Sunday’s “Long” Ride

Following a nice 4.5 mile run and a little bout with wings and beer Saturday night, I woke up early Sunday to join my friend and his buddy for their regular jaunt around the Pinnacle Peak area in North Scottsdale.

The morning of, I found my rear wheel was flat. I was disappointed, as I had recently replaced that tube and had only ridden home on it; I learned then that it’s necessary to reinflate the tube with a pump once you return from a ride in which you used CO2. I made the obligatory cruise around the local Starbucks so all the roadies and runners posted up on the patio could check out my ride, and with my Iced Quad Venti No Whip Two Pump Mocha in hand, I made my way to the other side of town.

Things degraded once we hit our point of departure. As I was pulling my bike off the rack, my buddy noticed a nice size gash in the sidewall of my rear tire that I had missed after handling the tire three times! The tube was pushing out like a cyst on a pubescent teenager’s face. NICE. Luckily, the aquaintance just so happened to have a spare tire laying around and our/my ride was saved, if not a little late and a lot warmer. We pushed off, made our rounds, and in less than two hours (including a lengthy stay at the Circle K turnaround. Read: don’t drink Iced Quad Venti No Whip Two Pump Mochas before a ride) and 27 miles later, we were back with no major issues to speak of. I was really surprised at the distance and my average of around 16 mph. It was my longest ride to date and I felt great. We plan on making that ride a weekly occurance now and I look forward to next Sunday.

On a side note, after cleaning up I picked up my girlfriend and her little sister and we went to go see Ratatouille. It was pretty cute and I would recommend it (the Pixar short, Lifted, was hilarious and had us rolling in the aisles). Overall, it was an awesome Sunday despite my technical ineptitude, the opressive heat, and my gastrointestinal tantrums.