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| This shot from our Visit to Alley Mill Yesterday. 81 MILLION gallons a Day from the Spring feeding this old mill |
Well, it was again drizzling (And POURING) rain all morning. We drove around the soggy countryside and got some shopping done anyway.
Of course, after we got home around noonish the weather cleared up quite a bit and the sun actually peeked out a few times, lighting up the gray sky to bluish in spots.
I thought I should sneak in a trike ride, and finally saddled up and left shortly after 3 PM. By now the skies had partially darkened again and I worried I might get soaked by the black clouds speeding overhead, but I suspected if I tried to wait for clear skies again I might miss another couple days of enjoyable exercise.
As it turned out, no rain got to me, but other misadventures did.
I carried a UPS parcel with me to deliver to the UPS dropoff up on the other end of town, with plans to just do the rest of the around-town loop on the way back home.
This all worked fine, but as I chugged along I remembered we needed new windshield wipers on out Ford Exploder, and I had forgotten to bring one of the worn ones so I could match it at the car parts store. I decided if I got home early enough I would re-ride back to an auto parts store and purchase the desired items.
Sure enough, when I arrived back at the driveway, the weather had not turned bad and I still had daylight and plenty of time for another ride to the parts store. I googled local stores to see what was closest and Bingo! Western Auto popped up only a couple blocks away seemingly close to the village square. When I got close, though, I was saddened to see the "Western Auto" name emblazoned.... FAinTly... on a now - empty building on the square, typical of too many former business entities nowadays. So I googled other possibilities that supposedly wouldn't be exhaustingly far away. I settled on the only place I could find: Ace Hardware on the north end of town.
I arrived after another mile ride at the intersection just before crossing the Route 60 freeway.
As I waited patiently for traffic to open sufficiently for me to enter the main road, I finally got to cross, with more traffic coming. Instead of staying on the good pavement, I tried to go far to the right shoulder, which LOOKED fine until I hit a few water-filled potholes and cracks, whereupon I suddenly realized I had contracted a tire blowout on my right front wheel. For the next half hour or so I put on a nice sideshow of tire disassembly and replacement. Several times I thought I should call Jacque to come rescue me but I finally got it back together and rolling again.
For the life of me I could not find any tear or hole in the tire or tube, but the shock of hitting the sharp edge of the pothole had just boogered the air completely out of it. I carry a spare tube, patches, and CO2 cartridges for inflating tires "effortlessly", and it just took time and frustration to dig it all out and take out the defunct tube, install a new one, and get the CO2 injector to work and re-inflate the tire. I was pleasantly surprised to see I still had time to cross the freeway to access Ace Hardware.
The nice lady there said she didn't think they HAD wipers in stock, but sure enough they did, thankfully.
The rest of the ride back was comparatively uneventful, though my feet were burning a bit from the extra time cranking.
Thankfully the new wipers fit perfectly, though of a different brand, so my two small errands were a small success.
Tired but energized, attitude improved... typical results of riding.
Ride Started: 3:29 PM Ride Ended: 5:30 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.5 Ending Battery Voltage: 13.0 Lowest Voltage: 12.9
Beginning Blood Glucose: 102 Ending BG: 112
Lowest Temp: 71 F Highest Temp: 82 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 9.97
Distance Walked: .9 mile (Dog Potty Trips)
Overall Average Speed Moving Avg Max Speed
5.0 MPH 8.0 MPH 26.6 MPH
Overall Average Speed Moving Avg Max Speed
5.0 MPH 8.0 MPH 26.6 MPH
Total Trip Time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 59 mins 1 hour 15 mins 44 minutes
1 hour 59 mins 1 hour 15 mins 44 minutes
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