First flat in 5 years

[goldendesign]

Got my first flat tire in 5 years. Only .44 miles from home. 4am, on a county road with no shoulder and dewy damp scrub brush the only place to swap the tube.

I walked my ass home. I'll ride tomorrow.

[Razors Edge ★]

4 minutes ago, goldendesign said:

Got my first flat tire in 5 years. Only .44 miles from home. 4am, on a county road with no shoulder and dewy damp scrub brush the only place to swap the tube.

I walked my ass home. I'll ride tomorrow.

Flats happen   Close to home flats are a double edged sword as they make recovery easy , but they also make calling it a day easier .  But, at 4am, not gonna be working on the side of a road, but also unlikely to go home, swap a tube, and re-ride. Luckily at home, I can readily grab another spare wheel and do a quick swap.  

[Road Runner]

15 minutes ago, goldendesign said:

Got my first flat tire in 5 years.

Did you get a puncture or just a tube failure?

[JerrySTL ★]

5 years? I wish I had your luck. 

[goldendesign]

2 minutes ago, Road Runner said:

Did you get a puncture or just a tube failure?

Blown tube. Hit a spot of pot hole, didn't think much of it as I have ridden over worse but this is the one that did the tube in. I changed tubes last year when I put new tires on so it wasn't from age.

[goldendesign]

1 minute ago, JerrySTL said:

5 years? I wish I had your luck. 

See, much like quicksand as a child; I thought flats were going to be a more frequent and worrying thing. In riding the last decade I have had three flats and one was pinch flat that miraculously didn't pop the tube. I just hit it with some aire and was off to the races again.

I ride primarily county roads so I am somewhat surprised.

[jsharr ★]

4 AM?  Late night or early morning?

[goldendesign]

6 minutes ago, jsharr said:

4 AM?  Late night or early morning?

Early to rise. Weekday rides commence somewhere between 4:15-4:45
Weekends I sleep in and go at around 5:30ish

[jsharr ★]

4 minutes ago, goldendesign said:

Early to rise. Weekday rides commence somewhere between 4:15-4:45
Weekends I sleep in and go at around 5:30ish

People like you are hard for people like me to comprehend.  That is damned impressive.

[Road Runner]

You do know, of course, that people who say things like, "My first flat in five years" are doomed to suffer another very soon, right?  

[Razors Edge ★]

29 minutes ago, jsharr said:

People like you are hard for people like me to comprehend.  That is damned impressive crazy.

FIFY!

Doing the West Coast work on East Coast time, I'm getting up in the 4:30-5:30am range these days, and it is sucktastic and awesome at the same time.  Being done work for the day a 2pm with 5+ hours of daylight remaining is great great great! But, I also then go to bed around 9-ish (10pm at the latest) to get enough sleep.  That's a bummer, but with no TV to watch, that's fine.

[MickinMD ★]

1 hour ago, Razors Edge said:

Flats happen   Close to home flats are a double edged sword as they make recovery easy , but they also make calling it a day easier .  But, at 4am, not gonna be working on the side of a road, but also unlikely to go home, swap a tube, and re-ride. Luckily at home, I can readily grab another spare wheel and do a quick swap.  

I noticed my last flat when I took the bike off the porch to ride it.  It turned out the cheap rim guard inside the tire was basically a wide, thick, rubber band that had worked its way sideways enough to expose enough of the spoke hole to pinch the tube.  I had my LBS replace it on both tires with Velox Rim Tape.

[dinneR ★]

Five years is a good run on roads. I couldn't tell you the last time I had a flat mt biking, but I've had a bunch on roads. 2013 is the last on I remember on gravel. Snow is pretty rare too. 

[Razors Edge ★]

2 hours ago, goldendesign said:

one was pinch flat that miraculously didn't pop the tube. I just hit it with some aire and was off to the races again.

This one baffles me.  How do you lose air without a hole in the tube? Or is there a difference between the hole(s) from a pinch flat and actual popping of the tube?  I don't think I've had many true "pops" except when I ran over the shattered bottom of a bottle that destroyed the tube and compromised the tire (booted and then replaced). 

[goldendesign]

51 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

This one baffles me.  How do you lose air without a hole in the tube?

It's been awhile but if I recall, there was a failure near the valve and I lucked out the under pressure it kept it to a slow leak. I did change it out of an abundance of caution. I was on a group ride (drop ride at that) it was summer and I was in a fuck-it I'll deal with it later. 

[Scrapr ★]

5 hours ago, goldendesign said:

Early to rise. Weekday rides commence somewhere between 4:15-4:45
Weekends I sleep in and go at around 5:30ish

dint yo mama tell you nothing good happens after midnite? Midnite ends at 6:00 am whem it was get yo lazy *ss out of bed