The rain was supposed to start this evening. Originally it was supposed to start around 6p but then pushed to 8p. We wanted to get a ride in (well... really want to get Chick N' Bros) and didn't want to take a chance of showers starting earlier. Well it was sunny and warm to start, like it was 2 weeks ago. A contrast to the freezing temps last week. I had a planned a road ride since we'd been doing primarily gravel rides and didn't want the roadies to feel neglected. No one else could make it anyway and Melinda hasn't been to Coyote Hills before so we decided to just do that instead. The hills are completely brown now. The mustard flowers are still as plentiful as last week. Because of the coming storm, the wind was coming directly from the southwest and given how easy it was to pedal, we knew we were in for quite a headwind on the way back. It also made sense to do the loop CW to get the tailwind on the levee even though it was more of a cross tailwind. Always better than a headwind on the levee. It also meant a tailwind for the bike path. Again, always better. Off in the distance, we could see San Francisco shrouded by the storm while we were still in sun and blue skies. We returned for a mustard flower photo shoot. When we got to the spot, there was a couple there sort of trying to do the same thing as we were on their iPad and even started walking into our shot. After that they decided to move on. And, on the way back, the headwind was quite vicious. It was so bad that it sort of drowned out the traffic on Dumbarton Bridge. The combo of the noise and the wind, I didn't realize my front tire was flat until we got to the peak of the bridge. Not the best place to have a flat. It was really noisy and windy. A couple weeks ago, I went to ride the Aethos and discovered the front tire was flat. When I changed it, I couldn't find anything in the tire. When I changed it this time, I did find the tiniest thorn. I don't know if was enough to puncture the tire but let's hope this has been the cause all along. This will make 4 flats in 2 months of owning this bike. I so can't wait to convert it to tubeless. I haven't had a flat in ages until now. It's also on tires I don't normally run. I can only imagine they're not as puncture resistant. So I replaced the tube and went to pump it with CO2. When I put the inflator on the cartridge, it immediately started to release CO2, albeit slowly. I fumbled with the tube to open the valve and pumped it with CO2. The cartridge was empty but the tire wasn't inflated. I grabbed Melinda's pump and tried pumping it but no dice. I took the tube out again and checked it. Again, because of the noise, it was hard to tell but we found there was a leak. Maybe I pinch-flatted it when I inflated it with the CO2 or punctured it when I put the tire back on the rim. I don't know but I had to grab Melinda's spare which also meant we didn't have anymore tubes. Fortunately, that inflated and we were back under way. At that point, she was really hungry and I really wanted to get to Off The Grid before the rain. It was still sunny but it seemed like the clouds were moving in. Just as we got to 101, a guy flagged us asking if we had a pump. He had two flat tires and tried to pump it at the gas station but didn't realize the valves aren't compatible. We stopped to let him use Melinda's pump. Things seemed to have taken a bad turn after my flat. We were worried that she would get a flat and I was thinking what's going to happen with Chick N' Bros or OTG. Right as we were about to turn on to Alma from Willow, this dude looks like he's going to make a U-turn on Alma but instead drives the wrong way towards us to park on Willow. I was like, "WTF?" I guess the guy's window was open because he had the nerve to yell back at us when he's the one driving the wrong way down the straight. Seriously can't stand people that don't own their mistakes and act like what they were doing was okay. That really got us both mad but we had to refocus on the chicken sandwich that was oh so close. So close that is until we got there and the train crossing barriers came down right in front of us within sight of Chick N' Bros. Amazingly, they also came down when we left. Fortunately, Chick N' Bros was amazing It was still sunny when we left actually. I really thought it was going to be cloudy and gloomy on today's ride. The sun was very welcome and unexpected and a good time was had.