Deer in Headlights

Have you ever seen your life flash before your eyes? Well The Culprit almost saw its life end on the inner loop of I-485. It had the end of the rack on Jay's car and well lets just say that the bladed spokes of the Mavic SLR catch more wind than a normal spoke. That and a combination of 75 mph. I was sitting in the back seat when I almost pooped myself seeing my baby hanging only by one strap off the rack. I screamed like a little girl for him to stop the car. He turned back at me and said "quit joking".

I replied back to him "have I ever joked about my bike being in trouble?" Needless to say the car was stopped immediately. Well after double strapping it on the rack we ended up at Shermans Branch and met up with Casey's co-worker Dan (who just bought a new Stuntjumper and who also has me in his sights for the 50 Mile Marathon.

I was leading the group on a nice social pace when my front wheel lost traction and slid out from under me. I ended up having to bring it into Sun and Ski Turns out I bent the rear detailer hanger. While it was in there the shop mechanic confirmed what I already knew was coming. The Culprit wasn't going to live much longer. It has been 2 full season and almost 1000 off road miles later. It was going to need a new drive train sometime soon. I let him clean it off and adjust all the cables in hopes of living just a few more months. For a big box store, they always treat me well there, and even knew when the Burrower had her surgery and asked about her when I stopped in. A quality crew there. That was my Wednesday night social ride.

Saturday I woke up early to put in some miles at the USNWC. I was able to get 2 full laps in by myself listing to the likes of Fall Out Boy and Taking Back Sunday. When I finished I saw Jason's car parked next to mine. Needless to say I waited for him to come back so maybe we could get a drink at the bar. As I was recouperating from a solid 25 miles in I saw him and Casey walking back to the car. Casey ended up having a pinch flat and needed to get the pump to fill up the tube. After the tube was put back in I headed out for a quick lap of the North and South loops there, purposly avoiding all of the options. We did mangage to do the gas line climb as Jason had never seen it so we hit the downhill portion and then headed in. Nothing to crazy on the ride, no cool pictures taken as this was "training". But I did have a new experance later on in the day, but that will be for tomorrow. And then stay tuned...I my super secret item in the mail on Monday