Tire Trauma
Cypress Fl.-Brundidge, Al.
This morning got off to an awesome start. All the previous days injuries seemed to be gone and I fell into my pace fairly easily. My phone has been dead for a bit so that meant no music, but I was feeling so good it didn’t really matter.
During the first ten miles of my day I was pedaling along thinking to myself, “I have got this far with out a flat tire, amazing.” Unfortunately I must have said it out loud. Somewhere around the 25 five mile mark my rear tire went flat. Less than a mile from the Alabama state line. I didn’t even have time to get my back wheel off my bike and start swapping tubes out. Before someone had stopped to offer me a ride up to the [tag]Dothan[/tag] [tag]Wal-mart[/tag] so I wouldn’t have to waste my spare tube. Made as much sense as any. Well I crossed the state line in the back of a car, not exactly what I had in mind, but it was still early in the day.
I made it to the Wal-mart and outside was a squad of guys in a roped off area assembling bikes for the [tag]Christmas[/tag] rush. I talked to them about the area while I swapped my tube out. I think my skills impressed them, because they offered me a job traveling with them doing bike builds. I declined because I have other things in mind right now.
From there I rode the 231 north for a while. But that presented two major issues.. The first is there are long stretches of the [tag]231[/tag] that don’t have a shoulder, and after someone in a van actually cut over and physically pushed me off the road I decided to walk till the shoulder restarted. I ended up walking ten miles before I got a semi-ridable shoulder.
Surprisingly the shoulder on the 231 is textured with ripples that are about an inch deep. Riding over these on a road bike is not at all unlike riding a washing machine with two cinder blocks and an angry Doberman inside of it
20 miles of constant jarring vibration and I wanted to die. But then I saw this shimmer up ahead.
there was a 20 foot tall chrome [tag]chicken[/tag] staring at me from the darkness. That was all I needed, I couldn’t be defeated by a simple road.
My bag felt more like a [tag]superhero[/tag] cape, and the light rain that had been following me for the past few miles suddenly didn’t mater. The road was mine to do with as I pleased. It felt awesome. I ended up pounded out a few more miles before the rain got to heavy for me to feel comfortable with my computer.
The tale of the tape
Miles for the day: 72.9
Average Speed: 12.5
Top 30.5
Total: 454.1
