Bamm
Tour de Cure Update - I have a few more donors so the voting for the first survey this week is going to be interesting. I tried one of the free survey code sets and Blogger doesn't want to accept it, so I'll have to figure something out in the next couple of days. There's still time to donate.
So much for the ride home yesterday. I got about a mile out and blew a tube. Sounded like a gunshot. Two ladies, standing in front of their SUV, heard the sound looked over and approached.
"Is that tubed or tubeless?," said the woman.
I said, "tubed".
They both disappeared. I weighed my options. I could sit down and call for an extraction. I could wait and see if the women come out with a tube. I could roll the bike back to the office and get a ride home. I could call for a tube delivery. Nah, that's not available yet.
Crap. Why did I not take a tube, my compressed air and pump with me? Why isn't there a tube delivery businees like pizza delivery? Or better yet, tube and pizza delivery together. As I had that thought, one of the ladies appeared with a tube. Thin with a presta stem. No problem, but I had left the air back at the office. I had left the pump at home. So I thank the lady and offered her some money but she refused. She said a cyclist had helped her out one time and she asked that I'd return the favor. No problem.
I gathered the blown tube, tire, new tube and the bike and made my way back to the office. I hadn't traveled 100 feet when two other individuals asked if I needed anything. Very nice.
I got back to the office and the tube appeared to have a puncture or I put one into the tube mounting it. Either way, there wasn't enough time to get to the bike shop, pick up a tube, mount the tube and cycle home. My lights were in the garage at home. Argh! Time to call for an extraction.
I've learned my lesson and had the pickup team stop by the bike shop on the way home. Two things I won't go on another ride without are my new seat bag WITH TOOLS and a tube and my Camelbak.
I got home thinking I had enough sunlight to get in five miles. I mounted the new tube and BAMM! Another tube blown and this time it took the tire with it. Definitely, I was not in the bike flow last evening. My cycling mojo had been drained and was bone dry. I took the hint and left everything scattered in the garage and poured myself a glass of wine. I wsan't too depressed as I had run four miles in the morning and done forty-five minutes of core. Four+Core is my new insurance policy against getting pissed when the evening is taken up with other things.
Today, I learned my electric air pump was ten pounds off. Duh! The tire and tube said to inflate to 90 pounds. The first blown tube was actually at 100 pounds. Bamm! The second tube shouldn't have blown, as I only filled it to what I thought was 80 pounds, but it was actually 90 pounds, and within the stated limits. So another lesson learned. FILL THE TIRE BY FEEL, not what the stupid compressor guage states or what the tire states on the side.
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