In preparation for my LIVESTRONG ride in Austin, Texas next month I’ve been doing some long rides for the last three weeks, starting out with two hours, three and a half hours, and today with four hours.

Two hours, no problem. Rode to the coast at Carlsbad with Murray.

Three and a half hours, legs bonked out at 60 miles, but rode on for 10 more.

Today’s four hour ride, legs bonked out at 70 miles, rode for 8 more, and then ran for half an hour afterwards for three miles.

The last two rides have been fun, riding at a challenging pace with my buddy from Breakaway Training, Eric Heiser. I decided to do my long rides with Eric since he’s training for Ironman Arizona in November. I like the rides because we push hard. With my legs tiring at mile 70, 10 miles later than the previous water, the ride was an improvement over last week. At this rate, I will most definitely be ready for Austin in October.

Surprisingly, I got a flat tire near the end of the ride today. The culprit was a sharp metal shard that looked like a nail. It punctured my rear tire and deflated the tube almost instantaneously. The tire change went relatively quickly. It was definitely the quickest tire change for me.

Two negative things about the flat repair:

1. CO₂ cartridge adapter did not work (glad Eric was there to let me use his).
2. Inner tube valve on brand new inner tube had a loose screw, which is a defect.

I need to replace the tube later so that I don’t have to worry about the valve. And guess where I bought those two pieces of garbage? Yup, yet two more reasons not to buy your bikes or bike stuff there.