The night began with a mysterious explosion
I had a strange flat tire that took me a little while to figure out. I was riding through the darkened streets of the King William District in San Antonio when I hit a small bump rounding a corner. It wasn’t a hard bump, more of an odd rub that made a peculiar sound.
Moments later my front brake began rubbing on a certain part of the wheel in a circular rhythm. I could see a bump on the side of the front wheel. It got worse quickly as I came to a quick stop on the side of the street. I’m sure stopping made it worse. The bead of the tire had come off of the rim and the tube was sticking out.
Just as I put my hand near the distended tube, it popped. Loudly. 10 bars – nearly 140 psi – deflated instantly in what sounded like a small gunshot, tearing a large hole in the tube.
A woman came out of her front door to ask what happened. She was across the street and said she heard it in the back of her house. Another couple rushed up from a block or two away to see if there was a gunshot. I explained to both of them it was just an odd flat tire and everything was fine.
A few hours later during the ride I put together what probably happened: That odd bump was the culprit.
There was a wobble in the rim as well, it was slightly out of true. My first thought was that the minor explosion knocked it out of whack but that didn’t seem plausible.
Then I noticed the scuff in the rim – it’s not clearly visible, only in certain light. OK, the bump earlier rubbed the rim and tire in exactly the right way, banging the rim and pulling the tire out at the same time. The pressure in the tube helped push the bead over the edge of the rim. That is the best explanation I could come up with but it still seems kooky.
The Alamo, a preacher and a lot of bicycles
When I arrived at the Alamo, a small group congregated. As the time went on, more showed up from all different directions on all sorts of bikes for all stripes and reasons.
One those in attendance wasn’t on a bike. He stood on a small wall in the open area in front of the Alamo preaching loudly how we’re all sinners. The usual rhetoric, to which no one paid much mind.
More people. Some were mounted on fancy road bikes while others were on mountain bikes. A few fixed gear bikes – some well-appointed while another one or two were the ugly type of cheap “conversions” one sees on Web sites. A couple of people rode BMX bikes. Some had clipless pedals while a few wore flip-flops.
It was a mixed group of people like what I used to see in New York City.
A girl had an Electra cruiser complete with wicker basket. Another guy had a titanium Lightspeed with an Easton EC90 fork. There was the guy with a burly mountain bike – the downhill or all-mountain type. He wore knee pads and shin protectors, gloves but no helmet.
Of the 200 or so there, maybe 10 had helmets. Most of the riders had blinking lights but some didn’t. Some had water or drinks with them, a few had bags, some had flat-repair stuff.
Not long before the ride departed, a kid from Michigan asked what was going on, why everyone was gathered and what it all had to do with a preacher and the Alamo.
He told me he moved to San Antonio from Michigan a week before.
After expressing my condolences, I told him the preacher had nothing to do with the bike ride, He was just taking advantage of an audience.
The guy who rode the orange fixed gear-converted road bike (Salsa? Lemond? I can’t remember at the moment) told the kid the ride left at 9:30, correcting both of us actually, I thought it left at 9.
I explained the ride was just for fun and it leaves the last Friday of the month from the Alamo. Everyone was invited and there were no rules or motives.
He seemed impressed with the whole thing.
The ride left and went up E Street I think and over the Broadway. The group twisted and turned through the darkened streets of the Alamo City on its way to the Wooden Nickel, which seemed to be a VFW Post as well. People talked and joked around. Some were quiet, some were alone while others were not.
The ride from the Alamo to the Wooden Nickel took about half an hour. The “rest” period was a couple of hours. Eventually the group rode on – I think they were waiting for more people or just didn’t feel like riding any more. The delay gave me a chance to shoot non-motion photos and talk to some people.
I don’t know any street names or even where we were exactly. I think the Wooden Nickel is on Austin Street but I’m not sure. Eventually we made it back somewhere. We headed down Broadway, some people turned down a street while others went straight.
That’s the direction I went, south down Broadway. I rode behind two people who turned off.
I feel sort of dirty about this, but I drove near downtown with my bike in the car. On the way back downtown I passed where the car was parked. On my way to get some food after the ride, I passed some of the riders loading bikes into a truck – I didn’t feel so bad about driving at that point. Later still I saw some other riders on their bikes still.
I felt like a loser driving a car with a bike in it.
Something about where I live in San Antonio, I really don’t like riding my bike here. It’s the area, the streets, how far and boring it is to ride anywhere. If I were downtown or just in a different area, it would be a different story.
Never mind that.
The ride was fun. The last one I went on a year ago was fun also.
Bike lanes and alternative transportation are in the minds of city planners but not at the forefront. They either don’t have the money or don’t want to spend it to get people out of cars. There is talk of a street car system and commuter trains connecting San Antonio to the far superior Austin.
All of these lofty plans are far away. The city and most of it’s inhabitants are still in the 1940’s mentality that cars are the way of the future. They’re not. Look at the car-related mess from crappy air, to the money to takes to build and maintain (poorly!) car infrastructure. Look at how fat the people in San Antonio are – it’s not normal.
On a bike, it’s easy to socialize. It’s easy to see things one misses in a car. It’s easier to stay in shape and forget about stress. There is no parking to worry about, no oil changes, no gasoline. Routine maintenance is much cheaper. A $500 car repair is relatively small but a $500 repair on a bike is pretty big, even on a high end ride.
As dismayed as I am about San Antonio, it’s always a huge morale boost to see people on bikes. It’s even better to see them come together to ride for fun.
It’s almost as if San Antonio may have a chance.
The bike ride leaves from the Alamo the last Friday of the month at about 9:30. Leave your attitude at home and be ready to have fun on a leisurely ride that rolls through San Antonio. Traffic is light but the streets are dark. Some of the riders like to swerve left and right in the group and others like to sprint through racing each other. It’s not like they’re acting maliciously, they just don’t know better.
If you stay away from the few dangerous people (the minority) the ride is very safe and fun. Motorists seem to be very patient and let the group go through red lights – many even yield the right of way on streets.
