Consecutive bicycle work commute number 2247:
Yesterday was interesting, so I'll start my story there. It began with a fairly uneventful ride to work with the temp at 40°F and a light headwind. I took the road bike as I had a 22+ mile day scheduled. Bad weather was predicted for northeastern South Dakota, but Sioux Falls only had a 15% chance of getting any precipitation.
I worked the morning from the office, and then after my lunch meeting took off to ride 10 miles to a client. The easiest way to get to this client is to hop on the MUP about 2 miles from our office, then ride the trail downtown and get off about 1/2 mile from the client. It's not the most direct route, as it makes a bit of a "J" shape. However, it's a very flat route and avoids the hills and stoplights that the more direct route through town involves. So by taking the MUP I wind up riding about 2 miles further, but it usually takes me the same amount of time or less.
When I left the office to head to the client, it was still 40°F, but the wind had picked up and there was now a wind advisory in effect. The wind was blowing at a constant 30 mph with gusts breaking 60 mph. For the first 2/3rds of the ride the wind was at my back and gave me a good push. As I rode, the temps started to drop and rain started to fall. I reached the portion of the ride where I made the turn and started fighting the fierce wind, and the rain was pelting my face. It appears that the storm system was reaching farther south than predicted.
About 2 miles from the client's office, I went over a bump and got that familiar feeling of a rim bottoming out on the tire. I pulled over and felt my rear tire. As I suspected, it was flat. Rats. The temp was now in the mid-30s and I wasn't all that interested in sitting on the cold, wet ground in the wind and rain as I attempted to swap tubes. So I walked my bike the remaining two miles to the client. It's hard to keep a decent walking pace wearing bike shoes.
Once indoors at the client I pulled the old tube out and found a little piece of glass stuck in the tire. When I get a flat it's rare I find the actual offender that created the puncture, so it was nice this time to have visible confirmation that the foreign object was removed from the tire. After I pumped up the tire, I unscrewed the the pump head from the valve stem and all the air came back out of the tire. What the...?
It turns out in my brand new tube the presta valve head wasn't installed very tight at the factory and when I removed the pump head it unscrewed the valve with it. I didn't have a valve tool with me, so I put the presta valve back in as tight as I could with my fingers. Then I reinflated the tire and carefully removed the pump head. The presta valve still was wanting to unscrew, but after a few tries eventually I got the pump head off while there was still some air in the tire. It was only about 50 PSI, but I figured that was probably enough to get me home at the end of the day, and then I could tighten the valve and properly inflate the tire before the next ride.
After work I rode directly to the
Sioux Falls Orpheum Theater to do a dress rehearsal for the production I'm currently a part of. It was only a couple of blocks from the client, but the wind was fierce and the temp was now below freezing. Snow was starting to fall and the wet pavement was starting to ice. About 10 miles north of the city they were getting blizzard conditions. I started to think I made a grave tactical error by taking the road bike that morning.
The wind could be heard howling inside the theater as we performed. We finished up the dress rehearsal and I left the theater at 10:30 PM. The temp was now 28°F and the wind was blowing even harder than it was before. There was lots of ice patches from the earlier rain that was now frozen. Snow was collecting in the grassy areas, but thankfully wasn't accumulating in a significant way. I wasn't looking forward to the skinny road bike tires versus the ice.
I contemplated making the "call of shame" to have my son come and pick me up. Or perhaps have another cast member give me a ride. I decided to suck it up and just go slow.
Well, going slow didn't work out that well. The tail wind was so extreme that even coasting I would maintain 12 mph. Any pedaling at all would boost my speed to 17-18 mph. I did my best to dodge the ice patches that would suddenly appear in front of me in the dark. Also, the wind had taken down some tree branches and a few of them appeared in my headlight requiring evasive maneuvers. In the end, I managed to make it the 4 miles home without incident, and even did a "victory lap" on our cul-de-sac before I opened the garage door.
This morning the temp was 26°F and the wind was still blowing hard, but not quite as hard as the previous night. 20mph steady with gusts in the 30-40 mph range. I was returning to the same client as yesterday afternoon, which meant I had to ride straight into this wind.
The good news was, with the wind blowing that hard all night, most of the ice had evaporated. Even though there was snow on the ground, the pavement was fairly clear. I decided to take the road bike again as that would help me fight the wind. Before I left the house I tightened the presta valve and properly inflated the tire. I also remembered to put a new spare tube in my backpack just in case I had a repeat of the flat.
This morning's ride was slow going, with my speeds usually in the 9-10 mph range. My exposed face took the brunt of the wind, with the wind chill in the single digits. However, I made it to the office without any incidents, and then warmed myself up with a hot shower.