Sunday, September 2, 2012

Thump..Thump on a Sunday Ride

Beautiful summer day. The weather started off a little cooler so I was able to get a leisurely start at 8am. I spent three hours wondering around with a couple of stops at local parks so Betzi could exercise her nose. Towards the end of the ride I started to feel a distinctive thump...thump...thump coming from my right tire. Sure the enough the tire was toast. I looked down at the exposed lining and the expanding bulge of my Schwalbe Marathon and pleaded with it to hold up until I got home. I let a little pressure out of the tire and I made it home.
The yellow panniers are new.  I wanted a little extra room to stow away stuff but I didn't want to put on the big Ortlieb Rear Roller Classic panniers that I usually use during the winter. These yellow guys are the Ortlieb Front Roller Classic and they're just the right size for this time of year.

This poor little guy was sitting at the park all alone waiting to go home.

We have some good open roads that are well used by cyclists on weekend mornings. Not to long ago I even saw Dana from Bent Up Cycles out this way while he was doing one of his "big" rides. 

Here's the bad boy that was threatening to self destruct before getting home.  It lasted over 2,500 miles and saw a lot of heavy breaking due to the hills I ride in and towing Betzi. I should  have checked it out after my last ride  two days ago last Friday when I had to make a quick stop to avoid a soccer mom in her monster SUV. She though she could beat me to a driveway she wanted to turn into. As I skidded to a stop she abandoned her attempt to clip me and left me just enough room to ride on, her menacing oversized bumper staring me in the face.