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This is a picture of the slice in my bike tire caused by the patch of glass I rode through last weekend.

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This is what happened when I put a brand new tube on and tried to inflate it. The slice in the tire caused this hole to blow out. My hand was directly over the spot that blew when it happened. It was pretty surprising.

Technorati Tags: bicycle, bike, Cycling, hazard, repair

It was a lovely morning out. I saw a rabbit while I was leaving the development, which put me in a good mood. I had decided I was going to make an attempt at some extra mileage on my bike ride. Time to up the distance.

Well, I started out on my regular loop, but then branched off to head over to Hagan-Stone Park. That part of the ride went perfectly, and I was headed back towards home on Old Randleman Road when I hit a patch of broken glass. I heard a “chink” and then the loud pop and hiss of my rear tire deflating.

So I walked the bike up the road a bit to a church that had a covered driveway area that gave a little shady spot off the road to put in a new tube. I gave Marcella a quick call first to let her know I might run late getting home, but that I was going to change the flat first and try to ride home, but if there was any problem I might need her to come pick me up.

I got the new tube into the tire without any problem. It had been a while since I’d done one of these things on the side of the road, which is a good thing, but it’s also good to stay in practice. Anybody riding more than a few miles from home should know how to change their tire. I also inspected the tire and saw, to my concern, that there was a pretty large slice right across the tire. Caused, I’m sure, by the glass I rode through. I was afraid that when I put the new tube in and pumped up it up that it would pinch the tube and I wouldn’t get very far…I was right. In fact, I never even turned the bike back over. Just inflating the new tube back to full pressure and it pinched and blew out right under my hand.

I don’t carry any patch material with me, just a spare tube and one c02 cartridge for inflating one tire back to full pressure, and that’s it. I suppose I could carry more, but there’s always a constant tug-of-wae between having appropriate supplies and traveling light.

I called Marcella back and gave her directions. I was still roughly 12-15 miles from home. It’s kind of a bummer because I thought I was going to get 50 miles in. It would have been a new landmark for me this season. Instead I wound up at about 35 miles. Still not a bad ride. It was a beautiful and not too hot day, and I felt good.

I sat on a low wall in front of the church and waited for Marcella and waved at the churchgoers as they started to arrive. One gentleman invited me in for Sunday school. I politely declined on the grounds that I needed to watch out for Marcella to arrive. He asked where I lived. When I said Adams Farm he whistled. I don’t think non-riders really understand how many miles from home a cyclist might get.

Anyway, Marcella came to my roadside rescue. We loaded the bike onto the back of her car, and zipped home. I probably ended up at the house at about the same time I would have gotten back on my own. And now I’m having my morning coffee.

So now I’ve got to start shopping for some new tires. If you haven’t checked recently tires are ridiculously expensive, but you can’t ride without them.

Technorati Tags: bike, Cycling, glass, hazard, ride, route