Disaster: 2 Flats in Tracy

I got off to a great start this morning. I was all the way to Tracy with almost 50 miles behind me before 8 AM when I looked down and my front tire was flat. No problem; I have a spare tube and pump. I'll be back on the road in 15-20 minutes tops. I had some problems with the tire and tube. This was actually the first time I had done this on the road. It's not the same on the side of the road with cars going by with the wind blowing, etc. My quiet garage with a nice table works much better. Nevertheless, I finally got things in proper order and inflated the tire and put it in the fork and set it. Finally, ready to go. Before I picked up the bike, I grabbed the rear tire and discovered it was flat also. This was discouraging. I did not have another tube, but I did have some patching material. I got the back tire off and begin to work with it. By this time, I was out 45 minutes to an hour and not certain I could get back on the road soon with a bike that could make another 150 miles. I remembered the writer saying, things need to go "pretty good" to do a "double century" in a day. Things were not going good. I decided right then that I would not do the double today. I called Cindy to come get me. This gave her some experience in her role of providing support in these situations. She got there much faster than I thought she would. However, in the meantime, I did continue on with the tube repair. I found the leak, put a patch on it and managed to get it back on the bike. I had the bike on the road riding toward her and she met me after I had been a few miles. We came home. I replaced the tires and tubes and have the bike ready for another run at 200 miles in one day (just a day late). In our study of Acts this year Cindy & I were reminded of the difficulties that the Apostle Paul had on some of his journeys even as he was totally focused on spreading the gospel. I learned a lot today on this short journey marked with failure that will be of much more value to me than my going 200 miles today. I'll try again for the 200 tomorrow.