Nailed on the Bridge Pedal

Dev and I rode the 8 bridge route (out of a possible 10 bridge route) on the 11th Annual Providence Bridge Pedal. It was only our second year to ride in it, and the organizers did a phenomenal job of fixing last year's flaws. They managed to reduce the bottlenecks to one (from about 4 last year) AND they managed to keep their rest stops well stocked with food and drink (they ran out last year because of record attendance). And they managed to order perfect weather - sunny, light breeze and about 88 degrees faranheit.

But, as you all know, there has to be a hitch if Devon and I tried to attend an event.

First mistake, we only allowed an hour time to get ready. Even without showers (come on, it's an *athletic* event), that time frame turns into a pretty close shave with a real breakfast, bike checks, stretching and dog maintenance. So until we actually made it out the door and started pedaling, Devon was pretty cranky.

Then it was my turn.

Literally two blocks from the house I pick up a nail in my rear tire. A fence nail. And it didn't just poke through the tread and clip a small piece of my inner-tube. No. This nail tore through the tread, and then ripped sideways through my sidewall! So it was my turn to be grumpy. I had a spare tube, so I swapped out the tubes, aired the tire up and we loaded up the bikes in the truck and raced down to the start line and managed to finish the Bridge Pedal and have a good time doing it.

As a quick aside, am I the only person who demolishes bicycle tires on a REGULAR BASIS? I mean, I've chewed up a tire every six months minimum. Not that I really think that's a lot for the mileage I run. Still. It seems excessive to me.