"Getting a flat tire"... a nice framework for thinking about the fine art of problem solving.

There is a realization that comes with uttering the words, "Oh-oh, I think I have a flat" when you ride a bicycle; literally your journey has come to a complete halt and emotionally you have just come face to face with something that is 100% yours - Your flat, your bike, your problem to fix.

Don't get me wrong, fellow riders are always concerned for your safety and willing to help, but there is an expectation you should know how to deal with your own tires (for no other reason then one day you may be all alone and unlike your car, a bike offers no shelter from the elements as you wait for CAA or AAA to arrive). Recently, one of the riders I train with experienced back to back flat tires; this not only allowed him to practice changing a tire but also illustrated a nice framework for thinking about the fine art of problem solving... all very transferable outside the world of amateur cycling. 

It is probably worth offering a quick overview of changing a tire, as it will help with the colourful illustrations regarding problem solving that are to come (feel free to skip this part if you are all too familiar with fixing flats): 

After you find yourself uttering the phase "Oh-oh, I think I have a flat", it's important to pull over to the side of the road and assess the situation - Is the tire completely flat, partially flat and could you get to your destination (without damaging your rim) by simply pumping up your tube? If the answer is "no" and you will need to repair the tire, the following is needed: a spare tube, tire levers, a pump and a sunny day (the latter is preferred but not mandatory). The steps for repairing a flat tire go something like this:

1. Remove the wheel from your bike. The front wheel is easier than the rear because you don't have to deal with the chain (and far less messy).
2. Remove the round nut that secures the value to the rim.
3. Using the tire levers pry the tire away from the rim and fully separate one side of the tire from the rim enabling you to get at the tube. This will require two levers, some muscle, and the knowledge you will get better with practice.
4.  Pull the damaged tube away from the rim and tire (you don't have to be gentle as it's already damaged). Put the round nut back on the value and keep the tube to be repaired later.
5.  Remove the round nut from the valve of your replacement tube and put it to the side. Inflate the tube slightly and then insert the value in the hole in the rim while pushing the rest of the tube around the rim under the tire. Finish by putting the round nut back on the valve. 
6. Now for the tricky part - Fit the tire back onto the rim so the tube is inside the tire using your hands. Some people can do this just using their hands, but I need the levers to get the whole tire back on the rim because there is always part that needs some extra help to fold it over the rim. If you are not careful here, you can "pinch" the tube and put a hole in the tube.
7. Inflate the tire and hope the tube didn't get pinched or the tire valve isn't faulty. Tighten the round valve bolt so it is against the rim. If this doesn't go well you will need to go back to step 2 and repeat. If this happens, hopefully you know someone close by who has a spare or you happen to be carrying a second tube. 
8. Enjoy the rest of your ride.
9. Once you get back repair the hole in your old tube or buy a new one before you ride again.
10. Check the tire you repaired before you ride again... just in case

I've included the link to a video that outlines the fine art of fixing a flat.

These were the steps I watched a couple of times while offering moral support, the odd piece of advice, and experienced a nice framework for thinking about the fine art of problem solving.

Sooner or later problems will occur; they are inevitable: Problems will happen, and as much as you may be able to prevent some of them, you can't control the unexpected and unforeseen (you may be able to avoid the glass but not a faulty valve that decided to leak 20 kilometres into your ride) - Problems will happen so deal with them intellectually and not emotionally (screaming at the cycling gods serves no one).

Anticipate and prepare for problems to the best of your ability: It is a given that if you ride a bike you will get a flat tire so carry a spare tube, a pump, the levers to fix it, and ensure you've watched a Youtube video on "fixing a flat". If you are an active rider you probably should have a chain tool as chains break too - Spend time understanding the problems that could occur and prepare yourself as best you can; it will get you back on your bike sooner.

Evaluate the problem in context with your situation and determine the best course of action: A slow leak may afford the short term fix of just pumping up the tire so you can get back home before it rains; changing a tire in a dry garage is preferable to being on the side of the road in the rain - Sometimes there are a number of "fixes" available before you eventually solve the problem.

Problems always find better solutions when more people are involved: Although getting a flat does occur, it doesn't happen that often so it's easy to forget how to be efficient at fixing it. Having others around who may have more experience and offer advice is helpful, as well as having the ability to borrow another tube when you realize your spare is defective - Take advantage of the resources around you to solve your problem quicker.

