my rides
Ride 21 and 1/3: Not a good morning
Well, if you can’t tell by the title, I didn’t get a full ride in this morning. Everything started out fine. I got out of the house good, got on the road good, there was very little traffic compared to normal, and I was moving along very good. I get to the 10 minute point in my ride, pass through an intersection, and on the other side experience the dreaded flat. It occurred right after I ran over something because I heard a sound as I ran over it followed by the dreaded, terrible, hissing sound that indicates that my ride has just changed from a good, Friday morning ride, to one of just making it home.
photo courtesy of: doviende
I immediately pulled off the road to verify the flat; hoping that I was just imagining things. Sadly, it wasn’t so. The tire was already flat. I was only about 3 miles from home and had plenty of time to walk back so I started the long, slow walk of a cyclist whose steed had thrown him. That sucks. Then I thought, “I’ve got a patch kit and CO2 inflater in my bag; why don’t I just fix this thing and ride back home?” So that’s what I set out to do. It was still dark so I found a spot under a street light where I could sit on the sidewalk and work. I pulled the tire off and set to work.
As many of you know, I just started cycling again about 2.5 months ago after a lay-off of many years. Even thinking back to when I was riding back then, I can’t remember the last time I had changed a flat. Better yet, I can’t remember the last time I had changed a flat while out on a road. It’s got to be at least ten years. You see where I’m going with this? That’s right, I have some re-learning to do.
Everything started fine. I actually remembered to shift down to the smallest cog for ease of removal and re-installing the rear wheel. I had a couple of plastic tire irons with me and got the tube out in short order. So far so good. This is where I start the death spiral.
I immediately set out trying to find the hole. I’ve still just got light from the street lamp so the lighting is poor. The first check of the tube and I can’t find it. I start compressing the tube up to compress what air is left to see if I can hear it. I hear it but still can’t find it. Now there’s no air left in the tube. I continue trying to find the hole with no luck. After about 10 minutes I realize that I can put more air in the tube to help. It’s a presta valve so all I have to do is open the valve and blow some air in. Because I use a CO2 inflater, I don’t carry a pump with me. I’m actually embarrassed it took me so long to figure this out. So, I blow up the tube a little and set about searching for the leak again. I can hear it, I can feel it, but I can’t see it. It must be microscopic. Then I realize, like an idiot, that I can put some saliva around the area to find where it bubbles up. Did I mention that it’s been years since I’ve done this?
About this time, I look up and a rider is going by me. He slowed and asked me if everything was OK and if I need any help? I told him I was good. Wow, somebody actually asked if I needed help. I was floored.
Anyway, after blowing the tube up several more times and spitting on the tube enough to spit shine my shoes when I was in the military, I finally found the culprit. Man, it was small. It was located near the intersection of two seams in the rubber and was barely noticeable. No wonder I had a hard time finding it. I pulled out the patch kit I had with me and put a patch on in short order.
Another rider goes by me. This guy doesn’t even slow down. He looks at me and keeps on going. Doesn’t say a word. Now that’s typical.
Now, I sad earlier that “I use a CO2 inflater.” That’s actually a little bit of a white lie. I’ve carried a CO2 inflater in my bag for, I don’t know, 8 years. In fact, I’ve carried the same inflater and CO2 cartridge in my bag for those 8 years. What I’m really trying to say is that I’ve never actually used it. I know, hard to believe, but I do know how to use it. It’s very simple in fact. Put the cartridge in the inflater, place the nozzle on the valve, and pull the trigger. It’s a no-brainer. There’s no way I can screw it up. Those, my friends, are famous last words.
I pulled out the inflater, put the cartridge in, and set about inflating my tire. I placed the nozzle over the valve and pulled the trigger. Then the unexpected happened. For some reason the CO2 didn’t go in the tube. The CO2 just escaped around the back of the trigger area. I knew something wasn’t right so I pulled the inflater off to look at it. I made sure the cartridge was secured tightly and tried again. Same result. What in the world was going on? I pulled the inflater off again and couldn’t find anything wrong. That’s when I saw it. Remember a few paragraphs ago when I told you I blew the tube up a couple of times to aid in finding the leak? Well, after blowing the tube up I had closed the valve and forgotten to open it up before inflating. I know, I’m an idiot. I open the valve, put the inflater back on, and pull the trigger. What CO2 is left shoots into the tube but it’s not enough to ride on. Please, no emails about me contributing to the greenhouse effect. I feel bad enough, and embarrassed enough, about the whole thing as it is.
