The 5th Circle of Hell....is Actually A Bicycle Wheel

Pumping air into the damn tube. With help. Both photos courtesy of J. Huctwith, Esq.


Removing an inner tube from the tire. Or, trying not to rip the whole damn thing apart with my teeth.

They said it couldn't be done. HA! I showed 'em. I had never CHANGED a tire before on anything, hell, I don't think I've ever even pumped a tire full of air before, but I knew damn well if I was stuck on the road with a flat during this ride to Montreal, the responsibility for getting my ass back up on the road was MINE. So, to that end, Resident Guardian Angel of Sherbourne St., the veritable James Anok, volunteered an entire evening devoted to instruction and the practice of removing a tire and changing a flat. All sorts of little tricks to know (cover the new tubes in baby powder, it makes the changing of it easier, and its easier to see to make sure you don't get it wedged between the wheel and the rim) and I'm off tomorrow to pick up various tools that a cyclist cannot be without, including, yes, tubes and baby powder. Oh yeah, AND sunblock. I learned that lesson LAST week.

At any rate, James showed me how it was all done, and then let me do it by myself, with only a minimum of instruction. I managed to accomplish it, with only a minimum of cursing and invective. The effusive James Huctwith managed to document the entire enterprise, expletives deleted and all....