A shameful secret

This post will probably receive a lot of disapproving shakes of the head from roadies everywhere when it is read, but it is about time I let the cat out the bag. Since I bought my first road bike late last summer, I have had the good fortune to have avoided all pot-holes, broken shards of glass, sharp stones and other assorted enemies of the road tyre. In 9 months of biking I've never had a puncture, not one, which in turn means that I have never actually had to fix one.

I’ve recently booked a biking trip to the Pyrenees (more on that another time) and the thought of being stuck at the top of a chilly mountain whilst clutching at a set of tyre levers wondering “what the hell are these things used for?” prompted me to run a puncture-fixing drill. So last night I cleared a bit of space in the living room (the missus is currently away on holiday so I didn’t get told off for fixing my bike indoors!) and set to work. I deflated the tube, played around with the tyre levers and eventually managed to get the tyre and the inner tube off. That act in itself took me far too long. The real pain however came in trying to put the tube and, more particularly, the tyre back on the wheel. The diagram I pulled off the net was not helpful at all and minute upon annoying, agonising minute ticked by as I wrestled Steve-Irwin style with the tyre. If that happened during the Etape I would have been in the broom wagon for sure - the whole embarrassing attempt took me just over an hour in total.

My blood was about the reach boiling point but just before steam started pouring from my ears I managed to find the trick to it and eventually got it sorted. I also took the opportunity to test out the new mini-track pump I got from Wiggle recently (very handy by the way). Despite the fact I probably burned more calories sorting the tyre than cycling along to Fight Club, I’m (fairly) glad I gave it a go. Better to discover the ins and outs of bike maintenance in the comfort of your flat than on the side of a road in the pouring rain. Maybe I’ll need at least one more try though…