Saturday morning I had planned to to the Maplewood Bicycle shop ride with Stephanie, since we haven't ridden strictly for "fun" in a while.Unfortunately, my littlest had come down with a bug the evening before and was still running a decent temperature in the morning. I didn't feel I should risk being gone long or far, so I canceled my ride with Steph and was unsure of an actual ride plan at that point.
Jay, who normally leaves early in the morning for his ride too, stayed back until I could leave to get some spinning in as well. Ty agreed to watch his sister while I rode as I had agreed to taxi him to and from his girlfriend's house later that evening. (Negotiations are fun, yes?)
We decided to roll out from my house and hit The Lone Wolf Coffee Company for some pre-ride nutrients and head out West on Clayton Rd to hit some hills.
(This was Jay's idea because secretly...on some days...he is the Devil. I am certain of this.)
*blows kisses at Honey*
We head up Valley Rd. and head out to Orville Rd, which boasts an interesting hill for which I was unprepared...at least mentally.
It was one of those long spiraling climbs that I need to be more on the mark about because I won't always know what's ahead of me, and I sure didn't on this one. It mentally screwed me. I thought bad words.
As it was, I ended up spinning up the sweet little cutie more than I usually like.
Once I reached Jay at the top, I asked him if he was trying to kill me. I told him that I wasn't "ready" for hills like that all day.
He reminded me that:
A) I won't always know the type of hill or terrain ahead of me and
B) That I have to get ready some time.
(He's so unimaginably adorable when he does this!)
*smirk*
Dammit!
He's right and I know he's right, but at that moment, I had dreams of never doing anything but flat time trials for the rest of my racing "career".
I told him to just warn me next time. He agreed he would...and he did.
We continue on and I am feeling pretty good. I have worked up a nice heat and I am toasty in the cloudy and brisk 30 degree air.
As we turn onto Hwy 109 (I think), I start to hear and feel a knocking on my bike. I can feel it in my stroke and since Jay had been having a knocking issue since last week that no one seems able to figure out, I tell him.
Then...
...mid-revolution...
*SNAP!*
There goes my chain and the pull on my groin muscle is so acute that I'm pretty sure I made a high pitched, only-heard-by-dogs type sound...
There went my chain.
Luckily Jay has a chain tool and luckily I have a spare multi-tool. I make a mental note to grab my other multi-tool (the one with the chain tool) off my desk when I go to work on Monday. Jay fixes it and we roll on.
I am enjoying the open road of BA and feeling pretty good by the time we hit Pond Rd.
We start talking about architecture and what we would or wouldn't do as we assess the houses we pass.
The road has some nice rollers and I'm regaining my confidence after that one wicked climb schooled me, when...
*SNAP!*
There went the chain again.
[insert choice vocabulary here]
I'm not sure if it was because we were in a "nice and conservative" neighborhood, or because most days I do have the sense not to curse at inanimate objects, but I didn't actually cuss.
I'm frustrated because it was effing cold and every time we stopped we lost our heat...plus this nonsense kept making the ride longer than was intended which was stressing me out a bit with a sick one at home.
I am frustrated because my stupid chain is screwing up both of our workouts.
Jay works on the chain again and it is looking gnarly...even to a mechanical noob like me.
He tells me I need to go easy with the shifting and I agree that I will likely spin up the hills from here on out...
(That part will be tough for me as I have somehow sort of forgotten how to spin...at least effectively.)
We have a hill directly as we start rolling again...maybe 100 feet or so.
Jay is next to me and I hear something clink to the ground and I say, "There it goes again..."
However, the chain is still on and we continue up the hill and just then...
*SNAP!*
This time, it is toast. Done. Finito.
We attempt to call Mark from Ballwin Cycles to see if he is on his way to the store. Voicemail.
I tell Jay to roll on and come back with the car to get me later.
He decides he is going to push/pull me home.
*scratches head*
Ummmm...oooooookay.
I clip in and push off the wall, we nearly wreck and then we are up, up, up...
Oooooh! Look! There's Hwy 100! This should be REALLY super fun to cross with one cyclist pulling another without a chain in the the wind.
(Love you, Honey!)
This ride home was a true test of our communication skills as motorists zoom by at 55+ MPH, we managed to safely get to Westglen/Manchester before Jay flats his rear wheel.
I am at this point frozen because I am not working. My fingers and toes are numb.
We pull over to address the flat.
An SUV stops and its owners ask if we are OK.
We are dumbfounded.
We are used to motorists aiming for us or gunning their engines to prove that their machine is more "powerful". We are not used to them actually pulling over to assist.
We look at them gratefully but tell them that we are OK.
We decide that they are cyclists.
We have 2 good climbs ahead of us, so Jay decides to call Barry from Ballwin Cycles and since he is on his way in to the shop, he can come grab me.
Jay changes his flat and I slip on my cleat covers and cross Manchester to start walking toward home on the shoulder. I move fast to get the blood going again...Hello toes!
Barry picks me up and Jay meets me back at my place.
At this point it is actually funny...at least to me.
I can't figure out whether I got the Karma bitchslap for bailing on my ride with Steph or for riding at all while The Sass was under the weather, but either way, I got it.
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