Author: Barry

I seem to get flat tires on my bike about as often as … as… something that happens pretty frequently and would be funny (commentors help me fill in the blank.  ).  Seriously, I think I’m going to start a tally on the blog that tracks all of the replacement parts I get for my bike, because there always seems to be something.  Ah, the life of a bike commuter.

Now, I don’t commute full time.  Don’t let me mislead you.  However, I had been riding my bike to and from work every Monday.  This was starting to be a great way for me to get some bike riding time in.  In fact, I enjoyed it so much that the days getting shorter didn’t bother me at all, because I took advantage of Mr. Thomas Edison’s lightbulb invention and strapped one to my handlebars.  Hahah!  Not even nightfall could keep me from my rides.  That is until I ran over a hole cover while riding in the dark a couple weeks ago.

There I was cruising along behind a fellow night rider (not sure this is the official term, but I like it), and thinking to myself how great it was to be out for a ride when most of the other Seattle area commuters were fighting gridlock.  And it was great until a loud noise caught my attention.

Apparently, I ran over a cover for a hole in the ground that allows the parks and rec staff to put up posts at trailheads and remove the posts when they need to drive a vehicle down the trail.  This is nice and convenient for them, but not so much for my bike tire.  The grate jumped up in the bike fork, and punctured the tube inside my tire.  Luckily, there was no crashing involved.  Only a little walking.  At least until Hannah came and picked me up.  I owe her big time.  Riding the late night metro bus in spandex isn’t exactly an exprience I’m ready to have just yet.

Bike Parts Tally

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1 inner tube

Typically, I’m the undisputed geek in this relationship. I tinker with the iPhone relentlessly, and excitedly talk about home automation techniques.

Hannah usually patiently listens, but I can tell it wouldn’t hurt her feelings if the subject changed to something more interesting. Like what the wind is doing. Alright maybe not the wind, but pretty much anything else. At least this is what I thought until I discovered that Hannah has purchased a “greatest hits” version of blog posts. Not a collection of posts from all over the web, but a collection of posts from one specific blog.

Now maybe this doesn’t exactly make her a super geek, but it definitely bumps up her geek factor a couple of notches.

When asked about about the purchase Hannah replied simply, “It’s my favorite blog”.