The Day Has Finally Come...

...that I have finally POSTED!

Actually, it's more related to the fact that the one concern of riding a road bike came to fruition yesterday.  I had my first flat tire on the road!  I got really lucky too as it happened while I was traveling about 35 miles per hour.  I remember looking down in front of my tire and seeing something go right under it.  It looked like a pebble but it could have been the screw of all screws.  I finally heard that "wooooosh" that every biker dreads hearing.  Unfortunately, I now know what it sounds like, too.

Let's take a step back five months to Cycle City when I bought my Felt.  The people at Cycle City and my friend Aaron helped me accessorize my bike with things like tire levers, CO2 cartridges, bike pump, patch kit.  I didn't realize that the tire levers came in two as I almost took back one to Cycle City.

Actually, the one thing I didn't get was spare tubes.  That came a few months later.  The need to take bike maintenance courses was also on the to do list... but is still on the to do list.  The one thing I did do was research how to use the CO2 cartridges and the bike pump.

So back to the "wooooosh".  I managed to go from 35 mph to 0 with no "Scotty fall down and go boom".  I hopped the guard rail with the bike and went to work.  The tire came off just fine.  I inspected the tire and there were no tears/punctures.  The tube, on the other hand, was not in such a great shape.  I didn't even think to try patching it and just went to a new tube.  Slid it in and reseated the tire.  So now it was up to the CO2 cartridge.  The last time I had to deal with CO2 cartridges was in 10th grade shop class when we built  little race cards powered by the cartridges.

So attach the CO2 cartridge to one side of the pump and pump to the presta valve.  Slowly open up the pump valve and viola!

It only took a couple seconds to fill up the tire with the CO cartridge.  I decided not to push it and try topping it off with the manual pump action (and by push it meaning trying to pump manually but only succeeding to deflate the tire); however, I have a feeling that's partially why I got the flat... my tire was not properly inflated.

The rest of my ride I felt much more connected to my bike.  It's like debugging your first program.  Or, for those less geeky, cooking your first meal.  Or, for those less culinary included, ordering your first pizza.  I felt just a bit more capable.


Wetsuit
I finally purchased the wetsuit.  Ordered on Tuesday and arrived on Saturday.  I didn't get a chance to try it on until last night.  Tight.  VERY tight.  I did some research today just to make sure it was the right size and it sounds like it will loosen up some the first time it gets wet, so I think it's a perfect fit.

Superhero pose!

Apparently Xterra didn't get my request to sculpt 6 pack abs  in the suit.

Schedule Change

I'm going to take Topeka Tinman off my schedule for this year.  This was supposed to be my first triathlon but instead it would have been my third.  I was suckered asked to do the corporate challenge for my work and will do the sprint triathlon on June 12.  Surprised that a company of this size relies on someone who has never competed in a triathlon to get a participation point.  Since I am already scheduled for KC Tri on May 22 and Hospital Hill Half-marathon on June 4, I have a feeling doing the sprint on June 12 will wear enough on me.  After June 12, I don't have anything on the schedule until mid-July.  I've decided to use the Corporate Challenge triathlon as a free practice for things I screwed up on May 22nd.