Week 1

Date
January 7, 2016

Distance
101 miles

Strava Link
Week 1

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Ride Report 
I'm a little late writing this post (I was busy and then I went on vacation), but have no fear. I'm still on track for 2016. This was the first century of the year and I had to earn it. It snowed a little bit overnight, so I initially planned on doing loops on some roads that I knew were free from snow. It didn't take me long to get tired of that, so I went out towards Verdi. Unfortunately there was still snow on the bike path out by Mogul, so I had to turn around and come up with a different plan.

On the way back I noticed my rear tire getting low. I was somewhat close to the car, which contained a couple luxuries: heat and a floor pump. I was hoping to be able to make it back to the car, but that wasn't happening. The tire went completely flat. It didn't seem like a big deal at the time. Flat tires are always annoying, but I've fixed plenty of them. I opened up my saddle bag for the new tube and noticed that it wasn't wrapped all perfectly and it didn't have a rubber band around it. Crap. It wasn't a new tube. At some point I had gotten a flat tire, put the old tube back in the bag, and forgot to switch it out for a new one when I got home. Dumb move.

Well, I decided to test my luck and hope that the old tube in the saddle bag had a smaller puncture than the dead tube currently on the wheel. It was a slow process because my hands were frozen, but eventually I got the "new" tube in and it seemed to be holding air. I was satisfied with myself and began to pack stuff back up. By the time I was ready to roll I threw my leg over the top tube and the tire was completely flat again. The whole thing was too funny for me to even get mad.

I didn't have much of a choice at that point. I did a super slow ride on the flat tire back to the car. As luck would have it, I had a brand new tube in there, along with the patches that I usually keep in my saddle bag for days like today. I must have been meaning to take those with me. Who knows. Actually, as I'm sitting here writing this, I think the old tube is still in the saddle bag. I need to quit doing that. From now on I'll put those in my pocket.

Anyway, the whole delay meant I had to ride in the dark a little bit, but the roads were dry by then so there was nothing to worry about. It was actually nice and scenic out there with all the new snow on the mountains.