Your flat today is brought to you by.....

What a crap week for tyres. I seemed to end up with a flat twice a day, which kind of took the fun out of getting to and from work. By the end of the week, I had changed my daily luggage allowance to include two spare tubes instead of one. It was getting that bad.



The above photo was taken outside the back gate of the oval where the Balmain Tigers play during the rugby league season. Parking along here is impossible in winter.

The worst thing about my flat tyres this week is that one was a very slow leak. Very, very slow. I would pump the tyre up in the morning, ride to work, find it was still solid when I got there.... but it would be dead flat at the end of the day. I would pump it up, get home, find it was still solid.... but it would be dead flat in the morning. It was one of those leaks that took ages to find in the water bucket. Tiny little bubbles would come out like this - bubble..............bubble....................bubble......................bubble.

When finding leaks, I am more used to BUBBLE-BUBBLE-BUBBLE-BUBBLE and then the tube is flat.

I almost threw a hissy-fit on the side of the road on Tuesday because as I was crossing an intersection, my pump fell off the bike. Thankfully, it came off without going through the spokes, but it meant that I had to abandon the bike in a flower bed and totter out into the traffic to retrieve my pump.

Just before I got to it, some turkey decided to do an illegal U-turn, and ran right over the pump. It still pumps air, but takes about 50% more effort as part of it is bent. If they hadn't driven off in a hurry, the driver might have ended up with the pump spearing through their back windscreen.