I'm talking about the path of bad luck. Once it starts, it's really hard to reverse direction. For example, I've been bike riding regularly now for 5 years. The only flats I've had usually happened before I left the house or before I took off on my ride - I've been lucky. My luck has changed.
Last week I had grand plans to ride 50+ miles. I had a great route planned but before I left the house (lucky me) I discovered I had a flat tire - it had to be the back tire. I quickly changed the flat and was on my way. I was 45 miles into my ride with 10 left to get back home. I noticed that the sky was looking particularly ominous and I was luckily (again, the good luck part) at a park with a shelter where I could wait out a storm if need be. I called home to get my husband to give me a weather update - he said it looked bad and that the radar map showed a large storm area - so I arranged for him to pick me up - end of ride. The sad part - the actual storm didn't arrive for two more hours - I could've easily finished my ride.
This week, I made arrangements with a friend to do a brick of 40 mile ride followed by a 5 mile run. Mapped out another route for both. We took off and 11 miles out, my back tire flats again. No problem getting the tube changed - BIG problem working the CO2 cartridges. Here is an area where I'm severely challenged for some reason. I did get the first cartridge to work but thought the tire felt very full and pulled it off. I don't know to TURN the cartridge to regulate the flow of gas - I do now - but not until after I blew all four of our cartridges. So the plan was for my friend to ride back to get her car and pick me up - I was going to start walking back to our meetup spot, about two miles away.
Walking any distance in bike shoes sucks. I got back to our meeting spot and waited - for about an hour. Employees getting off work from a close-by company hung around me - they were all a little strange. The one guy was yelling at someone - no one was sure quite who - about the cost of fixing a broken vehicle and the senselessness of spending $250 on something - not sure what - but he kept yelling.
While I was walking, I came up with a better solution but I didn't bring a cellphone with me as my friend had hers. You only need one phone right? Wrong.... There was actually a bike shop right around the corner from our meeting place - oh well, better luck (there's that word again) next time.
So today I decided to change out my tire as I think that was the problem. There was a lot of cuts in my tire, so I put on a new one I had laying around - won a set of tires from a bike seminar I went to, so now I had a chance to use one. It was all folded up - so I spent a bit of time bending it around the tube. Got it about 90% on and it was just too tight - I couldn't get the tire on the wheel. I went up to my local bike shop where the owner put the tire on for me and I went home. He was really busy fitting a client to a bike, so I was LUCKY that he could take a minute or two to help me out.
After I got home, I tried to pump up the tire and couldn't get the pump to stay on the stem. I decided to start over and take the tire off to put on a better tube. Remember how I couldn't get the tire on because it was so tight - well, now I can't get the tire off and broke a tire lever trying. So quite humbly I trekked back to the bike shop and explained my situation. This guy is so nice, he put a new tube on and didn't charge me for his time or the tube. I bought a set of $4 tire levers from him. Now my bike is ready to ride again. My only concern - if I flat again, will I be able to change that tire or will it just be TOUGH LUCK.
2 years ago
