Enjoying South Carolina Weather -- and fixing flat tires

Sunday, 13 January 2013.  The weather right now in this Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina is terrific -- with a capital "T."   Temps today are supposed to get up into the mid-to-upper 70's, and more of the same is forecast for tomorrow.  I was very anxious to get out yesterday morning for an early ride on my new Phat Skullz cruiser bike, but, alas, my rear tire was flat.  Can you believe it?  Man, was I ever mad and frustrated.  Managed to get the inner tube off the rear tire without too much bother and discovered a small hole -- just enough to not hold air properly.  And to top it off we had no air pump.  Kudos to some fellow campers who loaned me an air compressor, making the whole process much easier.  A quick trip to an Ace hardware store in North Myrtle Beach (about 15 minutes south on SC Rte 9) was now in the mix to buy a bicycle tire repair kit and a small air pump.  Mission accomplished and in short order I repaired the offending tire.  It seemed to hold air overnight and after a 20-minute bike ride around the campground, the tire still seems to be holding just fine.  Guess I haven't lost my touch repairing bike tires.

Some blog readers already know this story, but years ago -- and I mean YEARS ago -- in the mid-70's, Lynette and I, along with another couple, took a bicycle trip out into then West Germany while we were stationed in Berlin.  We put our bikes on the Army Duty Train and took an overnighter from Berlin to Frankfurt.  Once disembarked at the HauptBahnHof in Frankfurt, we headed south on our bikes for Darmstadt and then on to Heidelberg where we picked up the Neckar River. We followed the Neckar as long as we could -- much easier riding for everyone and very scenic, to boot -- and then proceeded cross-country to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, north to Wurzburg, Aschaffenburg and finally back into Frankfurt.  A circuitous route of about 350 miles over the course 10 days.  One of THE best vacations I've every had!  We traveled the back roads, off the beaten path, so to speak, staying at small B&B's or small hotels in whatever small village we ended up in at the end of the day's riding.  Anyway, the point of this story.  Over the course of this 10-day bicycle vacation, I repaired 17 flat tires on Lynette's bike.  17!   And it was the very same 10-speed bike the other couple was riding (I rode a 3-speed Schwinn for the trip).  Never could figure out the why and/or how of all those flats, but Lynette rode that bike back into Frankfurt on the very same inner tube she stared with.  Guess one could say I became very good at fixing flats.  Let's hope my skills are still good enough to ensure my new bike tire repair job will last.

Anyway, here's a pic of me after this morning's ride.  The Phat Skullz is one very easy-riding bike, at least for fairly flat, level roads/bike paths.  Which is probably exactly what we were looking for in buying our bikes.  We hope to enjoy them for many years.

Bonus pic:  My lovely wife relaxing, reading a book on her Kindle, and just plain enjoying this wonderful SC weather!