Saturday's ride and Go Bree Go!

Well Yesterday ride was supposed to be 100 miles instead it cost me $100. The first 34 miles were uneventful. I got up to the lake and around with no problem, but as I began on my way out of Washington, I heard a swift whistling sound as if somebody launched a roman candle, followed by the tell-tale thump. A Flat Shit! I know what everyone is thing Bobby had a Normann Stadler moment complete with bike tossing, explatives, crying, and vowing to give up cycling for life....sorry guys I guess Normann and I will have to save that bike tossing contest for another day. I calmly descended upon my bike bag removing my spare tube, handy tire level, CO2 , and worked on removing the wheel. One cyclist rode past and offered help, I politely declined as I inspected my tire, shit I had blistered a hole the size of the dime into in through the chords and all. I wasn't sure if I put a new tube in if it would hold up but I was out in East Bum Kill and had no cell reception for a ride. I managed to get the tire remounted I had pinched the tube a tiny bit but I only needed it to survive 7-10 miles, so I could get back to my car and to the bike shop. Well it lasted about a mile....does that count for anything. As I approached a stop sign the familar whistle of the rear tube exploding rung out again. A woman in a Subaru had stopped next to me..." What was that?" She asked..."My rear tire going flat." I replied sort of laughing sort of stunned that this had happended twice yet I don't think a pinched tube or a gash in the tire would have anything to do with it. Long story short she gave me a ride back to my car..which was cool because otherwise it would have meant more than an hour walk in bike shoes. I decided in my Brilliance to take the bike out to Newington..figuring I could pay for it on my Trek card which I forgot is on credits only....d'oh. Well while I was there I had my persky deraileur problem looked at again, but when I found out the situation on my trek card they had already found the problem and were in the middle of fixing it ( worn out chain, so they had just cracked the old one , also got a good chastising for not cleaning the bike religiously.) So what was supposed to be a $70 for new tires ( Continetial GP Triathlons...Bjoern they are handmade in Germany, so you know that they've got to be fast....Angry to still want to get rid of that other set of Conti's I 'll take them off you.) was well above $100 over that due to labor, and new parts, ie a SRAM force chain, so since my Trek Card was useless, my book fund took a hit....no offense to the good guys at Newington Bike, they do an awesome job...but I think I'm going to domy future service with my Homies Dave and Al at the Bike Rack in Waterbury, it's not the quality of service is just I'm on a college kid budget, I'll still show up for spinining this winter and who knows maybe I'll buy that aero helmet from you...also if I like the Conti's I'll probably be back for another set...but Al dosen't charge as much for labor, mainly because he showing me how to do it myself....but thank you for getting the Stomper back in ass kicking shape.

Off my bike expediture news...man I'm still hurting after that...if you follow the adventures of First Year Pro, 2007 Kona Female overall age group winner and 2008 women's runner up at Ironman Japan, Bree Wee, is racing in Canada this weekend. At last check she was in 5th on the bike, more updates as the day goes on. Or you can just follow the race at Ironman live. And yes the burning question for all Canadian tri fans she was beating the Great Lisa Bentley.

Also head on over to Sir Angry's on updates on Runner Girl Leeana's Marathon in Quebec City. With all this racing I might be motivated to leave my computer for a ride or run of my own.

The diligent tracker
R.D.

Edit #1 6:30 PM ( 3:30PM IM CDN time) Upon checking the athlete tracker after my 12 mile run Bree Wee was 6th off the bike but as of yet hasn't crossed the half marathon point, I hoping it's just Ironman live being slow with the splits, but according to them she has dropped from the top 10 hopefully it's not a DFN and if it was I hope it wasn't a major injury. Also for any Kiwis reading this, Taupo's Bryan Rhodes won for the men, Cameron Brown's winning streak might be in jepoardy next March.