Our last Cinderella Training Ride

[melissam]

Today we had our last training ride for next Saturday's Cinderella metric century. What a day for a ride -- we were already peeling down to minimal clothing layers before we left the parking lot. Even I wore a short sleeve jersey and biking shorts (not tights) for the entire rides, and I'm one of those people that would rather be too hot than too cold.

Our group's ride leaders gave each of us a note telling us how proud they were of the progress we'd made over the ten weeks. A very nice touch!

Today's ride was a fifty miler -- across the Dumbarton bridge to the Peninsula (west side of the SF Bay), where we rode thru Menlo Park and Woodside. Not much climbing, but plenty of time in the saddle, and a bit of heat to contend with. Beautiful scenery -- this is why they invented recreational cycling.

At the end of the ride, the ride coordinator had gotten us cake to congratulate us on finishing the training series.

If anyone reading this is in the San Francisco Bay Area (well, close to Fremont, at least) and is thinking about doing this training series next year, I give it an enthusiastic thumbs up! Great people, great leaders, very educational and confidence-building, and just plain fun.

I can say that, and frankly, today wasn't one of my best days on a bike. Let's see, it all started before we went over the Dumbarton Bridge. Someone's tire kicked up a stone, and it hit my right thumb knuckle. OUCH!!! It's gonna leave a bruise. And then, while we were riding along Atherton Ave. in Menlo Park, I had the blow out from h*ll. It was LOUD -- KA-POW -- some people in the group thought it was a gunshot. Fortunately, my tire wasn't seriously damaged. (The tube is toast -- about an 8 inch split.) The second fortunate thing is that I didn't have another blow-out, as I'd only brought one spare tube on the ride, and I have 650C tires.

Oh, and then, towards the end of the ride, I caught my back tire on a curb while we were starting off from a stop light, lost my balance, didn't clip out, and fell. In front of a lot of people. Made 'em miss the light. Boy was I embarassed.

Oh well, as I mentioned to jobob, if that's the worst thing that happened to me, life's not very bad, is it?

So, after the ride, I bought a new tube, new tires, and Mr. Tuffy liners. I just got done installing the lot, so I'm ready for the next ride.

-- Melissa

[jobob]

Originally posted by melissam
If anyone reading this is in the San Francisco Bay Area (well, close to Fremont, at least) and is thinking about doing this training series next year, I give it an enthusiastic thumbs up! Great people, great leaders, very educational and confidence-building, and just plain fun.

I second that - I rode places I never would have dreamed I could ride, and I met some really great people.
- Jo.

Pssst, M, and anyone else riding the Cinderella, check the thread in the brand-new California section on plans for meeting up next week

[Adventure Girl]

Melissa:

Could you elaborate a little more on the "loud ka-pow" situation? I don't ride my road bike that much, and I've been lucky that my only flat has come while just standing around.... I've flatted many times while riding my mountain bike, but there's never been any drama...

What happens if you flat while going 30+mph downhill? Maybe Veronica can comment, too seeing that she had a blow out captaining her tandem. She said the bike got all wobbly and she thought her stoker was taking off her jersey!!

[jobob]

Originally posted by Adventure Girl
Melissa:
Could you elaborate a little more on the "loud ka-pow" situation?

Hee, it probably had something to do with the helium in her tires
- Jo, ducking and running

[Adventure Girl]

Originally posted by jobob
Hee, it probably had something to do with the helium in her tires

Where can I get some of that helium??!!??

[melissam]

You definitely want the helium option!!! Great advantage to have for the hills. Just watch the blow-outs. On the other hand, if you didn't get a chance to drink any coffee before the ride, the blow-out will certainly wake you up!

Jobob, I will check out the meeting plans for Saturday's Cinderella. Always good to have an opportunity to meet people from an online community in person. Also, who'd want to ride the 62 miles ALONE? (Not that there's anything wrong with that....)

Adventure Girl, I'm so glad that the KA-POW didn't happen while I was decending. I was going along on the flat -- probably around 16, 17 mph when it happened. The front tire deflated completely, and I brought the bike to a stop as soon as I could do so safely. It was pretty steady, tho. So no drama there.

I'm still not sure what caused the blowout. It was my front tire, which I'd changed the tube in a couple of weeks beforehand. (Valve stem mishap. Never try to force the frame pump's chuck off the valve stem -- it'll rip the poor sucker right off the tube.) Maybe I put the tube in incorrectly so that some of it was between the rim and the tire bead. The weird part is that I'd ridden four or five times since changing that tube -- even descended Kilkare and Calaveras. You'd think the problem would have surfaced before Saturday's ride if I'd changed the tube incorrectly.

The guys who helped change the tube did not like my tires at all. "Too flimsy." Makes me wonder if the tire helped cause the blowout. Just to be safe, I bought new tires yesterday -- unflimsy Continental Grand Prix. To be really, really safe, I put Mr. Tuffy liners in there too. I really, really, really don't want another blow out like that.

If anyone's had a blow out and has ideas of what happened, I'm all ears.

-- Melissa

[annie]

What kind of tires did they consisder flimsy?Brand, model?

Do you know how much air was in your tires? If the air pressure was low, it's possible you got a snakebite aka pinch-flatted. If you can check the tube that blew, look for two holes next to each other (looks like a snakebite - hence the name"snakebite"). If you go over a bump with not enough pressure in the tire, the tire can bottom out, squishing the tube enough to pinch it between the rim and ground and cause a flat.

I doubt it had anything to do with your changing the tire. If there was tube between the rim and tire, it'd have blown sooner. To make sure you don't have that problem, after you change the tire, hold it out in front of you and spin it around, checking both sides to make sure the tire is seated in the rim evenly all around. You should do that after putting just enough air in the tube to give it shape, then when you know its okay, fill it the rest of the way. If you see some of the tube protruding, let the air out right away! Then just redo it till you've got it right.

The more times you change a tire, the easier it gets. Definitely a good thing to know how to do, especially if you do much riding alone.

[melissam]

Tires were Bontrager Race Lites. Very light tires indeed!

I had filled the tires to 120 psi (max pressure) just prior to the ride, so I'm sure the pressure was fine.

Dunno, there was a lot of glass on Dumbarton Bridge -- one of the ladies in our group got a flat. Perhaps a piece of glass/debris worked its way into the tire and caused the blowout....