Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later, but it was today that I had my first flat tire while bike commuting. I suppose that for the first time, it’s better that it happened on the short ride into work than if I were on a longer ride, by myself and far from anything. It just didn’t feel very scary. As it happens, I was on the home stretch riding on Scholl’s Ferry over 217. It’s my favorite part of the ride in and I was pretty close to my office. I was riding fast and feeling good when I hit a bump and it was clear by the hard “ka-chunk” under my seat that there was no air left in my back tire. I stopped and immediately tried to pump it back up for the short ride remaining to my office, but it just wouldn’t hold any air. Since I was so close, I walked the bike in rather than attempt to change my tube out there on the noisy overpass with all the morning rush hour traffic. I was only 10 minutes late!
Now, I planned to take care of the flat during my lunch hour, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it when a bowl of soup and and a good book were calling me. I mean, who wants to eat lunch with chain oil and dirt on their hands? I told myself that I’d just stop working around 4:00 and get it done. Well, 4:00 rolled around and I had fleeting thoughts of getting a ride home. Alas, there was no way I could swallow my pride enough to call for a ride, and I don’t know who I thought I might call anyway. Finally at 4:38, I resigned myself to the fact that the flat tire wasn’t going to fix itself, and would either need to be changed, or I would no longer enjoy the health, fitness and money-saving benefits of commuting to work by bike. Despite having only done it twice before in the last year and a half, with supervision and help at hand, I simply had to take care of the messy problem myself. There was no way I could let someone else do it for me. I rolled up my sleeves, bit my proverbial bullet, and did it.
Of course, it had to be the rear wheel - the rear wheel with its cumbersome gears and its close, filthy and confusing relationship with the oily chain. Ick. My sweetheart tells me that, statistically, it’s more likely that the rear wheel tire will go flat rather than the front one. (GREAT – so much for thinking that next time it’s likely to be easier!) After around 25 minutes of pushing, pulling and pumping, I stood there with blackened hands and an oil smudged face looking proudly at my functioning bike with its repaired tube and wheel back on. Even better, I was able to ride it all the way home without a hitch – or a “ka-chunk.”
It was a great milestone, actually, and when I got home I immediately set out for a local bike store to get new tubes, so I can keep riding with confidence – and even more of it! While I was there, I crossed yet another threshold in my cycling journey. I made a purchase which truly shows my now solid commitment to cycling. I finally, after nearly a couple of years of resisting, bought a pair of cycling shoes. There is at least one lovely person out there who knows what a milestone THAT purchase really is for me. I’m absolutely ready to feel the extra power and efficiency of the right shoes and clip-less pedals.
I’m ready to love riding even more – and a certain someone is probably very ready to at least think the words, “I told you so!”
