Consecutive bicycle work commute number 2037:
Yesterday afternoon I went down to the basement parking area and attempted to fix the flat front tire so I could ride home. The puncture in the tube looked like a pinch flat. I tend to run lower PSI on the studded tires in the winter, and I'm guessing I had it too low to begin with, compounded with the even lower pressure that occurs in negative temps. The tire probably had too little air and once I hit something, it was game over.
Fixing the flat seemed simple enough until my 23 year old rubber rim strip crumbled like an old rubber band. That was problematic. I briefly considered just putting the tube in and riding home without any rim tape, but wasn't in the mood to have another flat and do more walking. So I made the "call of shame" to have my son bring my truck and take me and the bike home.
On the way home we stopped at my usual LBS so I could pick up more rim tape. They're normally open until 7 PM, but when we pulled up there was a note on the door that said "gone skiing." So we drove to a different LBS that was still open (and apparently weren't skiers.) I wanted to upgrade to a nicer cloth tape, but they didn't have any in stock that was the size I needed. However, they did have a rubber rim strip like the one that my wheel originally had, so I went with that option just so I could get the bike back on the road.
They looked me up in their computer and I hadn't bought anything from them since 2010. I felt bad that my first purchase from them in 15 years was only $1.79 for a replacement rubber rim strip. So when I got home I gave them a shout-out on social media for being helpful. I figured it was the least I could do.
This morning, once again the temp wasn't what they had predicted. When I went to bed it was supposed to be 2°F this morning, but when I got up my thermometer said 14°F. I wasn't going to complain at all about them being inaccurate in this case. However, once I was riding I realized that the humidity was extremely high, so it felt almost as cold as the previous sub-zero morning.
I did have a tail wind though, which combined with the fully inflated front tire meant I was able to maintain speeds of 12-13 mph for much of the commute. On my studded tire winter bike, that's smokin' fast.
Knowing that the client showers would probably be ice cold again, I showered at home. And when I got to the office I had one of the people who work there put in a facilities work request to get their water heater repaired. So hopefully that little hiccup will get resolved soon.