Yesterday, after two days of being out of town for work, I decided I’d take my bike solo and head to the Clarence Bike Path. Stopped to pick up a tube repair kit, a little bag for my keys and cell phone, and a portable pump.
I didn’t have the requisite tools so (yes, you can groan in disgust) I used scotch tape to hold the bag steady on the frame of my bike. It sort of worked.
Managed to put a little air in my front tire with my new pump which is a real accomplishment, as anyone who knows me and my complete lack of mechanical aptitude can attest.
They’d just mowed along the bike path so there were lots of sharp rocks on the path, which I did my best to avoid. I also managed to remember to unclip for each road crossing (there are several) and all was well until I’d cycled about 5 miles out and three miles back. Must have hit a sharp rock because I got a flat rear tire and just didn’t trust my know-how enough to repair it with the kit, so just walked the bike the two miles back to my car.
No biggie, nice day for a walk, although I will tell you that bike shoes are made for biking and not walking!
So I have to have Anita teach me Tire Repair 101. Rich says he’ll fix it, but I won’t ask him to teach me how to do it, as that would be WAYYYY harder than the actual repair job. (See above re: lack of mechanical aptitude.)
I told someone it was like having an easyboot with me on a conditioning ride and not knowing how to put it on when my horse threw a shoe. <embarrassed look>
Today I loaded up Ned and Ace and took them to Allegany. It’s a Girls’ Weekend there, with our friend Jan visiting from Tennessee but things are busy so I could only manage to sneak away for a day ride today; fortunately, Ned’s friend and occasional LD rider, and my dressage instructor, Dorothy came to ride Ned. So it was Dorothy, me, Carla, Nicole, Jan and her friend.
It became obvious fairly quickly that the trotting endurance horses were not pacing well with the two Tennessee Walkers so Jen and her friend headed one way, we headed another, and we enjoyed a wonderful, laughing, gossiping 11 or 12 miles. Ace was polite but anxious to move out. Ned was mellow and agreeable (one of the many Neds, and the one most of us love best).
Dorothy hasn’t ridden on a conditioning ride for a while and was impressed with how straight and forward and fit Ned was. Said he looked great, and he does. She describes Ace as a little “endurance machine” and he’s just that, very focused and very earnest going down the trail.
The 100 mile ride is two weeks from yesterday. Still no crew, which is fine. We’ll manage.
I’ve got a ton of horse laundry to wash, a bunch of lists to make, and a great deal of pre-packing to do so that we’ll be able to simply settle in on Wednesday for Thursday’s ride. Yesterday I picked up some Gu and Gatorade jelly beans and some Gu chews of some sort which are carbo-loaded nyummies that I hope I won’t have to eat to keep me going.
Ace’s eye is healing nicely, Jivus is making no moves to perish on me, and Tom the Farrier is out today to shoe Rich’s boys.
Ace gets reset next Friday and next Saturday, Doris Halstead (author of “Symmetry in Motion” and a myofascial release practitioner) is back in town to take her horses down to her new homestead in NC, and has agreed to work on my boys and me, and also my friend Carla. That will be good timing and have everyone at their happy, most symmetrical selves!
In the mean time, I am sticking with the hiking/cycling/riding plan. Won’t be doing much riding other than a dressage school or two and possibly a couple of quick heat acclimation rides. Sounds more technical than it is. I’ll just tack up one of the boys during the heat/humidity of the day, do a fast 3-5 hilly miles (a necessity to outrun our healthy fly population), come back to the barn and hose the horse until he recovers. Heat acclimation is quickly lost, so while I don’t plan to make any conditioning gains on these little jaunts, I’m hoping the boys will maintain the heat acclimation they’ve gained thus far. We’ll see how it works.
I’ve asked Rich if I can borrow Sarge to keep my own self legged-up as the 100 approaches and he’s agreed. Good man.
Have a great weekend!