Here's your problem:

"I actually remember bragging to a friend about how long it had been for a flat before all this started "

Karma, it ain't no joke. (The sequel?? "Karma II. This time it's personal")

Know how you feel. I only had one flat all last year. I've had about 6 so far this year. Seem to get them on downhills when up over 80 kph. Doubled up the rim tape prior to the last ride and still got a flat. I'm at a loss as to what I should try next to reduce the number of flats.

Train heavy, race liight...

I use Slime liners, at about 134 g and I average a flat about every 3500 miles. The time I save by not changing tires is more than enough to make up for pulling the extra weight, and it makes my race wheels feel even lighter.

Before anyone jumps my case (as in the wetsuit thread) I'm not saying that I'm a fast rider so I use the liners to give everyone a break, nor am I saying that anyone will be faster with liners, nor that I ride them as a training aid that might make me work harder...

I'd just rather be a tad slower on training rides, and almost never have to change a tire.

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Cousin Elwood - Team Over-the-hill Racing
Brought to you by the good folks at Metamucil and Geritol...

Have you carefully inspected the inside of your tire for an embedded sharp object? You may have a small piece of glass or metal protruding into the inside of the tire, and it keeps piercing your tubes. I check the inside of my tire every time I flat, and have thereby avoided such repetition.

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"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." -- Bertrand Russell

I have to agree with GJB. You probably still have an object embedded in your tire. When you remove your clincher make a mark on the tube and the tire in the same spot (say 12:00) then find the hole in the tube and using your marks inspect the tire in the same location for some object. Good luck.

Try putting the tire back on using only your bare hands. It is easy to damage a tube when you use tire levers to put the tire back on.

GJB and Ann Arbor Jeff are right - I just went through this. I had a tire go flat between rides, and I checked the inside of the tire before replacing the tube. I found nothing on that search, but 15 miles down the road I flatted again. This time I *really* checked, and I finally found a sliver of glass embedded in the plies. It was like removing a splinter from your finger.

"Train heavy, race liight...

I'd just rather be a tad slower on training rides, and almost never have to change a tire. "

I'm with you on this one Cuz. I train almost exclusively on super heavy tires double loaded with slime. I know I should not say it, but I don't think I have had a flat on those wheels in two years. It is certainly more of a rush to train on the fast stuff, but I think training on slower stuff is way underrated. I think it is like the donut on a baseball bat. It is a real rush to jump on the race set up.

Missed your wetsuit abuse-but I do most of my training on a cyclocross bike with a rear rack. I alway end up carrying discarded clothing for everyone in the winter. I do stuggle on the fast rides, but I get a better work out when I ride with some of my slower buddies.

1. I will echo the other posters comments about training heavy and racing light. I trained on 25 or 28 mm Continental SuperSport tires( heavy, ugly, cheap, but bombproof) for years and I can count on one hand the numbers of training flats in 20 years of road riding ie. less than five

2. Where do you ride? Paved shoulders and bike lanes immediatly adjacent to busy roads are bad. Why? all the glass and crap from the road get blown onto this area and you are now riding right over it. Roads with no shoulders are better because the glass and crap gets blown right off the road and you are riding on a "cleaner" surface.

3. Inspect the inside of the tire periodically and particularly after a flat - could be something sharp protruding inside the tire.

4. The obvious - run the tires with the proper inflation

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

If you are in the NorthEast, the weather may be partially attributable. First, the colder Winter resulted in more sand which traps & holds debris on the roadside. 2nd, Heavy rains tend to wash the debris back into the road, 3rd, rubber is more suceptible to penetration when wet. I've had 5 flats this year (two different wheelsets) and zero flats last year. With a group of nine riders last Sunday, I witnessed 6 flats (two were mine).

The best thing I have found recently with regards to flats and getting tires back on is "speed lever". Absolutely awesome and a must have, especially with narrow 650c tires!!
-Craig

For the most part, I do train "heavy" and don't ride light wheels/tires every day. I've only flatted on relatively heavy training tires recently but looks light I may start training even heavier in the near future.

Actually, last night I started to hear this tick,tick,tick from my front wheel and figured a rock had become lodge so I inspected the front wheel at the "regroup" spot. I had a part of a fish hook (the barbed end) in my tire, however, it barely went in and did go in up the sidewall and appears to not have done any damage. Thinking I had avoided the nightly flat, set of and no sooner did I get to the front of the pace line when the rear wheels goes.

Anyway, after my first rash of three flats in three rides, I inspected everything very well going so far as to replace the rim tape and tire. I've learned the leason in the past about embedded items so check very carefully with each flat.

Honestly, I'm going with the MOJO thing and hoping I'm done for the season . . . .

Used to ride Vredestein Fortezza TriComps--nice ride, but lots of flats and cuts, mostly small glass slivers. Tried tire liners, but not much luck with them. Since then, switched to Vittoria Open Corsa CX, with kevlar belt. Far fewer flats and cuts ususally don't penetrate the plies.

