In Which I Hope 13 Is Lucky

Just before 3 Saturday afternoon. I've replaced the rear tube in Clarence, my blue hybrid bike, and am getting ready to ride the Fancy Beast, my mountain bike, on a quick "CR Biker hates to use tools because they always stress him" bike ride. To be fair, I understand it's my own incompetence with tools that causes the stress, not the tools.

 

My wife heard it—I did not. Our “new” car, a late model Dodge Dart, was parked up Devonshire Drive, two blocks from our house.

We’ve hired a contractor to replace our back fence, destroyed by the derecho last summer, and he was working today, so we had moved our vehicles out of our driveway while he was hauling stuff back to our backyard.

Then, tonight, a 17-year-old girl who lives in our neighborhood embarked on a quick trip to the store to buy her dad a soft drink. Her mission failed. Somehow, her wallet fell down the floor of her car, and she reached for it, while driving.

BAM! Two cars totaled, including one I own. Not the best news, Universe, although, to be truthful, not the most impactful bad news of this pandemic year, either. No democracies were endangered nor animal viruses spread in this particular tragedy.

Still, the accident heard by a wife but not by a husband was impactful enough. I liked that Dodge, it was comfortable to drive, had manual transmission—which I prefer, although it’s an increasingly rare choice. It was a small 4-door sedan, easy to set grandchildren into the back and drive off.

It, and the car the girl was driving, are probably totaled. She smacked her left front into my car’s left front, destroying her tire (tyre is for bikes) and two of mine. Although her engine still runs (her father drove it a short way on the rim to get it out of the street), both cars would need extensive, expensive body work.

Fortunately, although she had to be going at a pretty good clip, the girl herself was apparently undamaged. And I am glad that she has insurance.

So next week looks like a biking week for me. The weather should be cooperative, and now there is more of a need. I just hope my tyres (bike this time) hold up—it’s been the spring of flats for me, and I don’t want that trend to continue.

Today, I fixed, yet again, the back flat tyre on Clarence, my hybrid bike. The old tube (which was only a fortnight “old”) had a little tear about 4 inches from the valve—a tear that was on the inside of the tube, so it could not have been a wire or nail. I checked and double checked the wheel—the spoke tape is new, and the rim feels quite smooth. As soft as a baby’s behind, if the baby were made of metal covered in tape.

Back wheel of Clarence, post fixing. Note the tyre holding up the bike as it should. Long may it be so inflated.

I’ve had way too much experience with fixing flats this spring. The Fancy Beast mountain bike has a new tyre on the rear, too. This is the second time in recent weeks that I’ve replaced the back tyre on Clarence.

I’m getting better at this whole swapping inner tube things, it probably only took about 20 minutes or so, and I’m hoping that my skills in this area have more of a chance to atrophy. I am not used to three flats in one spring—my usual rate is probably one flat every few years.

After repairing the tyre, I thought I would take a stress-reducing bike ride. Maybe I was flash forwarding to the accident tonight. Anyway, I didn’t want to chance using Clarence, so I decided that bike could sit for an hour or so. Plus we had plenty of rain overnight and the streets were quite damp in spots—more of a day for the winter beater mountain bike than the commuting bike.

I wheeled out the Fancy Beast and took off. The west wind was rather brisk, but despite that, I feel that I made good time. I averaged a bit over 9 mph—slow, I know, to most bikers, but even though there were a few trail miles, half the ride was in town, so there was a fair amount of starting and stopping in that average velocity.

I rode to the Cedar River Trail and headed north to the Cedar Valley Nature Trail, doing a quick loop around the Robins city park located on the side trail. It was a bit more than 13 miles in total, and despite the wind, was a ride I enjoyed.

The Fancy Beast in Robins on the side trail near the park. Some little creeks run in these woods, and overflowed from last night's rain. I stopped here to drink, make this image, and to go slowly through the wet. I had passed a mom and son headed the other way on their bikes, and I think that's their tracks.

 

Fast forward a few hours. I starting to write a quiz tonight, when there was a 10 p.m. knock on my door.

From a neighbor with bad news. Well, I enjoyed my bicycle ride today, which did take more than an hour. And maybe the ride helped me stay calm.

At least nobody was hurt. And there was still air in the rear tyre of Clarence when I got home on the Fancy Beast.

Knock on wood. But not on cars, please.

My ride today. Badly drawn picture of a parked bicycle.