So I was out on a ride last night when I got a flat about 12 miles from home. I have put about 600 miles on the bike since I bought it in June, so perhaps it is to be expected that I would eventually have a flat. Well I keep meaning to take a bike maintenance class but haven’t yet so I really had no clue as to how to actually change the tire. Prior to June the last time I did serious biking was in college. And course it was the hard one… the rear tire… I managed to get the tire off and then figured out how to use the tool in my kit to get the rim off to get to the inner tube. I found the leak and read the instructions on the patch kit to get the tube re-sealed. I then spent considerable time trying to get the tube back inside the tire and get the tire back on the rims without pinching the tube. Eventually I did this and pumped the tire back up to 80 PSI (it is a high pressure tire). At this point someone stopped and asked if I needed help and I was feeling pretty confident so I said no thanks. I started to try to get my tire back on the rear axle through the chain and properly settled into the right place. Half an hour later I was still wrestling with the thing and I (and my bike) was covered in grease. I just could not understand why this was being so difficult to get back on when it was so easy to take off. A paceline of 20 cyclists blew by on the opposite side and for some reason not a one of them saw my waves for assistance. I was actually slightly relieved since I was acutely embarrassed that I could not put the back tire back on. The thought of 20 guys staring at me while I explained this was really too much to bear. So an hour later it is starting to get dark and my wife calls and wants to come get me and I say… “no way” because I was determined to figure it out. Finally I use my iPhone to lookup detailed instructions on how to do this and of course learn it really is trivial once you set the index shifters to lowest gear on both front and back. In fact I took it off and put it back on 5 times just to assure myself that I could do this the next time it happened…… which was 10 minutes later when I ran over a broken bottle I could not avoid. Sigh.

By the time I got home the kids were in bed, I was covered in grease (including my new jersey I got on my 50 mile Saturday event, my water bottle, my headphones, my gloves and pretty much the entire bike.) My wife didn’t understand why I seemed so cheerful and it was hard to explain that I had a sense of deep satisfaction in doing the repair myself and getting home on my own. I think I had always been a little nervous about a breakdown and now I am not. I am going to grab some of those disposable latex gloves and keep them with my repair kit for next time.

And there will be a next time.