There is a certain kind of frustration to bike problems.
There is the part where they tend to break down at inconvenient times, since I tend to be in a part of my day I want to get over with as quickly as possible. Chances are good that I will be left exposed to grumpy weather and/or left to make longer detours.
Then, there is the side of fixing things. Bike parts are cheap, easy to come by, and by any standard mostly very simple things to handle yourself. Repair shops feel expensive, and also tend to add more detours.
So now that I have some more space, I decided that I should, finally, start fixing my bike myself more.
Bikes are unlike code in that fixes can get your hands really dirty, and you end up sweaty and frustrated in whole different ways when you try to force everything together. Plus, there is the chance of breaking actual physical things, without undo commands or version control to fall back to.
In dealing with the gradual decay of my front tire, I have most likely made every single mistake possible.
I tell myself it is a learning experience.
Tomorrow, I will hopefully put an end to the front tire chapter for a while by actually having managed to buy an inner tube of the right dimensions. It took two tries, of course.
On the other hand, even with these detours I have only spent the equivalent of perhaps five bus tickets. I could be making a repair at least every other day and still come out ahead compared to any other mode of transportation.
Plus: exercise.
So I try to keep on learning,