Rolling out of Rod's driveway we turned left and saw Stoney heading our way. Rod and I turned left again as Stoney turned right, greeting us with a "Hey guys," or something like that. When we hooked up with King of the Mountain a little while later, Stoney and I found ourselves riding side by side behind Rod and KOM.
"I had the weirdest dream last night," I said, looking over at Stoney. "I was riding in my dream and I hit a ginormous pothole. It tacoed my wheel but somehow I managed to stay upright. So I tried calling the bike shop about my wheel but I couldn't find the number. I googled it, but all I got for results were bike shops in Pasadena. So I called out, 'Someone find me a phone book...google is broken!' And then I woke up. How crazy is that? Who even uses a phone book anymore?"
Stoney chuckled and said, "Uh, yeah, that is a pretty bizarre dream."
Eventually we arrived at the meeting spot. Fro, Paul, and Miz arrived shortly after. We rolled out onto New Meadow, Rod leading the way. I'm not sure when, but at what turned out to be the right time (well, sort of) I began looking. I was thinking, "It's gotta be coming up soon." I may have taken my eyes off the road as Rod drifted back having finished his pull, I don't know. I never did find it, but I knew I was upon it. Instead I saw Stoney's hand in the air, moving quickly and pointing down. His movement was fast, almost as if he knew he wasn't giving enough warning.
I felt my bike hit the hole and hit it hard. I let out a loud "Whoa" and, as if in slow motion, I could see the bottle on my seat tube jump and escape the clutches of its cage. I yelled "Bottle!" instinctively and out of the corner of my eye I saw Rod drifting to his left, the bottle seeming to follow him as it skidded across the street. Rod managed to avoid the bottle and the group slowed down as I turned to retrieve my stray drink.
As I rolled back the group I felt my bike wobble. Sure enough, my rear tire was flat.
"Is it a pinch flat?" Paul asked.
"Yeah, for sure it's a pinch flat, he hit that hole hard," Rod answered.
Stoney apologized saying, "I'm sorry, I didn't see the hole until the last second. I should've warned you sooner."
"No worries, dude. I knew it was coming up and I was looking for it but..."
Somewhat suddenly I remembered the dream I had the night before and had told Stoney about minutes before. I mentioned it to the group and everyone kinda laughed and someone acknowledged how strange it was.
I wish I could wrap this up but I'm afraid I'm not sure how to think about it. Was the dream a warning? Or did it set me up to hit a hole I otherwise would have avoided? Maybe it's totally unrelated- just a freak occurrence. I don't know, but it was weird.
