Bizonkulous

VANCOUVER - Elaine Christian has seen her share of flat tires since she started commuting by bicycle to her office downtown three years ago.

“One afternoon I had four flat tires, just on the way home from work. That’s less than four kilometres!” the avid cyclist said Wednesday.

But in the past two weeks Christian, 26, has become increasingly exasperated with almost daily flats. “I’m not really sure what’s going on,” she admits. In two cases, she claims the tire itself and not the inner tube was to blame. The two-year-old tires, a pair of Soma Everwear 700×23c with pink stripes, both suffered sidewall failures within a week of each other, and the hapless Christian was forced to borrow tires from her road bike, a 2006 Trek 1200. But the other flats, she says, are a mystery.

Christian’s husband, James Andres, expressed fear Wednesday afternoon that his wife might become disillusioned with her bike - or vice versa. “Maybe her bike’s trying to divorce her,” he laughed. Andres, 25, also commutes by bicycle and admits he’ll miss morning rides with his wife if she starts taking the bus to work.

Meanwhile, Christian plans on fixing the latest flat, which she discovered while leaving the office Wednesday afternoon, but she confesses, “I’m getting really freaking sick of this.”