12 miles round trip. And the folks at FedEx were kind enough to buy me a bottle of water for my return trip :) Ok, so I'm a bit of a revisionist when it comes to history. But they were kind enough to take my dollar to the back of the warehouse and use it to buy me some water :)

Speaking of that particular bike ride.. I really wanted to ride my road bike, but guess what - it had a flat tire. As I had limited daylight, I didn't bother to see if it would hold air; I just hopped on my mountain bike. When I got back, I pumped about 50 psi into the tire and 5 hours later it seems fine. I've heard of slow leaks and bad patches, but this is ridiculous. That tire was fine for at least 35 miles - what happened to all that air?

Training, training, training... last weekend I only managed to get out on my bike once. I was going to go to the bike shop so I could pick up a new shirt. Unfortunately, I got a really bad flat tire. As in - I was riding on my rim flat in under 3 seconds. And I had no tire pump to put air in my tire if I patched it. Fortunately, I was within 50 feet of the bike shop. I had actually hit the curb near the bike shop and I think that's what wounded my tire. Unfortunately, the bike shop was closed. Fortunately, a friend (and potential sponsor - hi Jeff!) lives near the bike shop. Unfortunately, he wasn't home. Fortunately, I was maybe 13-14 blocks from Lisa's place. Unfortunately, she was out shopping. Fortunately, she had her cellphone and was almost finished shopping. Unfortunately, she got stuck in the checkout line. Fortunately, she picked me up after about 20 minutes. :) All tolled, about 10.5 miles.

Fast forward to this weekend. I ride to a DIFFERENT bike shop (thinking that the other one was jinxed) without trouble. I bought a seatpost-mounted rack and a bag to put on it so I don't have to carry all my stuff in my backpack. I rode to Patrick's place, and we went out for another Lake Shore Bike path ride. We got down to the University of Chicago area, and stopped for lunch at a deli on or near the campus. I suppose it was Patrick's turn to get a flat tire, because about 5 minutes after heading back, I hear his tire expel all its air. He apparently ran over a piece of glass that totally shredded his outer tire and innertube. Unfortunately, neither of us had a pump, but with the damage to his tire it wouldn't have mattered anyhow. Fortunately, a taxi drove by immediately after we located the offending piece of glass. Unfortunately, Patrick didn't have any cash. Fortunately, I did :) Also fortunately, the taxi driver didn't mind having Patrick load his bike in the trunk of the taxi. So I basically raced the taxi back to Patrick' place (about 8-10 miles). I almost won, because the traffic on Lake Shore Drive was horrendous! He barely had enough time to get home and change before I rolled up. After that, I had had enough, so I went home. All tolled, about 35 miles. And I've got some really nice sunburn for my effort :)