A Totally Sweet Ride

This post is about a week late - work got crazy and my life kinda spun out of control. But now that I was able to enjoy the sun and get hammered over the weekend, I'm feeling mostly better.

Eitherhow, about one(1) week ago, I enjoyed a really excellent bike ride with my Chicago bike buddy and cycling team member. Our cycling team has two people in it (him and me) and mostly we just drink, but every so often we do get on our bicycles and nurse hangovers for miles.

Unlike our last trip in which we rode about 33 miles without any bike repair tools or spare parts (and one of us got a flat and had to take the train home), I made sure to pack a spare tube, pump, tire levers, and multiool. We started up near thorndale and broadway and worked our way north. however, after about a mile or so, we ran into a calamity.

My back tube popped. This didn't surprise me that much actually since I had put probably about 700 miles on it. As you can see on the left, I quickly got to work swapping out the tube. It was a bummer since we were starting to build up momentum and had only gone a couple of miles. I swap the tube, fill it to 40 psi, make sure the tire bead is seated correctly, and then proceed to pump it up to about 90psi so that I could at least ride the bike to a bike shop and pump it with a real pump to 125. However, as I was using the little frame pump, the following happened:

This is hardly believable, but the metal valve just snapped in half while I was pumping. The tube was totally ruined. I had no choice but to take my bike to a bike shop and buy a new tube. :(

My friend biked back home and drove his car to where I was stranded. We got to a shop (with a rather surly owner) and got all the parts we needed. Swapped out the tube and we were back on the road.




At this point it was pretty much smooth sailing. The day was hot but windy so the riding conditions were at times difficult but overall very comfortable and pleasant. We worked our way north along Sheridan and passed the Bahai House of Worship, which I had never seen before. If you have never seen this building, you should check it out as soon as you can. The little picture on the left hardly does it justice. This building is massive and fantastically ornate. It is so beautiful and out of place in northern chicago that I had a bit of trouble accepting the reality that I was facing.


Total trip: 23.33 miles.

PS. I have recently acquired a new digital camera. I primarily shoot on a Nikon D50 DSLR but since it is too bulky for bike trips, I will be switching from my iphone (bad camera!) to a nikon coolpix s700 for bike adventure shots. Hopefully I'll have many exciting pictures to share with all three of my readers.