29.5 Miles later….
A tale of three bicycles……
On Friday night I made a late decision that I would go for a ride with a local cycling club on Saturday morning. My intention was also to go out on my Mountain bike on Sunday – which meant a quick change of wheels and a tune-up.
I started with the Mountain bike, the front dirt tire was flat, at some point it looks like I had managed to run over a drawing pin. This was an easy fix. Ten minutes, no tools, job done. I also lubed the chain, checked what few bolts there are and declared it ‘fit for purpose’. The front brake pads are a little worn and it really needs a wash, but it was functional.
Then I moved on to my road bike – actually it is a Triathlon Kestrel bicycle that has a serious personality disorder due to the chaotic way that I mixed and matched parts – thinking that it would be a good idea to check it for issues – simple things can slow you down, make sure that there is air in the tires, lube on the chain and things were generally in good shape. The first issue was a show-stopping one, the front tire was flat. Undeterred I pulled the wheel, removed the tire and examined the tube. There was a huge hole in it. The Stan’s ‘no tubes’ limit was well and truly exceeded, there was no way that this huge hole could be sealed. So I patched it with a ‘scab’, checked the inside of the tube and found a thorn and pulled it out. I then put it all together, inflated it to 120psi (yes, really), then lubed the chain, adjusted the cables and called it a good job.
On Saturday morning, I woke early as usual and pulled on my cycling gear, hoping to head to the 8AM meeting point and join the ride. The first thing I noticed on reaching the garage was the stupid front tire. Sadly it was flat, again. I did not have time to change the tube once more and as I suspected that the issue was probably not as simple as adding another patch I realized I would need so much time that the ride would probably be long over by the time I was finally ready, so I left it alone and grabbed my trusty mountain bike.