My worst day ever.

bbug

Yesterday morning, LLandegla

I had a rear wheel puncture just after the first bits of Black at the top of the trail. No problem, put in new tube, Job done. Then another puncture, front wheel, on single track in the trees about a couple of miles from the end. No more spare tubes, but not to worry, I'll patch it. But, my pump couldn't put enough air into the tube to allow me to find the leak. But not daunted, it was eventually found by stretching the rubber and looking carefully.

Now, being under the trees the midges found me. They are merciless. I was driven to distraction, but eventually managed to fix the tube and replace it. Bu@@er, there must be another hole. Wheel off again to find that my patch had lifted, probably caused by a droplet of water falling from the trees above. I put my biggest bestest patch over the top but failed again. I'm still being eaten alive, so decide to push out of the trees into the sunshine to maybe escape the torture under the trees. Relief lasted around 30 milliseconds before they were back. AAAAARGH!!!

Now there's no point in trying to repatch, so I try to fix the tube I'd taken out of the back wheel. OK, buy I can't find the hole 'cos the pump won't play. Eventually the handle pulled right out, probably caused by ever more desparate attempts to get air into the tube. The midges were delighted. More time to feed while I try to stop myself from crying.

And this is when some angels found me and saved my sanity. One gave me a new tube and another waited until he was sure I was fixed.

I can't thank these guys enough. I am quite overcome with gratitude for what they did for me. It was a really friendly thing to have done. I'm sure if Karma is true, you'll get it back someday.

Thanks chaps.

Note to self. Get some good insect repellent and put it in your backpack.

Long_Time_Lurker

And that is why I carry 3 spare inner tubes - quicker and easier to patch them in the comfort of my garage after I get back...
Could be worse, we went to Hamsterley - mate went over the handlebars after 10 minutes. Proper faceplant. Broken nose and a broken wheel.

bennett_346

Long Time Lurker wrote:

Could be worse, we went to Hamsterley - mate went over the handlebars after 10 minutes. Proper faceplant. Broken nose and a broken wheel.

What bit was that on?

ratty2k

Tubeless. 8) Still carry a couple of tubes just in case... But Bar some shit sealant (ie NOT Stans) then I've had no problems.

ilovedirt

I always cary three tubes, but bikers are mostly nice people I gave some guys my last cable ties on a ride at coed y brenin a few weeks ago, i'd have been stuffed if i needed them haha.

naefearjustbeer

I managed to get myself 6 punctures in the space of 100 yards on friday, 2000 feet up in the Cairngorms. To say I wasnt happy sitting on the side of a mountain using up my spare tube and every single patch I had with me was an understatement and it slowed my trip back down the hill considerably knowing that another flat meant a 5 mile walk back to the car! I think from now on I will be carrying extra inner tubes as well as patches. On the plus side no midges were present and I happened to come to a halt alongside a nice puddle to help with my leak detection.

scale20

That trail looks fast 8)

naefearjustbeer

It was a great trail however it had dozens of large angled rock steps on it, I presume to aid water diversion and several wide deep drainage ditches on it that I wasnt quite able to bunny hop over clearly. Causing me to belt my back wheel off of sharp corners at speed giving lots of pinch punctures. In the end I had to slow right down and hop the front wheel up followed by the back wheel instead of trying to hop over in one go if that makes sense! The angle of the steps had the sharp high point facing uphill.

scale20

Its the same coming down from Snowdon via telegraph valley. a superfast trail down but with lots of raised stone/slate water divert gullies, if you dont get it right it's puncture city

naefearjustbeer

I didnt get it right 6 times!! for future trips I will be packing extra inner tubes, I normally only carry one. Plus some of those glue-less patches.

scale20

Even worse on the rear when you hit them on a HT

madmole

Try adding a bit more air to your tyres, very slight decrease in grip, HUGE increase in resistance to punctures

I'd be using about 40 psi minimum on that trail. Only seem to get snakebites when under 35psi

pastey_boy

this is where tubeless comes in handy, only 2 flats in 5 years and they were due to torn sidewalls.

naefearjustbeer

scale20 wrote:

Even worse on the rear when you hit them on a HT

And you weigh close to 15 stone!

Raymondavalon

Ah, the dreaded "flat zones"..
One day while out in Leigh Woods, Bristol, my mate and I bumped into two riders, one of the guys had a flat, but no tyre levers or pump [fail] so I loaned him mine. He replaced his tube, used my mate's pump and off they rode.
As I started to ride off, not even 10 metres, I must have gone over what the other rider did and got a double flat, both front and rear! [Epic fail]
I replaced one tube and patched the other, but was not overly happy about being the good Samaritan and the recipient of a double puncture!
After all this is mountain biking and yes, sh!t happens and we help one another out