As I walked into the garage to start the ride I went through my ritual of squeezing each tire. The rear tire came back firm but the front one went soft between my fingers. After the July 12th ride problems I did not expect another flat quite so soon. Removing the wheel I spun it around to check for the problem. I could see anything from the outside so I gathered my tire tools, patch kit and floor pump and went inside to find the culprit. Pulling the tube out and pumping it up it took a couple of minutes to locate the tiny hole. Once I found the hole I started checking the inside of the tire and found a tiny piece of wire just barely sticking into the tire. I could not get a grip on it so I used a push pin to work it out and it popped into the sink. Now I patched the tube but three of the patches I attempted to use were no good because the foil backing had rubbed the adhesive off. I never had that problem so again I was glad this was a repair at home. Working inside was nice too.

The ride started about 20 minutes later  and I left at 1:53. Riding out of the driveway I liked getting a solid thump as the tires went over the bump and onto the street. Rain clouds roamed around the area today and I headed to the south to Atascocita, Walden and Huffman. I added a couple of extra streets to increase the mileage and came in at 33.27 miles and average speed held at 15.4 mph. The temperature moderated today at 87 to 88 while I biked. The rain stayed away but when I rode west over Lake Houston on FM1960 I saw a lightning bolt in the far distance but nothing came of it all the way home. There is a 60% chance of rain tomorrow so biking could be interrupted. July miles moved up to 427.79 and year to date now is 3753. Links to Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com maps and metrics.

Nothing unusual on the ride today and both tires were still firm when I rolled into the garage. No other bicyclists appeared.

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