“Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” Lou Holtz

"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." Confucius

Monday 26 December 2011

I very rarely gets punctures

but on 2 of the last 2 rides I've had a rear flat.  I hasten to say that the second flat was  126km later than the firs and so I'm 100% certain was not as a result of the same bit of glass.

I'm taking part in the Rapha Festive 500..a self imposed challenge whereby I have to ride 500km between Dec23rd and December 31st.  so far I've managed 44km and 106.9km..would've gone more if I'd realised the .9 bit, but I was riding the last km with the flat tyre and was just glad to get home upright.

December 23rd was a non starter- work and pre Xmas prep took up all my time. Total kms..0

December 24th threatened to be similar and so I started early  but after 10km of what was planned to be 60km but ended up being 44km I was a rear wheel flat .
Poor planning meant I was light on spares and rather than going into rural Victoria without a replacement tube, I diverted to Lilydale and after much searching found a bike shop, wasting much time in the process.   total km...44

December 25th
Family feasting and gift exchanging happened yesterday evening, so today was totally mine..YAY!
The forecast was for late rain, thunderstorms and possible hail, so yet another early start was on the cards.
This is a ride I do often, although more times than not I'll stop at the 70km mark and take the train home.  The roads were mostly quiet although the notoriously dangerous parts of the road south were just as usual.
I visited 2 of the icons of Melbourne cycling....

Beach road  which  was lacking it's usual 100's of cyclists  and the Boulie which was totally deserted. To avoid the increasing traffic  the last part of my ride was on the bike path and since the weather was getting wet and a bit noisy, I had it to myself.  ~1km from home the rear tyre started talking to me and with expletive deleted cries of disbelief I hopped off to discover yet another flat tyre.  My options were to change it, beef it up with a blast from a gas bottle or roll home standing to take the weight off it...I opted for the last choice, which was a bit challenging.
Ride 106.9km  total 150.9km

December 26th
Plan..see if any bike shops are open to buy a new tyre.!  Ride out into the country to avoid the inevitable Boxing Day sales road carnage.  Hopefully 60-70km if the weather holds.

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