Flat tire blues
Fixing a flat tire on a bicycle can be something of an art. Besides the mechanical aspect of removing the tire and replacing the tube, there’s a necessary investigation, lest the cause of the flat quickly repeat itself. Sometimes finding these causes on the road is difficult. The flat might have been from a tiny shard of glass lost in the pavement two miles back, and finding these tiny pin-pricks, even if just for the reassurance that the flat isn’t repeatable, takes a watchful eye, a sensitive ear listening above the roar of passing cars, and the patience to try to find that tiny rush of air against cheek or back of hand. And sometimes you find something like this sticking out of the side of the tire:
I should have just stayed in bed today. I got to Medical Center before realizing that I didn’t have my wallet, I was nearly run over by some jackass on the return trip who decided to pass me, turn right, and then try to turn around into my path again from the hospital parking lot, and once I actually got onto a bus, a supervisor decided to ride along, keeping that trip within 400’s oft-ignored and artificially lowered for the construction that has since moved several miles north speed limit of 55mph. And then I ran over that thing on Mt Vernon on the way home. I don’t even know what it is. A piece of a nail? Why is it so crooked? Why is there no point or head? I don’t know what it is, but it sure can mess a fellow up.
I had another road find today, one that didn’t destroy a tube. I came across a Nissan emblem in the middle of the road that looks like it came off of a car in a wreck. Apparently those things are made of plastic. I don’t know what I’m going to do with it.