Like Old Times...

I'm sitting here in the school, waiting on one of about a million Windows updates to install on a computer I just reformatted and reinstalled. Ah, just like being at Sprint again.

So I thought I would use some of my wait time to write, as it's been too long!

Yesterday I went for a bike ride. Sort of. I've known for a while that I've been riding on borrowed time and it seems that yesterday it was time to pay up. What do I mean? Well, my bike here (the GT that I brought from the States) is 11 years old. No problem there. I mean, I've kept it well-maintained. Mostly. Unfortunately, the tires on it are also 11 years old. I knew I would need to replace them soon and have been planning to get new tires when I'm in the States in December.

Anyway, back to the bike ride... Yesterday was gorgeous and I decided to ride up El Volcan, at least to where the pavement ends. I even put my camera in my jersey pocket, planning to take a few pics. Well, I did one lap on the boulevard and on my second lap turned up toward El Volcan. So far, so good, right? I was about 3/4 mile on that road, just next to the cemetery, when I noticed that my back tire felt squishy. I got off the bike and looked, and gave the tire a bit of a squeeze. Yup, going flat. I did a cursory inspection to see if I could find the offending shard of glass that might be the culprit, but didn't spend too much time on it.

Spare tube? Nope.
Patch kit? Nope.
Tire irons? Nope.
Pump. Yeah, I had that but it does no good without the rest.

I quickly decided to turn around and try to coast as far home as possible. I would give a few cranks on the pedals, then stand and put as much weight as possible on the front, hoping to nurse the rear tire for all it was worth. Apparently it wasn't worth much! I made it back to the boulevard before realizing that I needed to get off the bike or risk ruining my rim. Then I ended up walking the rest of the way home. In my cleats. And helmet. Finally, it dawned on me that while it may not seem that strange to see someone walking their bike while wearing a helmet in the US, here, it was totally, completely dorky! So, I took the helmet off.

By the time I got back home, I had registered 5 miles on the computer. 3 1/2 riding and 1 1/2 walking. After my shower, I set about fixing the bike. The rear tire was shot. Thankfully, I had also shipped my original tires for that bike down, so I was able to change out both the tire and tube.

At least I got a decent workout.