15+ minutes??? I could not resist...you should have gone to Andy Pott's Gatorskin supplier and you'd have been 2 min ahead of the 15+ loss (pink font optional)!!!

You know Dev I was thinking exactly that. I could have used shallow rims with gatorskins and I would have been faster. Or honestly even conti GP4000S may have been more resilient than the Turbo Cottons I was using. But I trusted the Turbos since I've been using another pair in training with zero flats.

I was going to use the turbos for UM, but I think I'm going to go back to the Contis (even if purely for phsycological comfort!)

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

Yeah its kind of ironic that even with the comedy of errors flat repair scenario, if you'd have used Gatorskins you'd "barely" be any faster.

In terms of Ultraman, will your crew be near enough most of time that using the Turbo Cottons is still a win vs the GP4000S and if they are nearby I assume they will have extra wheels (is this allowed in UM, or do you have to start and finish with the same wheelset?)

Yes you can have as many spare wheels as you like, and a spare bike. But they can't drive next to you they must "leapfrog"

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

Not to sound pessimistic, but are there any scenarios where this has actually worked? Anecdotally I have heard far more stories of these failing. So many that I haven't even wasted my time. I carry a tube and Co2 with me on the bike and another tube and Co2 in my special needs in case I get a flat during the first half of the bike. Thankfully I've never flatted during a race though, but personally it feels wasteful to carry something that has a seemingly low success rate.

If you flat, you try to reinflate the existing tube with the latex, or inflate a new tube?

Sorry for the ignorant questions, I race on clinchers and just carry Co2. I know some (like you) bring the caffe stuff but wasn't sure if it saved time by allowing one to repair the punctured tube.

Thanks, nice race report, and congrats.

Maybe you can use your London connections to access this 'team car' and load it up with a ton of wheels with Turbo Cottons and Latex:

You try to inflate the existing tube. It works for things like thorns, metal pins etc. Not really for pinch flats (which are not common unless you installed the tube incorrectly)

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

It's worked for me in training several times. This is the first time it didn't work. I'm inclined to agree with you after this experience. Would have taken 3 min to replace the tube that's it.

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

Yea that was my thinking. Take the amount of time lost divided by the number of attempts, and if that's less than what it takes to change the tube, then tube turns out to be better on average. Up to each individual person to decide whether to optimize for the average or best/worst case.