Flat Tires and Coffee

I mentioned in my previous post that the reason I was at home and just sitting down to breakfast when Kurt called on Wednesday was related to getting in late from Bolivar the night before (and in part because of a flat tire I'd gotten).

Tuesday evening Britt and I decided to go to Bolivar to see that evening's program (a CIY Summer Conference is being held there this week). It was a great night. I decided to stop in Springfield on the way home to get gas and a cup of coffee from QT (it's not Starbucks, but it's pretty good most of the time). Well, I got gas, but then realized that my driver's rear tire was low. Lucky for me I was at a QT, they always have an air-compressor that is free to use. Unfortunately this one was broken. So I went across the street (notice I didn't mention getting the cup of coffee?) to a different station and paid $.75 for air (really, for air). By the time I got the tire up to recommended pressure I could hear it hissing. Not good.

I looked and could see the screw sticking out of it. Crap! I opened the trunk and started digging out the spare (well, that might be generous, perhaps BMX bicycle tire is more accurate), jack, etc. The good news was I'd done this several times before and I was sitting right next to the air compressor in case the spare was low (and it was). It took me about 15 minutes to air up the first one, realize it was shot, get stuff out, jack the car up, change the tire, drop the car down (somewhere in there I paid another $.75 because the air machine shut off before I got the spare up to 60 psi (you know it's a little car tire when it runs that much pressure).

Thankfully the spare held air and away we went. My wife, brilliant woman she is, was standing close by (close enough to hold things when asked, not close enough to be in the way) and not saying much. Did I mention it was 10pm when all this started and I am usually asleep by then?

I did get my cup of coffee, from the other station, it was rough. The recommended maximum speed on the spare is 50 mph. I'll say this, I dropped my typical Interstate speed down a little, but not to 50. Had the tire been on the front of the car I might have slowed down more (or taken a good tire off the back, put it on the front and the spare on the back so I didn't have to slow down more).

The upside of this experience (and by the way I ordered a new set of tires for the Civic yesterday, which were overdue anyway) has been that I've had a good excuse to drive the Firehawk the last two days. It needs to be washed desperately, but when the options are dirty Firehawk or Civic on a bike tire you do the math.

Hopefully the new tires will show up tomorrow morning so that they can be installed tomorrow as well. I ended up ordering a H-rated tire. What this means is that the tire is rated for continuous speeds of 130 mph. Now the Civic probably won't go that fast (maybe down a hill, I've never tried it in this car and 125 is the most I've ever done in a Civic of any type and that was definitely down a hill), but it's good to know the tires won't be the weak link should the need arise.

Disclaimer: The author of this post does not condone unsafe driving or excessive speeds. Comments and claims are unverified and should be considered the opinion of the author. The author makes no claim of the replicability of any driving related statement in this post.