I went out for a fast 40-mile ride this morning at 9 AM - met up with two of my friends. I had a rec soccer game at 1 PM, so we had to take a hard pace. One of our good friends I was with couldn't keep up our pace, so we were forced to drop him at the beginning.

Going THERE was nice. We had a gentle headwind, all the way down from North Seattle up to Everett. Averaged 20 mph, plenty of nice rolling hills. When we finally pulled to a stop at the halfway point, my Selle Italia was clonking around, I guess it had come loose, and the seatpost had slipped down an inch or so. I was in the process of tightening the binder bolt when the hex part became completely rounded out. Argh. So I couldn't do anything.

The break took half an hour. That was about twenty minutes too long, and now we were really in a time pressure situation. Back on the road I realized that the seat angle was a little tipped forward and the post was still too low. It felt really, really bad. But we didn't have time to play around with it, so we pressed on. Here's when it began to rain. What's more is that now we were going back facing a nasty headwind.

We made slow progress over the hills - I rode in the effin drops up half of them. My (remaning) friend was beginning to drop behind, and it was a few blocks riding inches from semi trucks before I realized he was out of sight. Crawling up the wet lanes with a wind in our faces, we probably averaged 11 or 12 at times.

Pushing hard to make it in time, we had just gotten past the most hilly section when my friend got a flat. Jumping off our bikes, we swapped out the tube as a team and began pumping our last spare tube like mad with the tiny Topeak. Too bad we had forgotten to put the little securing nut onto the valve before doing so - a few pumps before we were done, the stem simply snapped. The rain beat down on us as we swore at the heavens. Forty-five and a few phone calls later, we got picked up from our lonely spot on the sidewalk and drove the last 8 miles home. I jumped out of the car, changed, downed a gatorade, and headed off to soccer. (I played a horrible game. )

The shiny white Bianchi is caked in a layer of street mud and grime. What an exhausting day.

dude, that story was exhausting.

Sorry to hear about your bad ride today. Yesterday, I did a solo century in the seattle area and the weather was perfect for it. Tonight after dinner I think i'll take my rain/commute bike out for a ride just incase it starts pouring suddenly.

Hehe. True enough. Made it a little shorter to digest.

Ouch.

I bet you never forget that 'dealy-bop' on the valve again. Come to think of it, I don't use those either.
Oh well, no matter.....if I ever flat I just call the limo service.

ha karma for dropping your buddy

+1 I feel exhausted for you!

lol I read that once and felt bad for you, but then I just re-read it back to my wife and it's a hysterically funny out-loud read. Try it!

Morale(s) of the story

1. Don't start fast rides knowing that your buddies will get dropped.

2. CO2 is WAAY faster than a mini-pump.

3. Cell phones can be a savior in a bad situation.

4. Nothin wrong with the "effin drops" but in the mind of the rider.

5. Your soccer teammates should be pissed at you

6. Sheot happens -- write it off.

I found that that bolt makes the stem rub harder on the inside and cause flats, I never use them. What is more likely here is that it was a cheap tube or it had a manufactures problem.

I feel sorry for the friend you dropped in the beginning.

Why didn't you guys make a smaller ride, knowing that there was a strong wind, possibility of rain, and also knowing you had a soccer game afterward.. I don't get this.

Beef, you and your mates are some of the luckiest riders I've ever heard of: you've gotten a whole year's worth of ride incidents over an done with in one go!!!!

Our friend normally keeps up just fine. It's just that he's been a little out of shape recently bike-wise. He told us at the start of the ride that he had been lifting a hell of a lot of weights / doing a lot of squats and strength workouts the day before and that he was sore all over. So we felt bad, but didn't have much of a choice. He'll hopefully keep up next time, though.

We scheduled a ride like this because we're trying to fit as many training rides in as possible. All other days this weekend conflicted with something else, so this little time slot was all we had.