So I just came back to the 416 after a fantastic cycling trip in Oregon, from Portland to Eugene, during which I got to camp out at organic farms and yoga sanctuaries and sustainable development communities, and eat vegan donuts, buttloads of quinoa and locally sourced plerries (we couldn’t figure out if it was a plum tree or cherry tree or some weird hybrid thing), not to mention learning about cob building and the odorless wonder that is a composting toilet.
Either way, it was a great opportunity for me to step up the green. Food-wise, my only options were veggies and grains that were 100% locally sourced and organic, the only liquid I could drink was water or organic milk, and my only form of transportation was walking or cycling.
I kept to my fixing-things-before-replacing-them rule when I ran over an upturned staple, got a flat tire and proceeded to patch it up rather than use a new tube.
But here’s where my change o’ the day comes in: when I was packing for the bike trip, I thought I’d bring along my emergency CO2 cartridge for just such an occasion. But I packed it in my carry-on luggage rather than my main bag, and it set off all the alarms at security. Then I realized, it was probably for the best that I use an old-fashioned hand-pump rather than a high-tech gas chamber anyway.
So that’s exactly what I did when that darned staple got in my rubber. It took all my bicep strength, a bit of my friend Lisa’s strength and then some more of my friend Chris’s strength, but eventually we got the new tube to 65 psi, enough to get me back to camp.
Now that I’m home again, I’m going to make a point of getting a hand pump to attach to my bike frame so that if I ever get another flat, I can patch it and pump it, rather than take a shortcut with a new tube and gas chamber.
Image courtesy of this website
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Posted by gettinggreen
