So, I’m bike commuting to work twice a week now, with the intention of moving up to three times a week toward the end of the summer. It’s been great – the 19.5-mile ride (one way) is feeling shorter all the time!
The best part is, I’m not climbing the walls because I can’t run these days! (I’ll be re-visiting that at some point in the near future, but biking is NOT going away. It’s so peaceful in the morning – I hit the road between 5:30 and 5:45, so I actually don’t see that many cars before I hit the W&OD trail in Vienna.
Another bonus – I’ve lost a couple of pounds over the last three weeks, which I’m happy about. I’d like to lose about 5-7 more.
Everything was great, that is, until today.
Nearing the end of my ride, I’m on a side street. There are cars parked on both sides, and a car kind of crowded me a bit. Traffic ramps up a bit over the last couple of blocks of the ride, so I decided to just jump onto the sidewalk and dismount. So I dumped into a driveway and came out on the sidewalk. Before I could react, I hit a segment that was raised by a tree root, and NAILED it. No time to pull up – just hit it full-force. The impact nearly sent me over the handlebars.
I immediately heard that familiar hissing sound. Dammit – I flatted my back tire just two blocks from work!
“No big deal,” I say – I’ll just walk the rest of the way, and fix it when I get there.
It became a big deal when I started walking. I was holding the bike by the stem, and noticed that turning it took more effort than normal. I looked down, and realized I had also flatted my front tire.
Well, crap. Two flat tires. Given that they went out at the same time, I’m surprised I didn’t wipe out right after hitting that mini-curb.
Oh, well. Don’t have enough kit to fix two of them. Off to the bike shop – gotta have my ride ready for Thursday!
The Runnin' Major 