T29 - Always Bring a Spare Tube - Bike

Sacramento

Bike - 85 minutes out, 85 minutes back

2 Lipodrene
So despirte binge drinking at Jill and Eric's wedding last night, and waking up earlier than I wanted to again, I was determined to get in the long bike before the week was over. And surprisingly, the bike felt really good. The AR trail was crowded as fuck, but it was a pleasant 82 and not humid, and after a slow start my legs got warmed up and I has a good pace going. My dad's bike doesn't have a computer, so I couldn't really see what my speed was, but I"ll guess it averaged around 17.5, since that's about what I do when I am not paying attention.

The ride was really nice, going along the river to Folsom lake and up a hill towards the famous prison. The hill was a good, solid climb, and the best part was on the way down I didn't pedal for a good 10 minutes. And the climb felt really good, even in the big ring. My legs felt strong, and when I got to the top I stopped to use the bathroom, have a Power Bar, and refill my bottle.

The interesting thing about low humidity is how much less water you are inclined to go through. I put back 2 bottles on this ride, usualyl what I do in an hour in Florida. Again, this high heat and humidity training I do down there is paying off. I even got in some serious hill traning by the Nimbus Dam, and used the small ring on a ride for the first time in alomost a year. The shifting on my dadn's bike is so easy, I didn't even hesitate to do it. On mine, I avoid changing rings at all costs.

Anyway, about 8 miles from the end I get a flat. Which is a pain in the ass enough, but because we'd had that fiasco with pumping up the tires on Wednesday, there was no spare tube in the back. And becasue my dad's hand pump likes to snap off valve stems, I couldn't use a patch kit either since I snapped off the valve stem in my attmept to reinflate the tire without changing it. God knows why I thought THAT would work. So I had to call my dad and have him come pick me up, which was not fun. If I wasn't training for an Ironman, I think it woulda been one of those "Sorry I let you down," kinda moments, where Dad is silent not becasue he's angry, but becasue he's disappointed. Not the case here, though, since A) My Dad is too old to even process what happened and B) It's a fucking Ironman.

Anyway, it sucked because I ended up cutting the ride about 30 minutes short, and I hate unfinished workouts. My back also was starting to kill at about the 2:15 mark, not bad considering I had no aero bars and it usually starts to kill a lot eariler. I'm going to take this to mean that my back is getting better conditioned, but still has a ways to go. Much like myself. And I will now make it a priority to ensure I have an extra tube with me every time I go out.