Worst Day of Sports and Athletics Ever

1: Nadal lost to Andy Murray. I have nothing against Murray. Let me just say that. But I love Nadal. He is good, he is great, he signs lots of autographs while other players stalk away cranky. I have seen it with my own eyes. I wanted him to win today. Really, really wanted him to win. But he lost.

2. The Mets lost their first game against the Phillies. This is terrible because the Mets and Phillies are close, close, close in the pennant race. And after this loss, the Mets are only 1 game ahead. They are currently winning the second game of today’s double header, and they’d better win it. Getting swept by the Phillies is just…just…bleck.

3. I got a flat. Guess where I got the flat? On Damen. Where else? I hate Damen. The other day, going home after The Parlor, I hit a bump on Damen so big my bike lock flew out of its holder and bounced down the street. The lock was ok, but the clasp on the holder will never be the same. Now I have to use a bungee cord. So of course it was Damen that got me again. Here’s what happened:

Mile 1.19: Tire (to be specific, it’s the back tire—lucky me) goes flat at Damen & Fullerton, just before the bridge, with a mere 3 of the 4.15 miles to go. There had been a bus just in front of me, and I couldn’t catch it. Bugger. Walked the bike over the bridge, and up to Diversey/Elston. Considered jogging with the bike to speed up the trip but then saw

Mile 1.71: a gas station. Got some change to use the air pump, and pumped that sucker up firm. Pedaled like a mother fucker, trying to get as far as I could before it was flat again. I squeezed the tire at each stop sign and red light, and it was starting to get a little soggy, but I made it to

Mile 3.2: Irving Park/Lincoln/Damen, which was the goal. Because just a block and a half up from that intersection is

Mile 3.39: the Easy Rider Bike Shop, who have an air hose that comes out of the base of their storefront, with free air. Pumped that sucker up again, and made it to

Mile 4.15: home. Don’t know when I’ll have time to fix it. Damn you Damen!

On the plus side, Delgado just hit his second home run, giving the Mets a 5-2 lead.

Toby Fixes a Flat

Well, the title should really be, Toby Attempts to Fix a Flat. I don't know if the fix will work yet.

My bike got a flat last night. More of a slow leak.

Rode to dinner. After dinner, the front tire was flat. Crappers. Fortunately, Kate had a pump in her car which was only a few blocks away, and she pumped up my tire. Thanks Kate!

The tire stayed inflated the whole ride home, but was flat again in the morning.

What to do? Fix it, obviously. But I didn't want to ride my bike to a shop, and have them say come back tomorrow, or something, and then have the tire go flat on the ride home. No, sir, that sounds like a bad plan. The better plan, thought I, was to take the tire off, and just bring the tire to a shop. And the even better plan, thought I, was to figure out where the puncture was, since the tube was off the wheel, anyway. So I established, registered, and opened Toby's Bike Repair Shop. So what if I don't know what I'm doing? Knowledge has never been a prerequisite for doing something, especially not in this country.



A baking pan full of water later, and the puncture was found and Sharpied.



Of course, this was all a bit silly, and a bit academic, because I don't have a bike tube repair kit. Ah, but I do have a repair kit for my self-inflating camping pad. So, you know, why not, right? I mean, come on, the puncture is tiny, tiny, tiny. So I glued it up with the glue that came with the sleeping pad.

We'll see how things look in two hours when the glue dries.