Rain, Glass and Flying Pens

So, the big question is, when do my legs start to feel like something other than two by fours connected to my torso? I've been slowly trying to get back into riding after a winter of running, and turns out those two activities use vastly different muscle groups. So much for cross training.

In my attempt to prove my devotion to the sport, and get at least one ride in this week, I headed out Monday evening for a quick loop. Rain was moving in on the radar, but I figured I could get an hour ride in. I made it down to the East River Road without incident, and was cruising along trying to warm up in the freezing headwind. Sometimes you just get a gut feeling about a particular car, and a teal Ford Tempo set off the internal "look out" alarm. They hadn't done anything, but I had this sinking feeling if anyone was going to mess with me it was them. We leap-frogged through several stop signs. No biggie, it's all good I thought. Then they passed for the last time and leaned out of the window and threw a pen at me.

A pen? Really? I almost chased them down, but decided against it. My frustration quickly turned to laughter, and my mantra for the ride became KBD-766, KBD-766. That's right sucker, I know your plates :P

I continued down to Ford Parkway, and crossed the river, waving at the woman I see running almost every day while I'm out on a ride. I heard a weird pop noise, but I hear a lot of weird pop noises, especially on the bridges where gravel and debris collect. I didn't think much of it, but then there was another weird, less pop, more pop-squish noise. I kept an eye on my back tire, but nothing seemed to happen, so I figured I was in the clear.

Looped up to the Franklin bridge, and then headed back to Summit. Got to Summit, and started to feel really slow. At best I could only hold 16 or 17 mph. Then it started to rain. And be cold. And rain. And damnit, why can't I go any faster?!? Oh, right, because I actually DO have a flat. And now I'm wet, and cold, and pissed at everyone that's ever thrown a bottle in the road.

The weather took a turn for the worst after this, and we got an inch of snow that night, so I guess I shouldn't complain about a little rain. Moral of the story? I need to ride more, get a new back tire, and in lieu of getting warmer gear, it needs to get warmer than 24° out.