lessons from a tire pumping nerd

Don’t be a tire pumping nerd. Or don’t bother being one, anyway. It’s okay to ride your bike without repumping the tires every time. And yes I’m talking about the road bikes with the skinny tires. And no, I’m not talking about the urban bikes with the fat tires although you needn’t pump those either very often like I’ve been doing with Mindful Mule lately. I can’t even remember the last time I pumped up those tires. They’re 26X2 and they’re pretty low on air but they roll and it’s cold out and so when I get out there I don’t want to pump, although that’s warming, I just want to ride. I don’t want to fiddle with valves and shit. It’s too limiting.

And it’s the same with the road bikes. If you think that you have to repump your tires every time and put on your special riding costume and fill up your water bottle with poweraid and plan a route and find a partner or group to ride with then you’re never going to get on that bike and ride it down to the store or to the pub or even to work for that matter because it’s just too much of a pain to do all that every time you leave the house. Your bike just needs to be ready to ride all the time. And if you rode that race bike last weekend it probably already is.

If you want to tuck or roll your pants I’ll allow that, though, as I do that a lot. I’m a bike nerd, too. Hello, my name is Jonah and I’m a bike nerd. Sometimes I wear that costume too, so I know how it can be, but you’ve got to let your self be free. There are so many roadies out there that aren’t riding their bikes but for exercise. Please go somewhere on you bikes, too. Ride free.