Early Morning Flats

Today was a gym day, so I rolled my carcas out of bed at 5:00AM to get on my bike and right out to the weight room. After an hour-long session of lifting heavy metal plates off the ground, I got back on my bike to ride home and shower before going to work. As soon as I leave the gym, there's always a line of traffic backed up at the traffic light about a half-mile away from the bike path that leads me home, so I skirt down the right side to get by them all when all of a sudden "Pffffftt!" I get a flat!

"No problem, I'll have this thing fixed in 10 seconds!" I think, knowing that I have a spare tube and the frame pump that Anthony so graciously gave to me. But alas, to my surprise and dismay, after i get the new tube in and go to attach the pump to start filling the tire with the air that will get me home safely, I realize that the pump head has no internals!

"Stranded!" I think as I look up at traffic hopelessly, feeling like I'm on an alien planet with no way of returning back to earth. "Houston, we have a problem." Luckily, a brisk walk down to Betzwood revealed a couple of elderly gents getting ready to mount their hybrid beasts. They were nice enough to supply me with a frame pump from their motorized vehicle.

My rear tire was full and happy again, and I got home, a little late, but none the worse for wear. And so ends my early-morning adventure. Some of you may be thinking "Wow Al, that story was really lame. Why'd you waste so much of my time and so much blog space by typing that?" Well I'll tell you, there's a lesson to be learned here: make sure all your equipment and accessories work properly before that critical moment. It could leave you stranded on a foreign planet.