I didn't mean to be out so late. It couldn't be helped. I planned on a quick ride to wilderness park and back. It was going to be a short ride. That's why I didn't pack any gear. No spare tube. No air pump. I was on one of my favorite pieces of singletrack when I noticed a few thorns. "Don't worry about it," I thought. It wasn't until I was making the final descent that I noticed a certain softness to my front suspension. Shit! My tire's going flat. Now if you've spent any time on a bike, you know that when your front tire gets very low, it grabs corners much differently than normal. Oddly enough, that's what mine did. At the bottom of the descent is a sharp turn to the right. my wheel cut into it quite sharply which is what I expected. What I didn't expect was the front wheel sliding out from under me. That's what it did. Unexpectedly. I injured my knee. Not badly, but there was blood. Now I had to walk my bike out of the trail, and out to the road that runs next to the highway. Hard asphalt sucks to walk on when your shoes have very little flex to them, and you only company is a flat wheeled bike and the sound of your cleats scraping along the road. I made it about halfway home, which is pretty close to work. I stopped by there and bummed a ride. Of course I couldn't throw my bike in the back seat of the car, so I just stopped by home to pick up a spare and a pump, which I should have taken in the first place. Back to work, changed the tube and I was ready to go. By now however the sun had set. I don't have reflectors on my bike so I made an effort to take back roads. Besides, I have reflectors on the backs of my shoes. And that's when It happened. I'm riding along... Injured... My front wheel misaligned. I see my shadow growing in front of me. Car. I pull over to the very edge of the road. A quick glance back reassures me that the driver sees me. they are in the middle of the road. Besides, I had just passed them at the last intersection. The SUV pulls up beside me and the window rolls down. the lady behind the wheel yells over. "You're hard to see." I nod and continue to ride. She continues. "You don't have any reflectors on the back of your bike." I'm thinking to myself: "It's my bike. I know what components are on it." I don't say that though. I smile and nod. Then I raise my eyebrows and nod ahead of us at the oncoming traffic. At this point she could have accelerated around me and gone on her merry way. Instead she persists. "It's dark out and you're hard to see." I nod again, and do the little head bob more emphatically to get her to look forward. She still has plenty of time to accelerate around me. "You should be careful." It's about this time when she looks up and realizes that there is an oncoming car. So she swerves over to make sure the oncoming car has room to pass and runs me off the road. Thank you lady. Thank you very much.