Yeah. I had a flat tire on top of everything else--but at least it was a slow leak so I could limp into the train station on two wheels rather than walking. There was no one else in the cab car I rode in, so I sat in the lower level with the bike racks. Ordinarily, I sit upstairs to leave these seats for people who cannot negotiate the stairs. With such a quiet train, though, I could open my bag up on the table and take my time hunting down the leak and making sure everything went back together perfectly.
It turns out that this was my second flat of the day. Earlier, I had agreed to meet a good friend for lunch in Alameda. At the time I had one of my road bikes in pieces in the dining room--I was in the process of replacing a freehub. So I grabbed the other bike. It had a flat. In the rush to meet my friend, I did a really shoddy job of fixing that flat. So. On Amtrak I had an opportunity to redeem myself, sanding off the old glue and putting the patch on properly.
Sometimes it is these quiet, practical moments that connect me with my bike.
Oh. And it is worth noting in the picture that--if you didn't know it--each cab car on Capitol Corridor has space for SEVEN bikes. This is in addition to the three bikes on every other car. And if your bike is big and heavy--like mine sometimes is with panniers on--the new racks don't require you to lift the bike. Pretty alright.
No comments:
Post a Comment