So Gert already had a flat on her new bike. She has daddy's good luck. I've discovered that glueless patch kits are roughly useless compared to the old ones. Sure, they get you back home but not with confidence. Granted, I've only used the patch kits to patch other people's flats. I'm a tube carrier. You can get the tube switched out in half the time and be on your way. Just cuts out the middle man.
So I went out and bought a traditional patch kit with real glue. The kind that allows you to fix the flat and get a nice model airplane high. And I needed to get Gert a new tube.
Instead, I bought three tubes for 20 inch bikes. Why? Well, it's possible Gert will destroy hers again. I've seen her ride. But I thought about all those kids with 20x1.75 tires riding around the neighborhood and thought about all the dads who would probably let that flat tire sit in the garage because they didn't know how to change the tube. So color me a sucker.
Yes, I'll even use them for the neighbor kids who are being raised by wolves. Even feral children deserve proper bike rides.
More than anyone, feral children deserve bikes. They're the one's that know the rage and anger brought about by abandonment. They alone can channel that rage and abandonment into pushing the pedals harder and faster than anyone who might have had the good fortune of growing up in a home with supportive parents and, say, a roof. They alone can crush the French and Italians when climbing up an impossibly high and steep ascent in the Pyrenees while a zillion drunk Spaniards yell at them. They have a special emptiness that can only be filled with the suffering of their defeated adversaries.
ReplyDeleteBesides, it's way better than having them become mercenaries in a corporate security firm...
You're not a sucker; you're doing humankind a great service.
The Physicist