Tire, tire, tired
It's been a tiring week.
Monday the train was late, which isn't normally a big deal (I have two hours of fudge time between arrival and class)... but then I got to Davis and discover I have a flat on my bike. Also not normally a big deal... but then I discover the enormous rip in my front tire. Stress failure, which must have happened just as I got to the station Thursday afternoon. Sigh.
I could buy a tire, or I could get one for "free" (tiny donation) at the Bike Church. I just needed a quick patch so that I could get across campus to it. I pulled out my spare tube and switched out the one on the bike, which had a 1/4" hole in it. Definitely an ex-tube. If I didn't fix the tire, though, the new tube would blow too.
I was already tired, and trekking to a couple of bike shops in an unsuccessful hunt for a temporary fix of the tire had me quickly running out of cope. I bought some duct tape, then discovered that it won't stick to the inside of the tire... argh. I ended up walking all the way to class with the bike after all, feeling ready to drop from exhaustion. After class I finished the walk to the Church, found a suitable tire, changed it out and walked (*sigh*) to the air station on the north end of campus to fill it back up. The ride back was easy in comparison. On my way to the train I bought more CO2 cartridges, one of which would have saved me that last trek.
Yesterday I took a look at the back tire, figuring the front one had been a warning. I was horrified at the cracks in it, some of them running almost all the way through the rubber... it could go any time. I babied it, and finally decided to change it out in the 45 minutes I had between History class and my train home. I rode to the Church, picked out another tire, cleaned it (they're stacked next to the chicken pen, so they're pretty filthy sometimes), and put it on. I wasn't hurrying as much as perhaps I should have, since I realized while I was finishing up that I had 15 minutes to make my train. oops.
I found a working pump at the Church, thankfully, and put enough air in the tire to ride on... but I was down to 10 minutes by the time I mounted up. Time to run.
It was a mile and a half as the crow flies, and I made the train by 20 seconds. No time to park the bike; I rode it straight up to the train. I was dumb enough to try to rack it without taking the pack off the back, straining my shoulder (*sigh*). My lungs hurt, and I almost couldn't make it up the stairs to the seats. It was a few minutes later that I had to fight off a wave of nausea... I've never pushed it quite that hard before.
The bike went in my trunk (no racks at Martinez, not one). I went home, had a very nice early dinner, then headed off to a potluck -- the one I was racing so hard to have time to go to. I did get to soak my shoulder in the hot tub, but we probably should have come home earlier than we did -- I'm really tired today.
At least now I have confidence in both tires, both are fully inflated (I did that when I got home), and I can expect that the bike won't have any more issues for a while. I still need to tweak the derailler so that it has full use of its gears, but I've managed pretty well so far with the ones I have. I should go to the Church today, while it's officially open, and make a donation for the two tires... whatever it comes to (I'm expecting about $6 total) it'll be much cheaper than the $15 apiece they cost new.
I just find it a little ironic that I keep the bike because it saves me lots of energy over walking... yet it's tired me out much worse this week than walking would have.
Monday the train was late, which isn't normally a big deal (I have two hours of fudge time between arrival and class)... but then I got to Davis and discover I have a flat on my bike. Also not normally a big deal... but then I discover the enormous rip in my front tire. Stress failure, which must have happened just as I got to the station Thursday afternoon. Sigh.
I could buy a tire, or I could get one for "free" (tiny donation) at the Bike Church. I just needed a quick patch so that I could get across campus to it. I pulled out my spare tube and switched out the one on the bike, which had a 1/4" hole in it. Definitely an ex-tube. If I didn't fix the tire, though, the new tube would blow too.
I was already tired, and trekking to a couple of bike shops in an unsuccessful hunt for a temporary fix of the tire had me quickly running out of cope. I bought some duct tape, then discovered that it won't stick to the inside of the tire... argh. I ended up walking all the way to class with the bike after all, feeling ready to drop from exhaustion. After class I finished the walk to the Church, found a suitable tire, changed it out and walked (*sigh*) to the air station on the north end of campus to fill it back up. The ride back was easy in comparison. On my way to the train I bought more CO2 cartridges, one of which would have saved me that last trek.
Yesterday I took a look at the back tire, figuring the front one had been a warning. I was horrified at the cracks in it, some of them running almost all the way through the rubber... it could go any time. I babied it, and finally decided to change it out in the 45 minutes I had between History class and my train home. I rode to the Church, picked out another tire, cleaned it (they're stacked next to the chicken pen, so they're pretty filthy sometimes), and put it on. I wasn't hurrying as much as perhaps I should have, since I realized while I was finishing up that I had 15 minutes to make my train. oops.
I found a working pump at the Church, thankfully, and put enough air in the tire to ride on... but I was down to 10 minutes by the time I mounted up. Time to run.
It was a mile and a half as the crow flies, and I made the train by 20 seconds. No time to park the bike; I rode it straight up to the train. I was dumb enough to try to rack it without taking the pack off the back, straining my shoulder (*sigh*). My lungs hurt, and I almost couldn't make it up the stairs to the seats. It was a few minutes later that I had to fight off a wave of nausea... I've never pushed it quite that hard before.
The bike went in my trunk (no racks at Martinez, not one). I went home, had a very nice early dinner, then headed off to a potluck -- the one I was racing so hard to have time to go to. I did get to soak my shoulder in the hot tub, but we probably should have come home earlier than we did -- I'm really tired today.
At least now I have confidence in both tires, both are fully inflated (I did that when I got home), and I can expect that the bike won't have any more issues for a while. I still need to tweak the derailler so that it has full use of its gears, but I've managed pretty well so far with the ones I have. I should go to the Church today, while it's officially open, and make a donation for the two tires... whatever it comes to (I'm expecting about $6 total) it'll be much cheaper than the $15 apiece they cost new.
I just find it a little ironic that I keep the bike because it saves me lots of energy over walking... yet it's tired me out much worse this week than walking would have.