Saturday, October 4, 2008

Frustrating Bike Day

Rain was in the forecast and I was going to be doing something with my daughter this morning so I woke up at six to get ready for my bike ride. The rain hadn't begun yet so I started my ride around seven. After almost three miles my front tire started acting up and me still being nervous about how light the bike is (relatively speaking) got me worried. I looked down, though, and saw that the front tire had gone flat. *Sigh*. On my third ride. Well, I was expecting to have to buy new tire stuff this weekend so no postponing that.

On the way back from our concert, we headed to Cycle World. After waiting way too long for help (I am beginning to loathe bike shops), we bailed and went home. Then I headed over to Montrose Bike Shop, where help was much faster in coming. I told the guy I had a 22 - 622 tire and he pretty much didn't believe me. Good thing I had the tire in the trunk. I showed it to him and he still kept saying that wasn't a real size, which is odd considering proof to the contrary was right in front of him. After a while and some measuring I left with sturdier tires and some tubes (they didn't have a frame/mini-pump with the features I wanted). Got back home and went to work. Jeez are these tires hard to get on the rims. Despite all the warnings I've read, I had no choice but to use the levers to get the tires back on the rims. The result: two out of three tubes with pinch flats, of course. Sigh. I'm going to something tomorrow that will keep me from visiting the bike shop but, in the meantime, I have ordered The Bike Tool which, allegedly, will help me with getting my tire on the rim. I hope it arrives next weekend because this weekend's bike workout is a complete bust.

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