First flat

Mother nature gave me the ole high hard one this morning.  I had planned to take Brynna in the trailer behind my bike to daycare today.  Unfortunately, when I got up this a.m. it was overcast and drizzly and by the time I got into the office it was an f’in downpour.  Damn-it.  I thought it would be a fun way to get B-Girl to daycare, take the load off of Marcy for the day and get a bit of riding in to boot.  Alas, no such luck.  Maybe I’ll try again on Monday.

On Wednesday, I got up at 4:15 to get in a couple of quality hours on the road before heading to the plant.  It was a beautiful morning and the fist this year that I didn’t need to ride most of with my jacket on.  I’m really looking forward to the days when I can get up, throw on my kit and head out the door instead of spending precious minutes in an internal debate with myself on whether or not to wear the jacket or arm warmers and knee warmers, one or the other….?  I guess that is one of the problems with riding so early.  65 degrees at 4 am feels totally different than at 10 am.  I probably wouldn’t consider a jacket if its 65 at 10 but almost always do if its 65 at 4, the air just seems a bit cooler despite the temps.  Anyway, the a.m. ride went smoothly and was uneventful.  I threw in a bunch of intervals as well as some hill work and was feeling great by the time I got to the office.  The way home, on the other hand, was another story.  My legs felt like lead for the first ½ hr which, to be honest, isn’t unexpected after a longish morning ride.  When the legs finally opened up I started to push the pace a bit more and that’s when things got really shitty.  While crossing a bridge on rt 1, I was forced by traffic to stay on the shoulder which is where the dreaded drainage grates are.  I don’t know who designed them or who specified that this type should be used in an area that sees a lot of loaded touring traffic, but they totally suck.  I hit the first one pretty hard and knew that if I did the same with the rest (probably another 10-12) that I was sure to get a pinch flat on the rear so I started to bunny hop each one.  Unfortunately for me, they were so closely spaced that at 20 mph it was hard to time the jumps perfectly and I ended up nailing a couple of them resulting in my first flat of the year on my road bike since installing the Panaracer Extreme Duro’s.  I’ve gotta say, these tires have been great, shrugging off just about everything I throw at them.  Surprisingly, when I got home and checked the tire and tube it turns out it wasn’t even a typical pinch or puncture that caused the flat, it was a sharp edge on one of the grates that managed to cut a small slice in the side wall of the tire.  Its not enough of a cut to warrant replacing the tire but just enough that the tube got a tiny pin prick hole.  You really can’t blame the tire for that one and at about 1000 miles only having one flat is pretty sweet.  

This weekend, we’re heading down to B-Town to visit my brother and his wife.  Hopefully we’ll be able to get a nice ride in at the Fells.  Hopefully we do because I haven’t been there in quite some time.  And Rus, if you’re reading this, TiVo the TT on Saturday so we can watch it Sat p.m. will ya?  I’m jonesin to see some tour coverage beyond the 2 secs they show each morning on SportsCenter.