So tonight a large group of us did the "ride of silence"…pretty much it is a ride done all over the world in memory of people killed while riding their bikes…Brian and Erik of my team (team UTAC) organized a ride for us here in Los Angeles…So we started off in Santa Monica at the Helen's bike shop…

I must stress that today, overall, was a BAD day for me up until the ride…Just wasnt going well at all…so Brian comes to pick me up nice and early at 5:30 for 7pm ride…we get to Helens and get ready to unload the bikes and Brian goes "where is your tire?"…im all like "ummm what do you mean WHERE IS MY TIRE?!! its on my bike…thinking hes all joking and such….and he wasnt!! I walked to my bike and its tied to the rack with the front freakin tire MISSING!! IT FELL RIGHT OFF THE BIKE somewhere on the streets of LA somewhere between Beverly Hills and Santa Monica…haha..Remember the easter ride when it fell off while I was riding!! stubborn tire..it is no more..

So here I am getting ready for a ride in an hours time and I have an unridable bike…The guys at Helens tried to find a wheel the size of the back one and they were going for "$1000!! I was like ummm ya no I dont think so…then they offered to look for a used tire as a loner tire until after the aids ride…they couldnt find any my size but they found one a few inches/cm (dont really know the metric system for wheels) bigger then the back one…its better then nothing right!  So they saved the day and we set off on our ride…

Everyone was itching for 7pm when the moment of silence first begins to be quiet and let me tell you it was hard for a lot of people to be silent for so long it was a good ride!!  very relaxing, just us and the sound of the tires on the road…We were riding in a group and stayed in a group the entire time unlike training rides where if your fast your fast if your slow your slow…if someone fell behind we would stop and wait for them today…

At one point on the ride a UPS truck wizzed past us way to close to us on the bike path and scared alot of us..it just barely touched me and if I was sitting any higher on my bike or more upright I should say the side mirror would have clipped the top of my helmet…scared alot of us I must say again..I actually swerved a bit from being startled and almost hit the guy behind me but beside me a bit…great short 10 mile ride..felt good being back on the bike after a month off it…

I must say though..I was upset about losing my tire before the ride and it didnt add to the miserable day I was having already..but looking back now sitting here writing this..I think that it might have actually been a good thing…because..think about it..if I was riding the bike and the wheel was somehow loose or whatever the wheel would have definately fallen off WHILE I was riding and in such a tight close group of riders if I fell over everyone behind me woulda been hurt as well as me and most likely pretty badly…so Im looking at it now as a life saving sign!! So thank God that I lost my wheel when I did and not when it was too late!

Oh yes..on the way back home we crossed our fingers and kept our eyes out for the tire in hopes it was in tact and still on the road or on the side of the road somewhere along our driving route…not to any surprise it was nowhere in sight…I decided to take my bike out when I got home and go looking on my own incase someone was kind enough to rest it on a lawn or something but after a few miles of riding in the dark with no lights and nearing a sketchy back area I turned back home empty handed…who knows when I will get a new wheel..Im happy I got a loner one for a few weeks..but after that I dont think I will be on my bike for awhile until I can get a new wheel…

my next training ride will be on saturday at griffith park..cant wait for it and again tune in for more stories..I will be shipping my bike out to SF for next weekends ride next Tuesday so I only have a few days left to train!!

Love you guys,

xoxo