Saturday, March 14, 2009

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'....Raining, Raining, Raining




































Today was a lot of rollin' in the rain.

PHEW! Glad that's over with. That's all I've got to say.


Ok, fine...I'll fill you in if I can stay awake long enough to finish my thoughts. Today started at a very early 3:45am with a very sick boy by my side. After trying everything I could to get him to sleep, we realized it just wasn't happening, so up we were. Our group workout this week was a ride. We were meeting at the Kennedy School (an old school that has been renovated into a hotel/restaurant/theater/pub) in NE Portland and my directions seemed straightforward enough...AND I've been there before several times, but apparently the lack of sleep and my known problem with following directions had me out at the airport instead of at the Kennedy school with only minutes until the meeting time.

I finally arrived and we all got our bikes and gear ready and after a brief meeting with lots of laughs, we headed out into the hallway where Tiffany slipped on the hardwoods in her bike shoes. She went down hard and hit her tailbone and hurt so badly she could not get up. She was dizzy and in shock and so mad at herself for what this could mean to her season. We finally got rolling a bit later after getting her comfortable and off we went in the rain, the wind, and the cold. Seriously miserable weather today. I was so wet just getting ready to leave in the parking lot that I had trouble getting my gloves onto my wet hands.

Sheryl and Clay and Jeb and I headed out together as most everyone else had already gone ahead. The worst part of this first stretch was the wind. I felt very unstable so I just kept talking with Clay and before I knew it, we were past this particular danger. We caught up with Tim after a while and made it up to Mt. Tabor with a bit of huffing and puffing. Actually, the hill up to the entrance of Tabor was worse than the hill repeats we did inside of Tabor.

I felt pretty good. I was in my granny gear but I felt like I kept up much better than I ever did on my mountain bike. I felt pretty strong actually :O)

We did our repeats and then headed back home. The first flat tire of the day was Tim. We all stopped and started freezing up and Coach Scott sent us girls on our way after a bit. We knew the boys would catch up soon enough, but it was much sooner than we thought. For some reason, I pulled in front of Sheryl and was zooming away, but because I CANNOT be in the lead due to my above mentioned problem of getting lost, I kept looking back to make sure she was right behind me. I finally pulled to a stop and waited since we had made a descent and I knew Leslie was taking them a little slow. I waited some more, fear set in...did I make a wrong turn? Surely Sheryl would have followed me anyways to let me know that I was heading for trouble. Hm...I'm going to turn around, so I turn around and head back down the path, still no one. Finally, I see them up ahead - Leslie got a flat. The boys caught up and we all stayed together this time. Since I've never actually gotten a flat (just practiced changing a fake flat a lot) I asked what it felt like. They explained that I would start to feel every pebble in the road, etc. Hope I never get one - never got one all season last year, so luck is on my side :o)

Anyways, we got very cold. Poor Dan looked like a leaf shaking in the wind - put some fat on ya, boy! Wish I had those problems! It was C.O.L.D.

COLD.

COLD.

COLD.

We got rolling again and it was pretty uneventful until all of a sudden I realized that I was feeling every stinking pebble on the road. Oh MAN! I got my very first flat. A stinkin' mile away from the warmth of the Kennedy school. This was where the fact that I had needed to pee for the last 34 miles came into play. I really really really did not want to change a tire. I wasn't even sure I could get off my bike and not pee my pants. Sorry, I know - way too much information. BUT STILL! This was all wrong!

So I hemmed and hawed and talked Sheryl and TIm into letting me try to ride the rest of the way. It WAS a slow leak, but eventually Sheryl said, no good. It was too soft and we thought I might ruin the rim. It was the back tire, too! We got it all the way off and then decided we just needed to re-inflate it but that it looked like a slow leak from the valve not being closed all the way. Sounded good to me , so I filled it up, off we went and pulling back into that school and into the lavatory was heaven to me!

Looks like it wasn't the valve, though, the tire was completely flat when I got home, so I'll take a look at it tomorrow. Tonight, I'm beat and bed is calling me before our 10 mile run tomorrow.

Please keep Mom's friends in your prayers. Erica and Katherine have just come out of remission after going through stem cell transplants last year and Sue is being treated for a tumor along her spine. These are the people that we are fighting for in this race to find a cure. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated and for your prayers.


Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, that bike ride sounds miserable! But I bet you sure felt good afterwards! I've never had a flat, I always wonder if I would actually be able to fix it if I did.

I will put your Mom's friends on my prayer list for this week.

A Prelude To... said...

Abby, I've changed a lot of practice flats in anticipation. There is nothing like being froze to the bone and wet and tired and trying to change a flat! My mountain bike tires were much easier, though. These new road tires are MUCH tighter.

Thanks so much for adding Mom's friends to your prayers this week!