Every year the challenge I set for myself is to make it to the end of November riding my bike to work. The conditions I normally set though are that if I get a flat after October, or it snows (whether it sticks or not), my biking season is over.
Every year I come up short. Last year, my bike was stolen in September, and I decided against buying a bike until the spring, so that cut my run short. In 2009, there was an early snowfall in November, so again I came up short.
This year, I had decided that unless there was snow that stuck, I was going to continue. There was no snow, and it was really mild. It looked like I was going to make it. Then on the 15th, two weeks shy of my goal, I blew out my tire as I was just heading back home from work leaving me to walk the rest of the way home. Foiled again.
Before this year, I had no clue on how to fix a flat on my bike, so I would have to bring it in. The reason I wouldn’t do it in November, is that the bike shop closest to me closes in the fall, and the one downtown is just a pain to get to. By the time I could get my bike downtown and repaired, the month would be over, or just about. This year, I finally learned how to fix a flat myself. Therefore, I could have gone downtown and just bought an inner tube and fixed my bike so I could ride out the last two weeks, but I decided against it. My faithful steed would be stabled with a hobbled leg once again.
Oh well! There’s always next year. My cunning plan for next year’s attempt is to buy a couple of inner tubes during the summer so I have one readily on hand if I get a flat in the fall. Where was this genius idea in July?