Saturday Roadie Ride

After weeks and weeks of freezing cold temperatures, we finally had a nice warm Saturday for a long bike ride!  Yay!

I set out on my newly resurrected road bike for a 40-50 mile bike ride at about 1:30 pm.   Kind of a late start, but I thought I had a few hours left of daylight.  From my earlier trainer ride, I remembered that the rear tire was worn.  So I inspected both tires.   The rear one looked rideable.  However, the front tire had a few spots where I could see some of the fabric showing through the rubber.  Not good.  Since it was already getting late, I did not want to take time to change out the tires.  I thought they’d be okay, but put some duct tape on the worn spots just in case.   Haha, that fixes everything, right?   I tweeted about it, and got some funny replies:

• fixin to ride my roadie. tires r worn. is this [picture of duct tape on tire] a bad idea? about 18 hours ago
• @paudiemac : @triblogcarol hmmmm i think so.
• @ironmanbythirty : @triblogcarol Bring a phone and don’t go too far from home!
• @Boat_mon : @triblogcarol yah, you’ll be fine (should I sell cars?)

Very soon after setting out, my arms started to ache and my IT band at the hips hurt.  So I stopped and tilted the nose of the saddle up a little to help take some of the weight off my arms.  I also moved the saddle forward a little!    My hips felt better, but basically my arms hurt the entire ride.   I felt like my wrists were having to twist to grab the hoods, and also felt like my arms were spread too wide.  Maybe I need a narrower handlebar.   The whole ride I kept longing for aerobars so I could rest my arms!   Today – one day later – my arms are really sore.    I need to figure this out if I am going to do the “Blood, Sweat, and Gears“ century ride this summer.

I rode 50 miles yesterday.   I tweeted some photos along the way for fun (see below).   At about the 35 mile mark, I was starting to get worried about running out of daylight.  I decided no more stopping and tweeting!     A little bit later, I passed some kids selling something on the side of the road in support of the crisis in Haiti.    I had some money with me, so I stopped and bought 4 chocolate chip cookies for $5.  Yummy!   I thought it would be nice to take a picture of them, but opted not to because I thought that might creep them (or their parents) out.

The last 45 minutes of the ride was a little scarey and cold because the sun was beginning to set.   I had moved the rear blinky light from my tri bike to my road bike, but forgot the front light.   So, I turned off my music* and was very alert to cars turning into the lane ahead of me.    I made it home safely, and had a cookie and hot cocoa for my post ride snack 🙂

Here is my twitter stream, with comments that came in.    Twitter is fun!

• havin good ride. tires holding up so far. arms ache tho 🙁 about 16 hours ago
• note to self. don’t try to start from dead stop in hardest gear up a freaking hill. #fail #fb about 16 hours ago
• doin a couple hill repeats on damascus church rd. hillier than pic shows. fun. about 16 hours ago
• nicevspot 4 a potty brk about 15 hours ago
• @tahughes : @triblogcarol Hey! That’s my potty break spot!
• @tahughes I wondered who left the seat up. 😉 about 13 hours ago
• Rode 50 miles today on road bike. Ran out of daylight, so was kinda scarey and cold at end. Arms are killing me. Need to figure that out. about 13 hours ago
• PS: the duct tape over the worn spots did okay keeping me from getting a flat. definitely need new tires, tho! about 13 hours ago
• @Boat_mon you sell cars, huh? good one! about 13 hours ago
• @ironmanbythirty I did bring a phone, and luckily was okay, thanks! about 13 hours ago
• @paudiemac ya, don’t try this at home, haha! how was your day? still coldl there? about 13 hours ago
• @tahughes ya, i got a late start today cuz of other junk going on. did you ride today? about 12 hours ago
• i am exhausted. guess its been a while scince i rode 50 miles. goodnight y’all! about 10 hours ago
• @rburns42 : @triblogcarol I did 20. You’re crazy for running those tires. Duct tape does NOT fix everything. And the pee rock? Really!?! TMI yo, TMI!!!
• @rburns42 i like the pee rock picture! i hope you don’t unfollow me, hahaha! 14 minutes ago
• @alexgonzalezMI : @triblogcarol Try dollar bills underneath the tread, it works. But go to probikekit.com and get some mich pro 3’s. (in reply to triblogcarol)
• thanks, I was just wondering what kind of tires to buy. RT @alexgonzalezMI: @triblogcarol …go to probikekit.com and get some mich pro 3’s. 12 minutes ago
• @aparsells : @triblogcarol the best tires! Mich 3s are awesome!

*I listen to music while riding solo.  Bad idea I know. I only have one headphone in, and I don’t have the volume cranked up real loud, so in general, I think it’s okay.