My first puncture!

I still remember the day. It is still a hot gossip when the club members meet. I along with all the other members were stranded, in middle of a jungle! It was the first time when my tyre got punctured on a ride. We were roughly 200kms from the home. And there was not a single shop around for miles! It sent chills down my spine, worrying how and what's gonna fix my puncture. However, I felt warm. Because I had my club and all the members to back me up and help me. Finally, upon talking with a local, we got to know there in fact, was a small puncture shop. But, that was 20 Kilometers ago.

Relieved, I rushed to my tool kit and quickly got the tyre off. It was pretty simple! What was not simple, was, putting it back on. Quite a tedious job for a first timer. Never the less, that day, I mastered the art of removing and putting my tyre back on! How you may ask? That day, my tyre got punctured not once, not twice but FOUR TIMES!!! Changed my tube twice, and patched it up real good the remaining times. Each of the time, the puncture shop was either 17 kilometers ago or 20 kilometers ahead. Had to repeat the same take and down, again and again.

Although all of us remember it as the most punishing ride of all, probably the worst, it was quite a learning experience for me and all of us. Punishing, because we had to take multiples stop and go back and fourth carrying the tyre for what seemed never ending kilometers, took us roughly 14 hours to reach Koyna, Mahabaleshwar from Dombivali (5 a.m. to 9 p.m), even after riding my bike with a flat tyre for 17 kilometers straight. I gave up all the hope to float back again on tarmac.

Nonetheless, the puncture was caused but a foot long steel bar shaving that went across my tyre wall. I was not even riding on the sides or offroading. It was lying in the center of the road. It was terrible. The only reason why I ran flat so many times? The tyre was not patched from the inside along with the tube. It was merely a 50INR fix or neglect I should say. Which costed me thousands of rupees and priceless time.

I would blame all the neglect, on the panic and anxiety and stress that went through my head. Questioning, "how" I would get moving. My head and heart were pre-occupied with a tsunami of all such thought which suppressed my presence of mind, and seeing me worried, worried the other members too.

All what I got to learn from this experience can be dramatically be gathered in one single sentence. Which is...

"to be clam regardless of the situation."