View Single Post
Old 09-16-18, 06:17 AM
  #16  
PhoenixBiker 
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Huntington, West Virginia, USA
Posts: 110

Bikes: 2001 Waterford RST-22, 2002 Gunnar Sport, 1999 Trek 520 gravel grinder

Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 35 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 5 Times in 3 Posts
I always carry a spare tube and a pump, but that hasn't stopped me from becoming stranded. When I was at my largest (275-300 pound range), I pinch-flatted a lot. Twice I pinch-flatted myself plumb out of spare tubes. One time I walked the bike home (about 3 miles). Luckily I was wearing MTB shoes.

The other time I wasn't so fortunate. I started walking home (a distance of about a mile and a half) in stiff road shoes equipped with Speedplay cleats. Within half a mile, my heels were so painfully blistered I couldn't walk another step. My wife was at work, so I called my mother-in-law (who had a van and lived on the same street as me) to come rescue me. Fortunately, she was at home and was happy to retrieve me.

I now wear SPD cleats and MTB shoes exclusively, even when riding my road bikes. I also put tires with stiffer sidewalls on both road bikes and the gravel grinder. And when I ride the grinder, I carry two spare tubes and two CO2 cartridges in the rack trunk as well as a full-sized Zefal frame pump.
PhoenixBiker is offline