4 flats on one (road bike) ride!

From yesterday's almost-daily diary entry
You may view it with photos & more information at
www.ChainReaction.com/sixflattires.htm

12/09/04- SO WHAT REALLY HAPPENS WHEN YOU WAKE UP ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE
BED? I think I know now. It causes you to make a wrong decision, the
consequences of which seem way out of proportion. This happened to me today,
as I woke up for my regular Tuesday/Thursday-morning ride, looked out the
window and saw that the roads were still wet. It hadn't rained in several
hours though, and the sun was making an effort to come out. So did I really
need to ride my rain bike? No way. Besides, what's the worst that can
happen? My 5900 needed an excuse for a good cleaning anyway!

What's the worst that can happen, indeed. Nice company today, with Rob,
Karl, Kevin & Ueyn showing up... and I even felt like I was up to the
challenge, probably because I was on my 5900, which feels so much faster
than the Iron Pig (my Cinelli rain bike). And I was doing fine, until, just
past the park entrance, I'm riding on my rim. 8:09am, first flat. So we stop
and replace my tube and continue on our way. The adrenalin kicks in a bit
(from what?) and I'm feeling pretty darned good until... 8:25am, second
flat, near the open section on King's. OK, I don't get flats (Ueyn's
probably ridden with me over 50 times and never seen me get a flat), maybe
I'm due and this gets them out of the way for awhile?

So I put in another new tube and we're on our way again. Sort of. At the top
of King's, Ueyn has a flat! Ueyn actually got two flats on this ride, but I
don't recall if this was his first or second; they all began to blur into
each other. In the photo, you can see his remarkable using-teeth-as-3rd-hand
technique to keep his tube off the ground. It's now 8:42am, and we're
thinking that maybe doing the Old Lahonda loop might be a bit risky, so we
opt for one of the dead-end drop-into-hell roads that heads west from
Skyline. Until 8:58am, when I get my third flat on Tunitas Creek (as we were
heading towards Star Hill). You've got to be kidding, I'm thinking
not-entirely-to-myself as I deal with replacing yet another tube in the gray
misty muck. But I replace it and gamely move on, making it up over the small
grade on Star Hill and heading down towards Native Sons Road when, at
9:15am, flat number four!!! At this point I wave the rest of the guys on
(it's an out-and-back road anyway, so if I'm stranded for some reason
they'll be coming past again on the way back) and, with Ueyn staying behind
to make sure I didn't lose my marbles, I removed the tube and found that it
had probably been damaged before it ever got into the tire and, in one of
those strange guy moments where you have to show an inanimate object who's
boss, I repaired it instead of replacing it with a new one.

From there Ueyn & I rode back up to Skyline and down into Woodside, without
any further incident. I'm not sure, but I think I've gotten my flats out of
the way for some time... and also learned a lesson about why one has a rain
bike, with heavier, tougher tires... and why you'd ride it when the roads
are such a mess, even though it's not raining out. Irrational acts of
defiance, particularly against the forces of nature, rarely seem to pay off!

We've put up a temporary web page with more exciting flat-tire-changing
photos at www.ChainReaction.com/sixflattires.htm

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
IMBA, BikesBelong, NBDA member