Life in the Fast Lane

I took the direct route on my commute this morning. Partially because it took three tubes to get to work and partially because I planned to ride in the evening with the Little Five Point Flyers on their intown loop. (The word "Flyers" is key.)

My commuting day began with preparing the bike. The back tire needed a squirt of air but when I put air in, the stem separated from the tube. I was glad I could change the tube sitting on my deck instead of who knows where.

The second tube goes on and it doesn't hold air at all. Now I'm really glad I'm at home because I could have been in a much larger who-knows-where without a tube.

Down to my last tube, I filled it with air and went directly to Intown Bicycles. I did not pass "go". I did not collect $200.

Well, that was the slow part of the day. That evening I joined the Flyers and we flew. It is so nice having 20-30 guys taking turns pulling for you. I hadn't ridden with them since last September and had to adjust to the close-packed group. More than once, I had to adjust as fast as I could.

I was pleased that my winter miles allowed me to keep up, but I was having problems on the other end. It's really a good thing, but the group was practicing stopping for traffic at the neighborhood intersections. I think they have a bit of a reputation and wanted to work on being polite to motorists who came upon the intersection at the same time that we did. The end result is I've never smelled so much burnt rubber.

On one particular descent, we approached an intersection only to suddenly come upon a car. Usually you'll hear 10 guys yell "Stopping!" first, but this time you heard the tires first. More burnt rubber smell. As Tim remarked, "It's better than smelling blood."

Commute Summary

Round Trip Distance: 5.8
Number of Cyclists seen: 13
In-bound Route: Piedmont Park
Out-bound Route: Piedmont Park
Weather: Same old boring warm, sunny and beautiful. I want it to rain, but only at night when I'm not outside.