Warm-ups and good neighbors

 This morning two of us rode a 23-mile section of the B&O Trail for a "warm-up" for our longer rides planned for June.  

The first thing I did, after getting out of the car, was check the pressure in my tires.  It seemed a little low, so I retrieved my pump and pumped it up.  But, the wheel shifted on me and I broke off the valve core on my back tire.  It was still holding air, but the risk was that it would stop holding somewhere in the country between Bellville and Butler.  We rode a quick quarter mile to the south to Y-Not Cycles in Lexington.   Shout-out to Eric Pederson, who very graciously changed out the valve core while he was waiting on another customer.  It took him about a minute and a half.  I was amazed!   I did not even realize that this could be done.  I definitely did not know how long it would take.  He said it would take longer to re-air the tire than to change out the valve core, and it would take longer to locate the tool on his workbench than to air the tire!   I also bought an inner tube as a just-in-case for my upcoming trip.  I really appreciated his getting us back on the trail quickly.  It's great to have a local bike shop that provides this world-class level of service! 

But then south of Bellville, we saw a fallen tree on the trail, just north of the 4-mile marker.   This was a definite safety hazard if there is someone not paying attention.  It appeared that other trail users had broken off the ends of the limbs blocking the trail,  where they could,  and tossed them into the brush alongside the trail.  These two limbs were attached to a section of the trunk, and there was no way the two of us senior citizens would have been able to lift the branches off the road.  When we arrived in Butler, I called the Parks department and reported it, asking that someone with a chain saw cut off those protruding branches.  We chatted with a couple of fellow trail users during our rest in Butler, and when we headed north for the return trip, the branches were already sawn up and tossed off the edge of the trail.  I'm not sure if it was the Parks department or perhaps just a good citizen, but I must not have been the first to report the situation.   

I am re-planning my fiber trip, since I have realized that I am very out of condition after our frigid winter and the cold and rainy spring.  The 70-mile days at the beginning of the trip have been cut in half - I'll do about 35 miles a day for the first few days.  That means if I give up after four days of riding, my husband can still come and get me while driving less than a couple of hours.