How funny! I guess one man's jewel is another's... whatever. I used the Conti GP3000's for the last three years, and went for over 3000 miles on the last set without a single flat. I switched to the Open Corsa CX's (the newer Evo model) because everyone at my LBS was raving about them, and have gone through two rear tires in less than 500 miles. I mean totally destroyed- large cuts all the way through the casing. At nearly $60 a pop, I'm done with these tires.

Strange, it must be riding style. I ride the same roads that you do and I have very few nicks and only one flat since November on those tires

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"on your Left"

Are you riding the same route every time? A few years ago I suddenly started getting flats almost daily on my way to work. It turned out to be thorns from a dormant strawberry field. I changed my route to avoid that spot and the problem with flatting went away.

Larry

For those of you who haven't had a flat in a while, this may be common sense but seeing that I lack in that department.......

First flat in almost two years (18mth hiatus from riding) last weekend. Carried the same old spare and patch kit since '01. When I went to change tubes, turned out the spare had dry rotted. Fine I will just patch the tire. Nope, rubber cement in patch kit (used once) had evaporated also. Luckily my partner had another spare tube.

maurice

Oddly enough, all my flats have come when I'm riding out of town. Never gotten a flat around here on my regular routes (damn, I shouldn't have said that!) First tire was toasted at Wildflower. Second tire was this past weekend in lovely Fresno (an hour out on an out and back ride in the boonies- good thing for cell phones).

As far as riding style... was that a slam? :-) Not sure how to ride differently to get fewer flats. (OK, other than not riding in the boonies outside of Fresno- that's just bad karma right there).

On a related note- anyone have any experience with the Hutchinson Carbon Comps? Performance Bike has them 50% off ($22.49 ea) so I may give them a try if others have had good luck with them as a training tire.

A little while ago they had the yellow Carbon Comps on sale for $19. 2 friends of mine bought 8 between them, and my sister got 2. My friend flats the first time out. Quick change but the tire blows before he even gets it back in the frame. Put in another tube, tube is jacked and leaking around the valve. Try a third tube. Luckily he inspects the tire closely before putting the wheel back on, notices the tube herniating out of a small cut in the sidewall near the rim. He ends up putting a patch on the TIRE along with some electrical tape and after 3 tubes, 3 CO2 and what seems like an eternity at the side of the road, we are off again. He sent the tire, tubes, and empty CO2 to Performance, and they replaced them all. Fast foreward a few weeks when my sister is out on her new tires for the first time. She flats. I replace the tube and check the tire, SAME PROBLEM! They are a great deal, but take a really close look at them when you mount them.

I bought a pair about two months ago. A day later, I went to the supermarket and bought a little tube of Krazy Glue. I get about one slice per ride. If they see a piece of glass, they will cut. I think my Axial Pro Light are more robust than the Carbon Comps. Of course, a carpet tack will go through anything. I'm talking about the little stuff. No flat yet, but lots of cuts.

Furthermore, the tires aren't straight. They have the two "twin stripes" running along the center ... well, two of them are almost "on" the center and the other two are way on the side. And they aren't round either: spin the wheel and the tire goes up and down pretty wildly (the rim is both true and round, I triple checked after mounting the tires).

So I don't know what Performance got (I got mine at the store, the "red" ones, the same they advertise on the web site). Did they buy a whole container of seconds? Maybe some people are very happy with their Hutchies (I can't believe pros would ride stuff that sucks so hard). I'm very dissatisfied. I *love* my Reflex Gold: bomb proof, straight, and round. I *hate* my Carbon Comps. A few more rides and they'll hit the dumpster. 600-700 miles, at best.

Dre'

not a slam. I have some friends that shred tires regularly and they just ride down the road hugging the curb never swerving around debris. Me, I try to avoid road crud like the plague and I hang out by the white line where like Fleck said, the cars blow the road clean.

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"on your Left"

Hmmmm... thanks for the feedback guys. That's what I was afraid of. I guess I'll go back the tried and true Conti GP3000's for training, and I'll try the Axial Pro Race for racing.

Good point about swerving for debris. Here in the south bay where there are a good amount of bike lanes and they are nice and wide and people are aware of cyclists I'll usually hug the left side (closest to traffic) to avoid glass, etc. Unfortunately, this latest incident was on a rural road where I questioned the bike awareness of the locals and there were no bike lanes. Several times I had to ride through debris because I didn't want to swerve into the traffic lane.

ahh
I grew up urban riding in LA. You had to "take the lane" to survive. In narrow areas I simply move out into the middle left area of the lane and stay there until reaching an area where it is safe to let a car pass then I move back over. I try to never let them crowd me over into the roadside crap. safer to ride that way and it saves the tires too

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"on your Left"