So, we had our first nice weekend day over the past 3 weekends and I was finally going to see how long it would take me to commute to work on my bike... Well, my girl and I made it to my office in 31 minutes... it was 6.8miles i think... pretty good time... especially considering it takes me 25-45 minutes in my car... I'd rather ride my bike... either if it was longer... So, anyways... I was happy, we turn around and head back home... Well, I was cruising down the sidewalk on this bridge over a little water stream and PSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHH!!!! I'm like... Son of a Goat! and I stop immediately and look back at my rear tire which was already flat.... dangit... I looked down at my computer and it had just clicked over 26 miles total on the odometer for my brand spanking new bike... and I got a flat...

It turns out that there was a bunch of glass from beer bottles that these morons must throw out the window to break against the sidewalk... oh yeah, that makes them cool... *sigh*... so, anywho... I start walking home... i get back to the apartment like 25 minutes later and look at my tire... here's what it looks like...






I went to the local bike shop and bought 2 new tubes (cuz i want to have a spare)... the 1 kid said I should buy a new tire as this one was pretty much screwed... the other kid (who i've been dealing with and is really cool) said pretty much the same... so, I asked to see what they had... He had this Specialized something-or-other tire for $15... and they had this Armadillo tire for $30... Neither of them match the current front tire... I guess thats to be expected when you have these fancy tires with a red stripe on em... He said they might be able to order a matching one of the current tires...

So, what do you guys think? is it completely hosed? Sucks that tire is shot after only 26 miles... and it sucks if I put one of those other tires on that it wont match the front... or am i just being a little baby?

What tire(s) should I look at? Can I find them cheaper on the internet? Is there any trick to changing the tube/tire? What kind of mini pump should I buy to mount on the bike so when this happens again i can fix it on the road?

oh... I asked if there was anyway I could just jerry-rig the tire to get a little more life out of it.. and the one kid said he's seen people put duct tape on the inside of the tire over the slash... hehe... any comments?

thanks guys!
-mike