Crap, bicycle trouble today with tri on Sun... advice needed

I guess it is better it happened today rather than this weekend, but my daughter came to my room and told me my bike was flat. I had just aired it up today in preparartion for my ride tomorrow morning. Apparantly a spoke was loose and punctured the tube. I have extra tubes so I was actually kind of glad this happened so I could have the chance to change a flat which I have not done before. Well no problem. I got the kit out of my saddle bag and changed the tire in a matter of a few minutes. However, my air pump did not fit on the presta valve I have. No problem, I had one CO2 cartidge that I wanted to save so I used that. Well I cross threaded the device which made all of the CO2 escape into the air and not the tube. Now I am stuck with a tire with no air. I guess I am lucky because I found out how unprepared I am. I need to go all the way into Corpus tomorrow to get new CO2 cartridges.

My main question is is there an adaptor that can be put on regular bicycle pumps made for schraeder valves, or should I purchase another pump. I will also look into those adapters that Scott mentioned. I should have gotten them when he first told me about them.

Most pumps have an insert that comes with the pump that will allow you to switch to Presta valve. You might be able to unscrew the suround, try to pull out the rubber insert, flip it over, put back in, screw on the suround and should be good to go....

Yes, there is an adapter. I have one in my spare tire kit. (Though, now that I think about it, I haven't seen it in a while.)

There's a thing that you can screw onto your presta valve as an adaptor. You can get it at any bike shop.

Now, more importantly! Did you fix your spoke? I'd worry about that! brink your wheel to the shop.

I will take it into the shop this morning. I am hoping it just came loose. I saw it loose when I aired up the tube day before yesterday and so I tightened it. I hope they can look at it today.

Darrell,
I know nothing about biking or tri competitions.  I do know how proud you should be of yourself and the hard work that has gotten you to this point!

Relax and enjoy the moment.  I look forward to your race report.

Your brother,

Darrell

Darrell spokes unscrewing and coming loose is common.   You can usually hit each spoke with a piece of metal and hear the one that's 'off key' and loose.  

They make the valves but most of the time I've messed with them they were screw on jobs that lost pressure when you tried to remove it from the tire.  Personally, I'd maybe just invest in a new pump or cut the hose of your existing pump and get a crack pipe adapter on it or something similar.

Did you get your wheel checked out?

Sherry, I did get it checked out. I was at the shop right when it opened. He said everything was finje just that I needed to make sure spokes are tight each time I ride (probably because it is a cheap bike) He also put an extra pad between the tube and the rim for reinforcement (probably more reassurement for me as I told him I wqs worried something was going to screw up in the tri). He did not charge me for the pad or the labor he spent. He also explained the presta valves to me and was extremely helpful. I had been going to another bike shop in town, but these guys have my business from now on. Plus they open 2 hours earlier than the other one. Thanks for the heads up. It is always better safe than sorry.