let the season begin
let the rain cease so I can get out on some dirt
here it is Mid-March... time for me to start getting a little more active on the bike
as I get more active on the bike... expect that my blog posts will be more bike oriented and hopefully more interesting
yesterday on my very short commute home from Downtown DC to my urban/suburban home in Mt Pleasant I was scanning the road for potholes
the scanning was done not just for avoidance but also out of curiosity and interest
underneath six inches of asphalt there is a memory of a time past
just blocks from my house as the streets get more heavily trafficked the roads become more convoluted
people like to joke about crater size potholes...
this is an bit of an exaggeration it is not so much the diameter of these crater-like holes in the road it is more an issue of the frequency and the depth of many of these potholes
these potholes are everywhere....
when driving a person may hit several potholes in an effort to dodge one pothole
so I was cruising down the road admiring cobble stone at the base of one pothole
than more asphalt at the bottom of another
than a pot hole with nothing but more pothole inside
then what appear to be trolley tracks under many of these holes
once turning off the major roads onto the side streets of Mount Pleasant my focus left the road then moved towards the architecture of the 100 year old row houses that line the streets around me
I scanned for car doors soon to open, cars looking to jump out of their parking spaces, dog walkers not picking up their poop, and maybe a familiar face
then wham crack
with no warning what-so-ever I slam right into a major pothole
not a moon crater... just a large and deep pothole.... a pot large enough to cook spaghetti for an Italian Family reunion
luckily my grip was strong enough as so not to slip of the hoods of my cross bikes brake levers while I was also lucky enough to have my arms relaxed enough at the elbow to take some of the shock
after the wham and crack I glanced down at the front tire and moved the front end from side to side checking to see if this encounter had caused a flat tire
seeing that the front tire was not flat I stood out of the saddle as to accelerate as I turned off Lamont onto 19th Street
as I started my turn I felt my rear end start to squish let off the gas and started to coast my front end survived the impact....
my rear end did not I flatted out in the rear
being just a few blocks from home I pedalled a few more strokes as the last bit of air worked its way out of the tube
then made a fluid cross style dismount leaving me walking alongside my cross bike
walking not riding
heading home rather than replacing the tube
sure I have a tube and pump in my pack but the idea of making the repair with an actual floor pump and music in the background sounded more pleasing than fixing things on the spot
as per usual when I got up the next morning the flat had not fixed itself
seems the gnomes and fairies are on strike
sure I could have grabbed another bike but there is that issue of the pedals
so time is spent fixing my bike when I should be riding my bike
oh well.... it is tough to teach this old dog new tricks
let the rain cease so I can get out on some dirt
here it is Mid-March... time for me to start getting a little more active on the bike
as I get more active on the bike... expect that my blog posts will be more bike oriented and hopefully more interesting
yesterday on my very short commute home from Downtown DC to my urban/suburban home in Mt Pleasant I was scanning the road for potholes
the scanning was done not just for avoidance but also out of curiosity and interest
underneath six inches of asphalt there is a memory of a time past
just blocks from my house as the streets get more heavily trafficked the roads become more convoluted
people like to joke about crater size potholes...
this is an bit of an exaggeration it is not so much the diameter of these crater-like holes in the road it is more an issue of the frequency and the depth of many of these potholes
these potholes are everywhere....
when driving a person may hit several potholes in an effort to dodge one pothole
so I was cruising down the road admiring cobble stone at the base of one pothole
than more asphalt at the bottom of another
than a pot hole with nothing but more pothole inside
then what appear to be trolley tracks under many of these holes
once turning off the major roads onto the side streets of Mount Pleasant my focus left the road then moved towards the architecture of the 100 year old row houses that line the streets around me
I scanned for car doors soon to open, cars looking to jump out of their parking spaces, dog walkers not picking up their poop, and maybe a familiar face
then wham crack
with no warning what-so-ever I slam right into a major pothole
not a moon crater... just a large and deep pothole.... a pot large enough to cook spaghetti for an Italian Family reunion
luckily my grip was strong enough as so not to slip of the hoods of my cross bikes brake levers while I was also lucky enough to have my arms relaxed enough at the elbow to take some of the shock
after the wham and crack I glanced down at the front tire and moved the front end from side to side checking to see if this encounter had caused a flat tire
seeing that the front tire was not flat I stood out of the saddle as to accelerate as I turned off Lamont onto 19th Street
as I started my turn I felt my rear end start to squish let off the gas and started to coast my front end survived the impact....
my rear end did not I flatted out in the rear
being just a few blocks from home I pedalled a few more strokes as the last bit of air worked its way out of the tube
then made a fluid cross style dismount leaving me walking alongside my cross bike
walking not riding
heading home rather than replacing the tube
sure I have a tube and pump in my pack but the idea of making the repair with an actual floor pump and music in the background sounded more pleasing than fixing things on the spot
as per usual when I got up the next morning the flat had not fixed itself
seems the gnomes and fairies are on strike
sure I could have grabbed another bike but there is that issue of the pedals
so time is spent fixing my bike when I should be riding my bike
oh well.... it is tough to teach this old dog new tricks