Dark & Stormy Morning
After a fitful night, we rolled out of bed at 5:30 this morning to head to the park. Packing up I noticed it was darker then past mornings, which is to be expected as the days shorten, but this morning seemed darker.
Half way over to the park, fat drops of rain pelted the windshield. "Oops. Guess we should have checked the radar before we left. Oh well." As quickly as the rain fell, it stopped.
At the park we unloaded and headed our separate ways - Jen out onto the super still water, Gretchen and I into the dark woods.
They really were dark. The first part is climbing, so it's kind of slow going - enough time to register the obstacles and potential hazards in the dark. In the back of my mind I expected it to be lighter when I hit the faster sections.
Having to be at work early today, the abridged ride brought me to the faster sections - faster.
With a snap something caught my left foot and drove me off trail into the brush. While concentrating on the trail under my tires, I neglected the dark and unfamiliar trail sides.
My front tire burped (tubeless). I pulled myself back onto the trail and continued down.
Something was different. The ride was softer. It was soft like suspension, but I don't have suspension. At the first turn, my suspicions were confirmed. I had lost a lot of air from the front. It was soft enough to smooth out the ride, but too soft to hold a line. The trail continued it's twisty traverse down. While concentrating every thing into my new riding condition, I barely noticed the roar over head.
"What the hell's that?" I thought to myself. Rain. It was coming down hard. I couldn't feel it through the forest canopy, but I could hear it.
"Great! I've got a flat. I'm the farthest from the car that I could be. It's raining. Jen's out on the lake, and I can't see." There was nothing I could do, but ride it to the bottom.
Gretchen and I stopped at her watering hole, while I tried to make amends with my tire. It was a no go. After a year of neglect, my pump wouldn't function. It was still raining and there was enough air in the tire to ride out, so I decided to cut the ride short (again) and head out through the fields.
The fields were actually a nice change. Gretchen plowed herself through the wet grass as I stuck to the smoothest parts of the trail. Sitting down, I cranked out a constant rhythm. Gretchen wasn't quite as smooth as she wrecked herself sideways through a thick patch of grass.
Half way over to the park, fat drops of rain pelted the windshield. "Oops. Guess we should have checked the radar before we left. Oh well." As quickly as the rain fell, it stopped.
At the park we unloaded and headed our separate ways - Jen out onto the super still water, Gretchen and I into the dark woods.
They really were dark. The first part is climbing, so it's kind of slow going - enough time to register the obstacles and potential hazards in the dark. In the back of my mind I expected it to be lighter when I hit the faster sections.
Having to be at work early today, the abridged ride brought me to the faster sections - faster.
With a snap something caught my left foot and drove me off trail into the brush. While concentrating on the trail under my tires, I neglected the dark and unfamiliar trail sides.
My front tire burped (tubeless). I pulled myself back onto the trail and continued down.
Something was different. The ride was softer. It was soft like suspension, but I don't have suspension. At the first turn, my suspicions were confirmed. I had lost a lot of air from the front. It was soft enough to smooth out the ride, but too soft to hold a line. The trail continued it's twisty traverse down. While concentrating every thing into my new riding condition, I barely noticed the roar over head.
"What the hell's that?" I thought to myself. Rain. It was coming down hard. I couldn't feel it through the forest canopy, but I could hear it.
"Great! I've got a flat. I'm the farthest from the car that I could be. It's raining. Jen's out on the lake, and I can't see." There was nothing I could do, but ride it to the bottom.
Gretchen and I stopped at her watering hole, while I tried to make amends with my tire. It was a no go. After a year of neglect, my pump wouldn't function. It was still raining and there was enough air in the tire to ride out, so I decided to cut the ride short (again) and head out through the fields.
The fields were actually a nice change. Gretchen plowed herself through the wet grass as I stuck to the smoothest parts of the trail. Sitting down, I cranked out a constant rhythm. Gretchen wasn't quite as smooth as she wrecked herself sideways through a thick patch of grass.
We beat Jen back to the car by ten minutes. Being on the water and wet didn't make much of a difference to her when it started to rain.
All in all it was a good morning. New experiences usually work out that way.
- b
posted by JenBob at
10:05 PM
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