...took place this morning. I woke up ~6:20am and started to prep for my ~4hr ride. It was dark and damp outside with a light sprinkle. Nothing to be too worried about or so I thought. I got all my gear on and lounged around watching the opening scenes of the Italian Job waiting for enough light to be on the road. No reason to go mixing dark and rain unless I have a death wish. Around ~7:15 I head to the shed and pull out the TCR and steal one of Eve's spare tubes (as a backup) and put my Timex on my Polar handlebar mount and away we go. I've got some DJ Hyper cranking on the Nano and I'm feeling mentally prepped for ~4hrs of wet time in the saddle. Nothing that I haven't handled before and I know it'll make me stronger down the road. I decided to head S around Lake Washington and so I headed down towards the University of Washington and across the Montlake Bridge. I crossed through some back neighborhoods and was up near Interlaken when I hear the dreaded hiss of a flat rear tire. Sh*t - I'm only ~20 minutes into my ride and I have a flat tire. So there I am standing in the rain fixing a flat tire and I'm not even warmed up. What is the world coming to. I pull it off, check the tire and put in the spare tube and inflate. The entire process only took 6-8 minutes and I headed off to continue on my ride. 2-3 minutes later I feel like there is a lump in the tire or something (I'm paranoid after the first flat) and I stop to check. No signs of anything and it turns out it was just the bumpy road surface. I roll onwards and enter the main road that goes through the Arboretum. I pass the Japanese Garden with the big OPEN sign Tues-Sun 10-4pm. It cracks me up that the sign is always out because I have the notion each and every time that the Japanese Garden is actually open. I wonder how many tourists get confused. No more than 20-30 yards past the entrance to the Japanese Garden do I hear the sound of another flat. This time its more serious. The tire slid and came off the rim and I damn near went down right on the main drag through the Arboretum. I pull off to the curb and hop onto the sidewalk to survey the damage. At this point I'm thinking to myself "Just change the flat and go home. You can pick up another spare or two and still salvage the ride." I yank off the wheel and tear out the tube. I go over the tire meticulously with my wet and frozen fingers (I couldn't tell you if it was flat, round, square, soft, sharp, warm or cold - my hands were now claws). I put in my final spare and prep my last CO2 cartridge. I screw the adapter onto the tube and whooosh... Air comes out, but nothing goes into the tube - DAMNIT!!! I try again and WHOOOSH!!! but nothing goes into the tube - SH*T!!!!!! I remember feeling my mobile vibrate earlier (signaling a missed call, email, txt msg or something). I pull it out to reveal two new emails. One from my sis and one from Sara. Sara's email says 'Are you really riding in this rain? Be safe.' How appropriate? So now I'm standing in the rain in the Arboretum with frustration stamped across my face and a cold dampness running through my veins. But despite that I have a sense of humor that won't quit. I have to laugh at the comedic timing of the two flats, Sara's email and how funny life can be on rainy mornings. In a last ditch effort I pull the emergency pump off the frame (once I figure out how to extract it from the velcro strap with my claws) and try in vain to pump the tire up. No amount of force, frustration, patience or anger will put air into the tube. I look up at the sky - well the trees to be exact - and wonder to myself. Is this a sign that I shouldn't be training today? Should I be resting after my ~3hr ride yesterday? Am I being saved from something potentially disastrous if I continue? What are my options? I could walk all the way to Leschi and wait for Triumph to open and fix my tire. I can call Eve in hopes that she'll hear her mobile or the house phone. Call my Dad to come from Bellevue - hmmm... I call Eve on her mobile - nothing. Sh*t. I call Eve on the house line - voila! I relay the quick story that I flatted twice & the 2nd tube won't take air. I beg her to come get me and she is quickly en route. I wheel my bike under some trees and huddle under the pine trees to hide from the falling rain. Before too long Eve rolls up and we pile the bike into the car and I crumple into the front seat laughing the entire way. Remember we are nearly out of coffee at home we decide to swing by Cafe Javasti on 5th Ave - mmmm... so good. I decide to go in with Eve to pick up some Batdorf coffee and to simply not sit as a damp wet rag doll in the car fogging it up beyond belief. We enter to the smell of freshly brewing coffee and crepes. As Eve retrieves a bag of coffee from the barista I notice the fancy looking coffee mugs on the shelf against the wall. I remember that I don't yet have my very own coffee mug in the house. These look nice, but I think I'll keep looking I think to myself. As the barista brings the coffee to the counter Eve and I laugh about the story of my ride and how she has been stealing toilet paper from my bathroom. I'd always wondered how the pile had gotten smaller. A few days ago I'd picked up 12 rolls or something like that and had it stacked nearly perfectly with only two rolls looking like they'd fall off the pile. Then just yesterday I went in to the restroom and the pile looked perfect (minus the two rolls). Hmmm... I didn't think I was going the bathroom that much but you never know. Eve confessed to having borrowed some toilet paper and now it all made sense. Here we are... two roommates laughing at the coffee shop about stealing toilet paper on a rainy Friday morning after my ride collapsed around me. What a perfect morning. So to celebrate the MONUMENTAL FAILURE of my ride I decide to procure a snazzy Cafe Javasti coffee mug to remind me of how wacky life can be and so I can enjoy some fresh brewed coffee when I get home and have to explain the story to everyone else... What a kicka** Friday morning! Read and follow along with my zaniness on http://spaces.msn.com/members/noeasyway