Thwarted by the Mundane.

Tonight my ride was cut short.

It wasn't a tornado, a rattlesnake, a flash flood, a rouge steer, a redneck in a lifted truck, or any of the other dangers that I imagined as I rode tonight.

It wasn't even a cactus needle.

Nope, it was a small sliver of glass that did me in.

Ten miles into my ride, I felt my rear tire slowly go mushy. Even before I removed the tire, I found the shard of beer bottle glass wedged in the tread. I pulled it out, removed the tire, found the pin hole, and felt the inside of the tire for another sharp object. Finding none, I repaired the tube, inflated the tire, and got back on the road.

Ten miles later, I felt the rear tire slowly mush out again. This time I pulled the tire, again found no sharp objects, but replaced the tube with a new one just in case. Back on the road, I decided to cut it short because the sun was already grazing the horizon. I shorted my planned ride about 10 miles, but I figured I was done for the day. No need to kill myself.

For the second night straight night I saw multiple groups of roadies out on this particular route, and I became a little envious of the vibrant group ride culture they have here. Then I reminded myself that the flip side of this is that they have to live in Texas, which I don't consider an even trade. Your mileage may vary, but that only indicates your odometer is broken.

Tomorrow is my last day before I head home, and I'm going to try to sneak in as many miles as I can so I won't feel like I left anything undone that would require a return trip. Given the choice, I can think of other places I'd like to visit first.

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