Sunday, June 29, 2008

long ride, semi mechanical breakdown

Today was a great ride. The weather was perfect, other than the heavy humidity. A coworker and rode under mostly cloudy conditions that kept the heat at bay. Unfortunately at around mile 40 I have a mechanical issue. My front tire started to come out of the wheel as the tube was trying to push out. Yikes! So I pulled over and quickly deflated the tire so I can save the tube. That worked. However, the CO2 cartridge didn't work so well and I either didn't puncture it well enough or the valve wasn't connected correctly, but not enough air got in. Damn! So I was stuck and my coworker didn't have a pump or another cartidge. Double damn! So I was suddenly SOL.

Fortunately because the weather was so great, there were TONS of cyclists out today, and before I knew it a very nice couple pulled over and let me use a CO2 cartridge. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a full inflate, but I did have enough pressure to limp myself along Rt 22 to get back to Armonk and into the bike shop. The bad part about this section of road is that its a pretty good hill, and I was doing it on a soft tire, which makes the climbing that much harder. I did the climbs and was scared about the downhill into town, but I made it to the shop and they fixed me up and sent me on my way.

I do remember that while I was on a pretty good downhill on miles 20-30 that I felt a rythmic bump in my front tire. Its a brand new tire and I thought it was just a piece of rubber that hadn't been broken in yet. I was wrong! That bump as the start of my tire coming out of the wheel! I got LUCKY for most of the ride.

Here is the route.

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