Flat Tire

Today the sun is cold and my body feels great!

After I packed up my bicycle this morning I noticed my back tire was all the way flat. I tried to pump it back up, but it wouldn't inflate, even though it seemed like air was going in. As I was taking the rear wheel off to remove the tire I discovered that for the first ~800 miles of my trip I've had my chain installed through my rear derailleur incorrectly. There is a little metal tab between the two pulley wheels that I guess is supposed to keep the chain from bouncing off them. But I had the chain on the opposite side of that tab, so it was constantly being pulled against it! I sort of knew something was wrong, given the amount of noise my chain made while pedaling, but I had been ignoring it and wondering if it would go away. That's a pretty strong trait of mine. And by strong I mean pervasive, not high quality. It's nice to pedal with less friction and less noise now!

I replaced the tube and headed out. The day started with a 600 foot hill, but it didn't feel hard, and the other side was gentle and fun to go down. After that I rode on a 55mph road for about 9 miles, which was busy and not that fun. I stopped in Orangeville, Ontario and ate some low-quality pizza. The pizza owner saw that I was biking and told me it was hot out and handed me a bottle of water though, so that was nice. As I was leaving the parking lot, my rear wheel skidded and I found that my tire was flat again! I pumped it up and it felt solid so I kept going.

After Orangeville, I found the start of a rail trail which runs 95km in the direction I am going, so that was exciting. I was hoping the surface of the trail would be hard enough to go fast on, but the first few kilometers were soft and rutted by ATV tracks. Sometimes the tracks were so deep and narrow that my pedals hit the sides! However, after 5km the surface became nicely packed stone dust. After 10km, my back tire was flat again! I pumped it up and kept riding, and after another 8km it was flat again. I took out the hours-old tube and filled it with air and inspected it and couldn't find any damage. I wiped my sweat on various parts of it to look for bubbles, but didn't see any. That tube had been sitting in my pannier for 4 years, so maybe the rubber was old. I'll keep it until I can put it in a lake or something.

I put on another new tube and pedaled 30km more on the rail trail and it was peaceful and uneventful. I'm sitting at a picnic table at 7pm at a campground in Dundalk, ON, and trying to decide whether to do more than the 70km I've done today. I think I probably will. It stays light until almost 10.

Edit 9pm: Made it another 20km to an unmarked campsite by a lake woooooooo!