Nap time

Ride #108

Thursday, September 22nd.

20 miles on the American River Bike Trail

The usual Tue/Thurs ride from the Fish Hatchery to Wm Pond. My friend with the trailer full of kids couldn't make it but another rider from the meetup group came. He's pretty fast, so I got a good workout. So good I came home and napped for 3 hours. I have a pretty rough life, ha ha. He's also getting ready for the metric at Foxy's.

I also had a flat. #5 I think. Who's counting? The right front tire. I'm glad the other rider was along since today was a "bad shoulder day" and I had trouble getting the tire back over the last little bit of rim. I think if I had spit on the rim, or used some lip balm on it it would have been easier. As usual, most passersby asked if we needed any help. Cyclists are great!

It took me a while to figure out the tire was going soft; all I noticed that it was getting hard to maintain my speed. Much different from the squirmy feeling of a rear flat. I finally was able to peer over the side of the trike to see the tire squashing out from under the wheel more than I expected. The fenders interfere with seeing the tire by just glancing to the side.

I find it easiest to flip the trike on its side to change a front tire. I dug all the stuff I needed out of the tool bag and stuffed it under the side of the trike on the ground (to keep from squashing the fender or mirror). Worked great. It is so nice to be able to work on the tire at a comfortable standing height.

Have you ever noticed how when someone is watching you are suddenly all thumbs? Its true! So I handed my fellow rider the leaky tube to flatten out (I'd inflated it to see if I could tell where the leak was - no luck, time to drown the tube) and knowing he was occupied with that made the 'all thumbs' go away.

I've decided that my tool kit needs to be stored somewhere else. I've had it hanging behind my seat, but it is kind of a pain to fetch it out when it is needed. So I might try attaching it to the rack instead. I had 4 tubes with me, 2 patched and 2 new. I chickened out and used a new tube. I've got to try one of my patched tubes sometime. Or I suppose I could just wait until ALL my tubes are patched then I'll have no choice.

We were out a 1/2 hour later than usual, but there was still plenty of wildlife: I was nearly nose to knee with a deer (my nose, her knee) on a corner and I also saw a turkey hen and some half-grown turklets? What is the right name for young turkeys, anyway? I like turklets so I'll keep it.

This weekend I'll be doing a one-day wine tour in Sonoma County. I wonder how many bottles I can carry on my trike?

Hic. Ish that ano'er win'ry? Wun'erful. Lesh go.