Blown Tire

[Pink Kona]

A tip for all of your riders who are putting on some serious miles....

Yesterday I unexpectantly blew out my rear tire. We're not talking about your typical flat - we're talking full on hole in the rubber tread. Granted, I did ride over 3000 miles on those tires in the last couple of months.... but as I was walking a mile and a half to the nearest bike shop, I wondered how I could have prevented it....

Turns out the bike shop mechanic had a wonderful suggestion of swapping the front and rear tires every 1000 miles. The rear is typically the first to go - and by trading the tires you can get the most out of your tires. And also prolongs you spending about $50 per tire replacement.

[SadieKate]

Did he also tell you to keep a piece of mylar (from a balloon or vanilla wafer bag) or a piece of tire in your tool bag? You can put one of these inside the slashed tire to keep the tube from herniating and limp your way to the shop.

I used the mylar trick ($ bills also work) when I got a 3/8 inch cut in my brand new rear tire at the Cinderella last year. I made it the 2 miles to the rest stop where I was greeted with the lovely sight of a bike shop van with tires for sale. The shop owner told me about the tire trick.

Cut a short length of tire, trim the bead off and smooth the edges so it can be used as a boot inside the tire. The owner says you can actually ride quite a long distance with this repair.

[Veronica]

SadieKatie are you going to do Cinderella this year or Party Pardee?

V.

[SadieKate]

I've never Pardee'd it might be an option. Is it only a metric? It could be a good training goal because we want to go to Moab about the same time. What's the route?

I'm not doing the Cinderella again unless there is a really compelling reason (last year a friend new to cycling and recovering from breast cancer rode - and I cried I was so impressed with her determination). The traffic has gotten too awful for me. I'm spoiled up here in tomato land. Last year a pickup tried to run me off the road. A whole pack of us had a close call.

If the weather is good, we want to do the Rice Valley Tandem Rally again. I'd love to try the Tour of the Unknown Valley (can you tell I like the Chico Velo series)? I'm also targeting the Top Hat Classic on April 30th. Have you ridden that?

So many rides and not enough time! What are your recommendations?

[Veronica]

Last year was my first Cinderella, and I found it too congested. It was fun doing it on the tandem and dressing up... but I don't know that I'll do it again.

Party Pardee is a metric and very tandem friendly terrain. There are a couple of climbs, but none are terrible and it's beautiful country. It's the same day as Cinderella this year.

We go back and forth on organized rides. If they're close to home, why spend the money? If they're so far away that you need to stay in hotel, why spend the money?

I've never done Top Hat, it's usually held the same day as Devil Mountain Double and we work that.

akaKim has done Top Hat and a few other rides in this area. Maybe she'll chime in.

We've done Tahoe - lots of riders in June, but so beautiful and the Holstein Hundred- very, very pretty, lots of climbing the year we did it and variable weather. Tahoe, I'd stick with just doing the lake and not add in the miles for the century option.

We've also done Death Valley in October. They run a March ride also with a different route. We love Death Valley. It's a fascinating place, but we won't do the October ride again until the roads get repaired! The March route follows more heavily trafficed roads and are in better repair.

I hate to say it, but I think the only ride I've ever come away thinking I would never do it again is Cinderella. It's not very scenic and frankly the skills and lack of awareness of some of the riders scared me.

What are you doing in Moab? We're going in two weeks. If the weather is good we're going to rent bikes, if not we're just going to hike and take
photos.


Pink Kona - how fast were you going when the tire blew?

V.

[jobob]

Originally posted by Pink Kona
Turns out the bike shop mechanic had a wonderful suggestion of swapping the front and rear tires every 1000 miles. The rear is typically the first to go - and by trading the tires you can get the most out of your tires. And also prolongs you spending about $50 per tire replacement.

Here's a very different take on that.

http://sheldonbrown.com/tire-rotation.html

[jobob]

I heard rumors that the upcoming Cinderella will be the last one. It's a pity, I think it's a good way to get more women interested in cycling. But I agree that it can be trecherous, which is why this time I intend to head out right when the route opens (like AG did last year!) and get some distance between me and, uh, the less-skilled

sorry we hijacked your thread, pink kona....

[Pink Kona]

Luckily it was the rear tire.... I was traveling about 16mph. Then BANG!! it sounded like a gunshot. Spooky really. I'm just lucky it wasn't the front tire. That article is really interesting. I guess the main point, regardless of whose advice one follows, is to check your tires often!

[Veronica]

I have to agree with Jo and Sheldon on this one. I think one of the scariest moments I had on our tandem was when I was captaining and got a flat on the front. Fortunately we weren't going that fast and came to a controlled stop, but the loss of steering control was freaky.

V.

[aka_kim]

Tire boots -- Power Bar wrappers supposedly work too.

Thanks for that link on tire rotation, I just rotated my tires a few months ago (before a 6 week hiatus from cycling), and after reading the article, think I'd better just shell out some money for new tires.

Top Hat Classic -- used to be a fun ride, but I don't know that I'll do it again. It's very crowded along the parts of the route shared by all courses, with lots of unskilled cyclists on the short routes. Plus the organizers keep screwing with, and screwing up, the route.

I really like the Grizzly Peak ride in early May, Sierra Century in early June, and Napa Century in August -- my two cents on favorite rides.

[SadieKate]

My one and only nasty road crash -- thorn in the front tire, tire rolled off the rim as rounding corner at 18 mph, bike and ride take opposite un-planned flight paths.

The sign of a true bicyclist? I'm sitting in the middle of the road with road rash all down my left side asking "is my bike OK?"

Moral of the story? In 20 years of riding, I replace the back tire and never swap. Wear a helmet (I can still remember the sound of the whack on the asphalt). Then, you get back on the bike and have fun.