For some time I didn't ride the bicycle. This was for various reasons, laziness included. One of them was that the rear tire had a slow leak (which seemed to have disappeared when I checked again this Spring) and I wasn't sure just how to go about getting the rear wheel off of the bike and then changing the inner tube and reassembling everything. It's a ten speed and the thing looks complicated and I recall hearing people having seemingly endless trouble with the shifting mechanism. Go ahead and laugh now, get it out. I now know just how silly that all is. This evening I had to change the tire and tube.

I was out riding and things were going along fairly well when there was a *BANG* and I knew right off that the rear tire was no longer in working order. Looking at it, it was no simple thing that a mere patch might fix. The tire itself was truly worn out in a spot and even if the tube were patched, the patch wouldn't even last the trip home. It was a nice enough day and I wasn't very fair along, really, so I expected I'd walk the bicycle home and deal with things. Instead, an older gentleman, who was outside and heard the tire blow, was friendly but insistent upon seeing the condition of the tire that I let him give me and the bike a ride home. Rather than stand around arguing against it, I agreed - after telling him that I didn't want to have him go out of the way and it wasn't a big deal for me to walk. So I got a ride home. The fellow was once a milkman in town and so had some familiarity with most of the town, though he admitted he isn't as certain about some places as he used to be, it all being so long ago.

Once home, I looked at a few web pages on changing bicycle tires and dealing with rear tires on multispeed bikes. I'm not sure if it didn't occur to me to check the web years ago, or if there weren't as many good web resources then. After looking around a bit and seeing the same information in a few places I went to it. It was almost as easy as dealing with the front tire, which I had done a few weeks ago. The changing of the tire went a little easier too, perhaps due to the previous experience, perhaps due to the weather being a a bit cooler and rather less humid. Getting things back together was fairly easy. I spent quite a bit of time fiddling around, but the only real trouble was being sure that the tire beads seated properly without pinching the tube. And I was quite glad to have the new tire ready and waiting, rather than have to wait for another order to come in. I did go for a short ride afterward, to be sure of things. Evidently I did it right. I didn't have to walk home.

( Pictures of the blowout )

Current Mood: accomplished

The flat bicycle tire I didn't really fix has finally been replaced. I had the new inner tube, but new tires were on order. The tires arrived Monday. Naturally the last weekend was good cycling weather. And then I was out of town for a few days, so jmaynard picked up the tires.

I got home a few days ago, but didn't really have time or reasonable weather to take care of things. Today wasn't just too hot, and there was sufficient break in the rain that things dried up for a while, so I finally managed to change the flat. I'm leaving the other tire alone for now. New tube, new tire, and while the wheel was off of the bike, I drove to a gas station with an air compressor and got it properly inflated.

Once things were reassembled it was time for a ride. I didn't get just too far. Things went well with the bike, but the sky got dark and then I felt a few light drops so I turned around. Somewhat to my surprise I managed to get home without getting soaked. I got back just in time. There's plenty of rain and thunder now. I don't think I'll be going anywhere this evening.

Current Mood: frustrated

A few days ago I bicycled from home to the Fairmont airport. I tried to stay off of the three main streets or roads that I would drive on to get there. I found out that two of my alternate road choices were gravel and not very easy going. And to make it worse, somewhere along the way (might have been the gravel roads, might have been in town on pavement, a tire was punctured and developed a not-very-slow leak. The result was that I had tough going before (and after) I noticed it. I made my way back to Shopko and bought a portable pump and got enough pressure to last me until I got home, if barely.

I went looking for the leak and I found it. In doing so I noticed the tire was showing signs of rot so just changing the tube would likely be pointless. I went looking for a replacement and found none in town (27x1-1/8 inch isn't a commonly stocked thing in the age of mountain bikes and the like) but I have a couple on order now.

I did pick up a patch kit, mainly to get the tire levers I'd need for changing the tire. After a couple days I got a bit antsy and decided to try to patch what I had. After all, it would be good practice and even if I botched it badly, I would hardly be any worse off. I patched it, or so I thought. When I checked, I found I either missed the puncture or only got one of a couple. Thus I got to do it again. The tire seemed to hold air, or at worst have a very slow leak. One slow enough that I could ride for a while and not be too concerned. And I had the portable pump to deal with things if need be.

So today, overconfident, I started out for the movie theater and made a point of stopping at a gas station on the way to use their compressed air to get more pressure than the manual pumps seem to be able to generate. I probably should have just turned around and come home as I could hear the leak. But I was about half-way there or more, and I had my portable pump. So on I went.

