Craptacular weekend - part 2

Okay, now let the bitching and moaning commence.

My woes started Thursday afternoon when I found out the my planned hike was covered in snow. Or at least that's what the rangers on the phone told me. When I got home I scrambled to find another place to go that wasn't covered in snow. I picked up a few maps at REI and eventually decided that I would try to check out the Flat Tops Wilderness. Because of all the last minute planning, I was up until after midnight packing and getting everything ready for a Friday-Sunday backpacking trip.

I started Friday morning by plugging in my iPhone and downloading the new 2.0 firmware update. Why? I have no idea. I guess I had just been waiting for it long enough and it was finally released. In classic fashion, the Apple iTunes store crashed while everyone and their brother was buying and activating the new 3G iPhone. Normally I wouldn't care, but part of the firmware upgrade process for my phone involves connecting to the iTunes store. Since the iTunes store couldn't be reached, my phone was rendered useless.

Eventually Kuzca and I made it out of the house just before 9AM. When I got into Steamboat, I stopped at a gear store to get their opinion on the some trails. They didn't seem too confident that the area would be free of snow, but there was another trail nearby in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness that they heard was passable. I also stopped by the ranger's office and they told me about the same thing. I was going to still give the Flat Tops a go, but that trail head was still a couple hours away so I opted for the closer trail.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, the mosquitoes were vicious. I was planning on camping for two nights, but I decided to leave early and check out the Flat Tops. Sure, the rangers said there was snow in the Flat Tops, but they said the same thing about the area I was in and there was virtually no snow to be found. They couldn't have been much more wrong.

We got a nice early start and I figured we'd make it to the next trailhead by early afternoon. On the way back to Steamboat my car was handling a little funny. I figured I either had a low tire or a flat but I wanted to wait until I got off the dirt and back on the pavement. Right after I got to the pavement it became obvious that my tire was flat. Normally this wouldn't be a huge deal. Just put on a the spare, right?

The R32 does not come with a spare. The short story is that the front brakes are too big for the VW spare. Instead they give you a tire sealant kit and a compressor. That wasn't useful to me because the sidewall of my tire was torn. So here I am in the middle of nowhere with a flat tire and no cell phone. But at least I had plenty of food and shelter with all my backpacking stuff. :)

Eventually someone came down the road and I flagged him down. He was nice enough to take me a couple miles down the road to his house where I could call a tow truck and a tire place. My only option for getting home was to find some sort of replacement tire to put on my wheel. Unlucky for me, my tire size (225 45 R17) is pretty uncommon. I did manage to find a place that had 1 snow tire in that size, so I had to take it. I need new tires anyway, so I would have loved to get a whole set of tires, but I couldn't find 4 in my size. And to add some more stress to the situation, combining 1 new tire with 3 old tires is bad for an all-wheel drivetrain.

A couple hours later, the tow truck finally shows up. He wouldn't let Kuzca in the truck, so her and I ended up riding in my car on top of the flat bed. The actual tire change took another 1.5 hours. Any hope I had of getting to another trailhead and hiking were completely shot. We just headed home from Steamboat frustrated, but happy to be heading home.

I almost expected something terrible to happen on the way home, but nothing did. In fact, I stopped at Cameron Pass to take a break and ran into an old co-worker. We both shared our stories of terrible weekends. It was grand.

In other "good luck" news, I rode my motorcycle down to the bike race in Longmont today and nearly got rear ended by a truck. I stopped for a yellow light and this guy apparently thought I should have ran it. I saw him coming up fast in my mirror, so I scooted forward into the crosswalk. The guy had the nerve to wave his arms at my as if I should just go around running lights. I really wanted to get off my bike and "chat" with him, but I figured he'd just run my bike over.

I'm looking forward to having a better week this week. :)

Flat Tire. :(


The view from the flatbed


I figured I'd cook my backpacking dinner anyway