Zippy Tire Replacement

Practice really does make perfect.

It was not long ago I would take my entire bike into the LBS for a new tube.  It’s a little embarrassing to admit, especially for someone like me who is an adamant do-it-yourselfer.  Lay tile?  Sure!  Frame out a closets?  Never have but hand me that 2X4.  Drywall a room?  Absolutely.  Change a bike tire?  Um….well, let’s have the professionals do that.  It made no sense, and was inconvenient and unnecessarily expensive.  So it was high time to learn, and now that I have, I’ve had several chances to use these new-found skills.

A few too many chances.  Last week when my tire blew out, I was still grateful that I had another bike ready to go with inflated, puncture free (for the moment) tires ready to ride so I didn’t lose my opportunity to workout.  But the way things are going this season, it’s unlikely they will stay that way.  When I finally set out to replace my tube & tire–I approached it with the same reluctance I had so many times before.  I cleared my schedule–this was going to be a while.

Flatter than a pancake after my blow out last week.

But I was done in 10 minutes.  Boom, like that.  Done in a flash.  I think I’m even learning a system. I’m pretty psyched about this because I’m happy to save the time and money–but I like feeling competent and independent about doing some of my own repairs.  And really, after riding as long as I have, it’s about time.

-Karen

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