A Thorny Problem

This Ride: 19 miles
Month: 163 miles
2011: 623.1 miles
Cumulative Total: 6,742.8 miles

Yesterday afternoon was a pleasantly warm if windy day, with highs reaching 66° F.  I cleaned and lubed my chain, dug crud out of my brake pads, cleaned the bike, and checked it all over for the Brevet on Saturday.  I also installed my trunk rack.  I just don’t know how much time I’ve got the rest of the week for these tasks.  I also installed the Aliante saddle (tester).  So I was ready to go when the alarm rang this morning.

Temperatures were in the low to mid 30’s with six of us ready to ride.  Initially the saddle felt good, but this Aliante is quite short compared to the Arione.  I figured out about 1/4 of the way into the ride that I need to slide the seat forward about a quarter of an inch.  I’ll try that for tomorrow’s ride.

There was a lot of debris on the trail this morning, especially on the southern end of the trail.  The wind brought down a lot of branches, and not all of them were small.  On the way back north I noticed that either my seat was springy or I had a rear tire that was soft.  It was the tire.  The leak was slow enough that we just pumped it up and continued on.  That got me as far as just past midpoint on B&A when another inflation was done, then again just after hitting the trail, and finally, near McBride Road I gave up and changed the tire.  By that time, it was Clint, Dave C, and I, others having gone home to get ready for work.  We discovered a thorn (or at least some woody sharp splinter … probably from the tree debris)  had punctured the Gatorskin and had worked its way into the tube.  It was  a quick change and I cut the ride short to head home.

I’ll see if I can shake some time loose to adjust the saddle and re-check the tire today.  It may be time to install a new tire.

Warning: Non cycling content follows.

As I sit here writing this I just observed a crow bring a piece of stale bread to our birdbath.  The crow dropped the bread into the water, waited a moment, then broke off pieces to eat.  After a few morsels, the crow picked up the now soggy bread and flew to the ground to finish breakfast.  The bread slice remained intact as the crow took it to the ground.  Well played crow!