Lessons Learned



Spewage
Lesson 1: I'm an idiot.

I've never had a flat tire on the bike. Never. Which isn't really saying much, as I've never really spent a large amount of time on the bike.

My luck ran out this past Sunday, about two miles into a 25-mile bike ride. Suddenly my ride got rough, accompanied by a peculiar thwap-thwap sound. The rear tire was completely, totally flat. It's ok though. I have my little nifty spifty CO2 cartridge and tool for airing it right back up. No big deal.

I root around in my little bag, dig out a cartridge and the "gun" for using it. Open the gun up, attempt to insert the cartridge, and...aaaarrrgh! You're kidding me! It doesn't fit! D'oh!

I bought the cartridge and the gun at the same time several years ago at a bike shop in Boston, and mistakenly assumed they had sold me a combination that played well together. Since I had never had a flat, I had never actually tried to USE it. Nor had I played with it to make sure it would work.

Other racers are whizzing past me, and I'm getting prepared to wait for a ride. A very nice man who lived in the house across the street came out, and offered air. Hmmm, ok, that could work. Worth a try. Then one of my teammates rode by, and was kind enough to turn around and come back.

Turns out Dave had the same kind of cartridge I did, so we used his dispenser, I gave him my cartridge, we aired up the tire, and it was an even trade. He said he'd ride behind me for five minutes to make sure it held. When I told him to go on, not ruin his race, he just laughed and said, "I was third to last on the swim, what do I care?" Yeah, right. This guy's fast. He still finished 40 minutes ahead of me, despite the stop.

I made it about a block, and the tire went flat again. Here's where we proved, without a doubt, that I truly am an idiot.

I had no spare tube. [I bought this bike over the winter, and the wheel size is smaller than my older bike. I had never gone to the store and bought a tube to fit this bike's wheels.]

With 23 miles to go, walking is not an option. I'm done, DNF, Did Not Finish. Oh, so done. And this was a team competition, where even just finishing is worth a point or two. So I've not only let myself down, I've let my team down. Not by much, mind you, but every point counts.

Once again, Dave comes to my rescue. He has a spare tube. We change the tire, and because I'm a midget, his tube is about 10 inches too big. We look at each other, shrug, and fold it over, cram it into the tire, and air it up. Can't be any worse than a flat, right? Now I not only owe him a debt I can't repay for his time, I owe him a CO2 canister and a tube.

And whaddya know? It worked! It worked for 23 miles! Amazing. It felt funny, kind of mushy, and I had to pedal harder, but hey, it worked! I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I reached the one-mile-to-go point. At least now, if it went flat again, I could walk the bike in without too much difficulty. Wouldn't be fun, but wouldn't be a DNF either!

I saw Dave at the after-race lunch, and thanked him profusely. I need to take him a tube and a cartridge to the next tri-club meeting, and some kind of small thank-you token. He was wonderful about the whole thing.

Lesson 2: Always carry a spare tube.

Lesson 3: Never assume you are sold the correct tools. Try them before you need them.

Lesson 4: Be thankful for kind and sympathetic teammates!