Punctured!

Well it had to happen sooner or later.  I got my first puncture on the new bike this evening on the way from work to the train station.  When I bought the bike, it came with puncture resistant tyres (the operative word being "resistant" not "proof") and they put some of that green Slime puncture sealant in each tyre as well.  

So I pulled over and, as instructed, pumped a bit of air back in before spinning the tyre to get the Slime in the right place.  I say pumped like it was straight-forward activity but I'd not used this pump before and it had me baffled for a stressful moment or two!  Once the tyre was about hard enough, I packed away and headed off to the station.  I arrived there with two minutes to spare before the train pulled out.  Phew!

So one or two lessons learned then:

1. Always leave a bit of time spare when heading to catch a train
2. Make sure you've tested out how to use your bike pump before you actually need to!
3. Slime works!  I'd have missed my train if I'd tried to patch or replace the innertube at the roadside

So now you want to read about how I manfully limped home the remaining 11.5 miles on a dodgy back tyre?  I'd love to oblige but I ended up ringing the 4th Emergency Service (AKA my wife) from the train and negotiating a lift from the station.  Well I did ride all the way home on Monday - can't be a hero all week!

After tea I whipped the back wheel out (not the chore I'd been led to believe that it was on hub-geared bikes) and found a neat little hole punched in the innertube.  I also found the corresponding hole in the tyre itself although nothing was stuck in it - a "straight in and out" job.  So I duly repaired the puncture with the "help" of my very eager but equally vocal four year-old apprentice.  Still, she knows the difference between a nut, bolt and washer now and how to locate a puncture - she's coming along nicely!

So the Dahon's ready to go in the morning - fingers crossed for a less eventful journey!