I saw the movie, and got back to a flat tire as I had pretty much expected. Out came the pump and I got some pressure... and the pump failed. "Schwinn Quality" (as the card the pump was on proclaimed) is evidently even worse than Ford quality. Not good. But I figured I could just make it back to the gas station. I almost did. I walked the last little bit. Got more air. Hoped I could get home on that. I did, but the tire was losing it fairly fast and I really felt it as I went on. It wasn't just biking on a hot Summer afternoon. It was hard biking on a hot Summer afternoon. How hard? When I got home it was time for "Rennie Gatorade" - a drink of pickle juice, as plain water just wasn't doing it. Sound bad? Well, it tasted good to me. When that tastes good, you need it. I needed it. If you ever need a demonstration that fuel mileage is negatively affected by under-inflated tires making the engine work harder, try riding a bike with an under-inflated tire. It sucks.

I won't be making another patch attempt on that tube and tire. I'll wait for the new tires (Kevlar reinforced for greater puncture resistance) and then put on a new tube (allegedly self-sealing) as well. I've heard of folks concerned about bike weight worrying about the reinforcement adding a few ounces. I'm not concerned about that. I can more make up for that by shedding some of my own weight, and I really want tires that hold air well.

Oh, I do plan on biking to the airport again. But I have a different alternate route in mind. One that's completely paved, even if I do end up on one of the main roads for a bit. I also plan on getting another portable pump, just in case I need such a thing, and hopefully it'll be one that will last a while.

Current Mood: exhausted

On Monday I called Discount Tire in Mankato, taking them up on the 30 day replacement or warranty thing. About the tires I wanted I was told, "They should be in on Wednesday." On Wednesday afternoon I called and was told they weren't in, but might yet arrive that day. There was no call later on Wednesday. Nor on Thursday. So this afternoon I called and asked. I was asked to hold while they checked the truck that had just arrived. My tires weren't on that truck either. I left my phone numbers, again.

A little while later I got a call from the manager who wanted to know if I recalled who I had talked to on Monday and Wednesday. I really wish I had the name of the guy on Monday, but I've forgotten it. I explained the situation and was told that the question about why I wanted to get away from the Goodyear tires was that they had to have something to put on the form. But mainly he wanted to find out what happened that it took them so long and was trying to trace who all handled the matter so he could find out what went wrong and how as, "A customer should not have to call three times." This time I was told the tires would arrive on Monday. If they aren't on the truck like they ought to be, he'll go up to the Cities and get them himself. And likely give a few folks an earful, was left unsaid.

I hadn't gotten to the point of vocalizing any suspicions about delay tactics that would leave me stuck with the Goodyear tires I don't want. I didn't have to. The manager's call, attitude, and promise of what would happen - and how he'd make sure it would happen - took care of that. I don't expect a company or a store to be perfect and never make a mistake. It's what they do about any mistakes that matters. My impression of Discount Tire just went up significantly.

Current Mood: calm

Got around to dealing with my federal and state taxes. The result is that the refunds will pay for the new tires bought a couple weeks back and still leave a good chunk which will take care of most of my expected RCFM expenses. So that's one less thing to worry quite so much about.

And with that expected expense mostly taken care of I can concentrate on other things.

And speaking of RCFM, a couple things are already taken care of. Time off work for the trip has been taken care of and RCFM registration has been sent in. Now if the hotel reservation folks would respond so I know I'll have a place to stay.

Current Mood: relieved, mostly
Current Music: Federal Excess - The Capitol Steps

jmaynard and I went up to the Twin Cities area Saturday. This trip was primarily to get new tires on my car - the old ones weren't passing the penny test anymore, and it might snow here again and make it look like Winter. (Right now it only feels like Winter. Current temp: 0 F.) Four new Michelins and a few hundred dollars later, I feel a bit better about the season. Watch it either not snow significantly again or dump so much at once that nobody can move anyway.

Got back to find a bill from a card. This one has the last of the Houston trip expenses, which is good. What's bad is that the due date is next Saturday and the account I'd pay it with is a bit low. Shuffle a bit from one account and deal with it. I now owe myself $200, which I took from an account I was trying hard not to touch. That money will get replaced.

At least there shouldn't be any more big expenses until RCFM, and I can plan for that.

Current Mood: mildly annoyed
Current Music: Hell's Bells -- Art Kassel

It's very unusual for me to take the car to the mechanic for something other than an oil change. But I did today.

I finally had enough with the slow leak of one tire and took the car to a local mechanic who does tire repair. He said it was a very slow leak and he had to look a while to find the problem. But find it he did. Removed a nail, plugged the hole, and that was that.

And since the car was there and I thought I'd heard some noises on a hard turn I asked him to check out the CV joints so if there was a problem it could be taken care of before it got bad/worse. Everything checked out good, and test driving didn't reveal any noises on hard turns.

The best part of all this is that it cost a mere $12. And now I feel much better about things. There's still a few thousand miles worth of tread on the tires and the Corolla is living up to its reputation for being a long lasting, reliable car.

Current Mood: pleased