Three Strikes

WeMoRi Cool-down

I think it was when I was on my way out to meet the Thursday morning ride that I heard the sound of rending rubber and thought, "that's going to be a flat." It wasn't, though, and pretty soon I forgot all about it. There were probably eight or more of us at one point on the ride, and I was thinking we'd have a nice group for the full ride out to Ormond and back, but somewhere around the airport people started turning back and next thing I knew we were down to four. I asked if they wanted to turn around at the big dip in LaRose, but everyone was good with the full distance, so we continued. It was good because I'd already missed the Tuesday morning ride, and although I'd gotten out later in the afternoon, I probably didn't get any of the intensity that I needed. On the way back I made a little detour to drop a check off at Mignon's place. It was from BikeReg, and was actually for the Tulane team but was made out to NOBC because of some mix-up I'd created when setting up the collegiate race that, of course, never happened. Anyway, I'll make a donation to the Tulane team from the NOBC to square things up. It wasn't until I got home that I noticed the big slice in my almost-new Continental 5000 rear tire. I ended up sewing a boot into it that evening since it looked like some of the threads had been cut.

Another water main break - a block down the street

I had a bit more time Friday morning since I was off from work, and soon after I started riding upriver on the levee I ran into Charlie D who turned around to join me. We ended up riding out to Ormond, so I logged a few more miles than I'd planned, but as it turned out, it was a good thing I banked the extra. When I rolled the bike into the house after that ride I discovered that the rear tire had, maybe, 20 psi. It also had a big chunk of glass stuck in it. So for the second time in two days I had to deal with a tire issue.

Well, these things always seem to come in threes, don't they? Saturday morning felt a little cooler with a significant northwest wind as I rolled out to Starbucks for my pre-Giro coffee. I was looking forward to the workout and since I hadn't ridden very hard for very long all week, my legs felt relatively fresh. The warm-up along Lakeshore Drive was faster than usual, thanks to the tailwind, and I figured Hayne Blvd. would get pretty fast. It did, but for me it wasn't for long. I don't guess I'd gone more than a mile or so when I hit some crack in the concrete or something that I never saw and heard the rear tire explode. I drifted to the back, and as I dropped out of the paceline, Matt, who was about at the back, asked, "Got everything?" I replied that I did, and pulled off the street under a big oak tree to fix the flat.

Lucky I made it home

What I found was a quarter-inch hole that had been neatly sliced off of the sidewall. Luckily I had an old race number in my bag for just that sort of an emergency, so I fashioned a nice thick boot out of it and inflated the tire just enough to keep the rim off the ground. I guess it was around 30 psi or so. My first thought was to just turn around and go home, but then I decided that since I still had another tube and CO2, I may as well ride a few miles. I couldn't go very fast, and was being careful to lift the rear wheel over the cracks, but the tire seemed to be doing OK, so I rode the service roads on either side of I-10 and came back down Hayne Blvd. By the time I got back to Starbucks the first of the Giro Riders were also getting back, so I stopped to chat. Pat and Steve were sitting in front of the convenience store, planning on doing a few more miles afterward, but I figured I'd pushed my luck far enough and limped back home. I had to throw the tire away, but luckily I had a Continental 4000 that was in good shape to replace it with. It seems that the 5000 tires have much more delicate sidewalls. I'm sure that makes for a nicer ride and lower rolling resistance, but that's not much of a help if you can't keep the air in them.