Saturday, July 2, 2011

Pinch me once - pinch me twice

Meaningful Back story
I bought my first bike in 2002 - a Schwinn hybrid. I just wanted a way to get some exercise in and really - really - disliked running. I was living Chaska, near lots of trails, and I was thinking I'd probably never ride on a road. No helmet. Fast forward two years, I had upgraded to a Giant TCR-2, moved to downtown Minneapolis. I was still doing mostly paved trail riding, but the trails were pretty busy, and I had to cross several streets in the course of a 15 mile loop. Still no helmet. Enter my soon-to-be wife - she convinced me to buy a helmet, and like two weeks later I was in an accident, and happy to have had a helmet. It's funny to life works out like that sometimes.

Relevant Current Events
So, my TCR-2 is 7 years old, it has had one tune up, and I'm on my second set of tires. It looks and runs like new, it's a great bike. Last year when we moved to Florida the bike was still on it's first set of tires and had never had a tune up. So we went took it in an got a tune-up and they said the tires were shot (they probably had 3000+ miles on them) and so we replaced them. Around this time my wife picked up a tire changing set, you know in case I get a flat. I had never had a flat, didn't know how to change a flat, but it's probably a good idea to have a tire changing kit. We moved back to Minnesota, and sure enough about two weeks later I got a flat out on a ride. I changed the flat restocked on tire changing supplies and once again life had worked out.

The Interesting Story
On Thursday I headed out with the group for our usual 25-30 mile ride, and about six miles in...pftfff... flat. I don't know much about flats, but the guys assured me this was a pinch flat. In any case, as luck would have it there I am, all the supplies I need I have, and it's not the first time I've changed a tire. So a little while later the tire is changed, the guys who waited for me are confident we're ready to roll and off we go. A short while down the road - we'll say 400 meters - POP, this one was quite a bit louder. I'm sure if my wife had been there should would have said someone shot my tire out. We take a look - uh oh, this time the tire has also failed. We discuss the dollar bill trick and decide that won't work. I'm stuck.

I made a few calls, my wife made a few calls, and some good friends came and picked me up.

So there we go, sometimes your wife steps in and saves your butt without you even knowing and you feel great about that, and sometimes its out of your control and you can still feel good about how it turned out. I'm thankful my wife could help contact friends, I'm thankful for the bike club who waited for me, and even volunteered to ride back and get a car. I'm thankful for our friends who came and got me, and the friends who called me back after I didn't leave a message. I'm thankful for the five or so passers by who stopped to see if I needed anything. All of those things are better than walking back in bike shoes, or riding on a flat rim all the way home.

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