[BikeLongmont] Flat tire, rain, hail, and other excuses

[Rick, David]

Yeah, I missed the meeting.

Tuesday night is my normal bike commute home from Loveland. I left work
a bit later than I'd planned, but there was a strong wind from the NE,
and I figured I'd make the Bicycle Longmont meeting right on time. It
looked like the stormy weather had already blown over except for a few
sprinkles. Half a mile N. or Johnson's Corner, on the I-25 frontage
road, I hit a small piece of glass and got a flat. There was a farm
underpass box right there, so I pulled the bike inside in case it got
wetter before I was done. Good plan: about the time I finished it
started hailing. I waited until the hail quit and the worst of the rain
was over, and headed south again, a bit slower in hopes of not picking
up so much water off the road surface. By the time I reached Mead, the
road had dried out pretty well, but I was now hopelessly late for the
meeting. I arrived at the white door a bit before 8:00 PM and found it
locked, so I figured the meeting had either finished early, or it had
been scrubbed due to Nenad being out of town. So I went home and
re-lubed my chain. I figured it was pointless to clean the rest of the
bike up, considering the forecast for Wednesday. 

The return ride next morning seemed likely to be a lot more like Seattle
than Colorado. I squirted a more serious lubricant on the chain, and
decided to leave the headlight and blinkies on the bike. Next, I dug
around in the basement and came up with a complete GoreTex cycling suit
that I'd long ago written off as completely impractical. Found some
GoreTex lined socks, GoreTex lined gloves (probably no longer
waterproof, considering the large amount of duct tape), and ("Hey,
what's this?") a stretch GoreTex helmet cover that seemed never to have
been used. Not having any fenders, nor any scuba gear either, I figured
that would have to do. 

There was still a strong wind from the NE, so it looked like my ride to
work would be not only wet, but slow. The farther North I got, the
wetter and darker my commute got. My headlight battery gave up after
about an hour -- should have thought to put it on the charger the night
before. The blinkie tailights kept working, but I kept having to clean
muck off of them. The front derailleur decided it didn't like the big
ring anymore. Eventually the gloves and socks surrendered to destiny,
but my feet and hands never got unbearably cold, just wet. My tights and
jersey wicked up a good bit of water at the sleeves and ankles, but were
still plenty warm. Between the wind and not being able to see much of
anything (why don't they make bike glasses with wipers?), I didn't set
any speed records. In fact, by the time I got to work, I'd been on the
bike for 2:15, the slowest commute I've ever recorded. But at least I
didn't drown.

Once at work, I shoved the bike in the back of my station wagon. Then I
tromped in across the production floor, leaving a trail of water and
road grime. None of the production people said anything, there being not
much to say that wasn't obvious. But after a nice warm shower, I was
good as new. The bike, on the other hand, is going to take some serious
work. It looks like I took it to the beach and buried it. 

-- David


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