More of the Same

After a great ride out in the country on Saturday, I was primed for more of the same for the regular Sunday winter group ride. My enthusiasm was momentarily dampened, though, when I awoke to find the streets wet and a light rain falling. It was still early, though, so there was hope. I checked the radar and the image I saw was at least reassuring. The cold front had just passed over us and was making its way east, so it was likely that the sky would soon be clearing. I sent a few text messages out to the people who I knew were planning on riding, just to make sure they weren't going to bail, and headed over to Starbucks. Mignon was already there, but Viv wasn't going to be riding today, so we stocked up on caffeine and went out to put Mignon's bike into the wagon. That's when she looked down and said, "what's that noise?" Well, that noise was the sound of air escaping rapidly from my car's front tire! I quickly brushed away any idea of skipping out on the ride in order to fix the flat, and hurried to move the car to an end spot in the parking lot where it would be easier to jack it up later in the day. We quickly implemented Plan B, in which I put my bike into Mignon's car, and we hit the road for Barker's Corner.

It was damned cold and quite windy when we arrived, but even so we ended up with almost twenty riders for the winter-standard 65 mile ride. I knew I'd be shedding clothes eventually, but since the first twenty-odd miles were straight into a brisk north wind, I figured I'd rather be comfy right from the start. Considering that the day's group included Tim and VJ and a few others who seemed anxious for a workout, I knew the group would eventually split, but I didn't really want to leave solo riders scattered about the countryside, so I figured I'd try to keep an eye on everyone. When we got to the northernmost point of the ride, up at US highway 10, there were four or five riders off the back, but everyone waited for them before continuing. I figured that might be the last time it would happen, because we were about to turn back toward the south and east, and the strong tailwind was sure to be irresistible. Most everyone made it over the big hill together, but then the pace started to really ramp up. I dropped back a bit to bridge a few riders up, but soon just Mignon was there. She looked back and said she was going to ease up and wait for the group of three or four that was forming behind us. By then it was impossible to catch the main group, and I found myself with a smaller group of maybe five riders. We were going pretty hard along that stretch, but the lead group was still pulling away, and when we got to the turn at Sie Jenkins Road, I made a u-turn to retrieve the others. I picked up a couple and Steve waited to pick up a couple more. Figuring we were only a couple of minutes back I decided to take the Jap Little road shortcut to visit Jorge's Collarbone Curve and see if we might be able to catch the group before it got going and get it to wait for the last few riders, but when we got to Plainview we could see that they hadn't waited.

Once our little group was all together, we took another shortcut, which was really nice because we skipped the killer crosswind that the main group had to deal with, and arrived in Enon just before the first riders from the main group got there. I had ridden backwards on the course to meet them while Mignon and Steve and the others stopped at the Enon store, so I rode back there to get them and was surprised to see the group roll straight through the intersection without stopping to wait. Mignon had just walked out with a coke, which she had to chug down so we could get rolling, but it was already too late. The group was a minute and a half up the road with the wind at its back, but Charlie and VJ were lagging behind and looked to be catchable. Steve and I pushed the pace a bit as we started up the watchtower hill, and soon it was just the two of us. We passed VJ on the steepest part, and when we got to Charlie he latched on and we kept pushing all the way to Tung Road where I again turned around to pick up the other riders.

It was fun doing these short fast sections, turning around to regroup, and then riding paceline for a while with the group. As we got close to the end Steve and I rode off the front of our group again and got in another few miles of moderate intensity. By the time we were back at the car the sky was clear and sunny. It was really a fun ride for me.

So we get back to the parking lot at Starbucks and I go to remove the very flat tire and the damned thing will not budge. I start wondering if there is some weird Volvo safety lock or something and pull out the owners manual, but there's not hint of anything like that. Mignon, I think, was convinced I was going to need a ride home, because she stuck around to help. I finally had to pry the wheel off the hub with the lug wrench. I guess there was a little corrosion or rust of something, but it took some effort to finally break it free. The good news, though, was that the little spare tire actually had enough air in it! So that was pretty much my Sunday.

Today I was off work, sort of, which means I did a little email stuff from home and from the PJ's Coffee at the shopping center where I spent a couple of hours waiting for Sears to fix the flat tire, rotate the wheels and check the alignment. Unfortunately, The Daughter, who was supposed to arrive around noon, got her flight cancelled and won't be able to come in until tomorrow. Man, flying through Chicago this time of year is really a roll of the dice. At least the good folks at Orbitz notified her around midnight and then automatically booked her on the next available flight, which was good because it gave her time to get her own car fixed. It's battery had died the day before, and when the temperature is below zero, you really need a fully functional battery. She made her own donation to Sears up in Iowa, but at least she'll be able to drive herself to the airport tomorrow for her 6 am flight.