I started out early on the modern bike to meet my usual Saturday group of 50-somethings for a good 50-70 miler. It was kind of foggy, and there was a little moisture collecting on my glasses, but I couldn't decide if I was better off with them or without them.
I was about 2 miles from home when I felt the rear tire going soft. I started to pull to the curb to fix it, but through the foggy glasses I didn't see that the concrete gutter had risen about 1 1/2" above the roadway. The raised lip grabbed my front wheel & I was dumped to the right. I was far enough to the right that I cleared the curb with my body & fell onto the muddy grass, hitting my back & shoulder on one of those big metal telephone switch boxes. At least there was no damage to the bike.
I called my buddies to tell them not to wait, & that I would try to catch up at the first stop. I changed tubes, pumped the tire as hard as I could with the worthless mini pump, and continued on.
Two miles later I felt the familiar thump of the rear tire going flat. I swear I thoroughly checked the tire when I changed it, so I must have left a punctured tube in the bag from last year, or missed a hole when I patched it.
Now my group is long gone, I'm riding on my last spare tube, I'm cold, wet from fog, sore from the fall and PO'd, so I headed for home. I puttered around my garage for a while until the sun came out, took down my Univega Gran Premio fixed gear, and found the rear tire flat from the last ride.
It just wasn't turning out to be a good day for a ride. I decided to spend a few hours in the garage and finish building the hanging racks for the bikes. After a lunch break and a few errands, I finished the project, hung up the bikes and was just about ready to relax, but at the last minute I took the Serotta off the rack and headed out for a quick 20 miler before dark. I was almost home when I clipped a pedal on a turn, hard enough that I twisted the seatpost slightly in the frame in order to save it. Geez! I'll bet I haven't clipped a pedal in 25 years, and this was a turn I've ridden countless times!
Final count:
2 flats on the road
1 stupid crash
1 flat in the garage
1 near-crash
28 total miles
0 pictures, thank goodness.
I can't wait to ride tomorrow. It's got to be better than today.