January Ends with a Flat then there's Fantabulous February

Put some shoulder into it!

January came and went.  We had a whole week off from work thanks to MLK and about 8 - 10 inches of snow!  That left us with indoor trainers for riding.  Trouble was, I was satisfied with shoveling and retiring to the couch for the day after day that the snow decided to fall.  Oh, I did some gaming, some emailing, etc. but movies and chillaxin' was my particular modus operandi.

Then, work came and with it the rains.  Still, I had no gumption to ride, no motivation, no drive.  Winter has it's way with us sometimes.  I guess, at least I'm more like our brethren bears than most.  After all, I was born in Kodiak, Alaska.  I don't know what that has to do with anything, but I do have those hibernating type tendencies (at least in the social sense).  Could it be, being born at a certain latitude?

Then voila, we finally caught some dry weather.  Not just any dry weather day, but a rather spectacular day. The rains had melted most of the snow and the roads and trails were good to go (at least for our single speed, mondo, beefy chained commuters).  We rode that morning.  Here's an excerpt from my Garmin log:



Lisa rode with me all the way to Lower Elwha Rd. She then rode back to work and was very excited to have a tail wind the whole way back to Hamilton. The morning was cold but clear and aside from the head wind in to work, we enjoyed the hell out of it! It's been TWO WEEKS for cryin' out LOUD!!!!!

Lisa later called and exclaimed that, with the tail wind, she did 17mph average all the way back to work.  And as the day wore on, the sun shone, the puffy clouds drifted away, the sky blued, and I relished the fact I was going to ride one of the most glorious winter days yet.  I worked, I finished, I geared up, turned on all the anti-collision lights, the spoke lights, the tail lights, the helmet lights, the Garmin GPS/HRM/BC and mounted my trusty aluminum steed.

Don't you DARE call this Paradise!  (You'll ruin it.)

I rolled out of the Fisheries Office garage onto the concrete then onto the gravel/dirt road.  The sun was already hiding behind various features on the horizon.  The sky became my favorite colour of orange fading to blue then . . . even deeper blue.  Venus sparked and the air was very brisk and downright refreshing after 8 hours in front of the LCD monitor in my warm but stuffy office.  It was then that I noticed the harshness of the the gravel transferring to my seat.

Hmmm, I know it's been awhile, but I don't recall the road feeling this hard on my saddle . . . unless . . .   Of course, before I got 50-ft., I checked my rear tire and, sure enough, I had a flat.  Well, it was too cold to humor an outdoor repair when the office was right there just 50-ft. behind me.  I turned Jack-Jack around and flipped him upside down in the break/lunch/conference/lounge/whatever room.  I inspected the rear tire for the cause of the flat.

It wasn't hard to spot.  There was about a two inch split right down the middle of the tire tread.  In fact, there were two of them about 12-inches apart.  In fact, the tread was sooo thin and worn that I could easily pull a new split anywhere along the tread.  I'd done it yet again.  I'd worn yet another set of tires completely through.  There was no chance in hell of repairing these for the 10 or so mile ride to the bike shop or home for that matter.  It was Friday and I was at the mercy of someone or someway to make it home or to the bike shop.

My office mate Mike was staying for Body Shock and wouldn't be leaving until 6:30PM.  Plus, he didn't have any gas for his truck.  I said he could drive to the gas station and I'd treat his tank for a fill up but it was already after 5PM.  I didn't feel right asking him to be late for his workout.  We checked the bus schedule and that looked promising as it would be at the Tribal Center at 5:28PM.  I panicked abit and thought I had no cash for the fare.  All at the office also lacked cash.  (Reality be told, I have a stash of a few bucks in my bike bag for emergencies like this but it completely slipped my mind at the time).

In any event, in walked Terry.  I knew he drove a big pickup like my buddy Mike so I asked him where he was heading after work.  He replied 16th St. which is about halfway to town so I ventured to ask whether he would mind giving me and my bike a ride to the bike shop.  He was kind enough and said, "Sure."  We loaded up and made a quick stop at Child Care to pick up his four year old son Brent.  We proceeded to the Sound Bike & Kayak from there.

