You can bet I was most relieved to see the sign below—definitely the climax of the entire ride. Wearing glowsticks on the neck and wrists and reflective orange bands on the calves, I set out huffy cruiser bike onto dark roads illuminated only by the super-bright headlight of the cruiser. One great thing about setting out at this cricket-chirping hour was that there were very few cars on the road.
Kind of like the reverse of Bill Belichick’s scientific explanation for Deflategate, if you will. This bike is an inexpensive alternative that was built to last. Little did they know that my bike was taken off the showroom floor next to the infant section at a toy store. When I moved back to Aspen in 2006, I shipped Arianna.
Indeed, there seemed to be plenty of blue sky ahead and to the south. “Hey,” I asked the cashier at the Shell station, “is there a bike shop in town? ” The hope was I might be able to pick up another tube before heading back to Fort Collins. It seems, however, that the sun-baked asphalt and 95-degree temperatures in Walden were enough to increase the tire pressure just enough to cause the tire explosion.
A ship’s wheel design is featured on the chain wheel, while a wood-grain finish is used on the chainguard, rack and other areas of the cruiser. Make your daily commute more exciting with the Huffy Women’s Deluxe 26 in Cruiser Bike. The durable Perfect Fit steel frame comes with a rear rack and a front basket to carry your essentials, while the 26-inch x 2.35-inch tires and steel rims supply a smooth ride. The cruiser-style handlebars and padded spring saddle seat add comfort along the journey. I’ve experienced this before, a result of over-inflating the Huffy’s tires. The rims on this bike were not exactly machined to military precision and don’t seem to “grab” onto the tires’ wire beads very securely.
It wasn’t nearly enough to wipe out the sleep debt from the night before, but at least the bed was more comfortable than the weeds. After that, I decided it was a good idea to let some air out of the front tire to obviate the risk of that one popping too. Whatever the case, my wish for a relaxed, sit-down lunch stop at the Shell Station was now shot to pieces. I would have to bust out the wrenches and Phillips screwdriver to disconnect the rear coaster brake and undo the rear axle due to the lack of quick releases. More unnerving was the realization that the ruptured tube was not salvageable and that I’d have to use the only spare tube in my emergency kit to replace it. I had patches for punctures, but it didn’t occur to me earlier that split tubes were a real possibility with this bike.
If the tire pressure is too high, the tires unseat from the wheels, allowing the tube to escape and pop like a balloon. So the night before I inflated the tires right up to what I thought was the “safe threshold,” which experience told me was 40 PSI on this bike (still 15 PSI under the maximum pressure labeled on the sidewalls). I wanted to have the lowest possible rolling resistance for this ride, after all.