Flat.

What a long week. So happy tomorrow is Friday. I am about as flat as the tires on my bikes. Yes, pleural BIKES. Tuesday I was loading up Ritchey to go to the Chicky ride. I found the back tire to be almost flat. I loaded it up anyway and thought if I have time I'll change it. In case there wasn't time, I went back and grabbed Copper, the Single Speed. Off I went to Mill Mountain. When I got there, Paula was already there; so it would be a Single Speed Chicky ride. I quickly popped the flat platforms out of the SPDs and added some air to the tires. Copper has been sitting idle for a while. I use it primarily to run errands and to/from the gym; but haven't ridden it in a few weeks.

We decided on a short loop so that Paula could get to a dinner engagement. If I felt like it, I was going to ride more after she left. So we take of down ZooPoo and Ridgeline Trail. Headed quickly towards Monument, where the climb was a bit of a challenge for me and my 33/18 geared SS. I made it though without getting off, falling over or stopping. Aimed the bike down the trail on the descent. A bit of a bumpy ride, but plenty of fun. I felt like I was zooming pretty good, passed the Star Trail intersection, down the next little steep and suddenly, squish-a, squish-a, squish. "YOU'VE GOT TO BE F'ING KIDDING ME???" Sure enough the back tire on the single speed was now flat. PITA!!! I don't have a quick release on the back of this bike, so I carry a 14mm ratchet wrench with me. I didn't want to hold Paula up and urged her to continue without me, but she wouldn't leave me. I set off to change the tube. The rims on this bike have a small channel on the inside edge which makes tire removal a bitch. After using Paula's tire levers, the tube change was easy. I have the same set in my other camel back, but for some odd reason I took them out of the one I was using and haven't replaced them. Add that to the to do list.

After replacing the tire, we finished out Monument Trail then headed up the old road. I thought I was going to croak, but amazingly enough I was able to pedal all the way to the Car Trail. Here I had to walk the steep up section, which was fine with me. We ran into one of my coworkers, chatted a few minutes then continued on. I finally got tired of pedalling just shy of the switchback on Riser. I wasn't able to ride the switchback today. Oh well. same story on Ridgeline - got most of the way around the switchback before having to put a foot down.

I think our ride was like 50 minutes, I could have changed the tire on Ritchey and rode more; or continued on Copper, but I really didn't want to ride alone for some reason. I packed my stuff up and headed out. As I got off of the interstate to go home, I decided to go put some time in at the the gym. So about 45 minute of mountainbiking followed by 50 minutes of spinning at the gym - not bad I guess!

Since then it's been raining and cold. YUK!!!! I've been to the gym two nights in a row. The aches are beginning to set in. Oh well tomorrow's Friday, I can cope.