What do I do now? I’m running out of options. There’s a gas station/convenience store about a 100 yards away. I pack up and head to the gas station in hopes they have air. I get there and sure enough they have air, but, as you may have already figured out, it costs money to turn on the compressor. Of course, I have no cash with me so now I’m stuck.
I’m now officially out of options of making it home under my own power. This is when I have to suck it up and make the call. That’s right, I whip out the cell phone and call home. After calling my wife’s cell phone, the home phone, my daughters cell phone, then the home phone again, I managed to wake one of my sleeping beauties. My wife answers the phone and it takes me a minute to get her coherent enough to understand where I’m at. She’ll be here in a few minutes. In the back of my mind I’m sure my oldest daughter would have answered her phone if it had been her boyfriend calling. Oh well.
Anyway, my wife eventually shows up, I get the bike in the back, and head home. The time elapsed from flat to pick up was right around 40 minutes. That’s right, it took me 40 minutes to utterly fail at fixing a flat. Pathetic isn’t it.
So, what are the lessons learned? I have several:
1. If it’s been a while since you’ve changed a flat, on the road, re-familiarize yourself with the process so you don’t forget the easy stuff.
2. Understand your equipment. I understood the use of the inflater, but because of either stupidity or frustration on my part, I failed to use it properly.
3. Carry a spare CO2 cartridge with you if you use them to re-inflate your tires.
4. Carry a spare tube.
5. Carry some cash with you. I used to carry a few quarters in my bag a long, long time ago. I need to re-start that practice and probably stick a few dollars in there as well.
6. Carry your cell phone with you. I actually did this but I wonder if there are some of you who don’t.
I guess there were a couple of positives in this whole thing. One is that I could probably change a flat pretty quickly the next time it happens. It’s amazing how an experience like this can bring you back up to speed so quickly. Second, this whole episode got me up close and personal with my tires. They’re shot and need to be replaced ASAP. If anybody has recommendations for some good, inexpensive tires, I’m all ears.
Now that I’ve had a day to think back on the whole event it’s actually quite funny. I’m not mad about it so feel free to throw in your jokes and jibes.
Tags: Discussion
17 comments for “Ride 21 and 1/3: Not a good morning”
Post a comment
Well written story Bryan, was fun to read….but at no point was I laughing at you
I think we have all done something similar to this at some point.
My worst effort was not tightening the rear cassette properly after doing some maintenance. Then while I was out on the road the cassette came loose on the hub and I had to do the long walk home (didn’t have a cell).
Actually that wasn’t my worst one. My real most stupid mistake was not checking the tire after I got the 1st flat. I flatted 4 times in 3 miles before I checked the tire thoroughly and found the culprit.
The easiest way to check the tire is to find the hole in the tube and then match it up to the corresponding spot on the tire (using the valve as a reference point).
Last month I had the opportunity to learn a lot about flats. I had never fixed one before but had luckily just decided to start carrying a spare tube with me the week before. I had two more flats over the next two weeks so I got lots of chances to practice. Luckily I haven’t had a flat in a situation where I was pressed for time. I’m sure I will get one one of these days now that I’m using the bike to get to work about half the time.
@thePig: You could laugh at me. It wouldn’t bother me. The whole thing is kinda funny when you think about it. I’m glad you enjoyed the read. Your 4 flats in 3 miles, though, may top my story. Good tip also.
I carry a CO2 inflater and three (total, two spare) cartridges as well as patches and a spare tube with tire levers. I also keep enough quarters in my flat kit for either a bus ride or a shot of air from a gas station.
There’s another thing I also keep with me that you would have found out you needed had you been in possession of a few quarters for the gas station air pump: A schrader-to-presta adapter, which screws onto the presta stem and provides a union that the gas station’s air pump can interface with. To keep mine from getting lost (They’re tiny) I usually screw it onto my CO2 Inflater’s schrader port for safe keeping.
There was one time that I used all three of my CO2 cartridges, two patches AND my spare tube on my commute to work. Ugh.
@jody: I’m glad you had a spare tube with you. I’m sure you’re a pro at it now.
@Noah: You know, I actually have a schrader-presta adapter that I keep on one of the stems of my bike. I just happen to have one because I have an air compressor in my garage that I use to air up my tires. If only I had had a couple of quarters. Oh well!
That’s what the bike patrol does at the college my wife works at (she dispatches campus police). I use a floor pump at home with a presta head, so that wouldn’t do me much good.
I would say that number 2 should be carry a small pump with you too. It is much less stressful to be sure the patch will hold and to find the leak if you have a pump and can put all the air in there that you need rather than only having one or two cartridges and using them all.
