Weekend Long Ride: Fixing a Bike Flat On The Road

Happy Monday everyone. I had a great week of training last week and completed all but 1 swim workout. Yesterday I went for a long ride with a small group and we ended up at 70 miles. That is my longest ride to date. It was a tough ride as I was with a pretty strong group, but it's not suppose to be easy right?

We averaged just over 19mph and though it was tough, it was doable. We had some pretty strong winds to deal with. I had not 1, but 2 flats on this ride. That sucked. It was only the second time I've got a flat while on a ride and if I recall correctly, in one of my previous posts, I talked about never getting flats and that I probably jinxed myself and guess what, I did. We were 40 miles into the ride as I have never changed a tire on the ride before, it was interesting to say the least. We were on a 8 mile stretch and we split up as a group and were to meet up at the end so when the riders behind me passed they made sure I had what I needed and kept going. I have changed my tire before without levers and thought it would not be a problem. The problem was that it is different in my garage than it was on an empty road with sweaty hands and mosquitoes the size of a sparrow attacking me. A solo rider came along and helped me out. Thanks Kirk and I will pass on the favor the next time I see a cyclist who needs a hand. 20 minutes later I was on my way. After stopping for that long, it was not easy to get back up to speed. Some of the group came back for me and got me back up to the front.

I got behind on my nutrition a bit and hit a wall at about mile 42 and lost all energy. We were stopping for a scheduled stop and I was able to catch up and finished strong. My friend (Kona qualifier) talked with me about my nutritional needs and I will now have more of a plan. Overall good training ride and I learned from it. With the schedule I'm on, I should be well prepared for Florida 70.3.