The smell of stupid...

So, the plan was to go on this massive ride last weekend. I'm talking huge: up Katella, through Santiago Canyon, down to PCH, up to the Santa Ana River, and home! And I'm still planning on doing it, too...

But when I left home Sunday, I had no idea that day would be filled with more stupid than anything else.

I get to my first stop light and, once it turns gree, I set off... and my chain falls off...

Crap. I'd done this before and I knew how it ended. I wouldn't be able to do the ride so I went back home. Thankfully, my bike took me back.

I decided to take the bike into the shop that morning but, before I did, I checked the tire pressure and gave the front tire a little air.

I get the bike in and the guy, Al, puts it up to have a look. "It seems to be fine," he said, shifting through gears the way some people shuffle cards.

"Really? Because it definitely fell off."

"No. It's fine."

I started to get a bit uncomfortable... like I'd just farted. "Well," I said, "last time this happened, something had broke so I figured it was a good idea to bring it in."

"Nope. Nothing's broke." He looked at me like the pathetic kind of can't-do-shit-for-himself kind of guy I am and added, "But it's good you brought it in." He was about to take it down, when he looked at the front tire. "You notice anything about your front tire?"

"Yeah," I said, trying to sound knowledgeable. "It's losing a little air."

"It's completely flat," he told me. "Think you need a new tube?"

An image of me putting air in the tire flashed through my head. "Um, you might want to check the valve. I think I might have left it open."

He checked. "Yes, you did." His words betrayed what we were both thinking... a suspicion that I might be too stupid to get on a bike in the first place. He didn't say it and neither did I... thankfully...