yesterday after work, on a whim, i asked paul if he wanted to go biking. he agreed and we decided to meet up at the [url=http://www.los-gatos.ca.us/los_gatos/residents/events/creek_trail/map.html]los gatos creek trailhead[/url] in campbell.

we stopped over at nelson’s workplace where we indulged in a cold beverage and i got to check out his company’s product. pretty cool.

we biked the length of the trail and we were getting to the very end of it where it meets up with the lexington reservoir when on the very last big incline i started to hear this hissing.

i stopped to check out what the noise was coming from, and lo and behold it was coming from my back tire!

i called paul who had biked ahead of me to inform him of the situation. i decided to walk my bike up the last incline and then we would decide what to do. when i got to the top of the incline, paul noted that there was still a lot of air in the tire and if we hurry, we might be able to make it back.

so we jammed.

for about 3 minutes.

then i started to feel the bike getting heavier and i looked at my back tire and the sidewall was starting to give. paul also noticed that the tire was rapidly getting deflated and suggested that i should stop riding. so we started walking.

we were about 11 miles out away from our cars and we were walking about 3 miles an hour. it took us about an hour to get that far, but the prospect of walking all the way back would mean it’d take me nearly 4 hours to walk back to my car. it was not looking good.

paul informed me that he had a spare tube and patch kit so we could just stop over at the side of the trail and replace the tube and borrow someone’s pump. it sounded like a good idea to me. we decided to see if we could find a gas station in downtown los gatos and we walked a few blocks only to find no gas station in sight.

dejected, we decided to switch out the tubes at a park we were at and then just fill up the tube whenever we came across a gas station. at the park, i was beginning to take off the tire from the bike when paul goes:

“uh oh.”

“what?”

“well, i have the tube box…but there’s no tube in it! i guess i must have used it.”

“…”

“it’s ok, i guess we’ll just have to patch the tube then.”

“ok, sure.”

“uh oh…”

“uh oh?”

“i don’t have a patch kit.”

hahaha. at this point, i’m thinking, great, i’m going to have to either walk all the way back or maybe walk to nelson’s work and maybe he could help me out or something. or, worst case scenario is that paul goes and bikes back and picks me up.

so dejected, i’m about ready to turn around and walk my bike when paul says to me, “hey, there’s a bike shop across the street!”

i look over and i see the bike shop and laugh. how fortuitous! so we bought a patch kit and they let us use their pump and we fixed up the flat and rode home.

we did 20 miles in two hours (some of which was spent walking. =P) not bad and a lot of fun. i definitely think that i want to get a few spare tubes now, though.

biking: everyday is an adventure.