Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Short but Sweet

Today, while commuting to work this morning in a very nice, warm temperature, but rain, I was riding through the remnants of a wild party in the park and ran through a big patch of broken Corona bottles and slashed my nearly new rear Michelin Pro3 Race tire. The glass completely punctured the middle of the tire and hit the tube too. Psssss. Yay, I get to change a tire covered in grey NYC goo, and even better, in the rain. A closer inspection after removing the tube showed the glass really did a number on the tire. It's trashed. My hope was I could limp the rest of the way to work without getting another flat. I was happy the tire was fairly easy to mount and the rain was slow and it was warm. Off I go to finish my commute to work just waiting for the next HISSS. None though. I made it to work OK. During lunch I went and bought another tube, and considered getting a tire, but just can't stomach the $60 per tire retail they charge when I know I can get it from pro bike kit for $33. I'm pretty disappointed some pricks that littered, probably thinking it was amusing in their simple minds to smash glass beer bottles on the sidewalk, ruined the tire I just mounted last week!!! Luckily I made it home with no problems after work. Back go the the 25c gp4000 continental tires. Out goes more $ from the bank account for another tire and some tubes. I hate people who litter! It's so sad to ride through the park Monday mornings and see the wake of trash and destruction a certain group of people wreak on the park on a nearly weekly basis. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Today, when getting the tube, I also decided to get some new bar tape. I like the Fi'zik microtex a lot but was less than pleased with the gel beneath it, feeling it basically did nothing. So, I bought some S-works Specialized tape which is nice and soft and has some sort of elastomer in it to dampen vibrations. It feels great on the bars and I think it'll be a big improvement over my old setup. It's also black so my bike is becoming more stealth!

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