Murphy, his law, and all things that happened today.

I was determined to get the first ride on my newly rebuilt Gazelle Champion this morning. After putting all the Super Record gear off the Serotta on the bike it was begging for a good shake down ride. I had planned to ride with a fellow BF member this morning at 8:30. At 8am I was about to fill water bottles when I heard the distant rumble of thunder. Crap! Not MORE F’in rain! Sure enough there was a fast moving line of strong storms approaching the area. Well there goes that plan.

Fast forward 4hrs and the sun is out, while a bit windy, it was shaping up to be a great second half of the day. Decided I wasn’t going to let this break in the weather get away I jump on the Gazelle. I’m running a full campy super record group, unsure if I had everything tightened down completely. And to top it all off the rear wheel is running an old tubular tire which hadn’t seen the road in probably close to 8+ years. The front wheel is running a brand new clincher tire and tube. So if anything is going to happen, it’s going to be the rear tire right? No worries, I only plan on going around the block a few times. No need to grab the saddle bag with tube and CO2.

20min later I’m a lot further away from home than a block or two, a quick visit over to jsharr’s place and then heading for home. Half way back, I hit a pot hole and heard a lout twang. I knew instant something had happened to one of the wheels so quickly braked to a stop. A quick check of the rear wheel, still up. Front wheel… no such luck.

This is the second time I’ve had a front flat, without a tube/tire, on this bike, after a major build/rebuild. You’d think I would have learned my lesson the first time right? Guess it will take two times for this lesson to sink in. So once again I have to call for SAG, this time a quick call to jsharr and a promise of a some time soon secured a ride the rest of the way home.

So, everyone, no matter how short of a ride you plan on going on, grab the spare tube and pump or CO2. You’ll have more beer to drink yourself when you get home if you do.