Flats....In Stereo !!

Bike riding is a sport meant to reduce your stress and improve your overall physical condition, not frustrate you to the point of throwing your bike over the edge of a cliff. Flat tires, especially the recurring variety, don't do anything but add to the negative, unhappy state that all of us hate about exercise: being stranded in the middle of nowhere, without any recourse or help in sight.

This morning, my friend Stephen and I were cruising down Parmer Lane, when all of a sudden my bike made a new noise. "What's that sound," says Steve. I, also unsure of it origin, said "I...I don't know." My bike makes weird noises periodically, as folks who have ridden with me can attest but this was indeed a new one. After a few seconds, I felt the onset of that squishy sensation that we cyclist come to know as a tire rapidly losing 100 psi of pressure and proceeding to go flat. Except, in my case it was friggin' both tires !! That...was THE noise on this day.

I felt the onset of both embarassment and the flaring of my temper. After all, my new "Shark Skin" tires that I was earlier bragging about had failed me, on merely my second ride with them. I suppose that will teach me to not boast about cycling equipment ever again. At this point, Stephen jokingly says, "Scooter, you just had two flats...in stereo! I've never seen THAT happen before." Needless to say, this was going to end badly. After all, this was flats number five and six in my last three rides. I was not a happy cycling camper.

That's it, I exclaimed...I'm trading these blanketty blank tires in for the "Gator Skins." I am TIRED of these flats ! Stephen (ever the diplomat) waits a few seconds so that my blood pressure begins to subside and says "yeah, that might be a good idea...I've never seen you this P.O.'d before and its starting to make me a little nervous." ....lol