Due to some scheduling issues, my bike/carpool situation disappeared for two weeks. Yesterday, we were on again, and the heat did not lessen my excitement. A couple of blocks into my morning ride, I realized that I left my flat repair kit and pump at home (the hazard of riding two bikes and switching those items back and forth). BUB and Baby Jake have different size wheels, so I did have a spare tube, and I opted to keep going instead of returning for the repair kit and pump, given the short (2 mile) distance to my coworker’s house.
Later in the day . . .
I returned to BUB after work, loaded up my bags in the high-class carrying device, started to wheel my bike out of the yard, and realized that my rear tire was completely flat. And me without the repair kit and pump — brilliant!
I quickly realized that half-carrying the bike (I didn’t want to damage the bike tire or the wheel by rolling it on the flat) for 2 miles in 100-degree heat was not a recipe for having a good night, and so I called SAG support. My one day of not using my car to get to work was going to end with the car after all 😦
But not all was lost — Matthew offered to bike over with a pump and repair kit. My knight in sweaty clothing arrived in minutes, and we quickly changed the tube and headed home at last.
I didn’t need a sink full of water to find this guy; it jumped right out at me when I inspected the tube this morning. I patched it up, and I’ll go ahead and swap the repaired tube for the brand new one that I put in last night so I can have the new one as a back-up again.
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Green tip: If you have an inner tube that’s beyond repair, or one that has multiple patches and really has seen better days, check with your local bike shop about recycling options. Many bike shops will take old tubes and tires for recycling.
Her Green Life 