Pump or Fix

I’m riding past the Center for Urban Horticulture on my favorite shortcut off the Burke Gilman just after ignoring the “Detour” signs and going straight through the part of the trail where they’re doing a bit of asphalt resurfacing, when I begin to feel the telltale mushiness in my rear tire.

“Maybe it’s just the gravel I’m riding on,” I tell myself hopefully, but soon it’s apparent—and even moreso when I dismount and squeeze my rear tire—that I’ve got a puncture and am losing (have lost) air; but now I’m faced with the perennial question in situations like this: do I stop and take the time to change my tube or can I just get by with pumping it up and hurrying home before the tire goes completely flat?

I try the easy way once, but only get about a quarter mile before I feel the rim bouncing on the pavement, so with something like four miles left in my commute, the prudent thing to do is change the tube, which I do, taking about ten minutes to save at least that long in pumping time had I decided to just keep stopping and re-inflating instead.

But it occurred to me afterwards that this is like the central metaphorical question in my life at the present time: I’m in all these situations where it’s unclear to me whether to soldier on, merely re-inflating my punctures, or stop and take the time to fix them.

Like, for instance, my bad left knee. Do I just keep treating the pain with acupuncture and denial, or do I get an MRI and surgery?

Or in my teaching: should I keep tweaking my existing syllabi or throw them out and start completely anew?

Or as an investor: make a few trades here and there or sell it all and buy land in New Mexico?

Or with this blog: keep noodling with the existing form or trying changing over completely to 328 words?