Repeat Punctures and an Expensive Ride

I’ve had one of those weeks, where I’ve had more punctures than hot dinners. Five in the space of four days, on four different wheels.

Firstly, I got one in my front commuter wheel. I was suprised because Armadillo All Condition are usually pretty puncture resistance. When checking to find the puncture its helpful to be careful taking off tyre and inner tube and matching the location of the puncture to the point on the wheel; this helps to identify the cause. In this case, it was due to the inner tube pinching against some sharp metal on the rim (and not due to a thorn or sharp stone penetrating the tyre) I put on a new layer of tape over the metal rim. This is the second time, I’ve had this kind of ‘inner puncture’ this month.

Yesterday, the plan was to do 50 miles on the time trial bike, but a light shower, early in the morning was enough to delay the ride. Instead I went to coffee shop and decided to settle for a short interval session on boars hill. When I got back from coffee shop in town, I saw my winter training bike had a flat tyre on the rear. I was in too much of a rush to mend the puncture, so I just took my time trial bike out in the wet. Usually I don’t like taking my time trial bike in the wet because you are much more susceptible to punctures and it can be an expensive business with £40 tubs. But, I wanted to  ride and I didn’t have time to mend the puncture.

After the fourth interval I was descending boars hill, when you get that irritatingly familiar feeling of a deflating tyre, you can tell, because the bike starts to rattle, and steering becomes more difficult. At least it was a good excuse to cut short the fifth interval and go home. When you get a puncture 5 miles from home, you’re always tempted to try and ride home on the deflating tyre, hoping you can get home and repair puncture in the comfort and dryness of your house. But, just one mile from home, a slow puncture become completely flat. I wasn’t going to risk some expensive rims getting damaged and so I changed the tub (which was surprisingly quick). The culprit was a sharp stone. I don’t  understand physics, but when gravel is wet, it seems to become sharper and more likely to penetrate tyres. (I was using Contintental competition – a tougher version of racing tubs)

On close inspection, back home, I also discovered something had deeply penetrated the rear tubular. I tried to using a sharp implement to pick out the culprit and prevent a future puncture. But, I only succeeded in pushing the stone further into the tyre, until pop – ’5th puncture in 4 days’. If I’d been more patient, I would have deflated tyre first, and then tried to pick out the offending sharp stone.

Anyway, this morning. I’ve sent two tubulars off to Peter Burgin to be repaired. It costs £15 per tubular. But, when the tubs cost £40-£50 it is worth it.

I’m not sure whether to curse the puncture gods or be grateful, they all occurred at convenient moments. A puncture in last Sundays ‘race through the snow’ would have been no joke. At least the tyres had a kind habit of deflating very close to my house.

By the way, the interval session was great fun. It was the first kind of interval sessions, just 4* 2 mins 30 seconds up different ascents of Boars hill. Not quite like racing a hill climb, but a test of riding close to your limit.

Related

• How to Avoid Punctures
• 5 punctures in a week (2011 version) if buses come along in twos, why do punctures come in fives?