I Lanced It

 I imagine everyone has pressed their luck at one point or another, and probably many times. Not necessarily with death-defying type stuff, just your average, run of the mill things - squeezing one more mile out of an empty tank, holding out a morsel of food between thumb and pointer finger to a treat-loving dachshund, coming home with a new bike and... oh, yeah, telling the wife. We do a quick calculation, comparing the pros and cons, we consider the risks versus the rewards, then we minimize the risks, bolster the pros, and go for it.

I started out Monday on the usual evening gravelly loop, but quickly noticed that something just didn't quite feel right with the bike. It only took as long as it takes to get around the corner from home before realizing the problem was with the rear wheel or tire. I surveyed it as I rode along - there were no jogs to the spinning, it seemed as true as ever, nor was it going flat. So dang it, what the heck! Why's it feelin' extra bumpity?

It took stopping for the bulge on top of the tire to reveal itself. And the calculating began - if I continue will it last the whole ride? If it doesn't last, will it burst at the furthest point from home (worst case scenario)? Is that just a pocket of air that's found a weak spot in the casing? Is there sealant in there too? And if so, and it does burst big time, will that stuff come spraying out all over the place, and me? What if a thorn punctures it? 

I've come to expect the dirt to be bumpy, and the rocks too, but now I had to put up with bumping along the pavement as well. Even so the ride finished without any other problems. 

The next night the bulge, if anything, looked even worse. Something had to be done. 

So I lanced it. 

I pulled a tack that, ironically, was holding a Lance Armstrong poster on the garage wall and I jabbed it in that thing. There was an immediate hiss of air being released, but it stopped hissing before the bulge completely deflated. So I jabbed it again, in a different spot this time. When I drew out the tack, the little puncture spot started in with that familiar wet, gurgling, bubbling sound before stopping again. Like it's supposed to do. It still was not completely deflated, but at least it wasn't noticeable during the ride. 

Jabbing a tack into your tire would normally seem to go against common sense. Sometimes, I guess, you just gotta do the uncommon.