Biking Mis-Adventure(s)

I had a four day weekend scheduled and all I could think about was flying down the road on my bike.  I had several rides scheduled and and executed but there were a few funny moments.
Ems was going to meet me at my house on Friday afternoon for a ride to the Fishers library and back with a pit stop to feed some hungry felines.  We left my house and fairly quickly I began to lag behind.  Usually Ems and I ride at a similar pace but I just had a hard time keeping up.  I kept yelling at my body for failing me but it never occurred to me that the problem could be with my bike.  We were crossing the street about 2.5 miles from my house when my bike skidded to the side as I was making a turn.  It did it a second time.  Weird! 

When I crossed the street Ems noticed that my back tire was flat.  F-L-A-T!  Hm....that had never happened to me before.  I just looked at it with a dumbfounded expression on my face.  I looked at Em and she looked at me.  I began to process the various options through my head. 

I could walk my bike back to my house.  I could call Lou.  I could do nothing and see what happens.  None of these options seemed like a terribly good idea.  We finally decided the best option was to send Ems back to my house and for her to come back and pick me up.  I gave her my car keys, garage door opener and I sent her off to my house to get my car. 

I then sat on the ground like a princess.  It felt pretty good to have someone take care of me.  I sat there relaxing and texting my friends and entertaining myself with my phone.  I felt like I got the long end of the proverbial stick.  Yea me.

While I was waiting I encountered two very friendly and helpful citizens.  The first person was a guy in a white truck.  I saw him looking at me so I gave him a big friendly smile in return.  He asked me if I needed any help and I told him I was good and I had a friend on her way to pick me up.  The second person to stop was a lady on a giant yellow school bus.  Really, an empty school bus.  I gave her the same answer but I was very amused when I thought about putting my bike on the bus and catching a ride home.

When I saw my green car coming towards me on the road I began picking up my stuff and shoving it back in my bag.  I had to carry my bag and push my bike so I thought the best option for my helmet was to put it back on my head.  But why did I find it necessary to buckle it back on.  Really it could have sat there.  But no, I wanted to make sure it was securely fastened to my head for the 20 foot walk to my car.  Duh!

I loaded up my bike and we headed off to the bike repair shop.  They fixed the problem in 10 minutes for a mere $17.  $10 for the labor and $7 for the tube.  DONE!  I was so happy as I really didn't want to learn how to make this particular repair.  I was (am) perfectly OK letting someone else take care of this problem.  It turns out that it wasn't a hole in the tube but a faulty valve stem.

My total mileage on Friday was 2.5 miles.  O well, I made up for that on Sunday.

Sunday dawned with a new biking adventure.  We decided to try some new trails in Plainfield and they were very nice.  There are about 12 miles of paved and connected trails.  It was a very enjoyable and relaxing ride.  The funny part happened when we arrived.  I had picked up Ems so we were together in the car when I arrived at the meeting spot in Plainfield.  I decided to get the lay of the land and drive all the way around the parking lot.  Um...Twice.  Yes twice.  What I didn't realized was our other friend E was following me.  We thought we were early so I wasn't concerned with the time or my actions.  When I finally parked I noticed a "real" biker emerging from the car across the parking lot.  He had on a official biking shirt and he had a very nice bike on his rack.  I started making fun of this "stranger" to Ems.  Then I realized that this "real" biker was our friend E.  Oops!  I could not stop giggling.  I mean for like five minutes.

It was a good day!

I LOVE biking season!!!!!