Did I ever tell you about the time my story got turned down by Good Morning America?
Once upon a time I read that flat tires are more likely in the rain because water acts as a lubricant for road derbis. It assists sharp pointy objects in their innate quest to deflate inner tubes. I don’t know if it’s true, but it sounds awful good to me.
This morning I found myself off the side of the road fixing a flat tire. It rained most of the weekend. The roads were moist. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of a bike tire becoming flat. First I wonder if I’m working harder than usual. Then I wonder why things feel so squishy. Then I realize I’ll be off the bike in a moment.
During my time at the side of the heavily trafficked road two friendly automobile drivers stopped to offer rides. To the first I said I was going to suffer for a bit longer. To the second (he had a “What’s for dinner?” advertisement on the side of his vehicle) I declined after he responded in the negative to my inquiry about whether he came with some dinner.
Later in the commute, as I waited at a red light, a pedestrian approached and walked in front of me. He was pulling his bicycle beside him. He was not pleased and I smiled when I noticed his flat rear tire.
I scored some extra miles and MinusCar points over the lunch hour when I rode to the bank (got to plan for the future don’t you know) and to My LBS for some more air. To fix the morning’s flat tire I had used up the two cartridges I carry. I purchased four CO2 cartridges to replace the two I had used.
Take a moment and enjoy the irony of The MinusCar Project’s reliance on CO2.
During the afternoon Jim from the Good Morning America show called to let me know they weren’t going to use the KSFY story. His first question, "Did you ride to work today?" I'm glad he didn't ask me that Friday when we talked. I would have had to say no.
What did you do this weekend?
After work I dressed and retrieved my bike. I found the front tire f…l…a…t. I dug out the cartridges I had purchased over lunch and repaired the front tire. No vehicles stopped to help because I was in the basement of building number 2. One thing I noticed about fixing a flat in the relative comfort of a building, it’s a lot easier to find a pin prick of a hole in an inner tube when it doesn’t have to compete against a 15mph wind.
5 comments:
My flat came today in the form of a parking ticket. Word Smith gave me a couple dollars to shove in the envelope. Yes, there is CASH in a parking ticket envelope outside the Word Smith's place of employment.
Hey, if you've got that CO2 bottled up in those little cartridges, it's not out warming up the planet. Or something.
Also, I've found the best deals on cartridges comes from paintball supply places.
Thank you for the irony. I think the key is moderation -in irony as well as life.
Paintball supply places are a great place for CO2 for AIR GUNS. Those cartridges have a oil in them to lube the internals of the gun. If you use them w/ an bike odds are that the oil will breakdown the seals in your inflator and the rubber in your tubes. Genuine Innovations’ CO2 is collected from a naturally occurring volcanic source in Europe (not collected from burning fossil fuels). In case you were wondering.
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