Memorial Lessons

Memorial weekend is a little different for everyone.  For some, it's remembering war stories; having been a part of it and serving our country.  For others, it's simply being thankful for the freedom that we have today.  I'm of the latter – and the way I decided to spend the holiday weekend was to head up north with Gina and spend the weekend with her family at her parents' cottage.  With her parents living in Arizona during the winter and up north during the summer, she doesn't get to see them much so we spent a few days enjoying the weather and relaxing a bit.

The relaxation was a nice part of the weekend for everyone – well, almost everyone.  As her family knows, I have a hard time sitting still – and to avoid doing that for too long, I spent a good amount of time pedaling around the lake her parents have a place on – Cedar Lake, near Oscoda.  The rides were made easier by listening to some of Armin Van Buuren's latest mixes every morning and afternoon.  Things were going great until I got a flat on day two, about 7-8 miles into one of my rides around the lake.

Of course I didn't have a spare tube with me … Hey, cut me some slack – I've been spinning all winter and flats aren't an issue.  :)  Fortunately I did have my cell phone.  I dialed in for some help and the family version of AAA came out and gave me a lift back.  A trip to the local K-Mart and they had spare tubes, but not the ones I needed for this wheel, which requires a thinner valve stem.  Arg.  And with the holiday weekend, the local bike shop was closed.  Being up north, there wasn't too much else around, so I was out of luck.

Needless to say, I'm picking up extra tubes tomorrow along with some other trail necessities.  Lesson learned indeed.  Hope everyone had a good holiday weekend and remembered what the extended weekend is all about.

Cheers,

eddie