Part I: Towards the Deer
Tuesday started out pretty cold and rainy, but with hopes of clear skies and dryer pavement Helen, Laura, Megan, Kelsey, and I began our own two-wheeled journey. Our ride started off well enough, the rain stopped falling and the sun even attempted a cameo, but about 8 miles out of town the adventures really began. After spotting some unusually red-colored deer lawn ornaments we decided it was imperative we take a picture with them.
But first, I had to get off my bike. See this was my first time riding with clip-less pedals and I had yet to take the mandatory first timer spill. So, while coasting to a stop and desperately trying to kick either of my heels sideways I eventually lost all momentum and fell sideways. And because my bike was still attached to me I was stuck on the side of the road, upside down, with my bike literally stuck on top of me. Awkward. If you can’t imagine that sight, Laura was kind enough to capture a picture:
Once I untangled myself we walked across the street for a photo op with the beautiful deer:
Part II: Homeward Bound?...Eventually
A couple miles after our deer sighting we decided to head back to campus for some lunch before spending the afternoon at the track. With the many flat areas on our ride we decided to take turns leading a paceline. All went well for about six miles before a rough patch of Indiana asphalt took Kelsey’s tire. We stopped to switch out her tube and found her tires near-impossible to remove or put back on. Approximately a half-dozen tire levers and 20 minutes later we were all set to get back on the road…and then Megan looked down. Yepp, Roger with another flat.
And while I'm not suggesting couples therapy, maybe Roger’s continual flat issues are just calls for attention. I mean, it took Megan 20 minutes to notice he was flat, talk about complete disregard!! Anyhow, we were in for another tube session. At this point a men’s Little 500 rider drove by in his car to pick up his teammate stranded w/ broken derailleur. He offered help, but we kindly turned down his offer, as it was just a tube. It was just a tube, but of course we managed to put a hole in it, this may or may not be attributable to Laura’s strategy of tweeting while tube-changing. With no patch kit and no more tubes on us we were in a bind…until this same rider drove back past us with his teammate. Feeling like idiots, we flagged him down to give Megan and Roger a lift back to campus.
At this point Laura and I had been stopped and hunched over in the cold and wet for over a half-hour. Being tightened up and conveniently stopped at the bottom of a hill got the ride back off to a good start. But with some encouragement from camp counselor Laura, she and I both made it back to the DAC alive and well.
Part III: Friends at The Track
After a quick jaunt to Panera it was time to hit the track! During Spring Break, the track is 99.9% filled with, meaning it was LOUD, PACKED, and FAST. And the boys are mean. Alas, we struggled through it, rode some laps, and practiced some exchanges.
After one of these exchanges, which Kelsey did complete perfectly (really), she somehow ended up on the ground and kind of rolled into the pit of the boys of Sigma Alpha Mu. After some conversation with them about our bike’s strange handlebars (see Helen’s crash story) they offered to set us up with a new pair later that evening.
Because we had already planned on having a team dinner that evening we decided to invite the boys over to eat tacos and hang out. The boys had to debate whether they could come eat our chicken or not, see for the Sammy boys their dinners must alliterate and Tuesday was “Turkey Tuesday.” Debate of the ages. In the end they decided they could come eat with us. Now our bike has new handlebars and we’re even friends with some of those mean boys from the track!
But first, I had to get off my bike. See this was my first time riding with clip-less pedals and I had yet to take the mandatory first timer spill. So, while coasting to a stop and desperately trying to kick either of my heels sideways I eventually lost all momentum and fell sideways. And because my bike was still attached to me I was stuck on the side of the road, upside down, with my bike literally stuck on top of me. Awkward. If you can’t imagine that sight, Laura was kind enough to capture a picture:
Dead Danielle
Deer, Megan, Danielle, Helen, Kelsey, Deer
Part II: Homeward Bound?...Eventually
A couple miles after our deer sighting we decided to head back to campus for some lunch before spending the afternoon at the track. With the many flat areas on our ride we decided to take turns leading a paceline. All went well for about six miles before a rough patch of Indiana asphalt took Kelsey’s tire. We stopped to switch out her tube and found her tires near-impossible to remove or put back on. Approximately a half-dozen tire levers and 20 minutes later we were all set to get back on the road…and then Megan looked down. Yepp, Roger with another flat.
Laura, bike doctor.
Megan, obviously assisting Danielle with Roger
At this point Laura and I had been stopped and hunched over in the cold and wet for over a half-hour. Being tightened up and conveniently stopped at the bottom of a hill got the ride back off to a good start. But with some encouragement from camp counselor Laura, she and I both made it back to the DAC alive and well.
Part III: Friends at The Track
After a quick jaunt to Panera it was time to hit the track! During Spring Break, the track is 99.9% filled with, meaning it was LOUD, PACKED, and FAST. And the boys are mean. Alas, we struggled through it, rode some laps, and practiced some exchanges.
After one of these exchanges, which Kelsey did complete perfectly (really), she somehow ended up on the ground and kind of rolled into the pit of the boys of Sigma Alpha Mu. After some conversation with them about our bike’s strange handlebars (see Helen’s crash story) they offered to set us up with a new pair later that evening.
Because we had already planned on having a team dinner that evening we decided to invite the boys over to eat tacos and hang out. The boys had to debate whether they could come eat our chicken or not, see for the Sammy boys their dinners must alliterate and Tuesday was “Turkey Tuesday.” Debate of the ages. In the end they decided they could come eat with us. Now our bike has new handlebars and we’re even friends with some of those mean boys from the track!
2 comments:
Sigma Alpha Alpha!
This post so epically describes one of the worst/best days ever.
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