Pop Goes the Tire

After riding on the east side with Doreen the week before, we’re back with Shifting Gears doing another west side ride.  Now that we’re in mid-March, the early morning chill factor isn’t as bad anymore.  The March mornings have been in the 50’s as opposed to the mid 40’s earlier in the year.  Still, I rode with a jacket.  I’d rather be prepared than regret the decision to leave the jacket behind.

We learned from the east side ride that we need to pump up the tires before heading out.  Sam’s tires were a little low so we especially needed to pump them up.  Immediately, we ran into a problem.  The nozzle on the rear tire was bent, so it was not easy to pump air in.  We asked training ride leaders Chris and Mel to help, and they were able to get enough air into the tire for Sam to ride.  (Thanks Chris and Mel!)

The ride was a repeat of our Playa del Rey ride in January, except this time, we added a climb up Bundy Drive at the end.  So the ride started off fine, except we were at the end of the pack since we were delayed by the tire nozzle issue.  We joined our friend David and rode toward the coast, then down to Venice and eventually to Playa del Rey.  We caught up with the rest of the riders at our first pit stop on the bike path bridge that connects Marina del Rey and Playa del Rey.  We got off our bikes, rested, recorded a quick video and then it happened.  POP!!!  There was a loud pop and I knew immediately it was Sam’s back tire.  Sam said, “I didn’t do it!” followed by “MEL!!!!!”  Sure enough, the tire had popped.  It’s oddly fortunate that the tire knew to “die” right at the pit stop and not while he was riding.  Thankfully, I had a couple of old spare tubes on Sam’s bike (which was my old bike from AIDS/LifeCycle 2 in 2003) and they were still in good condition.  Mel was kind enough to help and as a result, gave us a crash course on how to change a tire.  (Thanks again Mel!)  After Mel finished, we gave Mel a couple of old wet-naps that had also been on the bike since 2003.  Mel opened one up and the wet-nap was completely dried-up.  I was SO embarrassed.  Fortunately, the second wet-nap was fine and he was able to clean his hands.  Note to self: buy new wet-naps!!

Most of the other riders had taken off by then, so when we took off, we were at the end of the pack once again.  We rode south toward LAX and then circled back north toward Venice.  We made our second pit stop at a coffee shop on Main Street in Venice.  Since the first pit stop didn’t have restrooms, I had been dying to go.  Was that over-sharing?  Oops!  We didn’t stay long.  Once we used the restroom and filled up on water, we took off.  We were following a couple of riders north toward Brentwood.  Right before Bundy Drive, the other two riders turned off to return to Helen’s Cycles.  David turned off as well.  So Sam and I ventured up Bundy by ourselves.

We had already ridden about 32 miles by then, and for some reason I was very tired.  Maybe it was because of the daylight saving time change (spring forward) and we lost an extra hour sleep. And it didn’t help that my left calf was bothering me just a little on the ride.  It was feeling like it wanted to cramp, but it was relatively minor compared to how I was feeling earlier in the year.  So I took my time riding up Bundy.  It was going to be a 2.5 miles climb.  Sam was having his own problem.  His chain kept wanting to change gears by itself when he was riding in a higher gear.  I was concerned that he might not be able to complete the climb because of the chain, but he was able to do it without having to stop.  He even rode ahead and I was just trying my best to keep up.  Fortunately, I had taken my jacket off at the second pit stop, because it was so hot by then and the climb wasn’t making things any better.  Eventually we made it to the top and it felt good to rest.

I put my jacket back on before getting back on the bike, because I knew it was going to be cold riding downhill.  And it certainly was.  It wasn’t long before we made it back to Helen’s Cycles.  When we were a couple of blocks away from Helen’s, we realized that we had ridden around 39 miles.  Sam was determined to hit 40 miles, so we rode around the block to add that extra mile.  We ended up with 40.16 miles. Hee hee!

When we got back, Helen’s was having a parking lot sale.  They had clothes on sale and were holding various bike workshops.  Shifting Gears was also there.  Chris had made a bunch of yummy treats and sold them for donations to Shifting Gears.  She made muffins, cookies and two types of brownies.  Of course, I had to get them all.  I was so hungry I practically inhaled everything.  Sam had taken his bike inside the bike store for them to check out his chain; while I was waiting, I almost ate Sam’s cookie too.  Almost!  I was about to bite into it when I saw him coming around the corner.  Once I was able to pry myself away from the rest of the baked goods, we started looking at the clothes and ended up getting a pair of Shifting Gears jerseys.  I can’t believe we had not gotten them sooner, since we’d been riding so much with the group.  Yeah Shifting Gears!  We also bought some new tubes from Helen’s, who was selling them for $6 a pair at the parking lot sale.  It was such a good deal that we bought four pairs.  We also ran into our friends Cindy and Sheri.  Dr. Ira was there, too.  He had ridden with another group earlier, and afterward stopped by the parking lot sale.  I told him about my left calf and he told me to make an appointment to see him and also bring my bike so he could check to see if he needs to make any adjustments on my bike.  Before we left, I couldn’t help but get two more brownies from Chris.  I’m telling you, they were SO good!!!

This ride is dedicated to these awesome sponsors: Cindy C. & Kat K.