It never fails. Just when you are at the peak of your ride, you
hear the dreaded sound of air hissing out of your tire.
It never fails. Just when you are at the peak of your ride, you hear the dreaded sound of air hissing out of your tire.
During one of my recent lunch break rides, I finally had the chance to lead the group I was with.
As we headed out on Santa Ana Valley Road, suddenly there was that all too familiar sound – psst, psst, psst – as the air shot quickly out of my rear tire. Why is it always my rear tire?
My friends were waiting for me to get it together, so I took a patch out and made a few short pumps and was back on the road.
Ten miles later, there it was again – psst, psst, psst!
This time, they ditched me because they had to get back to work. It was the same hole that I had patched earlier.
The second time around, I broke one of my tire irons wrestling with the tire.
I didn’t check the tire carefully the first time to notice the serious damage that had occurred to the Kevlar belts, and the hole in the tire was rather large.
This time, I patched the tire and then the tube and rotated the tire so that one patch was not on top of the other.
There is a proper method to repairing flats, and shortcuts are often not the best long-term solution for repairs. Now I will be better prepared. I will be adding to my saddle bag a fresh patch kit, new tire irons and my missing tool kit I need to find.
I think I’ll pick up one of those Specialized Armadillo tires that is supposed to be more thorn resistant for my ill- fated rear wheel.
Kevin Carter is the co-owner of Off the Chain Bikes in Hollister. He can be reached at 636-0802.
