Another One Bites The Dust

Second flat in less than two weeks. With new tires. That were supposed to be flat resistant. Or something.

I guess there's no such thing. Anti-flat technology my ass.

If for nothing else, the flat of this morning served as a reminder to speed up on my fix-a-flat abilities.

The morning was cold and I almost took the car in, but decided to at least give it a shot.

On my way out to the main road, a black cat crossed the road in front of me. I'm not saying I blame the cat, but I'm not ruling out that the road crossing feline might have something to do with Deflategate II. When I think about it, it was looking at me in a hostile sort of way. But then again, it's a cat and cats tend to have this look of constant contempt. Like we as humans are below them. Which I generally dig.

I made it out to the main road. Yesterday fresh in my mind, I walked the bike out so I wouldn't end up as a mangled pancake on the road in our hood. Which most likely would have been more embarrassing than anything else. There were some icy spot, but the black ice of yesterday was gone.

Biking down the hill of 164th took me four times as long as usual as I biked really slow just in case. Arriving at the bottom of the hill safely, I figured it would be smooth sailing the rest of the way. No such luck.

First my stupid fender took vengeance at me for calling it a peace of crap by flopping completely out. I'm saying flopping because that's what it was doing. It was just laying on my rear tire flopping about. I stopped to tighten it a bit so it would last until I arrived at work.

If only...

Not more than 2 minutes later, the flat happened. I could tell right away. Since my first flat happened while I wasn't riding the bike, it got me thinking whether I would be able to tell that I have a flat while riding the bike. Mystery solved. Let me tell you that there's no mistaking riding on a flat tire. You'll know without a shadow of doubt that your tire is lacking in the air department. If even a moron like me can detect a flat tire, so can you.



Amen

Hubby picked me up in what is probably the most dodgy neighborhood on my commute - which in Bellevue means not very. I was cold but at least there was the slight entertainment factor of the police pulling someone over into the parking lot where I was standing. One of the cops was sporting a faux-hawk - not very successfully. They both ignored me, which I probably would have done as well. If they had acknowledged my existence, they would have risked having to help me.

I made it to work, an hour late. I'll take the bike in to the shop - again. Maybe they'll give me a discount or something, but I'm not holding my breath.

PS! Josh Ross provided me with this useful but fire hazardous (the guy is pretty dry so make sure not to light any matches while watching) video on how to use a CO2 cartridge correctly. Thanks, Josh.