The bike tire gods hate me.

[jobycom]

So last Sunday I'm on a ride with my 9 yo old daughter with her trailercycle and my rear tire blows out in front of a graveyard eight miles from the car. My daughter, who is terrified of graveyards, calls her mother to come pick us up, but stubborn me wants to walk. Luckily, no one listens to me, because after I had walked about three miles, I realized I had forgotten my keys and wallet back on the bike I had chained to a fence three miles back. Nothing more embarassing than having an estranged spouse have to rescue you in a car while on a bike ride.

So I had to buy two new tires and a new tube, because the tires had dry rotted, causing the blowout. While I was at, I fixed up my kids' bikes, too. Spent about a $100 on tubes, tires, a chain, lube, degreaser, and a water bottle my nine year old just had to have. First ride on my bike after that, the front tire goes flat. Big hole. Another new inner tube. The next day, an inner tube on my older daughter's bike blew out just after I aired it. Another five dollar inner tube.

So today I take my freshly tuned bike out for a spin. Tires are fine, tubes are fine, chain is clean, bearings adjusted--this thing rolls like it did eleven years ago when I bought it. It rolls so well that I decide to attack a couple of the hills around here--I hate hills, and I'm not in shape for them, but I was feeling unusually brash, and worrying about the hurricane has been wearing on me, and you can't beat the views of the hills around Lake Travis.

I regretted this as I was peddling up the first big hill, and even more going down the other side, when my rear inner tube blew out. I was coasting way too fast, regretting not having replaced brake pads while I was at it, when I hit something--either a rock or a hole, I never did see it--and barely kept from going down. Naturally, I was down to one tire patch, and an old pump that took some effort to get working. I patched the one hole I saw, tried to air it up, but I could hear the air wooshing out from somewhere. Sure enough, another hole (snakebite flat, for all you cycle nerds). One patch, two holes--story of my life.

Had to hike back five miles to my apartment (leaving the bike chained to a barbed wire fence behind some weeds), get my car, and retrieve my bike. Oh, the ignominy.

And this is supposed to be getting me in shape! :rofl:

[Lethe]

1. not the gods, sir

You forget the com#$*#@ curse.

remember your great uncle Anton? He murdered his wife in cold blood.

remember your grandfather Uriah? He put your grandmother on the rack.

[jobycom]

2. Oh come on.

You can't possibly know about THAT! :scared:

[Suich]

3. LOL!

You know, if you had a video of all that, you might win $10,000 on "America's Funniest Home Videos!" Thanks for the late night laugh!



:)

[jobycom]

4. Hehe. It's funnier now than it was when I hit that rock at close to 30 mph!

Luckily I was in the middle of nowhere, because I launched into a "Why the ^*%# is the %^#$^$ world out to get me, ^$^ 6%^$&%^?" sort of rant.

[Gormy Cuss]

5. Yes, I agree.

:rofl:


I had four blowouts in as many months and finally decided to replace the tires. So far, so good.

[jobycom]

8. The tires before this last set were like that.

They had gotten so old that I got flats every couple of weeks or so. So I bought new ones, and the flats stopped.

I'd never had an actual blow out before while I was riding, though, and now I've had two in a week.

[NJmaverick]

6. It's a good idea to carry a spare tube

there are also puncture resistent tubes and tires as well as tubes with self sealing goo in them. As for adding new air, they have kits with CO2 cartriages for quick reinflation.

[jobycom]

7. The new tires are puncture resistant.

But this was a pinch flat from hitting the rock. The rim bottoms out and pinches the tube, sometimes causing two holes, as in this case. I'd never actually had one before.

As for the pump, it's a good pump, but I haven't used it in years. The last time was on my kid's bike, which has Schrader valves. The pump is reversible, but the facing you have to twist off was corroded in place, and it was stuck on Schrader. I had to tap it against a gaurdrail to loosen it, and finally managed to reverse it. Then it took me a couple of tries to realize the tire wasn't airing.

[NJmaverick]

10. Unfortunately I know all too well about those pinch flats

I have had that happen to my own bike. My ,combined with the shopping stuff I pick up, often put a heavy load on the tires. I have already had to replace two tubes, even though I have kevlar tires. Last flat, I had the shop replace the rim liner with a better one.

[bikebloke]

9. Tuffy strips

They're plastic strips to line your tire and protect the tube. Though when the puncture gods demand a sacrifice, they'll attack you from the side of the tire. It happened to me enough.

[kentauros]

11. It could be worse ;)

And this is supposed to be getting me in shape!

At least you are getting out. Since my first week of bike-riding on that new Cypress I bought, I've had one week of low back pain followed by two weeks (and more) of sciatic pain. That bike sits in the other room and I have to walk past it every day to get out. I want to be on it, but until I can handle just carrying it downstairs before I can even get on it again, I'm not getting in shape either ;)

Maybe this is telling you to dress up as "Bicycle Repair Man" for Halloween :P

[jobycom]

12. Eek. Sympathies!

It's ironic. My grandfather owned a hardware/bike store in New Orleans, before I was born. Guess it's in the blood.

Hope you get back into riding condition. The Cypress looks like a great bike.