Flat!

I've been waiting for this day with nervous anticipation...the day when I'm riding along and all of a sudden my tire pops and I go flat. I always imagined that this horrific episode would happen to me when I was out in the middle of nowhere, alone and on a very cold, windy (maybe even rainy) day. Well, when it did finally happen, what actually transpired was quite a different scenario.

Rewind to last week:
It all started when I was loaned a tire to use while riding on my trainer. This will be great, I thought. I'll unhook my wheel and throw the new one on and I'll be good to go... Imagine my surprise when I walk into my office and see a circular piece of rubber hanging on my office chair. Damn, where's the wheel? Apparently "you can borrow a tire" literally meant I was just getting a tire and I would be forced to practice swapping one out.

So later the following evening I decided to give it a shot. I was able to take my back tire off without any problems...smallest gear...check...unhook the brakes...check...unscrew the axle and take the wheel off the fork...chickety check. I released the air from the tube and took off my tire and got ready to put the new one on. Piece of cake...not really...30 minutes and 2 sore thumbs later, I managed to squeeze the tire around the wheel frame. I wiped the sweat off my brow and refilled the tube with air. Well, I thought to myself, at least I got some practice and now I know I can change out a tube and put the wheel back on.

The next evening was my indoor training class. I was pretty excited to give my handiwork its true test so I hooked up the back tire to the trainer and hopped on my bike. I began to pedal and all of a sudden I heard a loud !POP! whhssssshhhh ...Uh oh... "Hey, you just got a flat" my classmate says to me. My face dropped. He hopped off his bike and came over to inspect the damage. He suggested that it may just be a slow leak and refilled the tube with some air. I put the bike back on the trainer and thankfully was able to finish out the session without further interruption. In the back of my mind, however, I kept thinking that I'd have to do something about it before my next training session - which happened to be at 6am the next morning.

That brings us to today:
After a night of restful sleep, I awoke at 5:30am thinking to myself that there was no way I could change out my flat and make it in time for training. I half hoped that by some miracle, the tire truly hadn't flatted out and I'd be spared the embarrassment of asking someone in class to assist me. Unfortunately, my hopes were crushed when I squeezed the tire and felt the hard rim between my thumb & forefinger. What do I do now?!? And then, an idea hit me. Last night I was able to fill the tube with air and ride the full 90 minutes. Today's class is only 60 minutes. Surely the tube would last that long and I could just change it out when I got to work...brilliant!

When I arrived at Landry's, I filled the tube up with air and carried on as if I had a fully operational piece of riding equipment. I set up my bike and began the warm up. So far so good. I settled in as the workout began, thinking I was in the clear when all of a sudden I heard it... "tha thump...tha thump...tha thump..."

Craaaaaappp! I hopped off my bike and informed the instructor that somehow I'd just gotten a flat. "How in the world did that happen on your trainer?" he asked me. I innocently replied that I had no idea. During this time, another rider (who had one arm in a cast) hopped off his bike to find out what had happened. He kindly brought over a new wheel and asked me if I could swap them out. For whatever reason, probably out of sheer embarrassment, I replied no. He looked at me blankly. With his one good arm, he changed out the wheel for me and told me that he'd replace the tube once class was finished. Oh man. I'd just made this guy fix my bike with one hand. Mortifying.

Class finished without any further mishaps and my one armed classmate took my wheel to the back. He came out 5 minutes later, wheel hanging over his casted arm, pump in the other. He set them down in front of me and says "you'll have to pump". I looked at him quizzically and he replied by holding up his broken arm. "Oh...right," I say, my cheeks flushing a cherry red. I pumped the tire to 80psi because that was all I could do (even with my full weight on the handle, I wasn't able to get the bar down far enough to get it to 100). Then one-armed classmate threw the wheel back on my bike for me and told me I was all set to go. So I suppose in a way I lucked out that it happened while I was in a bike shop and there were plenty of people there who could fix it for me. ;)

Sunday Ride

Went for a ride yesterday...it was so windy I thought I was going to get blown over a couple times. What normally takes me 1hr 15 minutes, took almost 2 hours to finish. Good workout though.

