This week’s weather was nice through Tuesday morning, then the rest of the week was damp, overcast, and alternated between cold/clammy and warm/muggy. There were a couple more-or-less rain free days, but it still seemed like a week that called for full fenders. So I rode my fixed-gear every day this week. Monday I rode out to New Cut Rd and through Ellicott City. Tuesday I did Bonnie Branch Rd through Elkridge. Thursday I rode through the park, then up Thistle Rd (which is no longer closed, but the detour signs are still in place, covered with plastic). Wednesday and Friday I just did a loop through Patapsco and headed in through Halethorpe.
I should know better than to jinx myself. A week or so ago I blew out the front tire on my road bike, and wrote about how rare it was to have a flat on the front tire. Well, this week I got another one, on the other bike. The tire blew out on Shelbourne Rd. just outside the UMBC campus. Big, nasty chunk of broken glass that left a large gash in the tire. Rather than fixing it on the road, I just walked the rest of the way to my office. Turns out I wasn’t properly equipped to do an on-road fix with this bike anyhow – the hubs use 15mm axle nuts, and the wrench on my multi-tool is a bit too wimpy to deal with the torque. I was able to scrounge up a socket wrench at work and use that. It might be worthwhile to invest in a fixed-gear multi-tool to carry with this bike, like the “Trixie” by Pedro’s.
Sun is coming out as I type. Bring on the storms this afternoon..