I walked to work this morning. Three miles through the picturesque back streets of my home town. Why? Because my bike has a flat tyre, and is at the office. I didn’t really give it much thought beyond “it will be easier to replace the inner tube than fix the puncture”, and the thought stayed that way throughout the day - ticking away at the back of my mind, while I wrestled with programming problems.
So it was that I stepped out of the office this evening, tools in hand, ready to replace the rear inner tube. The back wheel was on a quick release, so no tools were needed in the end - I had it to bits in moments, the tyre off, the old inner tube thrown into a nearby skip, and the new one out of it’s packet.
Ah.
There are two common kinds of valves on bikes - Schrader, and Presta. Presta valves are skinny and long, Schrader are fatter and not so long. Cutting a pretty short story even shorter before you fall asleep, the valve of the new inner tube didn’t fit through the hole in the wheel where it’s supposed to poke.
I laughed… (not really… I was pretty annoyed)
I guess that’s what you get when your other half rings you from the bargain isle of the supermarket, asking if you want some of the inner tubes she’s just spied for 25% of their normal cost. If I had engaged my brain, I would have told her which ones to get. We all know that I didn’t.
There’s probably some story here about planning, and thinking ahead - or maybe just thinking…
Tomorrow I will take a slight detour en-route to work, and pay a visit to our local bicycle monopoly - and sheepishly buy yet another inner tube while glancing furtively at the un-puncturable tyres over in the corner.