Well today was interesting. As you may know I commute through a rough neighborhood in Chicago. The stereotypical "south side" of chicago as being the bad part of town isn't all that accurate. The west side, where I go, will give the south side a run for its money. Though the route I take has gotten better over the past 5 years. 5 years ago I'd never have gone the way I do. It boils down to being lazy or procrastinating so I can't take the "safer" route which adds 5 to 6 miles to my 10 mile commute, each way. The safer route is less ghetto but more congested.

Anyway, today I had a flat from my previous commute at home. So I located the glass and changed out the tube. I've had several flats since I started this route because of the piles of broken glass that litter most of the bike lane. This one was on the front tire, which was a first. The rest have been rear and happened on the road. Ok, so new tube ready time to haul butt into school. I had a hard time getting the tire off (see my "dirty" thread on the open forum). I thought to myself "should I bring my tool just in case?" Nah - what are the chances of getting another flat? Yeah that was dumb.

I was only about 3 miles into my commute when I got that familiar wobbling feeling. Front tire is flat. Of the entire route, I was in the absolute worst part. I try to ride close to the train so in case of emergency, I can get over to a station pretty quickly. This spot (Lise - 1 block east of Cicero and Washington) was in a section at the furthest point from the 2 train lines I have available. All I could think was "oh sh*t." I couldn't get my front tire off very fast. As I stood on someone's front lawn, I started to draw a LOT of attention. One guy came out of his house and asked me from across the street if I needed help. I was like no I'm ok, thanks. A woman came up shortly after and said "girl you better hurry up" and offered to stand with me as I changed the tire. After that it dawned on me I had to get out of there. But the blue line (train) was 4 blocks south. Walking it was out of the question. So I pumped up my tire and knew it would only hold for a little while. I got more unwanted attention as I slowly pedaled to the train straight south down Cicero Ave. I was going 9mph on my rim

I get to the train, and it's 8:50 am. My class is at 9am, and it's the first day. Thankfully I know the professor so I'm not too freaked. You can't take your bike on during rush hour, which goes til 9. I tried to schmooze my way on without any luck. So I agreed to wait. Then it dawned on me that my farecard was probably empty. I checked it, and had 5 cents on there. I had no cash. It's not like I could go to an ATM. So I had to call my boyfriend to come get me and drive me to school. I ended up 45 minutes late, dirty, and a combination of annoyed and shaken. I don't get spooked very easily, but today I was just happy to get out without incident. My other flats occurred in less shady areas or really close to the train where I could walk quickly and be there in a few minutes.

So I've officially thrown in the towel on that route. When I commute, I'm taking the long way. It may be more congested, but it's better than the bi-weekly flat tires that leave me in potentially dangerous spots. It only took me 8 times to learn