I got up this morning at 5:30am to help set up flags with the Boy Scouts. As I was driving down the street I saw that the flags were already up. I got to the other leader's street and saw him jogging back to his house. He told me that one of the parent's already set them all out. Nice. So I fiddled around on Facebook for a little bit and went for a bike ride. I could tell my back tire was a little low. When you can feel every little rock and bump, it's a good indicator that your tire's lost some air. And when your tire is low, you don't ride as efficiently as you could. And it's not as comfortable. Nevertheless, I pressed on. I rode my Usery Pass loop. It's 35 miles long and has 1100 feet of elevation gain. It was a beautiful morning. 
I was trudging up McDowell Road when all of the sudden a gas bubble came up, and I didn't hold back. Burrrrp! Of course right then, some dude passed me. I apologized. When I got to the bottom of the big hill at around mile 17 I stopped to eat some Shot Blocks and to listen to a phone message. It was my boss. I had asked him to call me when he got into work. I called him back and we talked about business. Then I told him I had a big hill to climb, so I better let him go. I started up the hill. It seemed like I felt stronger than I had before whenever I've rode up Usery. At least I was able to go into higher gears than I usually ride in, which I thought was strange with my low bike tire. Within the first half mile a coyote trotted out in front of me about 20 yards up. He wouldn't stop for me to take a picture, though. Half way up I started singing a made up song that would be great for Dora the Explorer. It was something like this:
Don't stop,
Don't stop,
Not gonna stop,
'til I make it to the top.
Come on, Burt,
You can do it,
You can do it if you put your mind to it. Of course, just then another dude went blowing by me. I apologized to him for singing, but I don't think he heard the apology. I'm sure he heard the singing. When I was almost to the very top I started singing again. This time I looked back to make sure nobody was behind me. Good. It was safe. When I stopped, it wasn't long before some dude came out of no where and passed me again. He said, "Good morning." I'm not gonna lie. He spooked me. He spooked me good. I just looked back, for crying out loud! I told him as he zoomed by, "You scared the poop out of me!" He said, "Sorry!" And he was gone. Now was the downhill. My favorite part. I was really picking up some speed. When I got back into town I got stopped by a few annoying stop lights, but I was still flying along pretty well. I was approaching Val Vista where I'd have to turn south. Then it would be another 4.25 miles home. I made up another song: Gotta turn right,
Gotta turn right,
At the light
I gotta turn right. But I never made it to the light. My bike tire finally gave up. I called my wife to come get me. But I still got 30.75 miles in, and it was a pretty good ride.
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