Another sunny day, another early start.  I was time limited today so was planning on doing variations on the usual loop and just getting ’round.  However plans don’t always go, well, according to plan.

About an hour into my flying lap, around 16 miles in, the road surface started feeling suspiciously more bumpy than usual, and a little while later the front tyre deflated completely and I came to a wobbly stop just outside Burtle.  B*gger!  And it had all been going so well up until then.  Zooming along in the sunshine, overtaking all in my path…  The cheery tandem riders I had not so long ago overtaken passed me, checking I was ok as they went.  Which at that point I was.

I set to, stripped out the old tube which seemed irritatingly fine, replaced it with a shiny new one, got the tyre back on – all remarkably easily and then….discovered my pump was, as Dad had suggested a while ago, gebuggert.  Some internal bit where the valve goes in just isn’t there any more, so that was that.

I called my pit crew, who happened to have the day off, and sat down to wait.   One other cyclist passed in the meantime, who also politely enquired as to my wellbeing, but it was too little too late.  Hubby turned up 15 minutes later complete with track pump, to find me sitting disconsolate in the sunshine, fighting off the wee biting beasties.  A few strokes of the pump (literally) and I was back on the road again, champing at the bit.  My already limited time was even more constrained now, so I decided to cut out the planned Nyland variation and just head for home.  But if I couldn’t do my time, I decided I’d do what time I did have FAST!

Cycling time: 1:48:22
Distance: 31.48 miles
Avs: 17.4 mph
ODO: 4843 miles

And I did.  I pushed it all the way home.  I upped the average from 16.something to 17.4, which is fair flying for me.  And I’m sure it’s all good training.  Not to mention that it was fun too!  *grin*

Now I need to buy another pump, and some handlebar tape, so I foresee a session of online cycle website browsing 🙂