Flat, flat, flat - dammit

About the only old thing on my bike last week was the front tyre. Due to a complete lapse in mental acuity, I forgot to get it swapped when I had the bike overhauled. The tyre was getting so thin, you could nearly see through it in some places.

First day on the road after the overhaul - puncture on the way home. Karma biting me on the arse.

When I changed the tube, I managed to completely wreck the old one as I extracted it. Cursing my useless front tyre, I went to my box of bike stuff in the shed to see if I had another tube. As I am searching through my bike box, I find two brand new tyres still in their packaging. I bought them online last year, packed them away and promptly forgot about them. It was too late to do a full tyre swap, so I took one out and left it where I would find it the next day - and remember to replace it.

Next day - another puncture. Dammit.

That gave me added incentive to ditch the old tyre.

So I removed and binned the old tyre, and then went through the horrors of putting a fresh tyre on. I use kevlar reinforced commuting tyres, so they are as stiff as Hugh Hefner when he was young. They are an almighty bastard to get onto the rim. As I was doing so, I caught the tube between rim and tyre and sliced two fresh holes in it.

Dammit. Take tyre off again, swap tube.

Tube refuses to inflate - it has been patched several times, and one of the patches has come off.

Dammit. Take tube out and fix it as well as the one I just sliced through.

Sliced through tube refuses to be repaired - into the bin with it as well.

I finally get the other tube fixed and back in the tyre. The tyre inflates and stays that way.

Next morning, when I go to get the bike, the tyre is flat again - slow leak obviously. Pump tyre up and go to work.

So now I have to buy yet another tube and swap that out this weekend. Dammit, dammit, dammit.