On my way home last night from SHOVE Industry's Home Office for an hour on the Tensiometer to tighten my I9's I passed a pushing cyclist glumly walking down the side walk. From across the street I could see that his back tire was flat so down the road when it was safe I made a legal U turn in the little auto viper and caught up with this bike commuter gone free wheel pusher. I identified myself not as a creep or stalker but as a representative of The Charlotte Messenger Association who had his bag with him and the skill to fix the flat. At first Dave who works construction at the new tower that I reported on in January was skeptical thinking that there are only 12 messengers in Charlotte a city of a million and the odds of me actually being who I said I was were slim. I guess it was the wheels in the back and my general composure that made him realize I had credit so he said he would be happy to let me fix his tire but he had no money. "In God We Trust Units?", I do not need those for this type of operation. I explained to him that the fine folks at singlespeeds give me enough free tubes to help the general public for the next 50 years and that I still had them left over from the 1999 MS150.I parked the car on a side street, opened the hatch and pulled out the necessities to fix the flat. Dave was impressed at the speed in which I dropped his old tube and replaced it with a new. I let him know if you do it often enough it becomes as natural as brushing your teeth. He had a high volume/high pressure pump with him so I got him up to about 90 PSI in no time. When I pulled the pump off the stem I forgot to twist the lever so the head of the presta valve ripped off and the tire went flat again in seconds. Shit, I am supposed to be using my mad skills and now I look like a rookie in front of this fellow commuter. I told Dave it was no problem to fix again because I had another tube.
Process over again but this time when I went to install the second new tube I noticed that the valve stem itself was radially cracked half way around. Sorry Dave I had lifted your hopes and now I have crushed them in the same few minutes. He did not seem to care and would not even take a ride saying that he only had a few blocks left anyway. I gave him my card and told him to call me tomorrow which is today and I would deliver 5 tubes to him at the Big Building. He thanked me and mentioned that shortly before I pulled over to help him he had picked up a penny heads up and thought to himself maybe he would find some luck.
2 comments:
Okay, well.....I am hooked, like a fish on (well, other fish or even shrimp) your line. What happened?? Did you get the (5) tubes to Dave? Did Dave push his bike into work!!?!? lol, WHY WERE YOU IN A UM..UM (clearing throat), CAR!! proceed, at your convenience since it is your blog. Merci, and Carpe' Diem!
hey anonymous?
i got the 4(not 5 because I split with him what I had left in my inventory) tubes to him the next day and he did not believe i rode a fixy....not even sure hey understood what he was looking at....no he did not push his bike to work, he just walked and i was in a car because i was carrying big wheels. i do take the car viper sometimes....less than most i suppose but not as perfect as say Eustace.....who are you?
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