Tonight was Reid's hockey game and I can tell he likes me watching him play. In order for me to watch him I needed to finish my ride by 7:30 pm and put off my weight training until tomorrow. I was working on a tight schedule to begin with and because I was enjoying the ride I decided to add 15 minutes to it by going a different route. I figured it would make it tighter, but I was riding strong and thought I should still make it back in time, barely. Then, at the half way point, I got a flat rear tire.
My mind started swimming with thoughts. My first thought was "why did I take this longer route, if I hadn't I wouldn't have gotten a flat." Then, "why didn't I pump up my tires before I left?" Then, "this is a new bike and will I be able to get the wheel off quickly because of the rear pull outs?" Then, "do I have all my tools, a spare and air?" Then, "will the tire come off and go on easy or hard?" Then, "am I going to over or under inflate the tire?" And the BIGGEST concern was "AM I GOING TO MISS REID'S GAME???"All these thoughts happened before I even got off the bike to fix it.
This was a moment of truth and I had a choice. I could panic and get upset and angry, or relax and enjoy the experience. I decided to do the later. I figured that in a race the same thing could happen and why don't I pretend that I'm in a race and see how fast I could change the tire while staying calm and positive. The first thing I did was start the timer on my watch. I wanted to see how fast it would take me from beginning to end. I know this may sound funny, but many morning's I do the same thing when I wake up, I set the timer and see how fast it takes me to shave, brush my teeth, shower and get dressed, my record is 6 1/2 minutes. This is when Alice tells me men are lucky.
From getting off the bike, fixing it and getting on the bike it took me 7 minutes 20 seconds. I've got to admit I was impressed with how fast I did it considering I took my time to check the inside and outside of the tire, making sure there wasn't a sharp object lodged in it that could re-puncture the tube. I probably could have even done it faster but in that short period of time I had two cars stop, at different times, and ask me if I needed help and we chatted a little. I'm not complaining, in fact I was really moved by how generous these people were when they saw me with my bike on the side of the road. They were both willing give up their time to give me a ride home and this all happened in the span of 7 minutes and 20 seconds.
I did get back in enough time and was even able to have a quick shower. Reid was anxious to go, he hates being late for anything, and I couldn't find the camera. I wanted to take pictures of him. I was searching high and low as he kept telling me to "hurry up, forget about the camera, lets go!!!" I couldn't find it anywhere. Rather than get upset I decided to stay calm and cool, just as I did with the flat tire and ended up leaving without it. As we drove to the rink I remembered it was in my gym bag in the back seat. Yes!
When we got to the rink, it was all for not. Reid's coach didn't tell us that the game time had changed and as we walked into the rink his team was on the ice and the game was close to ending. Reid was disappointed, only because the same thing happened to us last week and he enjoys playing. Then in a very respectful way, I talked to one of the coaches and the coaches wife and gave them the "velvet hammer" about not notifying us for two weeks in a row. I could see Reid appreciated me discussing it with them. In the end, misfortune turned into a good father son bonding and memorable moment.
Tempo Bike - 1:29: 38 / 45.12 Km / 30.3 kph
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