BluesDawg

Not sure why I had a Schrader valve tube in my seat bag or why I had taken the patch kit out, but when my rear tire went flat halfway up Union Hill, I had to start walking home. I must have hit a rock too hard on the fast gravel road just before that, causing a pinch flat. Too bad I'm not running tubeless on the monstercross bike like I am on the Crux.

Luckily, my friend Joe was home and gave me a lift the final 3 miles after I walked 2. It was a very nice ride before that on one of my favorite partly paved, partly gravel routes. Odd to be wearing a l/s jersey on a midday ride. It was a beautiful sunny and cool day, but at times the wind made it seem a better day for flying a kite.

https://app.strava.com/activities/90914157


Fall gravel by BluesDawg, on Flickr


James Fire Dept. by BluesDawg, on Flickr


I've got my Orange Crush by BluesDawg, on Flickr


James Cemetery by BluesDawg, on Flickr


middle of the road by BluesDawg, on Flickr


horse barn by BluesDawg, on Flickr


bridge and creek by BluesDawg, on Flickr

BlazingPedals

Where's the pic of the flat tire?

BluesDawg

If you insist.

overthehillmedi

Even though I never was a Boy Scout I'm not that bad. By the way call your walk cross training and nobody will ever know otherwise except us.

Phil_gretz

You could've made up for it by helping an old lady across the street. No wife jokes, please...you'll get us all killed.

Rowan

One of the neato things about the A719 rims that we have is that the holes are drilled for Schrader, but have plastic inserts for presta. The inserts can be removed easily -- almost too easily.

I think I've left home more than 10 times without tubes, and more recently a couple of times without a pump as I was sorting them out. Mind you, the pumps I got for our RTW trip were so crappy, that taking them was more of a liability than taking none at all because they wouldn't let go of the valve when the lever was undone.

I like your bike, by the way. I seems to have a nice proportional balance to it, and I really like the colour.

rumrunn6

nice roads in your area, looks like a good time otherwise

Wogster

I find that the problem is usually that you need better labelling of spare tubes. When I fix a tube, I either put it in the appropriate size box, or in a sandwich bag with a label of the size inside. This way I don't get the wrong tube as the spare on a bike.

rydabent

I guess I am a Boy Scout. I have a trunk pack on both my bike and trike that is a mini bike shop. I dont like to walk home, and I havent. Also I dont know how many times I have stopped and fixed bikes for people that carry absolutely nothing when they ride. Younger people are amazed that I can fix most things right on the bike path. They think for the most part when anything goes wrong, including flats, they need to take their bike to a bike shop.

leob1

It happens to all of us, sooner or later.
Like the 'kick stand'.

Rick@OCRR

Looks like the perfect bike for that kind of riding. I keep thinking I need a cyclo-cross bike, even though I have no intention of entering a cyclo-cross race.

Re: Presta and Schrader, I've converted (almost) all my bikes to Presta, so usually no problem. The Folder's 16" tubes look so different, no chance of mixing them up with the 700C tubes. The exception is my '57 Hercules 3-speed. I just can't bring myself to convert an English classic to presta . . . though I am often tempted, and I don't have a source for 26x1-3/8" presta tubes in any case.

Rick / OCRR

Gnosis

On my local commutes I’ll oft times head out without a spare tube when I know I’ll be picking up a number things to carry in my backpack which will require all of its space, but I otherwise typically carry a spare tube and I always carry my tools and tire repair kit. I’ve only had to replace a tube one time due to a pinch flat on my road bike’s OEM 700 x 23 rear tire (which only had 40 miles of use on it, but the release of its high pressure blew out its sidewall rendering it useless for future usage). After that, I switched to 700 x 28 tires on my road bike and I’ve been quite pleased with their far better ride comfort.

On my long distance rides (almost always via one of my portly mountain bikes via their large volume street tires), I wouldn’t dare tempt fate by leaving home without a spare tube, as that would be the cue for Murphy’s Law to make my day a living hell.

I did head out one time to my cousin’s house on my mountain bike, but forgot to install its seatbag, which had my tools, tire repair kit, tire levers, spare master links, and extra lighting batteries, so the whole way home I was dreading a flat. Though I could easily enough walk the 7-mile distance if I had to, it would take a couple of hours. Fortunately, no flats incurred on my way home.

NOS88

geez, BD, I'd never park my bike at the entrance to a cemetary. I don't want it getting any ideas.

Daspydyr 

Disgusting-turn in your merit badge sash!



This was an unfortunate end to a nice Conti 4000!

Terex

All the cool kids have them.

downtube42

Being prepared includes being prepared to walk. You did fine.

No matter how many flat tires you're prepared to fix, n+1 can happen. If you carry one spare tire, two can be destroyed. If you carry a 6" boot, you can have an 8" rip. You can field repair a broken top tube with a whittled stick and some duct tape, but not a broken head tube. You can replace your right pedal with a well chosen spark plug, but not the left pedal. A broken chain could be shortened one link, unless it slipped between the slats on the bridge you were crossing when it broke.

Rowan

Before we left our previous place to move to where we are now, I was building up a few bags, toolsets and tubes so each could remain on a bike and not have to be swapped between bikes. Over the years, there have been several tools and other bits that I like and now it's a matter of trying to replicate them.

Gnosis

I have 4 bikes, but only two seatbags. Even then I need to move the tools from one bag to the other and that’s how I ended up forgetting the seatbag. I removed the seatbag from one bike, got distracted, then forgot to install it on the other bike prior to hurrying out the door to my destination.

Like you, I’d much prefer having a seatbag for each bike complete with their own set of essentially identical tools so I don’t have to swap them around, but funds have been stretched lately, so I have to continue playing swaperoo.

Rick@OCRR

Well then, that explains why I don't have one!

Rick / OCRR

billydonn

Love the pics Bennie. Wish we had more easy access to roads like that. Thanks for sharing. And +1 to Rowen's nice bike comment.

We've had the same windy pattern here making it cooler than the static temps indicate.