Pitt to DC: Brief Debrief

(Full details of our Pittsburgh to DC ride can be found here.)

Well, our bike trip went off without a hitch! Of course, I think we would all agree that my thorough, exhaustive, and painfully detailed bike preparation is the reason. Let me catalog the mechanical issues - I hesitate to call them "problems" - we had on the trip:

• One (1) flat: Cali's front tire flatted out on our way from Hancock, MD to Harper's Ferry because of a nasty little rock shard that wormed its way into the tired tread. Really, it's hard to fault anyone for this flat. It was fate, really, and you can't blame anyone - least of all the bike prep guy - for fate.
  
• One (1) crippled bike computer: In the homestretch, just after passing Great Falls, a rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth turtle - which looked shockingly like this - launched itself at Cali's front wheel and managed to eat the sensor from her bike computer. OK, it was actually a stick, but it was a evil, stinking sewer stick for sure and I'm pretty sure evil, stinking sewer sticks are also covered under the "fate clause" mentioned above.
  
• One (1) lost bolt: While unloading at home, I discovered that I'd lost one of the bolts connecting my rack to the bike. It was still attached in Harper's Ferry, so I must have lost it that last day. I'm blaming the rabid turtle or the Communists. And since this really wasn't an "issue" or a "problem" or even "something worth mentioning," it also doesn't count against my bike prep skills.
  

So, by my count, we had a total of zero (0) minor mechanical inconveniences over five days and a combined 700 mi. of cycling. Let's just declare me "the World's Greatest Bike and Bike-Related Preparation Guy in the Whole Wide World, Who Also Happens to Be Extremely Good Looking in Spandex" and call it good.

Good. I'm glad we got that settled.