Goddamn puncture gods

Resound said:

I suppose with the wet weather it was almost inevitable, and to be honest,
the puncture itself didn't bother me all that much. I popped the front wheel
off and hauled out the tube with elan and brio. I patched and reinserted the
tube with the casual rapier quickness of a formula one pit crew. Then, with
the sort of debonair panache that Errol Flynn would have sold his moustache
to Groucho Marx to possess, I ripped the valve out of the tube.

Bumfaces.

No spare tube.

Double bumfaces.

On the bright side, once I found a bike shop and bought two new tubes (one
to use there and then and one to go into the pannier as a spare...see, I
actually CAN learn) I discovered that the surprisingly skinny Vittoria tube
made a noticeable difference to the rolling friction of the tyre. I'm
tempted to throw the other one into the back tyre and keep the nasty old fat
tube as the spare.

oi! next time i fly thru Kew junction waving arms at you madly (like a... madman)
have the common decency to recognise the person you have only met once (and on foot without helmet. lycra and bike 🙄 ), wave back!!!
instead of just standing at lights looking dumbfounded at nutter flying (like a dutchman 😄) past as if you dont know who the hell I am!!!
Taht's the 2nd time i have now seen you wearin the same kit. you not into some weird stinky-type cult are yer? 😄

"flyingdutch" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Resound said:

I suppose with the wet weather it was almost inevitable, and to be
honest,
the puncture itself didn't bother me all that much. I popped the front
wheel
off and hauled out the tube with elan and brio. I patched and
reinserted the
tube with the casual rapier quickness of a formula one pit crew. Then,
with
the sort of debonair panache that Errol Flynn would have sold his
moustache
to Groucho Marx to possess, I ripped the valve out of the tube.

Bumfaces.

No spare tube.

Double bumfaces.

On the bright side, once I found a bike shop and bought two new tubes
(one
to use there and then and one to go into the pannier as a spare...see,
I
actually CAN learn) I discovered that the surprisingly skinny Vittoria
tube
made a noticeable difference to the rolling friction of the tyre. I'm
tempted to throw the other one into the back tyre and keep the nasty
old fat
tube as the spare.

oi! next time i fly thru Kew junction waving arms at you madly (like
a... madman)
have the common decency to recognise the person you have only met once
(and on foot without helmet. lycra and bike 🙄 ), wave back!!!
instead of just standing at lights looking dumbfounded at nutter flying
(like a dutchman 😄) past as if you dont know who the hell I am!!!
Taht's the 2nd time i have now seen you wearin the same kit. you not
into some weird stinky-type cult are yer? 😄

--
flyingdutch

Every time I spot someone on a bike coming up Bridge Rd I wind up asking
myself "Do I know them?" I'm really REALLY bad with recognising faces and
matching them with names. Especially when there are helmets and glasses
confusing the issue. I suppose I could always wave at every cyclist that
goes past, but that means I'm not waving at you, just at a cyclist who has
the potential to be someone I know 🙂 That's essentially the only jersey I
own, but I'm short on work shirts too, so it gets washed every couple of
days. Besides, the only person who has to smell it is me.

Resound said:

Every time I spot someone on a bike coming up Bridge Rd I wind up

asking

Quoted message said:

myself "Do I know them?" I'm really REALLY bad with recognising faces and
matching them with names. Especially when there are helmets and glasses
confusing the issue. I suppose I could always wave at every cyclist that
goes past, but that means I'm not waving at you, just at a cyclist who has
the potential to be someone I know 🙂 That's essentially the only jersey I
own, but I'm short on work shirts too, so it gets washed every couple of
days. Besides, the only person who has to smell it is me.

What's the jersey? Then if I go past you on Bridge Rd I can abuse you
for not waving back too.

DaveB

Resound said:

Every time I spot someone on a bike coming up Bridge Rd I wind up asking
myself "Do I know them?" I'm really REALLY bad with recognising faces and
matching them with names. Especially when there are helmets and glasses
confusing the issue. I suppose I could always wave at every cyclist that
goes past, but that means I'm not waving at you, just at a cyclist who has
the potential to be someone I know 🙂 That's essentially the only jersey I
own, but I'm short on work shirts too, so it gets washed every couple of
days. Besides, the only person who has to smell it is me.

haha. just wave at everyone. or give 'the nod of the brother/sister/hood' 😄
or do that thing that country folk do and just laconically raise one finger off the bars as you go by. 🙄

you ride up bridge rd and go round the 'bend of death'??? (where it becomes Church St). BTW that stretch of footpath next to the tramstop has recently been deemed a shared path, so you have a viable bailout

flyingdutch said:

haha. just wave at everyone. or give 'the nod of the
brother/sister/hood' 😄
or do that thing that country folk do and just laconically raise one
finger off the bars as you go by. 🙄

you ride up bridge rd and go round the 'bend of death'??? (where it
becomes Church St). BTW that stretch of footpath next to the tramstop
has recently been deemed a shared path, so you have a viable bailout

Saw some amazingly stupid driving on the bend of death the other night.
I'm heading home along Bridge Rd. Traffic coming off Church St onto
Bridge Rd have just got a green light and starting through the
intersection. Meanwhile two maniacs have come up the outside of the
traffic, through the tram stop along the tram lines (ie. on the right of
the big yellow things), realised they are not going to get to the
intersection before the traffic starts and beat the traffic, so they
accelarate up to around 80kmh, still can't make it to the front and try
to "merge" with the other traffic doing about 20kmh. man was I glad I
was going in the opposite direction.

DaveB

Quoted message said:

*ouch*

I wish I could find out what it is that pleases the puncture goddess
(!) so much. I ride around 12-15,000 kms a year and have been doing so
for the last 4 years or so.

And... (I'm almost ashamed to admit it!)

.... I have only had 2 punctures.

And... (ok, this I really am ashamed of, but maybe it will be
therapeutic admitting it)...

one of them was a slow leak in the trusty commuter that I just got the
LBS to change as it was going in for a service that week anyway!

I know I've just tempted fate! Watch this space, I'll be stranded
somewhere between Laverton and Werribee tomorrow morning for gloating
:-(

ok, so this kind of proves my theory of balance in the universe thing...
i had 12 puntures in the first three weeks of last month.

damn, need to spread that luck around a bit!

cheers,

kim
~ /me grumbles about three corner jacks, etc glass, etc, railway tracks etc

alison_b_62 said:

... I have only had 2 punctures.

oooh, you're gonna get it now 😉

-kt

--
Kingsley Turner,
(mailto: [email hidden])
http://MadDogsBreakfast.com/ABFAQ - news:aus.bicycle Frequenly Asked Questions

"DaveB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Resound said:

Every time I spot someone on a bike coming up Bridge Rd I wind up

asking

Quoted message said:

myself "Do I know them?" I'm really REALLY bad with recognising faces and
matching them with names. Especially when there are helmets and glasses
confusing the issue. I suppose I could always wave at every cyclist that
goes past, but that means I'm not waving at you, just at a cyclist who
has the potential to be someone I know 🙂 That's essentially the only
jersey I own, but I'm short on work shirts too, so it gets washed every
couple of days. Besides, the only person who has to smell it is me.

What's the jersey? Then if I go past you on Bridge Rd I can abuse you for
not waving back too.

DaveB

Yellow long sleeve, riding a black OCR3. Although I decided today that,
actually, I do need another jersey (I've got a sleeveless, but that's got
knobs on in June) so I bought an orange long sleeve.