Bike Woes

Well, April came and went as fast as possible.  

Did the month even happen?

Above: The sun going down on April.

And what a better way to start off a new month than with a no-stranger-to-me flat tire!

If ever I was meant to feel like a missionary again...this was the day.

They happened almost bi-weekly on the mission....and I haven't had a bike flat tire since!

Car, yes. Bike, no.

(Haven't really had a bike since either so I guess that would make sense)...

Good thing about Taiwan is there are millions of little bike shops everywhere.  

Only problem was...the bike store man (obviously) didn't speak english!

But in the end it didn't prove to be as exhausting as expected to try to get a new tire, but was still a semi-difficult task.  At first he brought out the pump after I showed him the flat tire...but I had a huge hole in the tire so then he went "oh oh oh oh"...showed me the price...and he was on his way.  I had no clue if he truly understood what I meant (but had a good feeling that he did since this is his job...).

I just kind of stood there pretending to be of help but it was obviously a no-win situation for the both of us since we couldn't understand each other.  I just let him do his thing...

When he was done, I paid him $600 NT ($18 USA) and was back on the road within 30 minutes of getting the flat tire.

That's a new record for me!

Let's hope it's the last one.

UPDATE: THE DAY AFTER POSTING THIS POST I GOT ANOTHER FLAT TIRE.  TRAGEDIES ALWAYS COME IN TWO'S FOR ME: usually in the form of speeding tickets...