Love the flat of the shore, but not the flats

My family and I had a great time down at the Jersey Shore the past few days, highlighted by a Saturday night seafood fest to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday. Clams, lobster, mussels, crab, shrimp, beautiful weather and good company made for a wonderful event! I somehow managed not to stuff myself until I popped, but I was especially glad that I never developed a drinking habit and didn't need to work off the extra beer calories as well. I know the birthday cake wasn't necessary at the end of the meal, but I thoroughly uphold the idea that a good dose of ice cream coats, soothes and relieves!

Riding my bicycle is an absolute MUST at the shore, and of course is the best way to balance out the poor eating habits that always creep in when hanging around the beach house! Sue and I always enjoy tearing around the pancake-flat barrier islands, if we can manage to arrange the ride with a tailwind on the return. Days like Sunday, with winds from the southwest are perfect - I rode out along the causeway, onto the mainland towards Cape May in the shelter of the trees. The wind was then at my back as I looped back on the Delaware Bay side of the peninsula, and I was flying until...plink, a stray piece of pea gravel between the tire and rim. Psssssst - flat tire!

Now, I can't even begin to count the number of flats I've changed over the years, even before I started repairing bikes for other folks, so it isn't anything difficult. However it is a big-time pain in the butt when you are out riding, even if you are like me and have learned to take everything you need with you in case of such "emergencies". When the repair is finished, the legs just aren't moving like before and your morale has taken a huge hit.

I won't waste your time with tire changing tips, because you can find plenty of YouTube videos to help you become an expert, but I will give you some special advice. It is helpful to put a little bit of air into the tube before installation. This will help shape the tube around the rim and avoid pinches or twists when you are inflating the tire - MAJORLY important! I tell anyone who will listen to always take an extra tube, a small repair kit (in case of more than one flat - argh!), tire levers, and a small pump or CO₂ cartridge. These supplies will easily fit in your jersey pockets or the pack under your saddle.

I don't think about it much, mainly because road bike tires seldom have a significant "tread" and I've never had a flat mountain bike tire (I've now jinxed myself), but maybe you've wondered about the direction the tire should be installed to take advantage of the tread pattern. Some tires will have a marking on the sidewall to indicate which direction they should spin when moving forward. If such information is missing, install the tire so that when you look at it from above, the arrow pattern formed by the tread points to the front. The back tire tread, however, should point towards the back for proper traction.

Lacking any obvious pattern, another handy guide would be if there are coloured manufacturer’s logos on one side of the tyre and not the other. Bikes are pretty much always photographed from the side of the drivetrain (chain, cogs, chainrings), so manufacturers place their main logos on this side. Install your tires in this manner, and you can't go wrong!

Here's a manufacturer's photo of the drivetrain side of my ride - hey, I can just make out the blue logos at the top and the word BONTRAGER on the bottom of the tires. Now I'm scrambling to the garage to double-check that I followed my own advice. Carrick is muttering, "Old-timer's disease!"