If it’s March and it’s Oregon it must mean, (gasp!) rain.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the rain and I love Oregon but this entire week has been hellish at work so when I ended up staying late tonight I was not entirely pleased to find myself standing in the rain getting soaked.  But it is what it is.  If nothing else, I have another photograph to add to my collection.  Fellow Oregonians, remember, summer is a mere 4 months away.  Maybe.

There are many personal opinions out there regarding the topic of singlespeed and fixed gear bicycles and why people ride them.  Why ride singlespeed?  Many people, including myself, like the fact that a singlespeed or fixie is lightweight and easy to maintain due to the fact that there aren’t very many parts involved in the construction of such bikes.  There is certainly the coolness factor but one must admit that singlespeeds and fixies are very cool looking bikes, in general.  I ride a singlespeed for two reasons.

1.  I rarely take advantage of the gear selections available on multi-speed bicycles.

2.  I like the fact that maintenance and upkeep is much easier on a singlespeed bicycle.

It was several years ago that I came to the realization that although my bicycles had several different gear selections I rarely changed gears.  I found that I had a favored gear ratio and I never changed it, even while climbing.

So I’m not cool but at least my Lemond is.

The long saga is over. Today I was able to replace the tubes and tires on my Lemond and then I took to the mean streets of Beaverton for my first bike ride in a week. The weather today is awesome, 63 degrees and a slight breeze. Traffic was deadly as usual. But it felt so good to be riding again that I won’t dwell on all of the terrible drivers on the road today.

Now regarding my previous woes and flat tires.  Observe the photograph below and you will see that when I tried to patch the original hole in my tube it blew out the patch.  What I thought was just a small puncture was actually a 1/8th inch tear on the inner surface of the tube that had originally escaped my attention.

Another side note.  Due to my work schedule I was unable to make it to the bike shop until this morning.  I went to Performance Bike here in Beaverton and picked up two pre-slimed tubes.  I got home and replaced both the front and rear tires and the tubes on my 2008 Lemond Fillmore.  Everything was going smooth until I began to inflate the rear tube.  It was then I noticed that the valve stem was cracked, right out of the box.  So I had to stop, go back to Performance Bike and swap the defective tube for another.  Kind of a pain considering every I had dealt with up to that point.  In the end I was able to get the Lemmy back on the road.

And here we are, back in the saddle again!