Sunday, August 09, 2009

Familiar Ground

Back on Long Island on Monday night, did the old Brands route solo on Tuesday and Friday and mixed in a couple of short runs on Wednesday and Friday. I want to add in running one or two days a week for some cross training and also thinking it will be a good alternative to the bike in bad weather.

Did the Kreb Friday Night race for the first time all year. Got a mediocre 9th place in the B race. No breakaways so a big sprint at the end. Tried a small dig with 2 laps to go but got pulled back. Some effective team tactics going on, four or five riders with red tape on their arms worked together to setup one guy for the prime at 9 laps to go. Not common for the B race, usually not very organized in terms of team strategy.

Saturday, was a fast group ride with the Brands crew. Group of 7 or 8 formed in Dix Hills and we kept a high pace for the rest of the ride. I took a direct route home skipping the regroup at Brands.

This morning, supposed to rain so I did a couple of laps on the Jones Beach bike path. Second lap, at the third bridge, I see a guy running back, wearing cleats, pushing his bike along. I ask if he needs help and he says he got a flat, another rider tried to pump his tire with CO2 but it wouldn't hold air. I stop to help, he's never had a flat on his bike before and he has no tube, no pump, no tire levers, no patch kit, nada. We locate a sliver of metal in the tire. I patch the tube for him, remount the tire and inflate with CO2 to get him on his way. My good deed for the day!

Last day of vacation today :-( so back to the grind tomorrow morning. Not looking forward to it.

2 comments:

Todd N. said...

Way to fg o Nick... helping out a fellow rider. You would hope he would have been better prepared!

nickm said...

Thanks, Todd. Yeah, I think he probably realized he's been lucky not to get a flat until now.