November 12th (Morning)

Yesterday, being Remembrance Day, I didn’t ride. The day before I did, and the temperature was a decent 4°. Today was a pretty good 3°. Yesterday? Well, I’m not sure exactly (because I slept in), but it was closer to -5°!!! Hah! Take that Murphy!!!

Speaking of Murphy and his dang laws, I must say that he really dropped the ball this season. Today, I got a flat. Yes, my first flat of the season. Now it was annoying and all, but here’s the deal. I rode about a month or more with no spare tube or patch kit. You would think if Murphy really had it in for me, he’d have chosen then for the flat to occur. Or how about the fact that it’s the first week after the time change? I take back everything I said about DST being stupid. Changing a flat in the dark would’ve really sucked!

But, yes, I got a flat. Right at Frolek’s east gate. The best I can tell, it must’ve been a pinch flat probably from me coming down the “cliff”. It lost air instantly, I could hear it and I watched the tire deflate… psssssttt… Great… Thankfully, though, I have a brand new spare tube in my pack as well as the tire levers needed. The only downside, other than making me late for work, was trying to do this sans gloves at 3°. Yes, by the end, my fingers were notably frozen!!! And the little pump I have (Corrie’s old one we got with her bike) really kind of sucks… Sorry, Babe, I’ll get you a better one soon. But, it worked and that’s all that really matters in the end! After taking a few minutes to warm up my fingers and toes, I continued on.

Funny, but I did find it a bit tough to get back into my rhythm. The corners and single-track climbs across Frolek’s land were not nearly as good as they good be, not even close to an average effort. I took the corners too wide, didn’t build up enough speed for the short, steep climbs, wasn’t in the right gear…

Speaking of gear, my worn chain/cassette came out to play this morning. Almost the entire way up the climb out of Peterson’s Creek valley the chain slipped. Thankfully, only once did it slip enough that I had to stop. However, every time I asked just that little bit more of the gears to get over a steep section, the chain would start jumping around. VERY frustrating.. If this gets worse, I will most likely cease my riding season if I can’t afford to upgrade them soon. If the rides are more frustrating than enjoyable, then what really is the point?

However, even with the setbacks this morning, I still ended up with a pretty good time of 56.5minutes in the end. Not a record, but close to it and better than average. I also arrived at work at 7:59AM, a minute early! Granted, I like getting here at least 10 minutes early to allow for cool down and changing into my work clothes… But, hey, considering the morning I had already, that’s pretty good!