New Tires

So on Christmas eve i was on a 42 mile bike ride, with a couple of friends, when at about mile 25 while riding at about 21-22 mph my rear tire blew out. I was able to pull over safely and pulled took the rear tire off. I wondered what the cause was, the trail we were on was well taken care of, and there was no broken glass or anything on it. as i looked all around the tire it quickly came apparent as to why i had just gotten a flat, my tires were worn out. there was an area about 3 inches long that you could see that the tire had gone thread bear, and you actually see daylight through some of the tire. So the resourceful people that we are took some of the old tube, and glued it to the bottom to the tire, to make a barrier between the tire with a hole in it, and the new good tube. We put the new tube in, air it up using those neat CO2 cartridges that i have never used, and got back on the bike. we have about 16 more miles to go till we were back at our vehicles.

I had gotten pretty confident with our repair, and really started to crank on it again, when about 11 more miles into the ride, the tire blew again, at first i just tried to ride on the flat, but that was no good the tire was starting to come off the rim. So we decided to try to fix it again, this time we put a patch on the tire then three sections of tube, before we put the new tube it. Filled the tire up and got going again. this time i could feel the spot where all the patches were each time my tire rolled over that spot. but we where able to make it home safely, it kept me from cranking out a real good sprint at the end though, i was scared that it might blow on me again while riding at almost 30mph, i thought that could be pretty dangerous.

That afternoon after the ride, i picked up some new tires for the bike. and all is better.

Moral of the story take a look at your bike before you head out on a ride, make sure everything is in good working order. including checking your tires, b/c you can wear them out.

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Being Sick Sucks

I have got to say that being sick has never been fun, but as someone who is now very concerned with working out, and getting into shape it really sucks, being sick in the past never really effected me that much, sure i didn't have my normal strength, and sure maybe i skipped going out, but it never really impacted so much of my life as being sick right now has to me. Being sick has made it pretty much impossible for me to get a good workout in. I went out for a ride on Friday it was going to be a real easy ride, but one that would hopefully let me get my legs back so i could feel strong for a great ride on Saturday. I was so weak on the ride, i had no ability to sprint at any decent pace, i didn't have any endurance either. Saturday morning came and the alarm clock rung to wake me up to get ready for the Gather ride, and man i felt like crap, there was no way i was going to keep up on that ride, so i ended up skipping it, and basically everything else that was to go on that day. I did end up leaving my house for about 30 min. but that wiped me out even more. Sunday i started to feel better but not well enough to go for a ride, or play ultimate, or do anything else outdoors that i wanted to. Another day of inactivity.

Monday i had my offices closed and this was going to be my first day back on the bike that i didn't feel awful. Though i by no means felt strong, it was a good day we did 42 miles, and averaged about 19mph. while i pulled i tried to keep us around 21, there was a pretty good head wind, that seemed to keep the speed down a bit. but it was a pretty good day back.

Tuesday, Christmas, For Christmas i cleaned my bike up and gave her some much needed new tires. Then i convinced lee and Doug to go out for a ride. Today we were heading to Flatwoods, and 8 mile loop that is well flat. Still not feeling 100% by any means, but i really seemed to be getting my strength back. which i am very happy about, ended up pretty much doing all the pulling that ride, while Doug and lee sat on my back wheel. I am glad though i know that, that only make me a stronger rider, i will not get much stronger if i am always sitting on someone's back wheel. I also kept the speed up pretty good that ride, usually averaged 22-23mph. there at the end lee and Doug tried to sprint on me, but i would not let them beat me, i took the pace up to 29mph, and they were just not able to hang.

Man it felt great to get back out there, and boy i really can't wait till i have my strength back 100%. Hopefully it will be coming soon.

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update

Sorry it has been so long since i have posted, things have been really crazy and busy in my life. between training, and work, i don't seem to have much time for anything else. Well i just got back from Tallahassee, where i got to surprise a great friend of mine. She was graduating from FSU's Nursing Program, she knew i was coming but that great surprise was how much weight i have lost, she had not see me since i was at my heaviest, so to be able to show up over 100 lbs lighter was great. The only unfortunate thing was, i picked up her cold. Which has really impacted my work out schedule this week, actually i have not been able to do one thing yet, which is killing me, i am feeling much better, and planning on riding the Gather ride tomorrow morning, which is a pretty quick ride of about 30 miles. The rest of the weekend should be filled with many more workouts. We will see how things pan out though.

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