1/3 life crisis

Yes, given my recent impulsive behavior, I believe I am having a one-third life crisis. I just bought a ticket to London. *pause* Yikes.

I'm going to blame this decision on Regina, who was encouraging me over the phone as I was just (out of sheer curiosity) looking to see what prices were like in February. Just so happens, the prices were right ;) so she and I will be spending a week shopping and eating our little hearts out. And maybe we'll make a side trip to Amsterdam to see Latha and the little one...

In other news, I was exhausted today and I didn't make it out riding (or to the gym for that matter). But I am going tomorrow so I'll have to make up the extra time then.

Training

This week marks the beginning of my 'official' training schedule. It was pretty exciting to see & feel the changes when I started doing this for the half marathon and I can tell that I'm going to go through some significant changes this time around as well. The plan that I am on is much more intense than the running and it takes up a lot of time, but the end results will definitely be worth it.

I had my first coached session last night and it was a lot of fun. Learned some good stuff and it will definitely help to keep up the motivation through the winter. Going riding this weekend, weather permitting...

Collide

it's not just a song by howie day... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTz7rhommHI


So I have a lot to catch up on apparently. This last week has been insanely busy and I am just now getting the opportunity to catch my breath and write. I have put myself on a tight training schedule and have to maintain 8.5 hours a week for the next 13 weeks. After that, it increases quite a bit through the spring & summer. Explanation of this to come in a later posting, but let me just say that with the time change comes darkness and it's very difficult to get out for a run or a ride post work. I am finding those 8.5 hours hard to come by. I've readjusted my schedule slightly and am trying to fit in workouts at lunch when at all possible. Tonight I hit the gym to do weights and tomorrow, I run with Andrea.


Let me now backtrack to what has transpired since my last posting. Last Tuesday I met up with two NEBC'ers for a night ride. I have a teeny light which has an output of about 1 watt. I was told not to be concerned because they would sandwich me between them since each had a super powered headlight strapped to their handlebars. Honestly, it was kind of embarrassing. So we rode and it turns out, my mini light provided enough illumination for me to get by. The ride was good, we did ~22 miles in 90 minutes. The rest of the week was filled with running & gym workouts.


On Saturday, upset by the fact that I didn't get to do a longer distance the weekend before, I decided I would go out and ride 40 miles. That's basically 2 round trips to Bedford and back on the Minuteman. Some (names withheld) have questioned my hesitation to hit the streets solo at this point since I need to get that experience under my belt. Here is my feeble explanation: a) I have NO idea where I am once I pass through Arlington and b) I'd rather have a companion with me in case I get stranded in the middle of nowhere with a flat or (ahem) take a tumble and get injured.

The weather on Saturday was overcast. It had rained the night before and the streets had yet to dry up. In fact, I was afraid I was going to get caught in a downpour since the clouds looked a bit ominous. Not to be deterred for any reason, I jumped in my car and resigned myself to the fact that if it rained, I'd just have to deal with it. I headed out from Alewife and was surprised at how many people were out on the path. There is a point where you have to cross an intersection at Arlington Center (where I'd had my first mishap). Since that incident, I have quickly learned to clip & unclip my shoes and haven't had any major issues since. I crossed the street and noticed a huge pile of leaves that were blocking my way. I steered through them, realizing that they were soggy and quite slippery. Just as I was making a mental note of this, my back tire slid left and knocked me off balance and I went crashing down in front of a handful of bikers and one very concerned runner. I jumped up and picked up my bike and noticed, as a crowd gathered around me, that my chain had fallen off. Crap. I fumbled with it a bit as a man on a bike came toward me and asked if he should hold my bike while I put the chain back on. Nope, I am fine, I told him..not about to admit I really didn't know what I was doing. Once I got the chain on the teeth, I brushed myself off and noticed that my right thigh was throbbing. I hopped back on the saddle, not to be discouraged by a bruised thigh (and ego).

