Mr. Beanz And His Bike Rides: Freaking Soft Tire on GMR

Only made it to the shack today. Bad day all around actually. One of those nights you can't fall asleep till 2:30 AM and your plan is to get up at 6:00. Not happening today, really sucked. Gina had to work late last night so I ended up eating spaghetti at 11:00 PM, not good! Trying to sleep then get up early, not happening ha ha!

But I did ride, that is a good thing. Felt like I was going to die a couple of times but I made the shack ha ha! The spaghetti was still in my tummy and I could feel it. OK, start the whining how ha ha! I couldn't seem to shake the feeling this morning. One would think I did a good job of emptying the stomach but I could still feel the spaghetti sauce, not good!

Got to the dirt lot and almost left thinking I may have to run to Mickey D's for a little relief but who would watch my bike? Too much hassle. I figure once I start riding, the saddle would shove what ever it is so far up my butt that I would soon lose the feeling ha ha! Yeah, I know TMI, but it's part of the whining process.

So I figure I'll just ride. I had thoughts yesterday of standing up and sprinting all the way up GMR but that wasn't happening. Next, my bug spray hasn't done poop for me the last few weeks. New bottle Gina found on the clearance for a buck. Now I know why, doesn't work very well. Last bottle was near empty but I brought it along figuring I'd use the last of it. So I spray the newer bottle all over my shorts, legs, jersey figuring I'd use the better stuff for my ears, back of neck and legs.

Holy cow, somehow I managed to spray it near my mouth and inhaled a bit. That sucked! On the way up, I could just about taste it. I could smell it strong and was starting to feel a bit nauseated. OK, what's going on? Is it my tummy or the spray? Not feeling well but I hoped to push on as I approached the flatter section 4 miles up.

All I know is that I was not feeling good so I stopped there to catch my breath, if that's what you call it. Not feeling good, felt the heart working harder than usual, legs didn't want to push. Tummy problems, whine whine whine!

Lost 3 minutes hoping to feel better. I almost wimped out but hey, made it to the top last week so what's going on? I did feel my thighs a bit tender during the week as I hadn't done much climbing over the last couple years and that day was tops on my recent ride. So could be the legs. But my heart rarely acts silly so maybe it was inhaling the bug spray all the way up, I dunno!

I stopped again just after Newman's Point. Man, what is going on? Somehow I talked myself into not turning around. I had just been telling my Mom that there is a point that one must push beyond if they are wanting to get into shape. Today I found one for sure ha ha! So hearing in my mind what I had said to Mom, I couldn't quit now.

But I push on and close to the top before it drops down, the last mile before the shack. And what do I see? It's Matt and GMR circling back to say hi and a quick chat. But they decide to do the last mile with me up to the saddle above the shack.

I was really struggling so it really eased the pain that they rode with me and chatted a bit taking my mind off the feeling I had.

While I was just about to get on my bike at the start, I saw Mat, GMR, and their friend roll by. Mat said I would catch them as they had planned an easy ride. OK cool. I might lift the pace a bit just to catch up. Now GMR is a place where sometimes you can see the riders ahead of you and other times you think you're all alone then another rider pops up out of nowhere. So I was actually trying to lift the pace a bit and getting nowhere, they were nowhere to be seen up ahead.

After 3 miles or so I really started struggling, kind of surprising after the last few weeks on GMR. I had no problem making the shack non stop. But today was different. OK, sometimes we just suck ha ha!

So I kept on, took a couple breaks then managed to run into them at that drop before the shack. I don't think I would have caught them had they not doubled back a bit. Mat says I was right behind but I wasn't sure as I could see nobody ahead the entire way.

BTW, where was everybody? I only had one guy pass me on the way up today.

So we rolled up to the saddle above the shack and had a cool visit and some motivational words from Mat. Everything I tell this guy, he turns into something positive. I told him I was dying on the way up but he says I made it, yup! I tell the guy it was a struggle and he says, yeah but you're one of the only ones up here. Yeah he's right! He has a nice way of looking at the positive side. I told him it has been disruptive to cycling taking care of Mom. He says yeah, but she wouldn't be alive it weren't for me and Gina. Yeah, that is true. Sometimes it takes someone to remind you that there is always a good side to the obstacles life tosses our way. Anyway, Thanks Mat, cool dude always positive and motivating.

So Mat and GMR head down and I'm not sure what I want to do. I almost rolled with them but something made me hesitate. OK was it that I felt bad not going further than the shack? Something in my head was telling me to go further even if I had to suffer some more. Just as I thought about it, a dude named Brice came up and started chatting. Cool guy.

We chat a bit then I start to think that I am feeling better. Brice takes off and heads up and I almost take off after he leaves. Should I? Shouldn't I? Why not?

But something told me not today so I hesitated again. Strange that I was actually feeling good after the rest but thought once I started a new climb, I might be reminded of why I should turn back today.

So darn it, OK, live to fight another day! I head down from the shack and while rolling straight, the bike felt OK. But once I hit a sharp turn, HOLY CRAP!!!

Felt like a 45 MPH gust of wind tried to take my front wheel out! I look down and the tire looks cool so I continue figuring it could be I used a different front wheel last week, lower profile, I'll get to that! But I see a sight where I want to take a pic and stop. Take the pic then as I remount, I managed to push down on the front tire and it was soft. I reach down and squeeze to verify, YUP!

Now this sucks but may explain why I sucked so bad today ha ha! I actually hope it was as I thought I had been getting better over the last 10 times I have done GMR in the last couple months or so.

But it seems to be half filled with air and I really don't want to take the time to fix it. I was really annoyed at this point with the ride so I just wanted to get home so I rolled down about a half mile and it is a slow leak so I'm going to chance it.

I rolled down as slowly as I could. If I approached 20 MPH, I squeezed the brakes. I checked the tire a few more time and it didn't seem to lose too much air too quickly and I was near the bottom, and knowing better than to take it too fast in any switchbacks. I think this is the first time I descended GMR standing on my bike, weight to the rear mountain bike style to save the front ha ha!

It worked because I am here ha ha! But what really sucked was that I got a thorn on GMR 2 weeks ago in the front tire. Didn't realize it but it went flat at home during the week. So I fixed it LAST NIGHT!!! Replaced the tube with a brand new tube and felt good about the change.

But mother frigging flat tires! I was wondering if somehow I had screwed up the repair but knew I took special care as most time. I did screw up a change on the road once time about 10 years ago, but learned from it. Plus doing it at home, I had everything I needed to do a good repair.

So once I'm at the truck, I inspect the tire and dang it, yes a brand new thorn. Wow, no flats in a year then all of a sudden, 2 in a couple weeks. Looking at the thorn, it's only 4 or 5 inches from the last thorn. Wow!

So anyway, I am actually hoping it was the tire being half full that forced me to struggle on today's climb. I hope so cause I thought I was doing well ha ha!

Mat and GMR, with Baldy in the background. Just the way they like it! :-P