Brother Brian, I have had so much experience with flat changes the last two weeks, I don’t even want to remember it. Just do a little practice in the garage and it will all come back to you pretty quick.
I have been a loyal CO2 user for two years and have always carried two extra tubes as most of the time, I ride at night and as you experienced, finding a pin hole in the dark is next to impossible in orange light. I just replace the tube and fix it later with a glue patch kit. I have had a rash of flats lately and I have gotten nervous about running out of CO2 and started carrying 4 cartridges, but Saturday I gave in and bought a frame pump. Topeak Road Morph. Has a little gauge, handle and foot post. I played with it tonight and was able to pump my tire up to 120 fairly easily. Got mine at Champion Cycle up on Arlington Rd.
whoops, just noticed that I mis-spelled you name.
Yep, been there with all of you!
I now:
1.) Carry a few quarters (even a couple bucks)
2.) Carry a brand new tube
3.) Cell phone - which never seems charged when I need it.
4.) Levers
5.) Small pump attached to seat tube.
6.) License, Medical insurance card, plus a card with emergency numbers in case the worst happens.
7.) I also leave a shraeder to prestia converter on one of my wheels.
I should probably switch to some C02 for making things light and quick. Truth is, I would probably carry both pump and CO2 if I had both.
Maybe I need to carry an extra bike to feel comfortable
dave
I have thought about co2 but bicycling should be as green as possible. How do co2 cartridges fit that scheme?
@Noah: I’ve never even considered getting a presta pump because I have my air compressor that pulls triple duty: bike, air brush for modelling, anything else I can think of.
@Cliff de Witt: Thanks for stopping by. I had a frame pump a long time ago but it was terrible. I couldn’t get the pressure high enough and it was awkward to operate. Maybe the new ones are better.
@jaxgtr: I think your method is about right, especially since we both ride when it’s dark. Just swap the tube with a new one and patch the flatted one later. No problem on the name mis-spell.
@daveydave: Good list. I also carry my drivers license with me in the event somebody needs to ID me (that’s kind of morbid when you think about it). I’m starting to see a lot of similarities between everybody’s bag contents. I think I’ll have to do an article on seat bag contents.
@Cyclingred: Wow, great question. I think this will be another great article topic. I did some quick research to put CO2 emissions into perspective (I’m not a global warming expert):
1. CO2 is a naturally occurring greenhouse gas.
2. The largest contributor to CO2 emissions is fossil fuel combustion (coal, oil and gas powerplants, and automobiles). Electricity generation is the #1 contributor followed by transportation at #2.
3. In 2007, the European Commision passed legislation to reduce car CO2 emissions from 160 grams/kilometer to 130 grams/kilometer by 2012. I could find nothing in US regulations that gave me numbers like this or even what the current CO2 limit was for US cars. Maybe somebody knows where those figures are.
4. Most of us use a either a 12 or 16 gram CO2 cartridge to re-inflate a tire.
Ok, with all that said, if you just look at the grams/km, or grams/mile, I think we could all agree that the emergency use of CO2 cartridge on a bike uses a lot less CO2 than the average car releases per kilometer. In fact, it’s 8 to 10 times less.
Also, at many bike shops they encourage you to bring in your used cartridges for recycling. You may even get a discount on a replacement if you bring in a used one.
Is CO2 better than using compressed air? No. But, I think the emergency use of CO2 cartridge far outweighs that of driving a car. For example, I bet my wife’s car released more CO2 coming to pick me up than what I released via my CO2 cartridge.
Cyclingred, not sure this will make you switch but hopefully it gives you something to consider.
Can’t wait to see the comments on this one.
It makes sense as an emergency. As I said I have never used them. I have always been concerned about not having enough to inflate the tire. BTW-There is a good post by Uncle Al on roadbikerider.com about what he carries in his bike bag.
@Cyclingred: Thanks for the info about that bike bag article. I’ll have to check it out.
Regarding what size cartridge, I’ve seen posted in many places that a 16g cartride inflates a MTB tire to about 40 PSI and a road tire to about 125 PSI.
Does anybody have a handy link that shows catridge size vs tire pressure vs tire size?
The 16 grams should inflate a 700c tire to 130 psi and a 26″ tire to 40 psi. 12 gm will take your 700c to 90 and 30 on the mtb.
@jaxgtr: Good info. Thanks.
Sorry to hear about your ride Bryan. I carry only one spare tube and a single CO2 inflator. Once I flatted and then destroyed the spare tube by not seating it properly. Managed to borrow another from a passing cyclist and flatted again (different tire) on the way home.
I used to have quite a few flats with my Bonti tires, now I run Continental GP 4000’s and rarely get flats anymore.