Jeremy and I decided to join the 17th Annual Endless Summer Watermelon Ride that offered a 30 mile ride. We trained up for a solid month and a half and had no doubts about finishing the 30 miles. As you can see, some of us may have gone a little overboard with the tight bike shorts and sporty "wicking shirt". Have you heard of these things? They "wick" the sweat away from your body. Hmm.. Back to the shorts.. no, really.. onto something more pleasant.
We both ride standard mountain bikes, but aspire to something greater. It would seem we are both looking for ways to finance such a great expense. Do you know how much a street bike costs? wow.. Just to give you an idea... I was in a sporting goods store and found a rack of those nifty biking shirts. You know, the ones that make you look like Lance. I managed to find one that wasn't crazy with endorsements and looked like it would fit. As I pulled it off the rack, I happened to glance at the price tag. How does 80 bucks strike you for a shirt you wear while riding your bike?? Yeah, needless to say, I continue to sport the all-american cotton tshirt.
So, considering the cost of things, we've opted to ride high on our standard fare bicycles. Of course, we've upgraded here and there, but nothing too fancy. We've switched out the tires for something smoother; tires designed for street riding. I chose the standard 2 water bottles securely mounted to the bike. Jeremy chose the camel pack. That's not a nicotine death sentence; it's a backpack that holds water with a giant flexible straw. As to safety, we both wear helmets. I will say that I had to special order mine; the bike shop didn't carry any large enough to contain my large brain. We both also have nice 'computers' on our bike that tell us how fast we are going, how far we have travelled, how much time has elapsed, and where the closest Chick-fil-a is located. I made that last item up.
What was I saying? Oh, yeah, the Endless Summer Watermelon Ride. So, Jeremy and I show up. What a large gathering of bicycles! There were tons of people there. We started out and didn't look back. I will say that Jeremy set the pace and I tucked in behind him. Being the 30 mile ride (the shortest ride), we passed quite a few people. Come to think of it, we were passing people for the first 15 miles. When we reached the 15 mile mark, they had a rest area. A rest area? Yes, a rest area. Most surprising to me, though, was that everyone stopped. Jeremy and I couldn't understand, so we kept on riding. We don't need no stinkin' rest!
So, we ease up on the pace for about 1 mile, drink some water, eat a granola bar, and get serious again. By this time, we're convinced we're at the front of the pack. We didn't see anyone. We pound away a little more and find a few more riders to pass. At 18.2 miles, we pass two ladies keeping a good pace. Just as we tuck back in line in front of the two ladies, Jeremy's bike lets out a loud PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! I knew immediately this wasn't good for us. We pull over, kindly smile at the ladies passing us now, and take a look at the situation. His front tire is flat. Flat. Now would be a good time to talk about what real bikers would do. A real biker would have a spare tube, tools, and air. This would make for a 5 minute change and we would quickly get back to business. That being said, we haven't hit the 'real biker' status yet. So, we wait patiently for a truck to come by and kindly return us to our car. End of story.
The moral of this story is this. I bought a spare tube, tools, and air. Now we wait for another official ride.
