Old Age?

October 2, 2014;

Must be gettin' Old;

Yesterday I had a flat on my touring bike, (a piece of sharp glass). This doesn't happen often because I try to keep decent tires on the bike. Anyway, I took off the rear wheel and dismounted the tire and diligently searched the tire until I found the culprit, slicing the tip of my finger in the process of finding the sliver of glass and getting it out of the tire. So, I dug out the spare tube from my ditty bag, and unrolled it and started to air it up, only to find it wouldn't air up! Closer inspection revealed about three different holes in the tube. Uh-Oh ...... I must have not replaced the tube in the bag from the last time I had a flat. Okay ...... dig out the patches ... (doesn't everyone carry patches?) I've taken to use Park Tool patches, a bit more expensive, but for as little as one uses them, the quality is worth the little extra cost, and the kit I buy even comes with a bit of coarse sandpaper for roughing the tube so the patch will stick. Rolled up the tube I took out of the bag, and put it back into the bag again so I wouldn't get them mixed up. Aired up the tube from the tire and found the hole. Easy patch job. Roughed it up, squeezed out a bit of glue from the tube of vulcanizing cement, waited for it to dry (couple of minutes), peeled off the backing from the patch, stuck it on the tube, rubbed hard, and then peeled off the clear protective membrane over the top of the patch. Good job! These really  are quality patches. Just to be double sure, I aired the tube back up a bit and checked all around for any more holes. There were none. Put the tube back into the tire, mounted it on the rim, and put everything back on the bike. Finished airing it up, and finished my ride with it.

So ..... this morning I thought I'd check that tire to see if it's still up. Put my floor pump on it and it read 55 pounds ...... Uh-Oh ..... maybe my patch job wasn't so good after all. At least this time, it's in my shop and not on the road. I also remembered to take the holed tube out of my bag and replaced it with a brand new Conti tube. So, Off comes the rear wheel again, release the pressure, tear the tire off the rim, air the tube up ...... I can't find any leak. Hmmm .... Set the tube down and spend 15 minutes going carefully over every bit of the tire .....can't find anything there either. So ..... now I get serious ..... fill a bucket with water and immerse the tube. What's going on here? ...... Rotated the tube in the bucket of water, and not a single bubble! So, I'm scratching my head and wondering why I only had 55 pound of air in the tire. Wait a minute ..... I usually only carry 50 pounds of air in those tires on the touring bike, I had put a bit more air in on the road because I wasn't so sure of the accuracy of the gauge on the frame pump I had. The tire hadn't leaked a bit of air overnight ....... the only air leaked must have been from my head ..... Put everything back together and chalked it up to a learning experience. Senility in old age is real, folks!!!