Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Bad Bike Karma Lately....

I've had more flat tires in the past two weeks than I've had for the entire lifetime of my bike (had it since May 2007). Today I blew out my back tire while crossing the Birmingham Bridge.

I'm wondering if it's time to buy new tires, rather than buying new tubes...?

Last night, I had another close call...this time in broad daylight. I was riding down East Carson towards the Hot Metal Bridge (going to my final video class). I was behind a bus and the light turned green. The bus went through intersection and I was right behind it. Some dude decided to make a left-hand turn into me. It was one of those times where everything seems to go in slow-motion. I thought I was going to get hit right in the side...started to brake and then decided to try to pedal through. I heard an unreal scream/shriek come out of my mouth. He nicked the very back of my back tire. I turned around with a look of WTF?? The guy's gesturing/expression seemed to say, "oh well, no damage done right?" as he kept on driving.

I probably should have tried to stop him and had a little chat about not turning left on a green light without making sure there was no on-coming traffic, but I was too much in shock. I probably should have been on the left-most side of the lane now that I think of it...I was just trying to get around the bus earlier.

Anyway, I'm trying not to think about this too much...time to go fix my bike tire and get out of the office.