Meh-ry Holiday

All I wanted for Christmas was the Maxxis 29X2.6 Rekon tire.  On my wish list since March, and then on a UPS truck bound for my house this past Friday morning.  It was looking like Santa was pulling a clutch move indeed.

I came home to no tire.  I ate dinner with no tire.  I was watching TV when the man in brown did the drop and dash on my front porch.

I am complete.

I had already pulled my compressor up from the crawlspace/murder room in anticipation of the Rekon's arrival.  I had located my Trucker Co Cream and placed it in a prominent location in my breakfast nook cum bike room.  Valve core remover, tire levers... everything I would need to mount the tire ASAP was at the ready.

The Vertigo Meatplow V.7 is hanging on the stand.  I drop the front wheel out of the crabon frok.  Peal off the Minion DHR+, toss it aside, drop the fresh rubber on the crabon rim.  Pour in the Cream... hit the on button on the compressor.

Nothing.

Hmmmm...

Hit the reset button on the outlet.  Move the compressor to the porch and another outlet.

Nothing.

Shit.

I haven't actually used the compressor since we moved over a month ago.  Maybe it's been since sometime in October that I've heard its sweet purrs and whirs and pfffffffffftttttttsssssss.

Okay.  I need a new compressor now.  Get over it.  I dig into my CO2 cartridges and round up a couple (mostly useless) 16gram jobbers.  The size I carry at work and on my commute that I haven't needed in years.  There's an old inflator head in there, so I grab that as well.

Hit the CO2... nothing.  It's coming out at a rate that could only be rated as a slow breeze.  I try to get most of the rest of the air out and quickly discover that there was a lot still in there... when the whole thing just about blew out of my hands. 

Meh.

Another CO2.  A different inflator head.

Faster release but also a faster non-success.

*sigh*

Another CO2 and another different inflator head (how many of these things do I own?).

A huge blast and also another huge nothing.  Gawdamit.

I give up when I get to this point:

The whole time I was wasting CO2, in the back of my head, I was aware that Bike Source is only a mile away.  I just didn't wanna admit defeat. 

7:20PM.  I give the rest of my open beer to The Pie, grab my keys, and drive to the shop.  Some fun is made at my expense as I explain my situation, but the pain of embarrassment is soon drown in end-of-the-work-day beer and a successfully inflated tire.  The shop closes and mebbe I stick around just a bit later than I needed to.

I get home, mount the wheel, and admire its girthiness.  Head out to the porch to look at my broken compressor...

And when I go to unplug it from the extension cord, it fires up.  Meh and hooray.

I suffered a fair amount of frustration, but in the end, I got to hang out at the shop, the tire was mounted, and I saved the $100+ I thought I was going to have to blow on a new compressor.