damn pot holes!

When I bike I do a circle close to my house so that if I ever have a flat it isn't more than 3 or 4 miles to walk home.  This morning that thinking hurt me/helped.  It hurt because on one of the corners I couldn't swing out because of cars so I stayed right next to the curb and hit a pot hole that I didn't know was there, which I wouldn't have hit if I did an out and back.  The good thing is it was only a mile walk back to the house.  The bad thing is I think I need a new tube and to get my back wheel realigned.  The brake rubs now.

The good thing I took out of my bike from this morning is I am getting better.  I had posted asking for help on here and got some good ideas.  One of the things I thought of afterwards was the difference between my good rides and not so good rides were that I had eaten right before I rode the good ones, so I had food to burn.  I tried that this morning and felt like I had way more energy.

The other thing I got off of here was from a thread asking about legs cramping.  People were telling the OP that they probably needed to drop down in gears and do a higher cadence.  I tried that today and it felt a lot better.  I was keeping the same speed or a little higher with less effort.  The two rolling hills that I always had to get out of the saddle to keep my speed I was able to stay in the saddle and not lose my speed much.  So if it weren't for the flat it would have been a great morning.