Four days

So, it's now four days until the big Dual. I'm getting nervous. I should probably be out riding right now but, well, there's always a but, isn't there?

I came out from work yesterday and walked over to where the bike was parked and noticed a very flat back tire. Cursing myself for having just a couple of weeks ago bragged to my friend that I've never had a flat on the rear of this bike, I started to remove the wheel and dig out the tools. When I got the wheel off, I noticed a two inch rip in the seem where the bottom, thicker rubber part of the tire was bonded to the rest of the tire. Well, I thought, that looks like failure to me, not my fault. I figured that once I got to the LBS, I'd mention it and maybe get a 10% discount. Kind of a bummer since they're $55 tires (Specialized All Condition Pro). Well, I went in and picked out a replacement, walked up to the counter and mentioned what had happened. The guy asked if I had the tire, I said yes and went out to the car to get it. He took one look, rang something into the register and handed me the new tire. No charge. Seems that Specialized has a satisfaction guarantee and as you can't be very satisfied with a blown tire, they gave me another one. Very cool. This may be S.O.P. for this kind of thing but it's cool nonetheless. I was prepared to spend the money and happily so since the tire blew on Monday and not on Saturday, somewhere on a 200 mile loop outside of Panquitch, UT.

I'm still nervous.

If anyone's out there, wish me luck. I have every confidence in the world that I can do this ride but the usual pre-ride doubts are kicking in early. Probably since I don't know anyone else doing the ride (yet) and since I've never traveled so far for a ride. Or maybe it's just the fact that riding 200 miles in one day is starting to sound a little nuts.

That's probably it.

But, I have to tell you, I'm already thinking of LOTJA...