yesterday was the first day in about 10 days when the temperature started at 40 and went up instead of starting cold and finally reaching 40, plus we had sun!!!! just when everyone was starting to think they had gone blind. Eager to take advantage of the magic trio of warmer temp, sun and very little air movement I headed out for a bike ride and flatted out the rear tire 10 miles into the ride. I downed gear and set about changing it which is always a challenge since I have arthritic hands and the tire, a race lite . is very tight and firm. After an hour's struggle, ( remove wheel, assemble tools, lever tire off of wheel, check tube and tire for hole ( yes it was a pinch flat) and cuts and rough or spiky things, partially inflate a new tube, insert into tire, roll tire back onto rim, remount the wheel, yes it was the rear and then re-inflate it only to discover that I had another pinch flat.
I considered calling a cab but I was out in the country and there weren't any locally so as I was sitting theire thinking that a 10 mile hike with an injured bike was not impossible, an angel in the form of a Sears and Roebuck repair guy did a U turn and stopped to ask if he could give me a ride home.
This guy took 20 minutes out of his 30 minute lunch break to drive me in the direction opposite to where he was going, to deliver me and my bike to my door. I offered him money and he turned it down, wished me luck and drove off.
Between that and the gorgeous weather, and a bit of an extra glow form the ime in the sun, quite restored my faith in the local humans.
