So, I've been on crutches since November after I had my left foot screwed together for hopefully the last time. Been a real pain in the ass, no weight bearing for a month and then only partial. It's the inconvenience really, and not being able to do anything properly, and of course getting about. So back in December I gave up with cabs and tubes and experimented with riding my Yamaha 125 scooter thing which proved not too bad except it coincided with the worst snow and ice and weather for years. That was an interesting experience I can tell you all - but I rode in to work every day, through it all and I can report that in all this time I did not have to put my left foot down once (I should enter trials riding competitions now ) - cast foot remained safely tucked away in the foot well but my toes were absolutely freezing all the time. I eventually worked out that two pairs of sock layered between two Sainsbury's carrier bags were the optimum solution. Crutches get collapsed and placed in a bag at my feet although they do move about a lot under braking and the like and you have to clamp them between your knees.
Anyway, last Friday I'm about three miles from work when the back end starts to feel weird, you know when something is not quite right. A minute later I'm at the side of the road with a flat tyre in the pissing rain and filthy gutter. I have a good look but I can't see anything poking out of the rubber so I use a gas cylinder thingy to inflate the tyre again, (I always have one of these kits under the seat) but immediately hear the hiss of escaping air. Bollox! So I jump on and ride another mile or so till I can't control the back end and the tyre is nearly coming off the rim but every hundred metres counts until the inevitable point where I have to get off and push.
The point of this post is to ask you to imagine the spectacle of a cripple on crutches and a foot in a cast hobbles into view, sweating his bollox off pushing a scooter with a flat tyre through the rain. I can't remember the exact technique I ended up using but it was awkward, slow and probably looked pretty funny. I got a lot of offers of help from passing commuters and also some curious looks from bike couriers.
The good news is that at the end of the day I returned with new resolve and, even though it was going dark, I downloaded a torch function onto my iphone, lay in the gutter, found the puncture hole, plugged it with my trusty kit, inflated the tyre and rode home to a bottle of wine at full speed.
Anyway, last Friday I'm about three miles from work when the back end starts to feel weird, you know when something is not quite right. A minute later I'm at the side of the road with a flat tyre in the pissing rain and filthy gutter. I have a good look but I can't see anything poking out of the rubber so I use a gas cylinder thingy to inflate the tyre again, (I always have one of these kits under the seat) but immediately hear the hiss of escaping air. Bollox! So I jump on and ride another mile or so till I can't control the back end and the tyre is nearly coming off the rim but every hundred metres counts until the inevitable point where I have to get off and push.
The point of this post is to ask you to imagine the spectacle of a cripple on crutches and a foot in a cast hobbles into view, sweating his bollox off pushing a scooter with a flat tyre through the rain. I can't remember the exact technique I ended up using but it was awkward, slow and probably looked pretty funny. I got a lot of offers of help from passing commuters and also some curious looks from bike couriers.
The good news is that at the end of the day I returned with new resolve and, even though it was going dark, I downloaded a torch function onto my iphone, lay in the gutter, found the puncture hole, plugged it with my trusty kit, inflated the tyre and rode home to a bottle of wine at full speed.
