Ride challenges? How about ripped tires, angry honkers

Riding along only to have a tire rip, making it unable to be a usable tire anymore, is of course, no fun at all. You’ve lost the tire, the tube, and since you’re not likely to have an extra tire packed with you -- and there's no fully equipped sag wagon trailing you -- you can’t continue riding the bike.

This happened to a buddy while riding the road up Mt. Diablo in Northern California. He hit some glass and it sliced up his front tire. He pretty much thought he was going to have to walk the several miles back to his truck with bike on shoulder.

He shot a short video of his dilemma:

But buddy Pat caught a great break. Another rider coming down the Diablo climb stopped and offered his help. He lived a few miles away near the start of the ride, and said he could switch a tire with Pat’s, and patch it to hold well enough to get back to his house. He gave Pat his address and directions and by golly, he was able to continue the climb of Diablo and return descent. 

We dropped by the guy’s house on the way home and switched tires, no stress, no mess. Now that is about as good a solution to a sliced tire imaginable. A lot of luck and good will from a fellow rider.

But Tony, another riding pal, recently recounted to me another story of a sliced tire incident. And happy to say that it ended well, too. This story involves a little creativity that turned into a great tip to share. After seeing his friend’s tire rip and lose air, Tony thought the guy would be forced to walk his bike back to the beginning of the ride or just hang out by the side of the road until Tony or someone else would ride to the start and drive back to pick him up. 

But the guy, a veteran cyclist, wasn’t flustered in the least. Tony said he took a piece of mylar wrapping from an energy bar, and glued it against the inside of the tire rip with some Gu energy gel. He then inserted a replacement tube and pumped it up, not with an air cartridge, which might displace the makeshift patch, but with his mini pump. He got the tire to hold the tub without it bulging too badly through the lacerated part, and enough air to get back on the bike. He was able to ride back. Who knew? Gu and mylar can be your friends in unforeseen ways!

There are patch kits for tubes, but tire cuts usually present a more fundamental problem that can’t be solved without tossing the ripped tire and getting a replacement. So, the takeaway here is even though it may seem like you’re stranded due to a mechanical problem, never say never. Sometimes, a little creativity can get you back on the road long enough to make it home.

Oh great, another tolerant driver...

As cyclists are well aware, obnoxious drivers that honk at riders or try to edge them off the road unfortunately are out there. Here’s a link to a video that shows one of the worst cases I’ve seen. The riders handle it well, probably better than most would under the circumstances. It brought a flood of comments, 277 as of the time this was written. Check it out: 

Well, there are always two sides to a story, but this one is hard to fathom. So I'm thinking the guy just caught his daughter in bed with a spandex wearing cyclist, and just couldn’t help it. Whatever it was, let's all hope the guy gets a handle on his anger and doesn't decide to do more than honk at cyclists.

Anyway, til next time, always strap on a helmet before every ride, and remember, do all you can to keep the rubber side down!

-- Mark Eric Larson

Mark Eric Larson has written two books of essays, "The NERVE...of Some People's Kids," and "Don't Force it, Get a Bigger Hammer. To read, visit: 
http://www.scribd.com/Mark%20Eric%20Larson/shelf