May ride #3 & #4

May ride number 3 was a fun little roam around the bock with the grandson's.  Nick made it once around and Dillon made it twice.  I continued a couple more laps to get in the self-imposed minimum of 3 miles for the ride to count.  It was very enjoyable.  I do have to get both Nick and Dillon bigger bikes, though, as they have quickly outgrown their Christmas presents from Last year.

May ride number 4 was this morning.  It started with a real struggle to convince myself that yes I was going riding this morning.  Once I did get up and ready, I went out and aired up the tires.  It sure seems like the pressure just won't stay up for more than a day in this weather with the dry air.

Once I was ready I headed out.  There are signs along my normal one mile loop that Quarterhorse is closed to through traffic.  I decided to see if it really was closed. Yes there were barriers up, but no reason for the closure other than ease of access for the construction equipment for the new houses they are putting in.  I made my way through and on up to Pebble.  I headed east on Pebble and decided to switch it up this morning and the the longer route down to Durango.

The surface of Pebble between El Capian and Durango is fairly rough.  I was feeling all of the gouges, grooves and bumps in the road.  Once I hit Durango I felt something not right in the rear wheel and started braking.  Before I got to a full stop it seems the rear tire came off the rim and the tube popped.  There I was almost a mile from home with a flat tire.

Now I had a tube with me, but I realized it was the shorter valve and not one of the longer valved ones which arrived in the mail yesterday.  So I took the bike for a nice 8/10 mile walk home.

I'm really starting to think I must have pissed off the tire gods or something.  I have never had so many issues with tires and tubes in my life, with the possible exception of when we were about 10 and took the bikes to the gas station for air and popped the tubes.

Anyway, even though it was only a 2.1 mile "ride" this morning, walking is worth 3x the distance as riding so I call it long enough for my personal May challenge.