Problem solving usually consists of a number of steps, each of which can create their own problems: A lever breaks, you lose the round valve nut or it turns out your pump isn't working - Don't underestimate how the simplest of solutions can turn complex very quickly.

The more problems you deal with, the better you get at dealing with them: The more you fix a flat tire the better you will get... and better understand the mechanics of your bicycle for that matter - Don't be afraid to take on situations and the inevitable problems that come with them; they will make you more capable.

Learn from your problems and try not to repeat them; with that said, be prepared to deal with them again in the future: Try to understand why you got the flat. Did you ride over something sharp and need to be more attentive, or are you buying a poor make of tube and need to change manufactures? - Use problems as opportunities to learn for the "next time" and make sure you have have a new replacement tube.

The ride is well worth all the problems that may come your way: It is a beautiful thing to ride a country road on a hot summer day; well worth any problem that may come your way - Don't let problems stand in the way of your goals. Deal with them head on, get them behind you, and enjoy the ride.

My next ride is this coming weekend and hopefully it's not my turn to get a flat. Although it's an easy problem to solve, it's still a pain in the ass.

gpe.

PS: I would be remiss if I didn't include a link to "A shameless plea to support a very noble purpose (with an endearing story included as a thank you)", as it is one of the reasons we risk all of those flat tires.

The seduction of going backwards...

The following is the original and the rewrite can be found by clicking here.

Recently I had a situation come my way where almost instantly a very pithy saying popped into my head - "Been there, done that, and got the t-shirt". The more I got into the situation, the more I could see myself sliding into the comforts of the past and the recognition of how easy it would be to get back into it. Everything on paper cried out the fit was perfect, with all the reassurance and memories of your favourite childhood blanket!

I was sharing the situation over drinks with a good friend who finally looked at me and said, "You know they are trying to seduce you into going backwards." She was being figurative of course, but the point she was trying to make was not lost on me. In the end, the situation (which I definitely would have been effective in, particularly with the challenges on the horizon) did not pan out; the reasons can be summed up eloquently with the famous phase "somethin' just happened".*

In all of this, I was reminded you cannot unlearn something and do it again, you cannot relive those perceived "glory days", you can't create something more than once and expect to call it "new", and you cannot go forward by moving backwards - Opportunity, Satisfaction and Growth are not found in the romantic comforts of the past, but in the present and the immediate visions of the future:

• A world that has more "stuff" than it currently needs.
• Climate change impact - hot where it used to be cold, dry where it used to be wet... with all the iterations in between.
• The impact of 3D printing on the manufacturing sector and how you will replace the "cup that just broke" (as a simple example).
• VR (virtual reality) impacting everything: travel, business infrastructure, education, entertainment, etc.
• Plastic... what are we going to do with all of it, particularly when it breaks down into problematic microparticles?
• Companies taking on the status of nation states.
• A growing population with real and perceived inequities.
• Brain Controlled Interface (BCI) - the union of man and machine.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics.
• The wrath of Mother Nature - Ebola, Zika virus, antibiotic resistant bacteria, etc.
• Drones and the redefinition of distribution.
• More...

All very real, and most will impact us to one degree or another (some faster than we would imagine if we use the Internet as an example). This is the world that will offer new challenges, new problems and  NEW OPPORTUNITIES; always moving forward and never resting on the laurels of the past. I get that the seduction of going backwards can be tempting (be it comfort, familiarity, or ease through experience) but in the end, the past gets left behind.

Our paths are by no means simple or linear and the adage "one step backwards and two steps forward" rings very true - But you need to ask yourself, "Is that backward step I just took moving me in the wrong direction, or is it all part of the plan to capture the opportunities of the future?"

Figuratively or literally, it is probably worth some consideration.

iamgpe

* The famous phase "somethin' just happened" came about with friends when someone asked why a certain situation ended the way it did. The answer, as you may guess, was "somethin' just happened". There was a strange amount of knowing laughter with the simple response. And yes, T-shirts are being made. 

A shameless plea to support a very noble purpose (with an endearing story included as a thank you).

There is a certain helplessness that comes with watching a sister or a dear friend battle cancer and ultimately succumb to this horrible disease - It is in the simple act of riding my bike in the Ride To Conquer Cancer that I can, in the most humble of ways, do something to fight back. 

