...and another thing
July 27, 2009
This year RAGBRAI came with a wide range of Iowa weather. Monday evening in the final pass-through town of Fontanelle a group of us huddled under a picnic shelter in a park wearing garbage bags for warmth and drinking icecold beer. We were waiting out the rain after getting soaked for a few hours on the road. I was prepared for 85 and sunny with brief showers. Not 60 and overcast with heavy rains. Watching the digital clock on the bank across the street tick away the minutes Jimbo proposed a plan to leave at 7:17pm and ride the last six miles into Greenfield, weather the rain stopped or not. We saddled up and rolled out. I was still wearing a five-foot long garbage bag and I hope somebody got photos so I can show some messengers that my shivering overcame my pride.
A short while later on a long descent my rear tire exploded. I heard the noise but had no idea what it was until I could feel the backend of my bike squirreling allover the road. I guess I hit a rock. A rock I never saw coming maybe because I was drunk, it was getting dark, it was pouring rain, I was shivering or the crinkling ruffling garbage bag I was wearing distracted me. In any case the rocks in Iowa are not perfect little pebbles or polished river stones. They come from a more jagged geology and hitting one right or wrong will slash your sidewall instantly and cause a blowout (ask Matt)
I pulled off the road still to a driveway and a fresh-cut lawn to replace the tube. Tim stopped to lend me a pump but it was Schrader only so Bill came over and let me use his pump. I replaced the tube and blew it up, literally, in two seconds with Bills CO2 cartridge. Because of the big hole in the sidewall the fresh tube exploded. Perhaps I didn’t see the gash in the tire because I was drunk, it was getting dark, I was shivering, my hands were covered in grass clippings or the rumpling a the garbage bag I was wearing distracted me. So I put another tube in and booted the tire with a chunk of cardboard under the Mr. Tuffy hoping it would hold for 5 more miles. Pumping it up by hand this time and riding onward gingerly. Bill and I rode together for about a mile when my rear tire exploded again. Out of spare tubes and ready to throw my bike in the ditch I got off and stuck out my thumb and almost instantly a car pulled over. It was an incredibly nice couple from West Des Moines and they gave me a ride into town all the way to our campsite. They even tried to give me a couple spare tubes.
In four consecutive RAGBRAIs I had a total of zero flat tires. So this year I got the big payback with three in thirty minutes.
The sound of exploding tires left me a little gun shy on long descents for the rest of the week.
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co2 blaster
said...
Dude, that was a kickass raincoat, perfect for genuflecting, which in retrospect may have saved your life.
word
Posted July 27, 2009 06:44 PM
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pilder
replied to co2 blaster...
copy that. A little stage fright once in a while. A little wake-up call. A little kick in the ass. worrrrd.
Posted July 28, 2009 06:38 AM
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freckles
said...
That was a fun time in the park in Fontanelle. I put a picture of you in your plastic bag on Facebook. You look like a blurry ghost.
Posted August 2, 2009 08:42 PM
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