Car-Free Happy Hour--almost

Jenn and I rode the tandem to Car-Free Happy Hour tonight. We met some folks who decided it would be fun to ride as a group from the formal entrance to the UofL Belknap Campus, but...

not before having a flat tire. Not just your normal, run-of-the-mill flat tire, but a blowout. On the front. On the tandem. It was my first front tire blowout in YEARS, and the tire is flexible enough that it made the bike unmanageable immediately. Fortunately, we were only going about ten miles an hour at the time, so the fall was not so bad. I booted the tire with a folded dollar bill, as I teach in all manner of classes. It held for about eight miles. The hole in the tire was just too bad.

We were on our way home by then, on Eastern Parkway nearing Poplar Level Road. The tire simply let go--again--with no warning other than the thumping every revolution that I knew (or thought) meant I had a bulge from the failing carcass plies. I managed to keep the bike upright the second time, but we decided without even doing any more looking that the tire was not going to get us home. We weren't willing to trust it again. I called my stepfather, and he was willing and able to bring his truck to haul us home.

As it happens, with RAIN coming up in two weeks, I recently ordered a spare set of tires for the bike. I suspect that I bruised this one when on the gravel roads during our trip Tuesday, as I had noticed a slight bump in the tire when we were nearing home. I had noticed it again on our way to Car Free Happy Hour, but the tire didn't feel like it was going to give out so soon. I'll be ordering another front tire tomorrow.

Lesson 1: if you feel a bump in a tire, inspect it closely. Replace the tire rather than ride on it.

Lesson 2: dollar bills work for a while, but not as well on tandems with the extra weight they carry. Park Tool makes tire boots that work better.

Lesson 3: Maybe it's a good time to find a place to carry spare tires on the bike...