Wet tram tracks are to be respected!

My last post was about Polka Dot Lisa’s new road bike and that theme has run into this post as well.

Monday morning and on the way into work we dropped into BSC on Brunswick St to get the brifter shims fitted (we forgot about them when we purchased the bike on Sunday afternoon). The brifter shims for those that don’t know about them are little rubber wedges that fit between the levers and the stops to space them in closer to the bars for easier reach.

Anyway, BSC didn’t have them in stock but the city store did have them so PDL had to ride into the city on her own on her new bike. She was nervous about doing it but I kept reassuring her she could do it and so she did (I had some urgent work to do and couldn’t go in with her.

As it turned out, PDL made the trip with no stress and it was fitted in a matter of minutes. She even enjoyed the ride so much she even took some extra side tracks down some back streets just to enjoy the ride on her new bike. The shims made a difference to her ability to control the gears and brakes so it was good news all round.

Everything was going fine all week with our commutes until the ride home Thursday after work. We left a little late and it was getting a bit dark (PDL’s new lights hadn’t turned up yet), the traffic was heavy, the road was damp and it was raining lightly just to add to the miserableness of it all. I was fine and I rode in front up Brunswick St. PDL got stuck at a set of lights so I pulled over up ahead and waited.

By the time PDL caught up with me she was very freaked out. The traffic was bad (why does the afternoon peak traffic all want to shove aside cyclists?), the rain was scaring her with the skinny tyres and she felt like she had no braking power. So we kept going in an attempt to get home before we were soaked through. As I turned right across the tram tracks, my back tyre got caught on a track and skidded sideways until it caught traction and just about high sided me. Luckily for me I had quickly unclipped as it was sliding and my now unclipped foot enabled me to maintain my balance when it tried to flick me over the left side. Whew! That was a close one!

PDL once again was scared and I had to calm her a bit. I think she feels pressure from traffic behind her and lets it all get to her rather than just dealing with what is in front of her. I didn’t tell her that I was nearly flicked off my bike as I didn’t think she needed to hear it at that stage.

Anyway we made it home and while wheeling our bikes through the foyer, PDL’s rear tyre was hissing air. Bugger! However by the time we took it upstairs, the hissing from the tyre had stopped- very strange.

Friday was our traditional Badminton night, so no bikes that day as usual. After a bit of research I discovered that it might be worth changing the brake pads to a high quality set to give PDL more power and a better sense of safety. So $44 later and we has a set of Swiss Stop pads which I fitted myself.

With no one wanting to play Badminton this night, I canceled the whole thing and went into Cecil Walker to buy some shoe covers (none of my LBS’s had them in my size). Cecil Walker was a cool shop with some really nice bikes and plenty of accessories to spend your money on.

Then it was on to Goldcross Cyclces at Victoria Gardens to get PDL a Specialized mini-wedge saddle bag (same as mine) in Navy blue, which looked very nice on the Kona Lisa RD.

Once home I noticed PDL’s rear tyre had gone flat after all, so I whipped it off to pop in a new tube- one problem, the spare tube was in fact a patched one. No stress, that should do the job so I put it all back together and pump it up but I can here the air hissing out of the tubes patch. Bugger, bugger, bugger! So off with the tyre, in with the second patched tube and re fit everything until- SHIT, this tube is worse!

Now we are in trouble. It’s now 9.45pm on a Friday night with no tubes and a ride that starts at 7am in St Kilda. So I turned to the BV forum to see if anyone could help me with a tube tonight. Within several minutes I had several offers for patched tubes, etc that I was assured would work.

But the best idea was Commi who suggested the 24hour K-Mart might have tubes. Bingo, brilliant idea! A quick call and yes they do have them in stock so we drive over and to our surprise the place was full of people shopping for stuff at 10.30pm on a Friday night. Get a life people… why are you shopping for crap at this time on a Friday night? At least my situation was an emergency.

So now we are set for the morning’s ride to Frankston and the weather is looking fine.

Whew!

Wet tram tracks are to be respected!