Latest rides

My rides over the past two weeks were typical - into the wind heading out, wind changes direction, into the wind heading home. I suppose I can't complain too much since the point of these rides are to get exercise! It would be nice, though, to get a break on the way home.

I had a bit of a surprise on my ride yesterday. I tried to turn a corner and nearly washed out. Sure, I was riding a mountain bike (with slicks), but while this was something to be expected on the trail, it was a total surprise on the street. Most of the roads I ride are straight as an arrow. When riding straight, it's hard to notice a flat tire until the rim clunks on the pavement. If you happen to enter a turn with a flat, the surprise is substantial.

Of course, the glue for the patch kit that I thought about on the way out never made it into my pack, so my only choice was to either replace the tube or pump it up and pray it held. Feeling a bit too lazy to do the former, I chose the latter. The only downside was the constantly worry about when to pull over and check the current state of flatness. I stopped a few more times on the way home but only had to pull out the pump once more. Thank God for slow leaks.

One last note - to the jackass with the siren: you don't have to chirp the siren when you are directly behind me. I knew that I was in the road. I knew that I had the right to be on the road. I knew that someone was behind me (although I didn't know you were either a cop, ambulance, or small fire truck). And if you were in such a hurry, you should have approached with lights and siren going long before you reached me.