It's in the low-sixties here today, so I took advantage of the nice weather and got out my trusty single-speed. There's a bike trail about a mile from my house that goes through the woods and along the Olentangy river. I pumped up my tires and headed out to hit the trail. It was such a gorgeous day and it felt good to ride for the first time since November.
About five miles into my ride, I realized that my back tire had gone flat. I pulled to the side of the trail and into the mud. I do have a frame pump, so I pumped up my tire as much as I could and hoped that would be enough to get me home. (The frame pump is obviously less powerful than the floor pump, so I wasn't able to get it as full as when I left.) Unfortunately, it went flat again after just a few meters, indicating an hole in the tube.
Due to the muddiness of the trail from all the recently melted snow, I opted not to try to change my tube along the trail. I gave my husband a call and walked to the nearest road for a rescue. He was kind enough not to complain about me putting my muddy bike in his brand new SUV. Also kind were the two bicycling gentlemen who offered to stop and help me and the runner who asked if I was injured. The trail folk were quite considerate.
I'll have to change the tube tomorrow. A friend taught me how last summer, but I've never had to do it alone. Since my bike is a single-speed, changing the tire tube includes lots of realigning. However, I'm grateful for the chance to ride today and I'm even glad for the forced-motivation to practice replacing my tubes. (I just signed up for Pelotonia 2013, in addition to planning to compete in a couple of triathlons, so I really want to be able to do it quickly and efficiently.) I am especially grateful that I get to learn in my garage instead of on the muddy trail.
Maybe I'll even get to ride again tomorrow.
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