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shark.byte.usa:
geez untie the purse stings you guys :D a new inner tube is like $3! Unless you got a bike shop close you'll burn that up in gas...:wink:

I'm about 3 miles to one of the shops and about 7 from the other. I'll be riding my bike to the closest one tomorrow. I prefer to walk/run/bike to locations that don't require me to be there quickly. I wish I had a shower here at work. I'd LOVE to ride my bike to work. Lord knows I need it. :)

So I'll get some exercise AND save 3 dollars for my next scuba related purchase. :)

Michael
 
TSandM:
The bike shop looks at you oddly when you tell them you want an inner tube with a hole in it, but they give it up cheerfully. Then I'm sure they tell each other the story of the crazy woman who wanted an unusable inner tube . . .

Big one-armed crazy looking guy... I'm always looked at oddly. :wink:

Michael
 
CompuDude:
I forget where the OP is, but around Los Angeles, there are bike shops approx every 2 miles. There are several within a mile of my home, and several more within a mile of my work.

Ironically, aside from the uber-convenient bike shops, the bigger sporting good chains that would actually carry spare bike tires for said $3 are a lot father away!

Redneckville USA (Jackson Mississippi)

Such a lovely place to dive.... NOT.

Michael
 
mwhities:
I'm about 3 miles to one of the shops and about 7 from the other. I'll be riding my bike to the closest one tomorrow. I prefer to walk/run/bike to locations that don't require me to be there quickly. I wish I had a shower here at work. I'd LOVE to ride my bike to work. Lord knows I need it. :)

So I'll get some exercise AND save 3 dollars for my next scuba related purchase. :)

Michael
I sent you some bike inner tube, along with the cave line.

Do you do anything differently to ride a bike with one hand? When I was younger, I remember riding my bike while standing up on the pedals and I lifted one hand to wave to a friend and flipped over the handle bars. :D
 
do it easy:
I sent you some bike inner tube, along with the cave line.

Do you do anything differently to ride a bike with one hand? When I was younger, I remember riding my bike while standing up on the pedals and I lifted one hand to wave to a friend and flipped over the handle bars. :D

Thanks, I appreciate it.

The thing I do differently? I don't stand up. It might be hard on the (__Y__) but, at least I don't break my neck. :)

Michael
 
shark.byte.usa:
Walmart, Target, Walgreen's, corner drug stores, heck even grocery stores sometimes have 'em, I know my son goes has gone through a few, you don't have to go to a sporting goods store or bike shop to find one. There's a few odds-n-ends you have to get at a specialty shop or online, a bike inner tube is not one of them. YMMV.
Ironically, Los Angeles is one area where Walmart's are somewhat few and far between. Too much competition, and too expensive, methinks.

Target, yes. But again, this being L.A., there are a lot more bike shops than Targets. Walgreens and other corner drug stores, well, I'll cop to not having looked for bike parts at those stores. There's really no need when another block away I can go to an actual bike shop...

Anyway. Point was, circumstances vary, and the corner drug store is not necessarily closer than the corner bike shop, depending on where you live. In more rural areas, I suspect you are 100% correct!
 
Ok, I took the plunge Saturday! (I'm sure you've read that already but, here's the good stuff. :)

I went to my brother-in-laws house and met my great dive buddy Frankc420 (on SB) there at the pool. He geared up before I did and headed off into the pool. I was taking my time as I wanted to make sure that I was setting everything up on th BP/W properly. (Mind you, if we were doing a shore dive or something deeper than 8', we would've done out buddy check. I'll get in trouble for this, at least I should.) I finally finished attaching everything and made sure (so I thought) that my air was on. Just to test the buoyancy of the BP/W, I added some air to the wing and gently put the rig into the water. It floated! That's a good sign. So I went back over to my chair and finished putting my boots on to get into the water. Frank came back up and had me hand him his core warmer. (That should've been a sign.) I got in and "splashed" down, not before been a wuss and not wanting to, to get "used" to the water.

Frank helped me (TSandM, see? I ask for help. :wink:) put my BP/W on since it was the first time in the water with it. After donning the BP/W, I slowly started moving toward the deep end. I was a little hesitant as it would be my first time under water with it. Of course, I had the wing full of air and with the reg in my mouth, I fell into the deep end. I wasn't to sure what was going to happen but, I figured I'd be alright. There I was, floating there at the surface. I held up my inflator valve and released the air inside. I started on my way down, uh oh, I think it was to fast. So there I am, face to face with the drain. I add a little bit of air then I feel myself slowly starting to rise. Ok, so I think that's not to bad. I only move up a little then I add a little more. Well, that little more was a little to much. (I didn't replace my inflator hose with the smaller one that was provided, so the hose was bent all around.) I then shot up to the surface. Uh oh, that stunk. I finally am able deflate my wing again and I start to descend. I stop about have way, 4 feet or so, and hover there. not to bad. Feels goods. I remember what ClayJar told me. Something like arch your back and bring your legs up. So I try, to do this and I seem to trim out more. Talking about excited! Then, I guess I breath wrong or something and I go down crashing into the bottom of the pool yet again.

While I'm at the bottom of the pool, I lay there on my belly and assume the position. I try to breath in a little and hold my breath for a few seconds to see if I'd float up. No go. So with a shot of air from the inflator, I start heading up. Again, I start gongto fast but, I'm able to stop it and floated in about 4 feet of water. I think I got it! Not, I start rising to the surface again.

About this time I am really starting to get chilly. I think Frank's computer said it was 69/70. I head up to the shallow end and gear down and put my 3mm shortie on. Two for the price of one. I was cold, so getting the 3mm on would do some good, plus I wanted to see what would happen with an exposure suit on.

I gear up and start to make my way to the deep end. I added air to the wing and leisurely laid into the deep end, floating at the top. I felt myself a little "higher" in the water. I was thinking, great, I'll need to add weight but, before I knew it, I deflated the wing and slowly started down toward the bottom. This time I didn't crash into the bottom. The BP/W felt good and I felt like I was getting used to it. About 5 minutes in of trying to trim out, I again felt my left side feeling heavy. I was sorta "leaning" to that left side. Quite strange.

After that, Frank and I played around and swam around and around to try to waste air. Frank was blowing air rings from the bottom and making a bass drum sound. It sounded like someone pulled up with some big bombing speakers. I tried to suck my tank air down to 500psi but, the wife was ready to go and we had a dinner date at 6, it was almost 4.

So Frank and I called the dives (can I add that to my log book? :p) and got out.

Over all I'm quite impressed with the BP/W. I know it will fit better and in return will respond better to everything I do. One thing I'd really like to do it see if I'm actually trimmed out. I did feel some what feet heavy. When I stopped fining and moving, my legs seemed to move down. Although, I coudn't really tell if my legs were up toward my butt/tank. I just need to help frank get his camera and housing. :) I tried pulling them on and also arching my back. It felt like I could hoover there but, I couldn't really tell if I was trimmed or not.

I hope I didn't bore you all with this. Maybe I shouldn't have went into to much detail, not that it was a lot.

Thanks,

Michael
 
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