In memory of family and friends, as well as to support family and friends that are currently fighting the good fight*, I ask you to donate generously by clicking on this link - I promise to ride my heart out. 

With my shameless plea out on the table, I wanted to offer some statistics regarding cancer, as it will touch you either directly or indirectly in your lifetime. Also I've included a short, creatively written story of two young boys and one tiny frog... my way of thanking you for reading my plea for your support.

First the statistics, and although they are Canadian, I am quite sure they echo the situation in almost all countries around the world:

• An estimated 196,900 new cases of cancer and 78,000 deaths from cancer will occur in Canada in 2015 (the final numbers are being tallied).
• More than half (about 51%) of all new cases will be prostate, breast, lung and colorectal cancers.
• About 2 in 5 Canadians will develop cancer in their lifetimes and 1 in 4 will die of the disease.
• 63% of Canadians diagnosed with cancer will survive at least 5 years after their diagnosis.
• At the beginning of 2009, there were about 810,045 Canadians living with a cancer that had been diagnosed in the previous 10 years.  Click here to read more.  

Fighting cancer is a noble purpose.

And now for that story I promised you -

Frog heaven... the place where all good frogs go.

This story, now seen through the illuminated eyes of adulthood, seems to find its way into the conversation every time a friend and I get together; it is a narrative of childhood, innocence and two young boys' interpretation of doing the right thing - A conversation that seems to always carry an air of guilt with it. But at the time and being ten years old, the conversations were of our adventures and the exploits of great explorers wandering the undeveloped fields in the neighbourhood. It was early summer and we were far too young to be carrying anything that resembled guilt. 

As we explored around large mounds, scraggily brush, ponds and bull rushes is wasn't long until we had successfully cornered and captured a great prize; as memory serves, it got away from us a couple of times, but in the end the frog was ours. Our status as great hunters had been confirmed because after all, this is what young boys do (as well as collect insects in an old pickle jar with the lid poked full of holes for proper air circulation) - We had proven ourselves once again. With quarry in hand, we decided then and there to make the frog our pet and look after it with all the care that a ten year old boy could muster. 

Off to my friend's house we ran with said frog securely in hand.

It wasn't long before we had constructed the perfect residence for our frog consisting of an open cardboard box (just deep enough to keep the frog safely inside), lots of grass, some sticks and a few rocks; all nestled snuggly at the back of the garage. I vaguely remember the two of us wondering why our new pet wasn't moving very much and maybe he was hungry; this was when my friend's father pulled into the driveway. We were off like a shot down the driveway to greet him, share the day's adventure and show off our new pet (who by the way was never named, and will always just be known to me as "frog"). 

As my friend's father (who seemed very tall) inspected our handy work, I remember him in a very "fatherly way" explain to us that the frog belonged in the wild, he was suffering and would die if we kept him in his newly fashioned home. With that all said, he went inside and we were left with our ten year old thoughts - So it was back to the wilds of the pond with our suffering frog (who we now believed was going to die) and we would put it out of its misery. We had to stop his suffering after all (which we were acutely aware we had caused), and realized to do so, we had to kill the frog.

At this point you should keep reading and cut us some slack as we were now grappling with some rather lofty concepts... besides, we weren't murders, we were ten.

When we get back to the pond, and after much debate over the most appropriate method to euthanize our beloved pet frog, we had decided on "drowning"; the technique of choice would involve a piece of string with one end tied to the frog's leg and the other to a rock. I'm almost sure this was fashioned after something we saw on a black and white TV. 

In the end, after many attempts of securing the string to the frog, then the string to the dirt lump, then the string to the frog and the rock, and after poking the frog down every time he came surface, we found ourselves staring down on the frog at the bottom of the pond. We waited a couple of minutes until we were satisfied we had put his suffering to an end and then headed home (we were already late for dinner).

There has been a fair bit of speculation and perspective over the years regarding this situation and our culpability. After all, being an amphibian, a frog can hold its breath a rather long time; the debate will forever continue. What I can tell you, there is a small part of me that hopes the God up in frog heaven isn't much of a talker when she goes to any deity meetings.

Thank you for reading and your support,

iamgpe

* My uncle was recently diagnosed with cancer and I wrote a blog on "fighting the good fight". He has gone through four rounds of chemo, continues to "fight the good fight" and is winning!