This weekend I went for a bike ride around the city.\u00a0 It’s the first time I’ve taken my new road bike out specifically to ride for exercise and not just to get around town; riding to work or around the neighborhood.<\/p>\n
I bought a proper road bike, as opposed to a hipster bike (read: trackbike) with the idea of going for the occasional road bike ride to supplement mountain biking as a form of exercise.\u00a0 But, I’ve outfitted the bike knowing that most of my riding will be around town.\u00a0 I have a headlight and taillight on the bike for commuting and riding at dark and I don’t carry an inner tube or pump, knowing that a bike shop is just always just around the corner in this city.<\/p>\n
On Sunday’s ride I didn’t have the lights on the bike (it being daytime) but I also didn’t carry a tube or pump.\u00a0 And so of course, I flatted out.\u00a0\u00a0 Luckily I was just down at Crissy Field only 1 block away from the Sports Basement<\/a>.\u00a0 I could walk there, buy a new tube and pump it up.\u00a0 Of course being a good store, I knew they would have a bike pump available for public use.<\/p>\n And that’s when I realized that I also didn’t have any money with me.<\/p>\n I went into the store anyway, with the plan of asking one of the employees if I could just walk out with a brand new inner tube, with the promise of returning later in the day to pay for it.\u00a0 I trusted that the Sports Basement was a good store, with good community karma, and they’d be willing to help a guy in need.<\/p>\n 5 minutes later I was installing my new tube and pumping it up with the store-supplied, publicly available bike pump.\u00a0 The store met all of my expectations.<\/p>\n Later in the day I returned and paid for my tube (as well as buying 2 additional tubes) and I also bought a tiny under-seat pouch to store a spare tube.\u00a0 It’s a target for getting stolen if I leave my bike parked on the street, but the pouch only cost $10 and the tube $4 so if it is stolen I’ll be out $14 but it it’s not, then I’m that much more prepared for the next time.<\/p>\n