Grabbed my spare tube, grabbed my co2 and oh guess what? I forgot to change out the used co2s from my failed attempt of Jay$'s Bday TT up Bent creek gap. Awesome!! Two empty co2s. The shit kicker of it all is that I bought a pretty new Lezyne ABS Flex Hose pump to carry with me on long mtb rides, took it out of my pack, laid it next to my bike last night but feeling as though I had too much in my pockets before leaving home, I decided to ditch it. Real smart, right?! So I'm almost half way through my ride, the rain starting to come down and no way to fix a flat, SHIT! After realizing I was fucked, I began my walk. The only thing I could think to do was walk down to Brevard or stick out a thumb and just hope a car comes by.
Hallelujah! A fellow cross biker to the rescue! He was at the end of his ride, heading down 276 toward home and carrying a pump. Fix a flat, quick chat with my savior and I headed up 276 toward the parkway with an optimistic attitude.
At this point the rain was heavy. Large stinging drops, soaking everything to the core quickly and turning the roads to rivers. I felt ok going up 276 even with who knows how much psi in my tires, 35ish if I was guessing. Starting to feel the chill of the rain and the parkway elevation I made a pit stop at the Pisgah Inn Country Store. I dried off a touch, grabbed a coffee and a danish and headed on.
I reached the 151 decent quite cold, completely soaked and shaking at this point. Normally I would love a winding road decent but I have never felt so bad heading downhill. At one point I physically could not open/close my hands. I have ridden this road uphill faster than I was riding it downhill. I was shivering so violently I almost fell off my bike.
Knowing I was in one of the worst spots I've ever been in on a bike, I knew I was not going to make it home. I knew the Upper Hominy Creek Fire & Rescue Station was at the bottom and I admitted defeat and stopped. The doors of the station opened like the pearly gates and welcomed me like a family member not seen in years. Assessing my condition I was told to ditch the rain soaked kit, given towels fresh from the dryer, hot coffee, hand warmers and a chair in a room with a shower that was blasting full heat (although they recommended I didn't get in)
After 30min or so, the shivering slowed, the color and blood came back to flesh and I felt less like a human popsicle. The man who helped me said I was a pale blue when he let me in. Like I mentioned at the beginning of this story pretty much everyone I call friend is in Athens and had but one choice to call for a lift home, Motion Makers. I dreaded doing this out of ridicule and the fact I know how busy a rainy Saturday can be with rainy weather but I had no choice, the fire station staff would not let me get back on my bike to attempt the ride home and honestly I couldn't image it either.
So lessons learned; I'm taking a pump when hitting long gravel on the cx, a jersey/arm-warmers/rain shell is not enough to regulate body temp, ALWAYS replace co2s and/or tubes as soon as you get home from a ride that required using them. Lessons learned the hard way.
looks like I was riding decent till lady luck said, "Fuck off!"