Brent wasn't shy.  He saw me wearing my bike helmet but that wasn't what got his attention.  He was more interested in the lights that were attached to it.  "What's that?", he asked.  "My bike helmet", I answered.  "No, that?", he pointed.  "Oh, those are my lights", I answered.  "They're so other drivers can see me better", I volunteered.  "The back one is for people driving up from behind to see me better and the front one is for people coming out of driveways or intersections", I showed him as I took my helmet off."

Then, by his next breath, it was, "Do you know Mr. Incredible?"  "He comes in blue and red."  "There's a red one and a blue one."  In fact, I did know Mr. Incredible.  He is one of the characters of one of my favorite animated movies, The Incredibles.  I immediately launched into a quick summary of the main characters of the movie.  Then four year old Brent and I were discussing the finer points of super powerdom and what it must be like and how cool it would be to actually have super powers and which ones were the best to have and how can she be invisible and why and . . . etc.  Honestly, very cute!!!

Then it was Spy Kids this and Spy Kids that and I wanna live in a Spy Kids family and before we knew it, we were at the bike shop.  Terry and I don't know each other very well.  I know his brother, Warren, better but it was very kind of him to do me the solid of delivering me from one of the most disappointing moments of the year so far.  I was sooo looking forward to riding that afternoon after two whole weeks holed up at home and forced to ride in a cage.  It happens.  And, it was all my fault.  As Brian at the shop said, "You should throw some eyes on those [tires] every once in awhile."  Guilty as charged.

My post game analysis comes up rather lame on my part.  I never logged the miles I put on Jack-Jack until we got Garmins in April of 2011.  I bought Jack-Jack in July of 2009.  I bought reflective walled Armadillo tires probably that winter or at least the next.  Jack-Jack, my Specialized single-speed Langster was to be my no-nonsense bike.  No bike computers, no techno geeky anything.  He was to be my, "just hop on and ride" machine. Then miles went by and I had no idea how many miles I'd actually put on him.  Oh, I could go back and extract that data but . . . that's kinda like, work!

So, one late Friday in late January 2012, the weather promising a ride beyond compare, I come up lame, unable to enjoy the moment due to a flat of my own inattention.  Still, I'd not have written at length as I've done here, about a successful trip that ill fated day.  I guess it still is the journey not the destination and it still is the anticipation not the journey that inspires most.  At the very least, it's a story to tell.

Snausages anyone?

Since then, the weather's gotten worse and then, in this part of February, it's gotten allot better.  This past Saturday was by far the best weather day of the year.  The temps hovered in the upper 40s and felt like 50 in the sun.  Nary a cloud in the sky for most of the day.  In fact, I woke up, got up and headed out back, coffee in hand to enjoy a rare fire on the patio.  Then I got ambitious and found a couple of sausage links and a skewer and cooked myself some links.  Then I got even more ambitious and fried a couple of eggs on the fire.  IT'S FEBRUARY!!  WTF!!  I'll take it all year!!

The Former "Lake" Aldwell

Farmer's Market at the Gateway Plaza

So we planned to stroll down to the Farmer's Market and get some food stuffs and then check out the Black Diamond - Little River route for Sunday's ride.  It was glorious but the route was too sandy and gravelly to be much fun on our pretty Roubaixs.  We ended up checking out Indian Creek and the former Lake Aldwell/Elwha Dam Reservoir as the sun began to wane.  It made for a great day but by the time we got home, the temps dipped dramatically and my plans to cook dinner out were retired.

Sunday morning came and we awoke to more cloud cover than was inspiring for riding but we eventually managed to get up, eat breakfast, suit up and roll out for about a 30 mile here and there ride:

Moonrise over Port Angeles Harbor

This week looks to be better yet.  I'm looking forward to riding with my wingman (wingwoman, Lisa) as the full moon rises and the sun sets and we enjoy the beauty only the Pacific Northwest can provide.

Sun Going Down over Port Angeles