Today's ride proved to be difficult. This was a long 86 miles, as it turned out. The ride was punctuated by two punctures, first the front tire and then the rear. The latter happened only 1.8 miles from the final destination today, here in Great Bend, so that made it extremely frustrating.
At least I can look on the positive side of things. I really am becoming quite good at changing tires. Not that long ago, I was only too happy to have the experts at the bike shop fix a flat for me. Like so many things however, you do get good with practice. Honestly, I am beginning to think that I could change a flat almost as easily as I could insert an intracoronary stent!
When Michel's alarm clock went off this morning at 5:15 AM, I made the comment to him that it was time for him and me to "Get out of Dodge!" Being in Dodge City at the time, this seemed hilariously funny to both of us. We laughed as if it really had been a genuinely funny joke. At least I had thought that my attempt at humor was mildly original and clever.
After getting dressed, we met with other cyclists for the early morning slogging down of coffee, orange juice, and mass quantities of protein and carbohydrates. In that environment, I saw that my "Get out of Dodge" joke was being used by everyone! It seemed that everyone else had come up with the same idea independently. There were countless times when a cyclist would find some way to make a joke with some variation on the theme of using the words "Get out of Dodge". Amazingly, each time this happened, all of us would laugh as if it was the most incredibly clever, original, and funny joke that we had ever heard. This was not fake laughter..., we really were genuinely amused each time. To the reader of this blog, the scene may sound like some sort of a Saturday Night Live skit that had gone horribly wrong. Actually however, it wasn't like that at all. To understand the scene, simply remember that all of us now have the general emotional maturity of a perfectly normal 13-year-old boy.
The trip today was windy. During the first half of the ride, this was a crosswind. Later however, the wind was nicely at our backs. I was tired, but otherwise doing OK. With my two flat tires en route however, that really slowed me down. I did not sign in at the destination today until 1:30 PM. By that time, it really was geting hot outside. It is now 92 degrees outside. Even though I am using copious amounts of SPF 70, I can see that I am getting more sun than I should. I was really tired by the time that I finally got in today.
Our ride today took us through Spearville, Offerle, Kinsley, and Larned. Kinsley purports to be "Midway USA", as they have calculated that the city is exactly equidistant between San Francisco, California, and New York. Neat!
Back to my flats..., my problems today were disturbing especially because I did not find the usual "culprit" explanation of embedded pieces of metal or similar objects. That has implied to me that the problem was that of the tires themselves. The tires were put on new during the middle of summer last year. They now have roughly 2,000 miles of wear, and they are looking more than a bit thin. That being the case, I just bought two brand new tires today. Michel helped me put them on. I now have new tubes, new tires, and a nicely clean and well lubricated bike. Tomorrow may go better!
I need to finish washing my clothes and I need (more importantly) get something to eat. I will therefore end this post now.
More tomorrow.
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