How I fixed my first bicycle flat

It's been about a week since she left, and she still hasn't come back. I guess its about time to let go and move on. So, what's been up lately? Yesterday bad luck hit me. I was on my way to make the fresh bicycle trip (approx. 10 kilometers back and forth) to Willy's supermarket up at Ersboda. However, I decided to start by visiting the ATM machine up at Ålidhem C, just to assure myself of a decent account status. So, I did. Then, just when I got up on the long bicycle path leading me, I felt that nasty repeated sound under my two-wheel vehicle. A flat, of course. What tire? The rear tire. Oh my god, didn't I change it just this summer? When I get this feeling, I always dream about a miracle where it's just the valve. It never is. Gash.

The thing is, when it comes to fixing flats - I never pass. I've tried pulling this stunt about 10-15 times over the years. First time I couldn't have been more than twelve years old. Fixing a bike flat seemed like a piece of cake, especially when you were into the subculture of dirty BMX bikes. Anyways, it didn't ever work nicely. Those little patches always slipped - and so did the air. I got mad every time I failed on this. Then it went around two years, and I tried again. Every time I made the attempt - I failed. Last time now was around 2006, it was during the winter, I was heading to a friend when the sudden flat hit me. Stupid sharp pieces of ice, can you belive it? Anyways. I walked a couple of kilometers, and then that evening was ruined just 'cuz of a stupid flat. I couldn't get the fixing project out of my head. One thing lead to another, and twelve hours later a DUI made another friend of mine loose his drivers license. How? He gave me a lift to the gas station, just so that I could buy the third(?!) package of tube patches. Oh my gosh, how incredibly mindless, every piece of it.

Anyways,
I thought it was about time I gave it a try. I'm so sick of always leavinog the simple project of swapping tube to the local bike store, paying hundreds of crowns just for labor. It should be easy, really. So, this time I felt it was just about time I showed my best. I walked downtown and entered the bike store where I've done most of my business last year. I told them about how I used to take the backside of a spoon/knife/fork to get the last stretched piece of tire in place, always ending up with a [re]punctured new (or patched) tube inside. So, I asked them if there was any certain tools for this? The man threw a zip-lock bag of plastic sticks on the desk, and asked for 95 SEK for the tools and a brand new tube. So, now I was heading home, filled with excitement. Presuppose I would actually pull this one off, then I would have saved at least 100 SEK.

I removed the whole rear wheel and took it up. I made a workshop out of my toilette shower. About twenty minutes later, voila! The new tube, inside the old tire, pumped up, without any further mishaps. Incredible! I was so happy. I must say those plastic pieces made it real simple. I will never leave my bicycle to the shop for easy fixes like this one, not ever again. My next step now will be to use those tube patches. Hopefully, I will be able to fix the punctured tube, having a spare one just out of the blue. I'm the ruler! :-)