This weekend is supposedly the end of a week-long heat wave. All week, the temperatures reached around 100. Right now it is 105 degrees, in fact. Quite warm indeed.

After the CANDISC bike tour a week or so ago I felt justified in kickin' back and relaxing for a while. I didn't ride bike for an entire week. It was simply too hot. So what did I do all week? I lounged in my apartment. I watched television. I became extremely bored. Cabin fever in August? You bet.

This morning I could stand it no more. My plan was to wake up early, hit the road on my Schwinn, and beat the heat. Unfortunately, I was called in to work. I wasn't exactly on the road at sunrise, but I still went for a ride.

About 13 miles out of town, I ran over a bunch of glass. I stopped, inspected the tires, and all seemed well. Five or six miles later, my rear tire was flat. And my spare tube and tools were still in my luggage from CANDISC. Things were getting pretty frustrating. It was already warm enough to make the road tar as soft as marshmallows, I was miles out of town on a desolate road, and I didn't have much water along.

But then, in the distance, a moving object danced in the the heat. A cyclist? Or maybe a mailbox. A mirage, perhaps? Sweat ran down the lenses of my sunglasses as I strained to see. A cyclist on a road bike. What good fortune.

Soon Mike pedalled up and asked, as any good cyclist would, "Need any help?" I promptly responded, "Do you happen to have a spare tube?" And he did. With his tools and tube, I was rolling once again.

I thanked him several times and offered to send him a tube (or two) for his trouble. He declined, chalking it up to good karma, and pedalled onward.

Thanks, Mike. I owe you one.

As I said above, I finished CANDISC a week or so ago. I hope to have the travel log and photos (lots of great sunrises) up on this site soon. Check back.