On a morning like this morning, I really wonder why I don’t bike in more often. It was beautiful. There was a little chill to the air, but just enough to keep you from getting too hot while biking — this morning was great.
I would have biked in yesterday, but I was having tire issues. On Wednesday evening, I checked my pressure, and I was a little low on the rear tire – so I added some air. On Thursday morning, my rear tire was f-l-a-t. Ok, no problem — walked the bike back to the house, called out Jeremy (who has a little more experience working with bikes) and we changed the tire after a few minutes. I start on my way again, and over the first hill I hear a *poof* and nearly fall off . . . ah, a blowout. I walk the bike back home, throw it on the truck, and make my way into work.
Over lunch, I go over to the bike shop, where they fix me up and get me a spare tube (didn’t charge me for the original tube, as they believe that it may have been defective from the start), but by the time I’ve driven back to the office, my rear wheel is flat again. I drive back to the bike shop (coming back late from lunch be damned) and they replace the rim liner from a plastic one to a cloth one. I’m not entirely sure how that was the issue, but things went really well on a test ride last night and then this beautiful morning.
With the price for a gallon of regular unleaded hitting $3.966 in Pennsylvania, and with my truck getting 15 miles to the gallon, and with a 40 mile round trip to work, I am saving $10.50 / day that I commute. I really need to do this more than once a week. I think it’s plausible to get in four days next week. Especially if I start sleeping in another 15 minutes so that I can trick my body into wanting to get up, I think this plan can work.
