I fixed my flat!!!

I'm not usually so excited about getting a flat, but since I was riding alone I had no choice but to try to fix it myself. Of course, it was the rear wheel. Great. I think the tube was defective since there was a half-inch gash but nothing in the tire (and three of the four tubes I bought were all defective...guess I'm lucky it lasted this long!!) First I called a friend to talk me through it...I've watched enough times, but wasn't sure I could do it myself. He insisted that without a tire iron I couldn't get the tire off and I should just get a ride. Uh, no...I wanted to do this!! (Not to mention the fact that I wanted to finish my ride!!!!) So after working on the tire, I called him back and said, "Ok, I got the tire off...and I checked it, got the tube started." He seemed shocked...what, like it's hard??!! haha

So, it took me a while to get the tube seated and clear the pinches, but I finally did and then used a cartridge (for the first time) to inflate it! Now to get the wheel back on...my fingers were covered with grease by this point...good thing I didn't have a manicure ;-)

I had just got it on and a driver pulled up, identified himself as a cyclist and asked if I needed any help...hmmm...Psycho or Cyclist??? I decided to just ask if he could check to make sure I did everything correctly before I pedalled on my way. He did, and then offered me a ride home because a storm was coming...and then came a clap of thunder...followed by lightening and a severe storm. We had been chatting, and he seemed genuine, so I thankfully took the ride.

On the way home, we discovered we knew some of the same people, and he asked about triathlon, which led to a discussion about running, and then he said Norm Frank is his father - for anyone who is not familiar with Norm Frank, he is the North American record holder for marathons. And he lives in Rochester, NY. An angel looking out for me sent Mark Frank to help, and I was grateful. Thank you, Mark!!! (And I feel so much better knowing that I can change my own flat!! :-)