Tour de Florence

When I signed up for the Tour de Florence, a ride through ranch land and vineyards near Georgetown, I meant for it to be a kind of warm-up/gut-check for the upcoming LIVESTRONG Challenge. What I got was an extensive lesson in roadside tube-patching.

Flat #1, 6.4 miles in.

To make a long story short, I had to patch my tube twice.

Flat # 2, 16.4 miles in. I don't know why I am smiling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the second patch, I remounted the tire and it immediately lost air... no worries though! I had another tube in my pocket. A cyclist is always prepared, right?

Not so fast my friend. The new tube's valve stem wasn't long enough for my deep rims and I couldn't pump it up. At this point, the trailing car for the ride showed up and we got a ride back to HQ.

Hitchin' a ride. Hangin' the head.

Lessons learned:
Don't get flats.
Make sure your valve stem reaches beyond your aero rims.
Don't get flats.

I tried to take some other pics, but they aren't real great or anything (we had barely gotten out to the nice country roads):

Two final thoughts:
1) 16.4 miles used to be a decent ride for me, but now it feels like a failure, so that's good, right?
2) I saw the original owner of my bike, so that was neat.