The flat tire conspiracy has hit again. As I wrote in the June 9th ride report I had to stop to fix a flat on my rear tire. Friday morning as I was leaving for work I check the tire to see if the patch worked and found the tire was flat again. So last night after we returned from blueberry picking I removed the tube and searched for the cause. I found a short piece of wire sticking through the tire into the tube so I patched the hole and remounted the tire. I was confident that I had this one fixed but this morning when I went out to get the newspaper I checked on the tire again and it was flat. This put a wrench in the wheel for my getting started on the ride at 7:00AM. I removed the tube and aired it up. this time I did the water submersion test to find the problem a little faster. When I got to the section of the tube with the leak I saw three holes instead of just one. If I patched these holes the tube would go from no patches before my Thursday ride to now having 5 patches in the span of 72 hours. Two of the holes were close to each other and the patch would overlap with another patch so I through the tube away and replaced it. Now I aired up the tire but before i did I ran my finger around the inside of the tire and did not find any other intruders. (After I got back from the ride I went to Bike Werks and bought three tubes. This has to be the most tubes I have purchased in a year and it isn’t over yet.)

Wire this small is impossible to see in advance and avoid riding over it. I am still wondering where it comes from but my strong suspicion is the shredded car tires along the roads. The Continental tires still have good tread left so I am hesitating on replacing them. They have 2,777 miles and since I rotated them I want to get at least 3,000 miles out of them before replacing them. I will keep trying to get to that goal.

Today’s ride started earlier than I have done in the past but the 7:38 start time was 40 minutes late from the 7:00 AM target I was planning on. The temperature was a nice 72 degrees and even at the finish it was only up to 90 degrees. Wind was not really a factor being 4.6 mph. Clear skies meant the sun was going to be full strength. Humidity was 46 % when I reached the end.

The ride was going along nicely until I got to around the 26.1 mile point on FM2090 west of Splendora when I heard the sound of dog feet pounding on the pavement at a rapid pace. I quickly spotted this black dog coming toward from the left side of the road and not barking but making some threatening sounds. He ran into the grass on the right side of the road and started to get even with me. Then he moved back onto the pavement and started to gain on me until the adrenalin kicked in and I sped up. I looked down at my Garmin to see my speed and I think I saw 27.2 mph but the maximum speed recorded is just 25.4. After a short distance the dog gave up and turned back. Thank goodness dogs have claws that make noise on asphalt. I started to think about whether a paint ball gun would be strong enough to stop dogs like this from attacking. I don’t own one but I might consider carrying one if it would be enough. If the dog has an owner he may wonder why the dog is sporting paint ball markings if my aim is good enough to hit him while moving.

Other than this the ride went well with a strong average speed of 15.7 mph and average cadence of 80.7 rpm. The light wind helped get the average speed up. I needed to get back home for a couple of errands so I took fewer breaks than usual. I like today’s route (except for the dog) and the length fits the time period I prefer. The road surface is good with no chip’n seal.  When it is hot there are numerous convenience stores to refill my water bottle. I did not see any other serious bikers.

Tomorrow I want to ride at 6:00 AM due to a church meeting in the afternoon. In the past I have done this on Sunday in June and July to avoid the heat of the summer afternoons. I hope to ride 24 miles. No flats are wanted since the schedule will not have much room for error.

Today’s mileage numbers:

• Ride length 54.83 miles
• This week’s mileage 140.67
• June miles 262.22
• Year to date miles 2439.93

6-11-2011 Ride Data and Route Map

6-11-2011 Home Weather Finish

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