15,000 WOW

Alan Lloyd, Working Bikes volunteer and Vice President, recently mentioned in passing that he had patched his 15,000th bicycle inner tube.

How did he accomplish that? Alan is a one man assembly line.

• Monday: pump up tubes and identify the puncture, marking the hole with chalk line.
• Tuesday: buff each tube at the site of the hole and apply the patch. Alan buys rubber cement in large side jars.
• Wednesday: pump up the patched tubes
• Thursday: verify that the patch held, let the air out, and roll them up. Oh yes, he makes rubber bands out of defective tubes and uses those bands to hold the good tubes in their rolled up position.
• Saturday; deliver the patched tubes to Working Bikes.