I went for a ride up in Marin today. It was strange, I went almost 50 miles, but it sure didn't feel like it. Not the most challenging course, but 50 miles is still at the upper end of distances I've gone. I rode from the Golden Gate Bridge to Fairfax, 18 miles, almost all flat with just one very minor hill, then I climbed up Bolinas-Fairfax road, which had two consecutive almost 1000' climbs, followed by rolling ups and downs along a ridge leading to Mt. Tam. Not summiting Mt. Tam, the rest of the ride was a screaming downhill, then flat again, and all there was left was the minor climb out of Sausalito. I was tired, but I wasn't zoning . . . although that's debatable as evidenced by missing a sidewalk ramp and hitting a curb just outside of Sausalito. I thought I might have damaged my rim and my thigh which cramped up on impact, but it was low speed and all is well. Just embarassing. I don't think anyone saw it.

I did get a pinhole puncture in my tire after the first of those two climbs up Bolinas-Fairfax road, but it was so small that it just couldn't support the normal amount of pressure, but could maintain enough pressure to ride normally. When I got home and checked it out, that's when I realized how incredibly lucky I had been. Since I had been able to ride, I wasn't sure it was a puncture, even though I distinctly heard air escaping during the ride. So I pumped up the tire, and found that there was, indeed, a leak. I took out the tube, found the hole, and it was so small that all it needed was a patch. So I got the patch kit out, and found out the bottle of sealing glue was empty. Oh well. I'll patch the hole once I get more glue, but for now I had to put in a new tube. So I took the tube that I had been carrying with me on the ride and put it on, only it wouldn't inflate. What the hell? I took it out again and it was defective, couldn't even be patched, it was an inch long gash at the seams. So I got another tube and installed it, pumped it up, and all is well for tomorrow's ride.

About a half hour later while I was sitting on the couch watching the World Series (alright Marlins!), I realized that with a defective tube and an empty bottle of patch glue, if I had really punctured, I would have been SO screwed. What would I have done? I had no idea. OK, I might not have been that screwed, a half hour after that, I realized that someone would have helped me out, there were plenty of riders out at that time and someone would have had patch glue. But that's another thing! I left unusually early for this ride. I'm an afternoon rider, but today I left before noon. In the afternoon, there aren't quite so many cyclists out.

That was interesting. I left "early", but when I started out, there were tons of riders and oodles of group rides, ostensibly on the return, finishing up their rides. It was cool seeing so many cyclists out. That's what I've been missing doing all afternoon rides, when all the group rides are done and all you come across are other lone riders. Tomorrow, I'm thinking of joining a group if I can get up and get to the Golden Gate Bridge by 9:30. Ugh, I don't like the sound of that.