Blah of a weekend

Wow, it's been awhile since I've posted anything here in bloggy land, mainly 'cause most of my riding has been "the usual" type stuff....Cyclelogik ride Saturday mornings, A or B loop Tuesday nights, commuting to work, a couple of family outings, and not much else.

Well, this past Saturday, I figured I needed to get in some mileage on my mountain bike, since A) I haven't been on it yet this year (yes, I hang my head in shame) and B) I'm registered for my first race of the year on Sunday. I wanted to get in a good 3.5 to 4 hours riding up in the park, doing the usual trail 15 to 1, ride to Fortune and play around on the trails there etc..

Before heading out the door, wifey gave me the cell phone to take..."just in case" (bet you can see where this is going). The ride was going just as expected...getting the workout that I wanted. Then, over an hour into the ride, I was barrelling down Trail 1 towards Old Chelsea, going over that one super rocky downhill section, when my rear end (the bike, not my ass!) started to feel strange. I thought something was up with my suspension. I bounced around a bit and it felt ok, but then I felt it...the back tire was losing air. CRAP! I think I was more in disbelief, since I've ridden tubeless for YEARS and never suffered a flat. I couldn't find the leak, but I threw a tube in there anyway. Before getting going, the front felt a *little* squishy. Whatever, I'll just top off the air and make my ride a bit shorter. So coming back on Trail 15, which has a lot of downhill sections, I felt the front bottom out on something, and then VERY quickly, the front went flat. CRAP! Double flat and nothing to fix it! This of course is where the cell phone came into play. Called wifey and asked her to come pick me up. An hour later, after getting rained on, reading the interpretive signs at Pink Lake and killing  10 horse flies (or deer flies....I never know the difference), the family showed up to rescue my sorry ass. Once home, I discovered that my front tire had not just one, but TWO punctures. I didn't investigate the rear though, I just said screw it and left the tube in there.

Now there's a moral to this story. No, it's not carry two tubes with you (which seems rather obvious at this point). It's that when your mountain bike has not been ridden in over 8 months (yes, it's been THAT long), tire sealant WILL dry up and NEEDS to be TOPPED UP!!! (stupid me).

One good thing did come out of the ride...I discovered a new riding drink that agrees with me.

 

Gu Brew!!

Not too sweet, doesn't leave a pasty feeling in your mouth, and the great combo of blueberry and pomegranate. On top of that, one serving has almost 500mg of sodium, perfect for those days when you can scrape the salt off your face.
One canister is $22 and has approx. 35 servings.