bicycle woes

oooohhh... new tools :)

taking the tire off the wheel

i am officially good at replacing the inner tube on the rear wheel of my bike.  why?  because i've had lots of practice this week.  see below for more stories to begin my cycle saga.  my tire went flat again earlier this week. of course, you know that i am cal's daughter, so i have already stocked up on a basic set of tools and replacement tubes for just such an occasion.  after the first incident, we want to be prepared. so i walked my bike to the office where i had those tools (trygve has a set at home, so i'm covered both places that i spend most of my time this way).  i left the office a little early that afternoon, and within an hour had inspected, and replaced the tube and tire.  i could not figure out what was wrong with the tire to cause so many flats, but simply hoped that this new tube would hold up.  the tube that i took out had been patched, so i hoped that it simply had leaked there--but as you can see from the pictures below, that was not the case.

the old patch from 4 days prior

i carefully made my way home thursday evening, planning to stop at the grocery for supplies to make dinner that night.  julie came over for a proper "southern" meal before she leaves for england.  unfortunately, i didn't make it to grocery store by bicycle.  as soon as a crossed the main bridge, the tire went flat.  again.  seriously.

tear in the tube

knowing my limits, i walked approximately 3/4 of a block to the next bicycle shop--one of the 20 or so that i pass on every corner in CPH--and left my bike for them to repair.  whatever ghost it is, i hoped they would find. the next morning i picked up the bike, and they could not offer any wisdom other than the man at the jupiter bike store had sold me the wrong replacement tube--right diameter, wrong width....so, the ghost is still unknown, but so far so good.  :)  either way, i feel fairly competent with taking off and on the wheels of my bike, which i suppose is some sort of satisfaction in all this mess.

and all back together again. ;)  hopefully to stay.