It was a very interesting day, today I got to play bike mechanic. I removed the rear tire (flat) from my bike and headed for the bike store. While I was purchasing a new tire and tube for the bike I checked to see if there was a more road appropriate tire to replace the current one. Low and behold there was a narrower tire that was a little smoother and fit in the same rim. No brainer right? So I bought 2 sets one for the front one for the rear.
The only problem with this plan is that I had never changed a tire on a bike before. I had a general idea of what to do but no specific knowledge. It turned out it was a lot less onerous than expected and went faster than I thought and the only complaint I had was my hands got really dirty. It probably only took me 10 times longer than a reasonable bike tech could do it.
I was a little apprehensive about going for a ride on the newly installed tires. I figured that I would get halfway through and find out that I did something wrong and end up walking home carrying a crippled bike. I planned a route that would keep me fairly close to home from any point and armed myself with my cell phone and headed out the door.
The new tires performed flawlessly. The only issue I had was that I forgot to hook up the front brake and it was easily fixed. The difference in the tire profile was noticeable, the bike felt faster and was easier to handle. I left a little late and was rewarded with a ride into the setting sun on the way home. It looked something like this when I finally pulled into my drive.
Stage 14 of the tour and I rode 10.5 km in 26:3o minutes to complete my stage of “Le Tour Challenge”
Plod On.
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