Now that the weather is nice (read: beautiful!), Captain Adorable and I go for a bike ride together pretty much everyday. We ride over a mile a day! Now, this is me (missing most of my right lung) and a three year old who enjoys stopping often, pedaling on flat sidewalk, so not challenging by any means. Plus I have the fabulous comfort bike Captain Obvious bought me last summer, which allows me to sit upright instead of leaning forward like one has to on a mountain or road bike. It also has excellent brakes, which is good when riding behind a little one who has no concept of different braking speeds.
I enjoy our bike rides because the weather is beautiful and we both like riding our bikes, and who wouldn't love listening to her son yelling, "Yippeee, Yay, ZOOM!" while gliding down a hill? It is fabulous to see his confidence and enjoyment of his bike. I'd recommend a balance/running bike to anyone with a toddler. Captain Adorable got his Strider when he was 18 months old, so now, at age 3, he's had it for more than half his life! I'd really like to buy him a brake, though... Captain Obvious has been saying that we ought to get him a pedal bike and I keep asking, "why?" Yes, I think he could handle one, but he loves his running bike so much, why replace it yet? He is still well within the weight and height limits.
Anyhow, back to what this post was supposed to be about. 3 days ago, when we returned from the first bike ride of the day, Capt. Adorable leaned his bike up against mine, as usual, but this time it fell and his handle hit the valve stem of my front tire. There was a loud sound as the air rushed out, but I did not understand at the time what it was. When we left for the second bike ride of the day, I discovered that my tire was flat. I got the pump and after a bunch of frustration, finally figured out how to get the air into the tire. Because of my painful shoulder/back, I could not pump it up completely, but got it well enough for another ride.
The next day, however, I discovered that the tire was once again low. I tried to pump it up again but was unable to make any headway. I called Capt. Obvious, but he was at work, which means never answers his phone. Captain Adorable was quite upset at the idea that I would not go on the promised bike ride, so I finally agreed to ride Daddy's bike, despite the fact that I knew it would hurt my arm (it is a mountain bike). Sure enough it did hurt my arm and after only 2-3 blocks I put my foot down and insisted we go home. I purposefully left my bike on the floor in the garage so I'd remember to talk to Capt. Obvious about it when he got home.
Sure enough, when he came home he remarked about the bike and we had a look at it together. He also found it very difficult to get the pump on the valve stem (but he used a wrench to try to hold it into place, something I had not tried). He was still unable to pump it up because, as it turned out, there was a hole in the inner tube right next to the valve stem. I thought I'd have to go inside and google the closest bike shop, but fortunately my darling husband had one in the garage already. It fit perfectly and had a better (more stable) valve stem. He took the old one out, put the new one in, pumped it up and just like that I was ready to go!
He's so great. In one fell swoop he made his wife and his son happy.
And now Capt. Adorable and I can go for bike rides again.
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