On Canada Day, I cleaned the chains of Justin Thyme and Victor von Fleddermoose. As well, I inflated their tires to their recommended PSI's. This was Victor's first day out this year, your humble correspondent having been quite lazy. After the TLC, I geared up, and headed off on Victor on a combined errand/exercise run. I was planning on going to work to pickup a pair of reading glasses I had left at work the day before, then heading to the Lachine Canal to Lachine, before coming back via the riverside bike path.
Somewhere in NDG, I noticed that my front tire was a shade underinflated. Then I as turned onto Cavendish, it gave completely out. As it had been a nice day, and Victor had just been serviced, I had decided to leave my tool bag at home. I walked the remaing distance to work, retrieved my reading glasses, then set to work trying to book a taxi to take Victor and I home. After more than half an hour and several phone calls, I realised that I was S.O.L. as far as taxis were concerned and set off on foot to the nearest Metro station, several kilometers away. As I passed one intersection, a young woman asked me how to get to the "Subway". After making sure she didn't mean the sandwich chain, I said that she should go to the bus stop across the street and catch the 161, getting off at the Plamondon station. She then asked if I was sure about that. I replied, possibly a bit testily, that I had been doing it on a regular basis to part of my commute for twenty years.
As I approached Plamondon pushing Victor, I became aware that I hadn't brought my Opus card with me, meaning that I would have to buy a ticket. It was just one more bit of frustration. That was Thursday.
On Saturday, I set about replacing the front inner tube with the usual grumbles. After inflating the front tire, I topped off the rear one as well. I then sat down at my computer to surf the internet. An hour or so later, I heard a pop followed by a hiss coming from Victor. The rear inner tube had given up the ghost. When I tried to diagnose the issue, it appeared that the valve was somehow compromised. With more grumbling, I replaced the rear inner tube.
Today, I took Victor out for a successful trial run. I rewarded myself with my first draft beer since at least September. It was my local "biker bar", a.k.a. as the Terrasse St-Ambroise.
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