That’s how it goes… tough luck happens in bike racing
Posted by: tjwoodruff in UncategorizedAfter a great start, working my way through the field of 100+ riders I found myself in the top forty or so. My good luck didn’t last too long however since at fifteen minutes into the race I knew that I had a slowly leaking rear tire. I finished out one of the climbs before jumping off to use some CO2 in hopes of sealing off the flat. This worked for about five minutes before going flat again. Off the bike again, this time I went for the spare tube. A couple minutes later I was airing up, keeping an eye on the bead. There was a section of about five inches or so that hadn’t completely beaded correctly, but I already had 40+ pounds of air in likely. With not much CO2 left I decided that I shouldn’t concern myself about the section of non-locked bead. Wrong decision. Fifteen yards later the shotgun blast sounded as my rear tire and tube completely blew off the rim. Game over. The eight inch gash in my tube was quite impressive.
I was quite upset for about a minute before I got over it and started my walk out of the sagebrush. Of course I was at the farthest out section of the trail with a long walk back to the venue. A situation like this is hard, if not impossible to control so I’ll live to ride another day. My legs were feeling alright after a great start so I hope this means good things for today’s STXC event. I’m expecting another back of the pack call up, so it will be another full-on charge through the field which I somehow seem to enjoy.
Further inspection of the tire revealed two cuts. One was right at the bead and the second was just below the cornering knobs on the sidewall. Both of these tire sections take huge amounts of stress so there was little chance for sealant to do the trick. There is definitely a trade off between heavy and durable tires and lighter but less burly tires. This time my risk was not positively rewarded… All part of the game. Stay tuned for a STXC report. Keep it real. -TJ
Entries (RSS)