Entry tags:
Bike failure
I drove the car in Monday and biked home. Unfortunately, I got a flat about halfway home, ran over some shrapnel. I managed to change the tube for a spare and get back on the road after only 1/2 hour delay, and had left enough time that it didn't get dark before I got home.
Tuesday morning I had scheduled an 8am meeting (on the phone from home), and a 12:30 meeting (in person in the office). This left about 4 hours for the ride in. No problem, since it takes less than 3 most of the time.
However, when I got to my bike at 8:30, the tire was flat again. Crap. So, I get out another spare tube. No problem, I think, I have a whole hour for this job. But, I was not sufficiently careful with the tire irons, and I sliced the new tube. Crap! Now I have three tubes with holes. Patch kit time! I find the problem with the 1st spare tube, which is that it had a slow leak around a previous patch. Slow enough that it got me 12 miles of riding the previous day, but not an overnight. I'm not sure I can patch that, but I threw a patch on it anyway. The slice in the other tube was obvious. I put a patch on it. Stick that tube in the tire on the wheel, inflate, seems to hold. Put the wheel back on the bike and get going. It's just after 9:30. If nothing goes wrong, I can bike to work and get a shower and make the meeting.
But, you guessed it, something goes wrong. After about 8 miles, I hear a squeak every wheel revolution for a few revolutions and then a hiss. WTF??? Yeah, flat. I don't have time to do the whole pop-the-tire-off and replace the tube -- and besides I'm pretty suspicious of the tube I patched the patch of. So I try just inflating it again, and it seems to be holding some air. I ride a mile and check. MAYBE it's lost a little? I can't tell. I put some more air in. I call home, and get the kids. Great, Valerie's out for a bike ride! Well, I'll go another couple miles. Still holding. But I'm getting pretty nervous about it, and all this fussing is costing me time; I think I'm not going to make it to work on time even if the tire holds.
Eventually I reach Valerie after another iteration and a couple more miles, and she agrees to rescue me. There's traffic on the way to pick me up, so that takes a while. At least I had my book. Then there's a little traffic on the way to work. I make the meeting, but only barely!
Today I spent more time on the tires. Fixing bikes when you're in a hurry just isn't a good idea. The original flat was a simple hole from the shrapnel that I got around to looking for and I patched it. The 2nd flat was the patch on the sliced hole failing, I think I didn't do the "rub it with the sandpaper" thing before sticking on the glue, and that really is important. I peeled it off and replaced it.
I let the tire sit with the new tube in it for many hours. Looks like it's holding. And I get another chance to try again tomorrow... Same schedule only shifted. 9am meeting at home, 1:30 meeting at work... Hopefully it'll work out better than Tuesday. (Also, I'm not going quite all the way, the car will be about 3 miles closer in the usual Waltham location.)
Stats:
Monday: 26.25 in 2:31:46 for an average of 10.3 (slow because I was tired after the flat fixing, I think)
Tuesday: 14.2 in many little spurts, surprisingly the average was 11.7. But I think that's cuz I got to skip all the uphill at the end, and the uppy-downy bits in Newton, being rescued in Dedham.
Tuesday morning I had scheduled an 8am meeting (on the phone from home), and a 12:30 meeting (in person in the office). This left about 4 hours for the ride in. No problem, since it takes less than 3 most of the time.
However, when I got to my bike at 8:30, the tire was flat again. Crap. So, I get out another spare tube. No problem, I think, I have a whole hour for this job. But, I was not sufficiently careful with the tire irons, and I sliced the new tube. Crap! Now I have three tubes with holes. Patch kit time! I find the problem with the 1st spare tube, which is that it had a slow leak around a previous patch. Slow enough that it got me 12 miles of riding the previous day, but not an overnight. I'm not sure I can patch that, but I threw a patch on it anyway. The slice in the other tube was obvious. I put a patch on it. Stick that tube in the tire on the wheel, inflate, seems to hold. Put the wheel back on the bike and get going. It's just after 9:30. If nothing goes wrong, I can bike to work and get a shower and make the meeting.
But, you guessed it, something goes wrong. After about 8 miles, I hear a squeak every wheel revolution for a few revolutions and then a hiss. WTF??? Yeah, flat. I don't have time to do the whole pop-the-tire-off and replace the tube -- and besides I'm pretty suspicious of the tube I patched the patch of. So I try just inflating it again, and it seems to be holding some air. I ride a mile and check. MAYBE it's lost a little? I can't tell. I put some more air in. I call home, and get the kids. Great, Valerie's out for a bike ride! Well, I'll go another couple miles. Still holding. But I'm getting pretty nervous about it, and all this fussing is costing me time; I think I'm not going to make it to work on time even if the tire holds.
Eventually I reach Valerie after another iteration and a couple more miles, and she agrees to rescue me. There's traffic on the way to pick me up, so that takes a while. At least I had my book. Then there's a little traffic on the way to work. I make the meeting, but only barely!
Today I spent more time on the tires. Fixing bikes when you're in a hurry just isn't a good idea. The original flat was a simple hole from the shrapnel that I got around to looking for and I patched it. The 2nd flat was the patch on the sliced hole failing, I think I didn't do the "rub it with the sandpaper" thing before sticking on the glue, and that really is important. I peeled it off and replaced it.
I let the tire sit with the new tube in it for many hours. Looks like it's holding. And I get another chance to try again tomorrow... Same schedule only shifted. 9am meeting at home, 1:30 meeting at work... Hopefully it'll work out better than Tuesday. (Also, I'm not going quite all the way, the car will be about 3 miles closer in the usual Waltham location.)
Stats:
Monday: 26.25 in 2:31:46 for an average of 10.3 (slow because I was tired after the flat fixing, I think)
Tuesday: 14.2 in many little spurts, surprisingly the average was 11.7. But I think that's cuz I got to skip all the uphill at the end, and the uppy-downy bits in Newton, being rescued in Dedham.