3:30 am. can’t sleep. watch a movie. still can’t sleep. 5:45, i decide to go for a ride. Bay to Breakers is today… No problem, i can ride past the mess of traffic and ride around it.
I’m geared up with my warmest stuff… 53 degrees outside and foggy and overcast. a typical pre-sunrise moment in SF to be sure. Yippie! i get on the bike and whoo hoo! i feel good. i’m so glad i’m riding. maybe i’ll do 30 miles today. i can try. it’s early. i can still get back in time to go out dancing with Atreyu. I’ll take the hard route in the beginning — doing a few hills, including 2 the map indicates as 10-18%. 5 miles in and i’m feeling good, on the straightaway of the Embarcaderro. I love this part of the ride.
up on the sidewalk… woah! what’s going on…? Oh NO! i have a flat! Hmmm… I’ve never changed a flat before.
digging in my bag under my seat, i pull out the requisite tools… remembering my father fixing the flats in our tires as a child and thinking back to how he did things as best i could — grateful for my super detailed memory of things — 45 minutes later, the tube had been replaced. pumping 120 pounds with the little hand pump was simply not happening, so… i went back home. at 9 am, i’m.
well, at least i put in 6+ miles and now i know how to change a flat!
