True Blue

A flat tire is no way to start the new year.

Well, technically it was the end of the old year, since it happened on Dec. 31. But the bike wasn't back in rideable condition until today. And that's just shameful.

The tires on my commuter were CSTs. I bought them for one reason and one reason alone: they are a deep, vivid blue. The bike is a shiny black Cannondale with white lettering and electric blue pin striping. Shimano makes a frame-mounted minipump in black and electric blue, which looks great on the bike and, as a bonus, worked quite well on the couple of occasions where I actually had to use it. And I found a couple of electric blue water bottle cages, which pick up the color scheme nicely.

I'm stupid about colors. My first "real" bike (after the old Walmart Schwinn, which by the way held up pretty damn well with next to no maintenance for about four years until I gave it to my son and he left it outside a convenience store while he ran inside for "just a minute") was a women's Trek 7.2. I really had no idea how much of a difference it would make to go from 26-inch MTB wheels to 700's mounted with city tires. I felt like I could fly.

But the bike was a nauseating shade of pale powder blue reminiscent of Care Bears and mental hospitals, and in the end I just couldn't get past that. I sold it after a year and got the Cannondale instead. (And might have picked up a couple of other bikes along the way.)

Anyway, I ran those tires for several months - $12 apiece, as I recall - and they proved quite reliable. I liked the way they looked, though they were more royal than electric blue, and since they're 25's they are not nearly as well suited to the crushed-gravel trails which are a big part of my daily commute. Also, they looked really sharp only right after a bath, because it turns out roads are not all that clean. Worst of all, I couldn't even mount the tires myself when they arrived. I ended up just taking the wheels off and doing the walk of shame to my friends at Tsunami (which is fortunately only about half a mile from my house, but even a half-mile walk of shame is about half a mile too far).

So, when the front tire flatted out on the way to work the morning of New Year's Eve, it was time to put the old boring black 32's back on. And somehow knock my front brake completely out of whack in the process. Anyway, it's all fixed now. Thanks Tsunami!

They are so good to me. But I can't imagine they think I am very bright.

Anybody know where I could get an electric blue saddle? The one I have is super comfy, but I'd swap it out in a heartbeat for something that really ties the bike together.