A tiny piece of glass

My first week of Bike to Work month didn't go so well. Last Thursday I got a flat tire on my way to school. Luckily I was only about 3/4 mi from school, but it was completely pouring rain. I was in a hurry to make it to a meeting with a student, so I opted just to walk my bike the rest of the way rather than change it in the rain. I don't really like changing bike tires so I just left it in my office that night and went to the pool to swim. I had planned to take the bus home after swimming. But after one ONE lap, my goggles broke (there is no way I will swim laps without goggles). So I got out, walked all the way back up to my office, changed my flat, and rode home. I didn't ride my bike again for a few days because I wanted to buy another tube so I'd have a spare. Of course, as soon as I bought a spare tube, I got ANOTHER flat riding home on Wednesday. Ahhhhhh!

I was only seven blocks from home, and it was raining again. So I used my mom's favorite flat tire technique: I just aired it up with my little hand pump. That was good enough to make it the rest of the way home.

Why does it always seem like flats happen in pairs? At least to me (it was the same wheel both times). Ryan suggested I very carefully check the tire and my rim and see if anything was stuck in there. I should have done this when I changed the first flat, but I just wanted to change that tire as fast as possible so I could get home.

He was totally right. There was a tiny piece of glass stuck in the tire and poking through just enough to puncture the tube. So hopefully I've fixed the problem for now. I did pack two spare tubes and a patch kit for this weekend though. I'm heading over to the Olympic Peninsula tonight to camp and tomorrow we're going to check out the Olympic Discovery Trail.