I am an avid bike commuter. I love riding my bike to work. It is something I got used to while living in the Netherlands and I am now found on my bike come sun, rain, wind, cold (anything but ice or a snow storm). I even commuted by bike through both my pregnancies. This mode of commuting has many benefits. I get exercise, I get time to think (or to take a mental break), in my current location it is faster than any other mode of transportation, and it is pretty well free. Thus I was saddened when today on my morning commute my rear tire had an aneurysm.
It was very dramatic.
Suddenly I felt like I was riding over a very bumpy surface and it became very hard to steer. Puzzled I pulled over and noticed a large black bump on my back tire. At first I thought something was stuck there, but on closer inspection I could see that the inner tube had ballooned out of a big rip in the tire.
Then the inner tube exploded - loudly - and proceeded to bleed green goo all over the place (green goo plugs up small punctures but was no match for an aneurysm).
Two police officers saw it and swore they had never seen anything like that before. Ah my poor injured bike!
But at least I can add another benefit to my mode of commuting. It is exciting (and entertaining for police officers). This is of course annoying, but let’s face it cars get flats too (among other mechanical difficulties), and public transit is subject to delays more than my bike is. So my focus now is getting my bike back on the road ASAP.
2 comments:
I had a dramatic flat like that once, on the way home one night after shops were closed. I was on my folding bike though, so my bike and I just got on a bus and headed home.
Where was I? I had no idea this happened! What an adventure to start your day!!!
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