Day 88

I woke up early again this morning. This time, for a bike ride.

I rolled out of bed, brushed my teeth, and threw on my bike clothes. I walked downstairs and grabbed some breakfast while filling my water bottles. When I looked outside, it was a pretty cloudy day and probably somewhere in the mid to high 70's. After the 100 degree heat waves we've had, mid 70's almost feels chilly.

I threw my shoes on and went out. I started out of Cape May and started to get a little mist from the clouds. I don't think much of it. I roll over the bridge and head towards Wildwood. I climb over another bridge, and this is when things start getting bad.

It's no longer misting, but raining lightly. The bridge has gathered some moisture, and as I cross over the metal grates, I completely lose control of my wheels.

Now. Let me explain a few things about riding a bike for those of you who haven't done so in a while. When your back wheel starts to go sideways, you can still manage to control the bike relatively well with the front wheel. Continue in the direction that you were going, don't turn your front wheel, and the back will eventually recover, for the most part. When your front wheel starts going sideways, you're screwed.

Both of my wheels started going sideways, except I lost control over my front wheel. My entire bike started to the left. Luckily, no cars were coming. My right foot popped out of my pedal. Not sure why I pulled out my right foot, it wasn't going to do me any good, because I was gonna fall to my left.

Luckily, I managed to gain enough control before falling and my right foot being out allowed me to adjust my weight distribution and bring my bike back up to center. PHEW!

I'll set the stage for this portion of my ride. The roads are wet, it's raining pretty hard at this point, and I'm in Wildwood on the other side of a bridge that I have no interest in going back over after what just happened.

I'm not sure if this rain is supposed to get better or worse, but it seems to be slowing down. I got to a road that I knew would take me to the Garden State Parkway. I assumed I could figure out how to get back home from there, so I went that way, avoiding the bridge I had just gone over. Apparently this wasn't the best idea either.

As I went this way, I had to cross another bridge. This bridge was not steep in the least, but I completely lost the shoulder of the road that I was riding on. Fine. Deal with it. As I got to the top of the bridge, I notice the same metal grating that I had almost gone down on. So I slow down, coast over it, trying to maintain my balance. I make it across, and immediately start hearing a "fap fap fap" noise. My tire's flat. I'm in the middle of a bridge with no shoulder and my tire is flat. There is no stopping here, but I don't want to ruin my rim.

Luckily, my tire is still half inflated, so I coast down to a spot where I can stop and do my repair. I flip my bike over, and it almost immediately starts to downpour. I feel like I'm standing under a waterfall. I run my fingers inside my tire to see if I can find anything that might have punctured the tire. Nothing, so I replace the tube and put the tire back on the rim.

The only inflation system I have with me is a CO2 cartridge pump. I know from the past that these things get really cold when they start to shoot air into your tire. Not holding the cartridge is kind of out of the question. I only have one, so if this doesn't go right, I'm 7 miles from home with no way to get back. I let the air out of the cartridge and it immediately starts to freeze. I go to remove the cartridge from the pump, and my hand is now stuck to the cartridge. Think "A Christmas Story" when that kid gets his tongue stuck to the pole.

Once the rain melts the cartridge off of my hand, I put the wheel back on and hope it holds out. I'm now trying to get home as fast as I can without going back over those two bridges again, so I get going.

I finally find a road that looks somewhat familiar, so I get on it and ride.

I eventually make it home. My clothes are completely soaked and all I want to do is get them off and hop in the shower, but I've first gotta wipe my bike down and clean up all of the grime.

What a miserable ride. On the bright side, I guess it makes for a decent story.