So late last night I pinch-flatted my rear wheel. I knew I had time to change a flat in the morning, so I put it off. Woke up, swapped the tube because the pinch flat is next to the valve, pumped up the wheel, and discovered a hole in the sidewall. Patch the new hole, cut a tire boot out of an old CTA card (used to live in Chicago and BART cards are cardboard not plastic), go to put the wheel back on the bike....my front tire is flat too.

Okay, I'll be late to work but I have a flexible job. The other wheel is an easy patch and I leave them inflated while I go shower, looks like they're holding. I head out the door, towards MacArthur BART, as I rapidly approach Telegraph (which is a busy road) I go to brake and discover I have left both brakes unattached! I pull left rapidly, enter traffic going the wrong way, get back into the sidewalk via a driveway and brake with my feet. Adrenaline!

The rest of the morning proceeded without incident; the patches and the boot both held, and I'll pick up a new rear tire over lunch. It feels amazing to be alive.