Another Sunday job – cleaning the coffee roaster! Will I have time for a ride? Well, I did and my challenge to self has picked up with 100+ kilometres cycled this week.
Before serious cycling of the Anura could begin I had to sort out this puncture thing and how to get the tyre back on the rim (see previous post). On Monday I sat down with the internet and studied a number of YouTube vids of people explaining how to get a difficult tyre on a bicycle wheel. Not much different to what I was doing (except the first go when I naughtily and destructively used tyre levers to heave the tyre onto the rim) but spending more time going around the tyre working the bead into the centre well of the wheel – not just doing it once. One guy used toe straps to hold the tyre in place as he gained ground in the battle. So I tried again with the bead technique and straps and, pop, on it went at some cost of pain to thumbs. BUT when pumped up the inner tube deflated! This time the patch I had installed lifted. On the bright side, no inner tube was pinched this time!! So I bought a couple more inner tubes and a few more tyre levers of the plastic type (‘cos I had broken one getting the tyre off again!). Repeated the process ending up with even sorer thumbs and, another pop, tyre on. Pump up to 40 psi – all OK. Could hardly believe it. I can go for a ride.
Tony's Tasmanian Cycling Blog 