post trip
The return trip was pretty uneventful with the exception of two things:
This morning I got a call from Penske. They asked if I'd consider picking up the van an hour later, and at a different location (which happens to be closer to my hotel). If I agreed they'd drop another 10% off their already ridiculously low cost, as well as pay for my Uber to get there. That was a no-brainer.
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The only other event of my post-trip (besides the light, steady rain almost the entire way back... the rain that didn't fall on me while riding my bike) was when I stopped at a coffee shop for a muffin and a mocha. I was ready to leave, but decided to sit in the van a few extra minutes. I was in a large vehicle and didn't want to hit anyone as I backed out, and I knew the cars beside me wouldn't be there much longer. While I was waiting the kid parked on my right got in his car to leave, then backed out and hit my van. I got out and looked at his crumpled left rear panel, then at my completely unmarked right rear panel. I don't really understand how THAT happened, how it could cause so much damage to his vehicle and not mine, but I was pretty happy I wouldn't have to be dealing with that headache. He told me that he had just gotten his car out of the shop for the same thing, and as he was backing up the thought in the foremost part of his brain was, "Make sure you don't hit the van. Make sure you don't hit the van. Make sure you... [CRUNCH!]" I felt pretty sorry for him... poor kid.
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Like Kelly, I’d love to know what happened with your tire. I had something similar happen a couple of years ago. Went through several tubes and 2 tires and never did figure out what was wrong. I eventually replaced the tire and tube again and had no more problems. But the tour was a goner…it was day 1 and we had to abandon.
2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
I never really figured out what happened with the tire, at least not to my satisfaction. When I got back I took it to my bike mechanic. He was pretty excited since it was something new for him and he started asking a bunch of questions trying to determine the issue. It was like a physician taking a good medical history.
Eventually, we determined that there were at least two problems, but I'm still not convinced there wasn't something else. The first is the patches. I'll never use the ones with adhesive already on them again, except maybe to tape up temporary birthday decorations or something. The second is that when I replaced a tube there was no air in it when I initially put it in. He suggested having at least a little bit, 2-3 psi, to prevent it from folding. I've always seated the tubes (put the tube/tire on, partially pump it up, deflate it, then pump it up all the way) to prevent folds, but he said that if you just leave a little air in it when it goes in then that isn't necessary. All of that makes sense, but it seems odd that when the traveling bike mechanic put in a new rim strip, tube, and tire, it STILL went flat. I checked for a spoke (or anything) stabbing through the rim strip, as did the bike mechanic on my trip, as did my local bike mechanic, and none of us found anything. And when I say "checked," I mean that I went over it like it was going to cause rectal cancer if I missed it. Whatever the cause, he put on another rim strip and a different tube and it's remained inflated since the end of October, so that's good. However, I still haven't ridden on it, so that's not good.
1 year ago
1 year ago