The day started well with the weather reasonably good, I was really feeling up for a long ride. I have also finally made a decision and have signed up for the 75 mile Essex Sportive – I’ll save the 100 miles for next year. So I now really have a couple of targets to aim for by way of sponsored rides:
- 60 miles on 17 May for a local Little Havens Children’s’ Hospice; and
- 75 miles on 10 June for male cancer
Today I aimed to increase my distance to start building up to my first target of 60 miles. This was quite a bit different from recent rides where I had been trying to improve my time racing aging the virtual partner on my bike computer. At times though, I still felt myself pushing my speed and had to reign back.
Talking of reigning, I freaked out a horse today. Well, when I say I freaked it out, I think it was more the case its inexperienced rider freaking it out. There were four horses in a row and I shouted a merry “Good morning” as I passed the first one – ok, well more of an exhausted “Good Morning”. As I passed the third in line, its rider start waving a bit too frantically to be a friendly “Hello” and more like a frantic “Stop!” I pulled on the brakes, slowed down to a crawl and the horse started to skitter a bit. I still think if I had kept riding, the horse wouldn’t have been bothered in the slightest – none ever have before and I am riding a silent bike, not a roaring motorcycle!
Now, back to the title of this blog. Why the irony? Simply that I was feeling really good, coming to the end of the second loop (26 miles) when my rear tyre started to slowly deflate. Yep, puncture. I always care a spare tube but the pump I have just isn’t strong enough to inflate the tyre anymore than just about hard enough to ride home. I have a proper track pump at home which makes light work of inflating a tyre to 120 psi but not my bike pump. As luck would have it though, a friend of mine drove passed and stopped – how much of a coincidence was that? And to top it off, he was on his way home from his cycle club ride and had a decent bike pump with him. So with a fully filled tyre it was back on the road again.
The problem was though, that by this time, I had cooled right off. And with the weather being quite cold I just couldn’t get back into my stride. So after 26 miles I decided to call it quits.
After a hot shower and having cleaned my bike, one of the first things I did was to order a decent bike pump! This one to be precise - exiciting isn't it (NOT) (it’s supposed to get to 100 psi in less than 250 pumps)
Topeak Master Blaster Mini DX Pump with Gauge
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