This Bike Ride Was Screwed
I thought the main challenge on today’s bike ride would be the wind. I was very wrong.
It all began as I rolled away at 12:15 PM on my Cervelo Caledonia bike. After looking at a couple of past rides in SportTracks I decided to ride my Community Drive – Valley Ranch – Cumberland route which usually is around 35 miles. Those miles would help me get back on pace to reach my 650 road mile goal for March. I waited to start the ride hoping the wind would go down and the temperature go up. The temperature went a few degrees but the wind increased too. I dressed for the wind with shorts, a long sleeve heavy jersey and a wind jacket.
Checking the weather I saw: start 67 degrees, 43% humidity, dew point 44, fair and breezy, wind NW 21 mph gusts 32 mph. The ride north wand northwest was going to be hard but returning to Kingwood I should have a strong tailwind mostly.
The ride was going as I expected, fighting the wind to Community Drive, some relief going through Valley Ranch, and a strong headwind riding northwest on FM 1314. Until!! I heard this slapping noise from the back tire around 18.5 miles. I stopped quickly and rotated the tire. A large yellow deck screw stuck out of the tire. This could be trouble. I walked from FM 1314 to get away from the noise to a group of buildings, found a 5 gal pail to sit on and looked closer at the damaged tire.
I gathered my tire tools, pump, and patch kit. I got the tire loose and pulled the tube out and looked at the hole. Well actually holes. The screw went through one side and punctured the other side of the tube. I don’t have much success patching those types of holes so I opted to use my spare tube. I got it out of the seat bag, unrolled it and prepared to put it in the tire. Inside the tire I aired the tire up but nothing happened. I tried again, same result. I looked at the spare tube to find the hole but couldn’t find it. I rolled the tube up and pumped it again and found a crease in the rubber letting air out. I patched that and tried again but it wouldn’t hold air for long. Back to the original tube I roughed up the area where the holes were, applied glue and then a patch. Then I did the same for the holes on the other side of the tube. Hoping for good results I pumped up the tube and it held air for a little time and then went soft. By now I had used all of the glue so no more patching attempts. I put the original tube back in the tire, put the wheel back on the Cervelo and started walking back towards Sorters Road and the Circle K store.
When I got to the Circle K I sent a text message to a friend who lives not too far from there. Waiting for a reply I got a text message from another friend who I don’t hear from often saying she was in the area. I told her about my situation and she offered to come take me home. While she was on the way I got a message from the first friend. I said help was on the way and waited. The friend arrived, I put my bike in the car and went home.
The ride did not go as planned. Maybe the next ride will.