I was ready for a short run; today’s ride was only 52 miles. I was boasting to the youngsters how I was going to skip breaks and shoot for a three hour time in an underhanded attempt to recruit some to pull draft for me. I opted to remove my rear carrier so as to travel lighter without some luxuries, and inflated my rear tire to the high end rated 140 psi to reduce rolling resistance. Not two minutes on the road and I had a flat tire. It may have been a gash I got in it prior to today that couldn’t take the additional pressure. I had assistance from other riders with replacing it, for I’ve never used my CO2 inflator before today. It worked great, and blew the new tube right out of the side for the tire wasn’t properly seated. I decided to call for the van for assistance, but there was no answer. I patched the tube and gashed tire and rode under-inflated all day in the rain and into headwinds. The Strava app on my phone quit working at around 10 miles so I had to restart recording, and now I see when reviewing the data online that my heart rate monitor didn’t register all day for I failed to turn on Bluetooth. This trip is getting real. Today was hard day, but we have nice facilities here at the First Baptist Church of Meridian. There is plenty of room, showers, and they had all kinds of snacks set out for us when we arrived and will be providing dinner this evening.
We’re losing another rider tonight for health reasons. Like I said, this is getting real. None of us knows what the next mile will bring, and though riders are getting stronger the road is always hard.
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