DAMMIT! Three flats in three rides!

Triathlon Forum
1

I’m sick of this. I haven’t had a good ride in a month due to weather and horrible luck.

First flat: loaded the bike on the back of my wife’s 4Runner. She made the comment that I should throw my pump in. Didn’t do it since I squeezed the tires and they felt fine. Got to the park to ride home and the front tire is flat. But not just any tire, Tufo Tubular/Clinchers, aka Clinchers That You Throw Away! Grabbed a CO2 and put enough air in to limp home for 45 minutes. Diagnosed as a thorn (yay Denver).

Second flat: After changing out those tires for Michelin Krylions, took my bike to work. Went to top off for the FIRST ride on the tires and blew the stem seal. Replaced it with my spare tube and rode for about an hour.

Third flat (yesterday): Before heading out, I thought to myself: what are the odds of getting another flat? Didn’t have a spare tube, thought I had a CO2 in case I needed to patch. 20 minutes into the ride, noticed something flopping around on the front tire. Reached down (with gloves on) and brushed it off. Less than 5 minutes later noticed that “sluggish” feeling while turning. Looked down and I’m on the rim again. Pulled over, found ANOTHER thorn. A nice guy stopped and gave me a patch kit, which would be sketchy to find the hole in the tube, but I figured I’d give it a shot. Grabbed my CO2, what do you know, the spare was used as well. Called home and my lovely wife came to pick me up. Wasted a nice day in front of the upcoming week of rain.

Moral of the story: ALWAYS be ready for flats. Especially spring in Denver. I think the world it telling me to buy some more 650 tubes as well.

Is it possible to fix tubulars in this situation, or would I have been out 3x80 in a month?

2

DAMMIT! Three flats in three rides!

That’s a bummer. I will go years without getting a flat while riding, and we ride on some really bad roads. In fact, I am about due as I have not had a flat while riding in about two years now! :slight_smile:

As you said, ALWAYS be ready to fix the flat with a spare tube and pump or Co2, and you should be OK!

3

Tubulars can be fixed, but it is debatable whether it is worth the effort. There is a place (in Florida I think) that you can send them to get fixed for something like $20/apiece. Sounds like you need to get some heavy duty training tires in you are going to frequently encounter thorns. The blown tube stem is just one of those things.

4

I’ve gone though a similar stretch, although it has been 4 flats in 3 rides. The first one was operator error as I was using old tires and the sidewall had a cut. I patched the tire with a dollar bill and got home.

I put a new tire on for the next ride, but probably porked it as 10 miles in I flatted. 30 miles later I hit a very rough stretch on a downhill, and flatted again. I had two CO2s, and 2 spare tubes at the start, but when I screwed in my last CO2 cartridge all the air immediately leaked out. I started walking. A cop stopped and offered to give me a ride to the town line and could drop me off at the hospital there, but couldn’t go any further due to jurisdiction. He radioed to dispatch and had them call my parents (where I was headed) to tell them to come get me. My mom get’s this:

“Ma’am, this is the Ayer Police Department. We just dropped your son off at the hospital…”

I hear this over the radio and am in the cruiser yelling “Tell them I’m ok! Tell them I’m ok…”

They finally calm my mom down and explain the situation…

I dug out my frame pump and a patch kit and have been carrying that lately. Walking in cleats sucks.

I had another flat 3 days later riding on our weekly TT course, which is awful in some places (For anyone in Boston, Charlie Baker TT, I would suggest doing a course recon before using the Zipps).

Last year I had 1 flat all year.

5

Well, it does happen to all of us. But if I do not count the flats I had because of getting the bike and not double checking the health of tire/tube/wheel I ended up with 1 “expected” flat (the tire was on his last 500 miles) last year…
I carry (most of the time) two spare tubes with me and a hand pump…

Fred.

6

if you used tufo tubie clinchers you wouldnt have that problem.

7

Hello Stewartj76 and All,

http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/reviews/Vittoria-Pit-Stop.shtml

To quote Tom D.

http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/reviews/pitstopfinal/sm/pitstop1.jpg

=================================================

But changing tires and fixing flats on the ride is valuable experience in maintaining your composure.

And a life lesson that shit happens when you least expect it;

http://members.aol.com/.../lehrer/beprepar.htm (with music)

TOM LEHRER REVISITED

Be Prepared

I have time for one more here. This one is a little song dedicated to the Boy Scouts of America, who seem to have a convention here tonight. The Boy Scouts of America, those noble little… bastions of democracy, and the American Legion of tomorrow. Their motto is… I would like to state at this time that I am not now and have never been*… a member of the Boy Scouts of America. Their motto is, as you know, Be Prepared! and that is the name of this song.

Be prepared! That’s the Boy Scouts’ marching song, Be prepared! As through life you march along. Be prepared to hold your liquor pretty well. Don’t write naughty words on walls if you can’t spell.

Be prepared! To hide that pack of cigarettes. Don’t make book if you cannot cover bets. Keep those reefers hidden where you’re sure that they will not be found, And be careful not to smoke them when the scoutmaster’s around,** For he only will insist that they be shared, be prepared!

Be prepared! That’s the Boy Scouts’ solemn creed, Be prepared! And be clean in word and deed. Don’t solicit for your sister, that’s not nice, Unless you get a good percentage of her price. Be prepared! And be careful not to do Your good deeds when there’s no one watching you.

If you’re looking for adventure of a new and different kind, And you come across a Girl Scout who is similarly inclined, Don’t be nervous, don’t be flustered, don’t be scared. Be prepared!

Cheers,

Neal

8

That is some bad luck but it could be worse!

There was a guy at the Lonestar HIM that claimed to have 5 flats… in 56 miles.

9

Well, I feel your pain my friend. I just had to change 5 flats today on one ride-total of 62 miles. I’m not even joking.

First flat- 3 miles into the ride I got a flat on a bad road. No biggie, 6 riders all stopped and switched it out. Lever pinched the new tube and flattened it too. So we switched it again.

Third flat- 33 miles into the ride we stopped at a gas station. Everything was fine but the moment we started pedalling, I noticed I had gotten a flat, no idea how. We switched it out. While pumping it, the valve broke. We switched it out AGAIN. Change went smooth. Cycled 5 feet, and the damn wheel flattened AGAIN. I’m thinking what the hell? We have checked the tire after every change and still flats.

Sixth flat. We got it done and we stared moving. No more than 3 minutes into the ride, I got YET ANOTHER EFFING FLAT! This turned out to be the most expensive and worst ride yet. Not only did I get all of those flats, I actually bonked right after we fixed the last one. All that standing around didn’t help at all. It got me out of the groove and into rest state. ARGH!

Worst part was, I got home late from all of this crap and pssed the lass off. -.-

10

Way back in the day, in Denver in the spring time, I had somewhere between 6-8 flats on a ride from Evergreen down to Denver and back. I was a teenager, with my dad, and by the sixth flat (or eighth–it was a long time ago) I was out of tubes, patches, and patience, and my loving father rode up the canyon to home, then came back down and picked me up in the car.

Not a highlight of my youth for sure, but I am pretty sure his solo ride up the canyon saved him from strangling me.

11

I’ve started using the Slime tubes with Krylions for training.
At least they’re not as slow as armadillos.