The ride down to Bedford was great. I cruised along heading down & back again, listening to a mix I'd made specifically for long workouts and pedaled my little heart out. Somewhere along the way, I got distracted and drifted a bit off to the right. I immediately tried to correct myself, unaware that I'd ridden off into the dirt. My front tire rubbed against the curb of the asphalt (which was camouflaged by leaves) and I immediately realized I was going down...again.

Let me pause here and mention that this all happened in (excruciatingly) slow motion.

My left thigh was the first to hit the ground, followed by my elbow. I was still attached to my bike by my left shoe as I slid across the pavement. I came to an abrupt stop, unclipped, jumped up and looked behind me to make sure there wasn't an audience watching me. The closest person was hundreds of feet away - too far to have seen anything. I did a quick check of my newest injuries - a huge bruise and scrape marks on my left thigh, as well as a scraped up elbow. I might as well be 8 years old. I quickly diverted my attention to my bike and noticed the shifters were askew and completely scraped up. I readjusted them as best I could and did a check of the rest of the bike, which was fine. With shaky legs, I threw myself back onto the saddle and took my bruised and battered self home.

As I write this, I still can't sleep on my left or right side. I've realized that this kind of thing is bound to happen once in awhile. If anything, it makes for an entertaining story. As Howie puts it so eloquently...even the best fall down sometimes.

Riding the burbs

Woke up at the crack of dawn this morning in anticipation of a long ride. Headed out to Arlington to the Quad Cycles shop to make it for the 9:30am departure. I walked in and the guys working there told me that as of Nov 1 (today), the ride starts at 10. Ok. I am 45 mins early. Hmmm. What do I do? The guys at the shop told me to just hang out and so I did ... Since this was to be my first group ride and longest ride to date, I was a little nervous. They told me not to worry, that no one gets dropped and asked if I wanted coffee. How nice. As one of the guys left to go get caffeine in a cup, the other pulled me aside and said - You know, I'll tell you this since you're nice and you're new to all this. They will drop you if you can't keep up. And by the way, you're going to be cold in that outfit. huh? Great way to make me feel at ease. I looked at him funny because I was wearing my long tights and 2 top layers along with my long finger gloves .... not to mention it was already 55* outside. Well, he says to me, you might not be cold today, but once it stars to get really cold you'll need something like this - he pulls out a jacket. Uh huh. Always a salesman.

People started to arrive and I was introduced to a couple of the regular riders. Around the same time, the two NEBC riders I was supposed to meet showed up and ... we were off. We went down Mass Ave and the pace was just around 16. Not bad. We swung over to the Minuteman and headed toward Bedford where we regrouped and split into the fast and slow packs. My NEBC counterparts were kind enough to hang with the turtles and we sped off at a comfortable pace (we ranged between 17-21 and I hit my highest to date - 24) toward Chelmsford and down to Great Brook. We encountered a series of 2-3 hills that caused me to drop back because I hadn't shifted properly and I couldn't regain my momentum to catch up with the leaders. The only thing I could think at that point was oh my god I have no idea where I am...how am I going to get home? Never to fear, I wasn't the last rider and just before the panic set in, said rider passed me and started to speed away. Crap! I picked up my pace as the pain tore through my legs and followed her the couple miles straight ahead to Carlisle where everyone had stopped for break #3. We discussed the rest of the route and due to time constraints, we decided to take the quick way back down 225 (which, I have to mention is in TERRIBLE shape) through Bedford, back down the Minuteman and into to Arlington. 30 miles completed!

It was a great morning topped off with a quick lunch with N & R from NEBC who hung with me pretty much the whole way. It was much appreciated.

Complete route is here: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2370999