It all started harmless enough. Thanks to a 2 hour late school opening, the temperature was around the 40's versus the initial 30 of the morning. The temp rose those 10 degrees in less than an hour - house windows were steamed up on the outside! It was raining, kind of a medium, you know, not light but not heavy either.
Evan and I got the rain gear on, I loaded up the panniers and we started out. Some wind, but not awful and definitely it felt much, much warmer than the first two days of the week. We were rolling along quite nicely, Evan continuing to practice his no-hands riding where it was safe and not a lot of stop signs. Just a little over half way to his school I mentioned, "Feels like my tire is flat," because pedalling became a little harder, but I really could not see much because of my panniers. Evan's reply, "Your tire looks flat."
Well, I stopped to check and sure enough it's flat. I asked him if he could get to school on his own from where we were and he said, "yes." I said good-bye and he pedalled off. I started to do the fix flat activity, pretty straightforward, I've changed a lot of flats in my day. HA - little did I know what lay ahead.
After I got the tube out and filled with some air, I located the leak. Trying to keep it as dry as possible, remember, it was raining, I sanded, added the glue and placed the patch. After holding pressure on it for a bit, I then filled the tube again to make sure the patch held. Cool, looks good. I put the tire back together and proceed to fill it. Gee, it's taking, like, forever, "What the!!!"
I pull everything apart, again, fill the tube and, WHAT?!, there's another hole, on top of an old patch. I check the tire trying to see if something got left in it - nope, all clear. I patch that hole, put everything together, begin filling it up, using the last CO2. Nice, the tire is filling up, getting firmer. Then all of a sudden, phhhhhhhssssst, then ssssshhhhhhhhh, then no air in tire! I'm thinking, "@#$#@$$%%%$#$%$!!!!!!"
Once again, take it all apart, can't find the leak, then remember, "oh STUPID, you have a tube!" I put that in and now have to use my micro pump. I get it as full as I can with that and pack everything back in to my pannier. I am now covered in that black, grimy residue from my brakes, so I use the puddles to try and get as much as possible off. Put the panniers back on the bike, put the gloves back on and I am off - a mere 30 some minutes since I flatted. (I should note I did call into work and let them know I was okay and still on my way, just having fun playing with my flat tire.)
Oh, yeah, shortly after I started my repair a couple of cyclists went by, literally, went by - I don't think they even looked. A short while later an elderly man rode up and stopped and asked if I was okay. I said, "I'm okay, and thanks for asking." We chatted a bit and then he was off. Then, a short bit after that a lady came by walking her two dogs. She said how it was not such a nice day for problems, I said it was at least better than if this had happened yesterday in the windy cold weather (windchill to 25 degrees).
Finally I get to work and take the rain gear off and OMG!, the knees of my work pants are totally soaked! What the? Well, not much I could do but head to my desk. Fortunately they dried quickly. Can it get any worse? Fortunately, not anymore today.
Lessons learned?
- You have a spare tube! Use it!
- Pack some handi-wipes, in this weather you cannot help but get dirty.
- Use my bit bigger pump that has a small inline guage, then I know how much air is in there.
- Have tools easier to get to - had 'em in my purse/messenger bag, which was stowed in one of my panniers.
- Should have taken a picture - just for the sake of having a picture.
The ride home was totally uneventful and quite warm (51 degrees). One little hill and a short stretch just before we got to our street I did a sprint out and each time Evan caught me. (As much as one can sprint with a 28 pound bike, carrying about 5 pounds in two rear panniers.) Dang, he's pretty strong.
Made a quick trip to the bike store - more CO2, spare tubes and clean up wipes.
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