3 Flats
Friday morning when I woke up and went out to the garage I found I had a flat. Which was odd because my workout from Thursday was an hour on the trainer. I couldn't find a puncture so I just changed it. Then that nights ride out on Parmer I had a flat.
Today's workout called for another set of intervals and a 2 1/2 hour ride. I wanted to see how far Parmer went as my ride the other day piqued my curiosity. I headed out again on Parmer, which I get on at Brushy Creek Road. Just like on my Parmer ride on Friday there was a strong wind out of the South. There's some nice long hills out past 2243, which was where the extension road construction was previously, thus I never ventured past it till Friday's ride. I past Hwy 29 and kept pushing on. Right after the intersection of 3405 on the other side there was a lot of rock debris, I tried to navigate through it all and then there was the sound... psssst... Another flat!
I need a support wagon with wheels and I guy to run out, change my flat and then to give me a push to get back up to speed. In today's stage (8) of the Tour they were commenting on the rain and grit and how many flats were going on. They showed George Hincapie getting a change and a push. With a support vehicle they can change a tire in less than a minute. It takes me about 10 to 15 minutes or more like what happened during the Armadillo Hill Country Classic.
Once I got the tube changed I kept on going. At CR 289 I gauged that I needed to turn around so I could get back home before it got dark, plus I was only scheduled for a 2 1/2 hour ride. Parmer seems to keep going, I couldn't see any sign of it stopping. It will have to be conquered another day. CR 289 where I turned around was 16.6 miles from Brushy Creek. Looking at the map I suspect it connects with CR 247 and ends at 2238 (Andice Rd). If that's the case then once on 2238 I could head over to Andice and take the back roads back to Liberty Hill and back home on CR 239. Looks like there could be some other good routes by heading east on CR 285 to Lake Georgetown.
Turning back and heading South on Parmer the wind didn't disappoint and let me know I wasn't going to get a free pass on the way home. I ran out of water right at 1431 so I pulled into the gas station to refuel. I filled up both bottles just in case.
I went over by 10 minutes on my riding time, due mainly to the wind coming back. I had a set power level as a ceiling so I tried to maintain that level and not push too much over the hills. In the end it took 2:40:09 and a total of 45.63 miles. Average speed was 17.09; Max speed 41.62. Cadence average 77, Max: 128.