This evening I went for a bike ride with my son James, down at the Royal Albany Bicycle Reserve.
I had to pick up my bike from the shop first – I’ve had it modified to remove the big cog at the front, which means I now have a lot more ground clearance.
James surprised me by how well he kept up. The track is very pretty in the late afternoon, with sunlight streaming sideways through the trees.
My bike performed perfectly, which is a good thing, seeing as how I’m off tomorrow to ride the trail at Whirinaki.
Perfectly, that is, until the final hill leading down to Bush Road when my rear tyre exploded with a whoosh of air, and my rear brakes, on which I was relying on at the time, ceased to be effective.
I managed to dismount without misfortune, and discovered a six inch nail protruding from the sidewall, on it’s way out of the tyre after entering through the centre of the tread. My first puncture on my tubeless tyres!
So my first job tomorrow, as it was today, is get my bike working.
