I walked out to the garage to go on an errand and checked the rear tire on the Canyon to see if my patch job during yesterday’s bike ride held. Squeezing the rear tire disappointment greeted my two fingers. The tire was soft but not flat yet. When I got back from my errand I took the rear tire, patch kit, tire levers, and floor pump inside to fix the flat again.

Pulling the tube out of the tire after I loosened the bead I searched for the patch from yesterday. I was surprised with the number of patches on the tube when I thought it wasn’t so battle scarred. Locating the site I pumped up the tube and held the patch near my lips to detect a leak. A faint flow of air touched my lips so I removed the patch to redo my work. I guess I did a good enough job to get home yesterday but no more. Roughing up the surface at the hole I then applied glue spreading it with my finger to cover a larger area than the size of the patch. The glue dried quickly and I got the patch ready, aimed carefully and applied the patch. Pressing the patch firmly to the tube I air the tube up some to see if any air leaked. While I waited I did a couple of chores around the house and then checked my work. It looked good and no air touched my lips. Putting the tube back into the tire, mounting the bead and pumping it up to 105 psi (I allowed some to leak out when I disconnected the pump) I let the tire sit a few more minutes before taking it out the garage and putting it back on the bike. The tire was really firm and my fingers’ squeezing encouraged for the ride.

After all of that I got ready to ride and rolled out the driveway at 12:06 PM following the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route. Adding a couple of extra streets the bike ride went 33.49 miles. Those miles put me passed my 700 mile goal with 717.90 miles. The breakdown: 625.7 miles on the road and 92.2 miles virtual riding.

The weather forecast called for 80 degrees today but with the clouds that was doubtful. I decided to wear a heavy long sleeve jersey topped with a short sleeve jersey. Good decision because of this weather during the bike ride: start 74 (75% humidity, 65.5 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind SE 9 mph. Finish 75 (75% humidity, 66.5 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind SE 10 mph. The wind was light but still chilly to me.

A short video from the ride. I missed tow other bikers because I didn’t watch for them.

Tuesday the weather may get rain but I plan on riding if it is dry. Wednesday will be much wetter.