The Aerie
Sigh. This is not being my day. Try TWO for this one: my work laptop BSOD-ed during the prior version.
I'm determined to bike to work across the winter. Biking to work is about the only form of exercise I seem to be able to shoehorn into my busy schedule of video games and television shows. So when my rear tire showed signs of having a slow leak - that is, when it was flat every morning and had to be reinflated - I decided to do the prudent thing. I decided to replace the inner-tube before I ended up with a flat tire halfway to work.
I'm sure you can see where this is going...
Yesterday I left for work a little early so that I could load my bike into the car and drop it off at Freewheel Bike. The shop wasn't open yet, so I looped the chain over the bike rack to make it look like it was locked up - I figured between that and the flat tire it was not likely to be stolen. Then I called from work and asked them to fix the tire. They told me it would be ready after work.
I left the salt mines and made my way back to Freewheel at the end of the day, where the bike was ready. Drove it home and tottered off to bed anticipating an eye-wateringly-cold day of bicycling in the morning.
As I got the bike ready in the morning, I felt good. The tire had gone soft on Sunday, and I hadn't let the needed repairs serve as an excuse to avoid the only exercise I get, as agonizing and painful as it is. I had gotten the bike fixed right away, and only missed one day of riding. I donned an extra scarf, stuck my toes in the pedal-cups, and headed off into a stiff subzero headwind.
Can you guess? Of course you can. Two miles later, as I entered the Midtown Greenway, my rear tire went flat.
Great. What to do? My spouse would not be available, because she goes to the gym each day after dropping the kids off at school (due to budget cuts our school does not offer bus service). Wait! The gym wasn't too far away. So I walked my bike over to the gym. As I approached some jocular asshole sauntered out of the front doors.
"Hey, yer s'posed to ride it, not push it along!" he chortled merrily as he passed.
I whirled around and smashed him in the back with the bicycle. As he fell I tore his head off his neck and threw it into the busy Lake Street traffic, shouting "You're supposed to walk across the street, not roll!!"
Of course I didn't do that... but I sure thought about it pretty hard.
While my wife finished her workout I borrowed the car and dropped my bike off at Freewheel for the second time in two days. Then I returned to the gym and eventually she dropped me off at home, with just enough time to get to work for my 10:00 a.m. meeting.
Arriving at work I was forced to walk around a fire truck and an ambulance parked in front of the building. A man with a bruised and bloody nose was wheeled past on a stretcher, either unconscious or too appalled at being wheeled out on a stretcher to want to admit to consciousness. Great: as if my day wasn't bad enough, here was a guilt-inducing reminder that my concerns were petty and minor - just what I needed in the middle of my annoyance: perspective. Pfft.
Of course when I reached my desk I learned that the 10:00 a.m. meeting had been cancelled.
Then, when I decided to blog the events of the day so far, my computer horked and crashed.
Finally, I gave a call to Freewheel to advise on replacing the tube and ask what was going on.
"Well, the tube was split on the side opposite the stem, and there was no sign of debris in the tire."
"So, a defective inner tube then?" I asked.
"I'd say it's just a freak flat-tire accident," he replied authoritatively.
"A freak flat tire accident," I repeated, wonderingly, "Riiight." Silly me, assuming that it might be a defective inner tube failing within the first minutes of use!
"So it will be ready shortly," he continued.
"Great," I said.
We'll see how far I get tomorrow.
Posted by Albatross at December 5, 2006 10:35 AM | TrackBack