As I described it to Michelle, today was a crazy "interesting" day. Because of various errands this morning, I was not able to ride until 11 a.m., but then set off, intending to do a split ride because of the 1:00 Tigers game. I was just getting started out, only less than 5 minutes into the ride, when (slightly south of where Oak Valley crosses Lohr) I hit an offset in the sidewalk that gave me a flat. However, I felt good about being able to walk it back the couple of hundred feet to where I could chain it to a pole, walk back to our condo, get one of the spare tubes from the garage and also get our car, and then go back down and successfully load the trike onto the rack and take it over to Wheels in Motion to get the flat repaired. (At the same time, though, I realized how fortunate I was that this happened in such close proximity to our home, and I realized anew that I really need to learn how to repair a flat when I'm out riding.)
At Wheels in Motion, the man quickly had the tube out and noted that it was shot, and then opened the box for the spare tube I had brought. But with equal quickness, he pointed out that there are two kinds of valves for bike tires—Schrader and Presta—and what I had brought in was a Schrader, but what was needed was a Presta. At this point I was sorely tempted to pack it in for the day, but upon thinking it over I realized that I could do nothing until I got back to Jack's Bicycle in Dearborn (where I had not been since getting the new trike on May 14). I had the trike and the rack, and, well, "no time like the present," so I set off for Dearborn, praying fervently for safe travel (as I had not yet used the rack to transport it that far).
When I got the new trike back in May, I had bought a couple of spare tubes, and when I explained the situation to them, they conceded that they must have sold me the wrong type of tubes, so they swapped them out at no charge to me, and also fixed the one that went bad today. And they also pointed out to me that both front tires were badly worn and very thin (with cords showing through on one), so I bought two new tires. By the time I got home mid-afternoon, I was happy to have everything fixed and ready to go, but also sufficiently sapped of energy and gumption that I decided to take the day off after all.
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