21 Nov 2011 Ride: Pit Stop Alley

I thought I might try and get in a 30-40 miles today after a few household chores followed by some errands.  But first, there was a flat tire to change.  I knew I was pushing my luck yesterday when I went out for a ride on a tube that was suspect.  Even though it held air for the remainder of my ride on Saturday and the tire was still firm yesterday morning, odds were good that it would be low by the end of the day.  To my surprise, the pressure held yesterday and there was only a slight give when I pressed on the tire.  Still, first thing this morning I planned to change the tube which was a good thing since it was completely flat.

Driving out, there was still a field of content cows.

I headed for the Old Missouri Rd trail head parking lot, intending to probably stay mostly on the trail on this damp, gray day.  I had another pit stop to make, hoping to track down another kickstand; I needed the type that mounted to the horizontal frame bar as the more common type won't work on my bike.  After stopping at a couple of shops I hit pay dirt and installed it on the spot.  Amazing how excited one can get over a device that allows one to keep a bicycle upright as I surely was tired of lying it down when I stopped to take pictures.


I was moving merrily down the trail, thinking that I might just head out of the south end of the trail and pick up a surface road.  Along the way, I passed a couple of classmates of Rachel's jogging along the trail.

Katelin and Abby.  Abby used to be a neighbor of ours until they moved even further out into Goshen.

Just after I passed them and only a half a mile from the end of the trail, I seemed to pick something up in my tire and, sure enough, another flat.  This one was more like an incision than a flat as the tire has a nice gouge in it as well.  I cleaned the debris out of the gouge as well as possible and then inserted the duct tape covered business card inside the tire for situations such as these or worse.  While I am stopped, Katelin and Abby caught up with me and I was able to get a good picture.

Also while I was fixing the tire, a woman passed on a bike and said, "Hey, don't I know you from Lake Fayetteville?"  She was there with a friend the day I was suspiciously eying the red LTD and I happened to tell them my thoughts of the vehicle. 

So, off I was again but I didn't have a good feeling venturing out further away from town without another tube; more so, I think I just didn't feel like venturing out.  I headed back on the trail and made pit stop #3 at High Roller to purchase another inner tube.  

I'm looking at the time and the miles I have and I'm thinking I will go for 25.  I'm not quite used to the fact that I do not need to accumulate a humongous amount of miles each day and that I can scale things back. 

I'm thinking of heading up to Veteran's Park to get in the last few miles but decided to just go back and forth on the trail by the Missouri Rd trail head.  That turned out to be a good move as just after mile 23, pit stop #4; another flat.   Crikey.  I've only had three flats all year up until Saturday.  I don't feel like changing the tube, especially since once I get home I plan to change the tire so I try pumping it up.  It seems to be holding but after 100 feet it quickly goes down.  Fortunately, I'm only a few hundred more feet from the van.

 Back home in the evening.

Today's Ride:  2hrs 17mins.  23.49 miles.  49°-52°  Cloudy and damp.  Miles YTD:  9,234.96

Number of miles per day needed to reach 10,000 miles by the end of the year:   19.13

Donations for Biking for Food, which support the Community Meals at St Paul’s Episcopal Church in Fayetteville, AR, can be sent to:  Biking for Food,  St Paul’s Episcopal Church,   224 N. East Ave.,   Fayetteville, AR  72701

Or, make a pledge per bike miles ridden at  www.stpaulsfay.org/bikingforfood.html.

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