Biking Nightmare Stories...
R8JimBob88
Posts: 285
So today I was 30 miles into a 45 mile route alone. Feeling better than ever before. It was a bit colder than I would have hoped for. About -1'c when I set off, I had a thin baselayer on and a waterproof jacket so not really the most sensible option. (merino baselayer and winter jersey off the Mrs for Xmas!)
So I pick up a puncture on the front tyre, no problem I thought, I just whip the spare innertube on and be on my way in 10 minutes.... I pull up on a country lane in some driveway to a mahoosive house and get the bike upside down. Out comes the old innertube and it looks like a thorn or something has punctured it. I check the tyre and find the culprit, a tiny thorn has solidly bedded itself in there, 30 mins later I get the blighter out.
It's getting cold now, numb hands making things difficult. So out comes the new intertube, dustcap comes off and the damn valve comes off too! It's a dud one! Oh shit this is going to be miserable, but luckily I have some patches that I can try and repair the original tube with.... So patched up and now struggling to get the tube back on the tyre due to me being bloody frozen. So I set to work with the mini hand pump. Feels like it's getting there so i pack my stuff away and get back on the bike....
The patch either didn't hold or the pump was pants. Not to worry my mrs bought me some of those compressed air cartridge things so I thought I would see if this would help hoping that it was just my original pumping skills that weren't too good. Having not read the instructions for this, I was still confident, I mean how hard can it be? I think I'll read the instructions before my next attempt... The cartridge discharged itself before I even turned to the bike.... That's fine I carry a spare cartridge. The next cartridge goes in fine and is attached to the valve of the original tube. Wow it works! Tyre now feeling solid again I try to remove the cartridge device from the valve. Numb hands resulted in lots of fannying about and lots of air escaping. Back to square one.
I'm really cold now, hands almost uselessly numb, I cave in and call the mrs to pick me up. Ive been here over an hour now. 45 minutes later she comes and eventually I get home.
I'm now defrosting individual pieces of my body by the fire. I like to learn the hard way. Lessons learned. Check spare tubes before you need to use them. Wear appropriate clothing.
So can anyone make me feel better with more horror stories?[/img]
So I pick up a puncture on the front tyre, no problem I thought, I just whip the spare innertube on and be on my way in 10 minutes.... I pull up on a country lane in some driveway to a mahoosive house and get the bike upside down. Out comes the old innertube and it looks like a thorn or something has punctured it. I check the tyre and find the culprit, a tiny thorn has solidly bedded itself in there, 30 mins later I get the blighter out.
It's getting cold now, numb hands making things difficult. So out comes the new intertube, dustcap comes off and the damn valve comes off too! It's a dud one! Oh shit this is going to be miserable, but luckily I have some patches that I can try and repair the original tube with.... So patched up and now struggling to get the tube back on the tyre due to me being bloody frozen. So I set to work with the mini hand pump. Feels like it's getting there so i pack my stuff away and get back on the bike....
The patch either didn't hold or the pump was pants. Not to worry my mrs bought me some of those compressed air cartridge things so I thought I would see if this would help hoping that it was just my original pumping skills that weren't too good. Having not read the instructions for this, I was still confident, I mean how hard can it be? I think I'll read the instructions before my next attempt... The cartridge discharged itself before I even turned to the bike.... That's fine I carry a spare cartridge. The next cartridge goes in fine and is attached to the valve of the original tube. Wow it works! Tyre now feeling solid again I try to remove the cartridge device from the valve. Numb hands resulted in lots of fannying about and lots of air escaping. Back to square one.
I'm really cold now, hands almost uselessly numb, I cave in and call the mrs to pick me up. Ive been here over an hour now. 45 minutes later she comes and eventually I get home.
I'm now defrosting individual pieces of my body by the fire. I like to learn the hard way. Lessons learned. Check spare tubes before you need to use them. Wear appropriate clothing.
So can anyone make me feel better with more horror stories?[/img]
If you do what you have always done, you will get what you always got....
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Now for the biggest slap in the face I ever had. The dud valve isn't dud at all. I managed to unscrew the tip of the valve with the dustcap. I only needed to screw it back on...If you do what you have always done, you will get what you always got....0
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R8JimBob88 wrote:Now for the biggest slap in the face I ever had. The dud valve isn't dud at all. I managed to unscrew the tip of the valve with the dustcap. I only needed to screw it back on...
You really didn't need to know that, did you ? :oops:0 -
I don't think I can beat that one!
Oh, okay - here's one...
My mum remembered her uncle having a fixed-wheel bike when she was young. He worked somewhere near Fort William and lived in digs during the week but used to ride home to spend the weekends at the family croft on the coast near Oban. One Friday evening he missed the last ferry at Ballachulish (in those days the bridge at the mouth of Loch Leven was a rail bridge) so he had to ride round the loch via Kinlochleven. He got caught out in a thunderstorm and was so cold when he got home that he couldn't dismount so his brothers had to come out of the croft and lift him off his bike. They carried him in and propped him up in front of a big open fire to thaw him out!0
