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Yesterday, I spent much of the afternoon pacing and jumping up and down and generally being fidgety.  That's what happens when I don't spend enough time on the bike!  So this morning I decided I would get out for a ride, come hell or high water.  Well, hell didn't happen, but the high water did.

I got as far as Kalinga Park when I heard an odd noise coming from one of the wheels.  I stopped and spun the back wheel.  It was fine.  I spun the front wheel and heard the noise.  Upon closer inspection, I found a big clod  of glass in the tyre, accompanied by the tell-tale hiss of a puncture.  I breathed a sigh of relief, glad that it was the front tyre, not the back.

So I pulled off the path and started to replace the tube.  The front tyre is very pliable, so removal didn't require tyre levers.  Nice.  At that point, the heavens opened up and it started to pour on me.  I picked up the now-removed wheel, the now-removed tyre, the now-removed tube, and the bike itself, and carried it all under a tree (thank god the bike is made of ultra-light carbon).

Now under a tree, I was somewhat sheltered from the pouring rain, but was set upon by the World's Biggest Mosquitos.  I capitalise the name because I think that's the actual name of the species.  The WBMs tore into my legs, arms, neck and any other exposed skin.  Meanwhile, I'm trying desperately to get the replacement tube into the tyre, and the tyre back on the rim.  This is tough to do when one hand is preoccupied with trying to prevent the theft of blood by the WBMs.

Eventually I resigned myself to the fact that there was no way I'd escape the WBMs, and got on with getting the wheel back onto the bike.  I started to inflate the tube with my hand pump and got pretty much nowhere with it.  My arms are puny!     Anyway, I pulled out my CO2 inflator, and whacked it onto the valve, and it inflated in seconds.

I heard a strange noise from one side of the wheel.  In horror, I saw the tube bulging from the tyre!!  I hadn't seated the tube properly under the tyre, and it was squeezing itself out between the tyre and the rim of the wheel.  This is a sure-fire recipe for a pinch flat, not to mention a deafening explosion, so I immediately released all the CO2 out of the tube.  I reseated the tube, replaced the CO2 canister, and tried again.  This time, all was good and I was finally able to get away from the home of the WBMs.  Just as well, too, because I was all out of CO2 and knew I wouldn't be able to inflate it again with the hand pump.  I'm starting to wonder why I even bother carrying it.. but I know the day I run out of CO2 is the day I'll get another flat and have no way to limp home.

Long story short, I decided to cut my losses and turn around and go home.  I had no more spare tubes, no more CO2 and no more interest in getting another flat in less-than-ideal circumstances.  The ride home was through torrential rain.  All the drains, creeks, pipes, and other water-conveying devices along the bike path had overflown and were pouring out over the path.  When I say pouring, I mean gushing.  In some cases, the force of the water flow actually pushed the bike sideways.  I was very happy to get past all of that and back onto the road.  Thankfully there were no cars to give me any grief on the road and I got home safe and sound.  Saturated, looking like a drowned rat, but safe.

Anyway.  To sum up today's ride:  Got poured on, got a flat, lost a lot of blood to WBMs.  But there is good news in all of this:  First, the merits of a CO2 inflator cannot be overstated!  If you have a bike with Presta valves (ie the ones that don't look like car tyre valves), I highly recommend you purchase a CO2 inflator and a couple 16g canisters.  Much easier than struggling away with a hand pump.

Also, I learnt that the Max Method Of Waterproofing An iPod works brilliantly.  For those who want to know the MMOWAi, here it is:  Get yourself a ziplock baggie, the sort you buy to put sandwiches in.  Throw your ipod in there and zip it up, leaving only enough room for the headphone wire to escape.  Instant waterproofing!  This method also works for mobile phones, wallets etc.

At least I got 26Km out of it.  Not huge, but a step closer to getting 4000Km done this year!  I now have under 100Km to go, and I think I'll be able to knock it on the head by the end of this week.  Yay!!!