Bob and I prepared to go for a mountain bike ride along nearby forestry trails in the morning, needing to return around lunchtime to take my mothers dog, Rex to the vet in Sorrell for a check-up in the early afternoon.
Bob’s bike, used for commuting and for a recent day trip to Wee Jasper via Uriarra, was carrying semi slick tyres, and the front wheel was a flat as could be. What started out as a simple task of changing an inner tube, turned into a long surgical procedure of removing fine thorns and burrs with a pair of tweezers. The collection was truly impressive!
An investigation of the rear wheel, which was still highly inflated, revealed a similar impressive array. The removal of one which was acting as a plug to keep the air in the tyre resulted in a similar slow leak and a second flat.
I had one spare tube, and Bob had one. However just as Bob started to fit the tube that was on his bike, I saw a large, unfixable crack, probably caused by him carrying it on his bike and it rubbing. The days bike ride was off, and it was getting late!
Study of the local yellow pages didn’t provide for many local bike shops – in fact it looked increasingly likely that we would need a trip into Hobart. With a quick change of plans, the four of us – Bob, myself, mother duck and Rex – piled into the car and headed off. Rex was quite comfortable in his position in the wagon boot section of the Outback, he had panoramic windows to enjoy the view and was quite settled. We found a good little bike shop just past the hospital in Hobart, and bought the tubes and a repair kit. I avoided the 50% off sale rack of Pearl Izumi gear.
A bottle of water and back to Sorrell for the Vet, a cup of surprisingly good coffee at the Chilli Pepper Café in Sorrell ($3 each) and a little more shopping. Bob had squeezed in an early morning run, however I had had no exercise all day, so despite the late hour quickly changed and headed off for a 30 minute jaunt. It was humid again in the late afternoon early evening, yet I was sorely tempted to run on. Reluctantly I knew that time was against me, it already being after 6:30pm and turned to return. Not as sprightly a run as the day before, and too short, but still satisfying. I covered about 6km in around 34:55, so OK as a training pace.
Bob’s bike, used for commuting and for a recent day trip to Wee Jasper via Uriarra, was carrying semi slick tyres, and the front wheel was a flat as could be. What started out as a simple task of changing an inner tube, turned into a long surgical procedure of removing fine thorns and burrs with a pair of tweezers. The collection was truly impressive!
An investigation of the rear wheel, which was still highly inflated, revealed a similar impressive array. The removal of one which was acting as a plug to keep the air in the tyre resulted in a similar slow leak and a second flat.
I had one spare tube, and Bob had one. However just as Bob started to fit the tube that was on his bike, I saw a large, unfixable crack, probably caused by him carrying it on his bike and it rubbing. The days bike ride was off, and it was getting late!
Study of the local yellow pages didn’t provide for many local bike shops – in fact it looked increasingly likely that we would need a trip into Hobart. With a quick change of plans, the four of us – Bob, myself, mother duck and Rex – piled into the car and headed off. Rex was quite comfortable in his position in the wagon boot section of the Outback, he had panoramic windows to enjoy the view and was quite settled. We found a good little bike shop just past the hospital in Hobart, and bought the tubes and a repair kit. I avoided the 50% off sale rack of Pearl Izumi gear.
A bottle of water and back to Sorrell for the Vet, a cup of surprisingly good coffee at the Chilli Pepper Café in Sorrell ($3 each) and a little more shopping. Bob had squeezed in an early morning run, however I had had no exercise all day, so despite the late hour quickly changed and headed off for a 30 minute jaunt. It was humid again in the late afternoon early evening, yet I was sorely tempted to run on. Reluctantly I knew that time was against me, it already being after 6:30pm and turned to return. Not as sprightly a run as the day before, and too short, but still satisfying. I covered about 6km in around 34:55, so OK as a training pace. 
That's showing true determination FD - avoiding the 50% off sale.
Was it that the route passed "Duck Creek Road" have any bearing on why you ran that path.
BTW The Canberra Times of 20 Feb, page 12, showed Darwinian Duck Stumpy.
He has 4 legs.
Able to paddle in the water at twice the speed of any other, and look calm above the water line.
Avoiding a "Sale"!! Flash Duck, this has me really worried!
Sounds like a great trip for you & Bob. Hope to see you in Canberra next month.
This is reading a bit like Flash Duck's Tassie adventures. Good to see you squeezed in that run FD - the Inner Child was calling at the end of the day!