beng1

Interesting rides this February. It has been bouncing up and down between freezing and thawing during each week, so I have been going for rides around my area and scoring firsts, the first ride, the first crash, and my first flat of the year. Last year I had one minor fall on a bike and one flat, and this year I have racked those all up in about one week. I took a nice ride one day, then another ride a few days later and fell trying to loft the front wheel of my road-bike off the street onto a sidewalk over a curb that was a bit too high. Then a few days later another ride and I got a flat, luckily I had my tools and spare tube in my messenger bag and got home. Today I put another ride under my belt and it was in severe wind between 20mph and 40mph, so although I was often going very slow in relation to the ground, I was tucked into a racing position and my wind-speed was very high. These adventures make riding interesting and fun. Anything is better than spinning on a mag-trainer in the basement because it is far below freezing and the roads are covered with ice, snow or slush.

rumrunn6

wow that sounds unpleasant. no dirt to land on? some falls can be no big deal, others, not so much, eh?

Maelochs

I don't see falling as an adventure any more. I don't see flats as positive experiences---even though I always have a couple spare tubes. Windy days can be an interesting challenge---good autobiographical materiel.

Maybe this will be your annual fall and flat and you won't have any more this year. Bring a tube just in case.

mcours2006

Now that I am much older than when I started riding I take much fewer risks. If a curb looks like it's higher than the standard x inches, I would just unclip. Sure it doesn't look as cool nor do I feel as cool doing it, but falling is not cool either.

I agree about the outdoor riding though. Nothing beats it, even when it's below freezing. As far as flats go, I pray that I don't have one when it's -10 out, because there's nothing worse than trying to pry a tire off when your fingers don't work.

77record

An interesting start to your year, so far mine's been uneventful. No flats for a long time, but I've fallen over twice at low speed in the past, in a local town park where it's pretty quiet but people always hang out visiting at the waterfront. And of course both times it was quiet with people around to see me, that's the worst part! Once I turned too sharp around a kiosk and the front wheel went in reverse and I toppled over. In the same area, my front tire caught between walkway bricks and a nearly level curb and down I went. Luckily, embarrassment was my worst injury.

RB1-luvr

I hope you got the unpleasantries out of the way early and the rest of the year is smooth riding.

prj71

None of what you described sounds interesting or fun. Especially the crashing part.

Daniel4

Try them in a car.

genejockey 

I've done 9 outdoor rides so far this year, and I've flatted on 4 of them. The worst was on the shortest ride - it was supposed to be a quick spin around the neighborhood, no more than 2 miles, just to check out a new saddle on only of my older bikes. I flatted at the point furthest from the house. And because it was only supposed to be a "quick spin around the neighborhood" I didn't bring a spare tube, levers, etc. Ended up walking a mile in cleats.

Eric F 

I crashed in my own driveway recently. It was dumb.

LarrySellerz

You think it has anything to do with the chemical spill in Ohio? People have been acting weird all week

beng1

That is really bad luck, If I got that many flats on my roadbike I would spend some money on those Continental or Schwalbe tires that have all sorts of flat protection built into them, I just usually run cheap used tires, usually end up being Kenda, which have a poor reputation for resistance to flatting, and in all of 2022 I only got one flat. On my MTB, which I have had for over 25 years, I can never remember getting a flat once. I did try those plastic anti-flat strips in the MTB tires before, but not for long, just did not seem necessary.

beng1

I am in my 60s chronologically, but I still seem to be able to take a beating. Bouncing off concrete over the last few years has not broken any of my bones or given me any permanent injuries. I attribute this crash to not being as used to the bike as much as my other bikes, I only have about 400 miles on it tops, and it has an aggressive riding position that puts a lot of weight on the front wheel so it is harder to wheelie the bike than most. After the crash on the way home I made sure to ride the bike over a number of other curbs and obstacles to make sure I don't become gun-shy and lose the confidence I have in riding and handling a bike.

beng1

There was a guy walking on the other side of the street who asked me if I was okay after I fell, that was nice of him. At one point in my life I quit being embarrassed, what other people think does not mean anything, it is their problem not yours.

genejockey 

3 out of the 4 flats were on GP5000s. Generally, I get very few flats, but with all the rain here in late December and early January, I was riding on wet roads a lot, and apparently there were lots of glass shards which just needed the lubrication of rainwater to implant themselves in the tread and work their way into the tube.

wolfchild

I've had one flat so far this year and it wasn't the result of a puncture, it was the result of a broken presta valve....I aired down my studded tires to ride some ice covered gravel and singletrack but I felt like I let out too much air. So I stopped to pump my tires up just a little bi.t The air chuck got stuck on the valve. As I tried to pull of the air chuck off I snapped the presta vale stem. and all the air leaked out. I had to change a tube out on the trail, the temperature that morning was minus 18 celsius or minus 0.4 F.. I got it done and continued to complete my ride. The ride itself was fun but changing a tube in such cold temps wasn't fun.

RH Clark

I attribute every one of my crashes to my doing something on the bike I shouldn't be doing. It helps cut down on the pain.

beng1

That is why on my MTB I drilled the holes in the rims out and use good ol' reliable tough schrader valve tubes that any pump made in the last 125 years will fit and work with easily.

beng1

From the time I started riding over a half century ago, I have loved doing things on bikes I shouldn't be doing. All the kids in the neighborhood used to build ramps out of concrete blocks and whatever boards were laying around, and we all jumped the ramp then built a bigger one, along with jumping any natural ramps we could find. Always trying to see how fast we could go, who could leave the longest skid-mark with their coaster rear brake, riding two-up by standing and using the saddle or the sitting on the bars, even fitting three on a bike on occasion. We used to have "dogfights", where we would find a large area to ride in like a basketball court and then a bunch of us would ride around and try to wipe the other riders out by cutting them off or kicking their front wheel sideways, last man on his wheels was the champion of the day. Today the dare is wondering how hard I could ride before maybe I have another heart attack and maybe fall over dead. I have an appointment with the cardiologist March 1st and will try to find out how likely that is to happen this year. I felt pretty crummy after the time-trial last year, and I feel much worse this year, I have a bad valve, but I am still riding, better than dying like my next door neighbor did alone in a recliner in front of a TV set.

beng1

I think it is the Conti Gatorskins, and one other model that have all sorts of extra flat protection built into them, and the Schwalbe model built for flat resistance is supposed to be bomb proof, but of course these are all really heavy tires and a lot of people might not like the feel of that. I weighed one of my cheap Kenda tires recently and it was about one-pound in weight, and the heavy-duty Conti and Schwalbe tires weigh another hundred grams or more than that. I do think the rolling resistance of these high-end anti-flat tires is very good though, but of course not as good as the gp5000, but not bad.

genejockey 

I decided instead of harder tires, I'd just buy a 10-pack of tubes.