Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Blatant, Shameless Commercialism and Flagrant Promotion! (Plus, the short story of a flat tire)

Today I found the happy website http://worldsbestbikestickers.com/ today, and think there's lots of nice things there. I don't know what shipping costs are, but many of the stickers and T-shirts are happy and positive.

I nicked the above image from one of their sticker designs. Isn't it nice?

On a different note, I was out on my bike on Monday morning and my rear tire went flat in the most spectacular fashion. We were riding on a lightly-traveled road that's frequented by walkers, joggers, and other cyclists, and suddenly POP! A sound like one loud firecracker shattered the peaceful morning.

I looked around and declared "it wasn't me? What was that?" And the walkers nearby were also startled by the noise. As I began slowing down, it became apparent that my rear tire was quickly deflating.

It was a happy time! I had been carrying my supplies of a patch kit, multi-tool and frame-mounted minipump for weeks waiting for this to happen, and here I was with it happening! I could barely contain my excitement as I pulled off the road and announced to my wife that I had all the things needed to fix the tire!

Well, not only was the tube popped, there was a small hole ripped through the tire tread, about an inch long. Seems the tire, after going about 1,100 miles, was worn out to the inner casing, I guess, as many sections of the tire looked almost as bad as the new hole.

So I pulled out one of the emergency dollar bills form my shoe, to use the bill as a boot, and patched the hole and pumped it back up and was back on my way.

But I think in my enthusiasm of the moment, I didn't wait long enough for the patch to fully stick on the tube, or I didn't fully roughen up the tube for the peel-and-stick patch, because about a mile from home the tire deflated again. I pumped it up but only got about 200 yards before it went flat again. So my lovely wife rode her bike home and picked me up.

But other than that anticlimactic ending, the whole fix-a-flat experience went about as smoothly as could be expected!

1 comment:

  1. patching tubes is an art. you'll get better at it the more you do it... good luck!

    ReplyDelete

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