You can not be serious...

Now that my tire is good, time to go for a test ride and get back at least a little bit of the workout I missed this morning (I would find out later that Dan rode OST to Rincon Market... great minds).

It's approaching 6pm and there is a thin layer of cloud cover filling the sky. Not sure what the temp. is, but it feels great. Excellent riding weather. I head down Catalina Hwy to Tanque Verde. Head west on TV, not really sure how far I intend to go. Over the bridge at TV Wash, past Udall park and past Sabino Canyon Rd. The ride is nice, but the traffic in this area is making me a little uncomfortable. Coming up on Tucson Country Club, thought crosses my mind... riding through there could be really cool. But, there is a little man sitting in that guard shack. I don't know that he would stop me, but I AM a large black man on a bike, for most, that is the definition of suspicious. Decide to save that confrontation for another day. Make a U turn and start my return trip down TV.

Back over TV bridge and to Cat Hwy. Not nearly ready to quit, decide I might do a little climbing... to the mountain I go. As I approach Mile Post 1 on the Mt. Lemmon climb, I start to check my rear tire. Tire seems fine, but back end feels like it's slipping a bit. I chalk it up to my imagination (I find out later, it wasn't my imagination).

Back down the mountain and I decide I will take a Melpomene Rd. side trip. The Mel ride takes me past Emily Gray Junior High and Tanque Verde High School (which right now is housed on the Emily Gray campus), oh yeah, I forgot that was there. Not much farther, it's getting a little dark and I need to make my way home. As I make my turn to go home, Ice Cube comes on my mp3 player. This makes my laugh. What is the percentage of large black men, riding road bikes, listening to Ice Cube? Gotta be small, fractions of 1% perhaps.

It is between Ice Cube lyrical flows that I hear a strange clanking sound. Hmmm, this can't be good. I slow to a stop as I attempt to locate the source of the clink. OMG.. the smallest chainring of my 3-ring Shimano crank is completely off and rattling around the pedal axle. It appears that there is three bolts which typically hold it in place and I have managed to loose all three. You can not be serious... what a day.

Not going to even try and ride this home. Straight to the saddle wedge for the cell phone. Pops brought the Chevy Avalanche and we are on the way back to my crib. It is clear that I will not get to complete a full workout today. It is probably best if I just sit quietly, in my empty house, and wait for tomorrow to come.

Damn Chris. I really wish he wouldn't have kicked that Jehovah's Witness this morning.