What The?? Not Again!

Sadly, as excited as I once was in the prospect of owning a bike has turned into the realization that I have actually purchased a money pit. As I sit here today getting my hands greasy in the removal and repair of my front wheel inner-tube, I can't figure out why this seems to be happening only to me. I am repairing my fourth flat tire in two weeks. Ordinarily I might even start to suspect foul play, but the truth is that I have been the victim of living in a town with thorn bushes...everywhere. Unfortunately, these bushes are everywhere and as forces natural and otherwise knock the thorns onto the ground, you can do nothing to avoid them. In fact it is not until long after I have run over the thorn that I even discover it- usually in the form of the flat tire. The flats have certainly left me in a jam a couple of times- forcing me to call a taxi to rescue me and deliver me and the bike to the repair shop. The holes are usually small and can take as long as a day to start showing signs of flattening. But, man, that moment when you first notice the tire going flat and you hope against all hope that it is the difference in air temperature from when you pumped it up last, until now- it is a feeling like your boat has just sprung a pin-sized leak and even though you don’t need to jump overboard now, you know that you need to start thinking of something to remedy the situation.

I have now had to replace four tubes so frequently that the guy at the bike shop actually offered me "self-sealing tubes" which are supposed to be perfect for this kind of puncture. So far, that is the only tube that has not fallen victim to the thorny pricks. The money is all relative. I talk to El who has had some recent bike tire puncture issues of her own and as we compare costs, we can't help but realize she has spent about the same on tires and tubes as I have spent on my entire bike, set of repair tools, tires, tubes, and accessories...combined! But, when you are on a volunteer budget, those prices can be the difference between eating a pork chop or eating beets and buckwheat for a week. I assume that my interest in bike riding will begin to wane as the weather turns a little cooler in the fall. (Tangent warning): a word that brings me to a recently pondered question- we do things in the wintertime, the springtime, and the summertime. Have you ever done anything in the falltime or autumntime? For the sake of my point, I will reiterate that the frequency of my biking will probably slow down in the autumntime. That timeframe given, I also expect my bike maintenance bills to drop substantially around the same time. That would make me happy- just the money part...I kind of like the bike riding part.

The thorns that wreak havoc on my inner-tubes. On the bright side I know the Russian words for "broken", "inner-tube", and "fix"