California - Day 12 Off Day Podcast and Tubes

Today I stayed off the bike for no real reason, just general fatigue. I fell asleep in the middle of the morning, then drifted off again in the afternoon, and basically felt kind of blah the whole day.

The most interesting thing happened early in the day, at least as far as local time goes. I got to be on the Spokesmen Cycling Roundtable Podcast (number 60). I am not a regular on it, nor am I normally on podcasts at all, so it was a bit comical because I was so new to it all.

I was bad enough that they had to restart the whole thing (thankfully it wasn't being broadcast live) and let my friend introduce me instead of letting me talk about me.

When I tried to introduce myself it went kind of like this:
"Um. I. Um. So. Uh."

I really had only two "speaking parts" that I remember. It's tough working out the etiquette on a delayed-sound group chat on Skype and if I'm ever on again I'll have to keep some of those lessons in mind.

The various participants, all pretty interesting and opinionated folk, struck me as being very polite. Most opinionated folk will talk over anyone and everyone to get their ideas out, but this group, they listened too.

It was kind of like an ideal debate, with all parties listening and talking.

The big surprise was that Floyd Landis joined on the call. I, of course, had just stated that I thought he'd doped in 2006, but that he wasn't the only one, and therefore it was a "fair" race. I also pointed out at some point that he had tested for a substance he hadn't been taking, which seemed wrong.

So on that note Floyd dialed in. Great.

On top of all that I had to introduce myself to Floyd. That was kind of a repeat of my ghastly introduction that had to be cut. I can't think of a reason why he'd remember anything I said other than all the ums and ahs I used.

I wish I mentioned (but didn't) that I thought he was innocent of doping on a technicality. He tested positive for something he wasn't taking, and he never tested positive for stuff he took (and for which they tested him).

I didn't mention (and wished I did) that I have friends who believed in him. Who I think still believe in him, at least as a person, if not in his doping purity.

Anyway it was really interesting and fun. It's kind of like the talks that we used to have at the bike shop, or sitting around after a race, or whenever you get together with other like-minded folk and talk about bikes and racing and doping and stuff.

Exhausted after this very stressful (due to newness, not negativity) experience, I took a spontaneous nap at, oh, like 10 AM.

We went on a little shopping trip and I got to get some more food supplies (which I'm eating as I type), looked for some stuff for the daughter's dance tonight (found them), and bought six (6!) tubes for my bike.

Since I didn't do much today, and I have pretty strong feelings about tubes, I'll put down what I put in a forum post just now (cleaned up a touch for clarity).

I'm ruthless when it comes to patches. If a rider has a flat, installs a patched tube, and the patch fails, I'm merciless. If they're a very good friend then I'll wait while I tell them never to ride with me with patched tubes. If they're not a good friend then I relentlessly hammer into them their total and absolute inconsideration for their fellow riders.

I've yet to leave a rider behind, but they inevitably only have one spare tube (the one that just failed because they tried to save a few bucks by patching it), daylight's running out, and I know how to change a tube quickly and efficiently, much more so than the rider in question, because I've changed hundreds if not thousands of flats in the 15 years I worked in a bike shop. It's much better for me to change the tube in a couple minutes and rag on them all the way back to the end of the ride while they ride MY tube that I installed on their wheel than watching them struggling for 10 minutes to install the (my) new tube wrong and puncture it before they get back on the bike.

I have been on a ride where a rider actually tried to patch a tube on the side of the road after a flat. I told the rider not to be idiotic and gave him a tube.

I also refuse tube payback. You should not return a tube to me. You should give it to the next idiot that insists on using a patched tube that fails on a group ride (since, by definition, any reader of this particular post won't have a patched tube in their saddlebag, there must be another rider on the ride who has a patched tube, therefore it's a group ride).

If you ride a patched tube, do it on your time, not a group's time.

I give my punctured tubes to others.

New tubes sit in the saddlebag, always, and on my wheels. I just bought 6 tubes at full retail at the local (during the aforementioned shopping trip) shop to replace the two I flatted (one I flatted, one I gave to a ride companion that flatted). Now I'm up 4 tubes. This should put me at +40 or +50 something tubes, but I rarely have more than 6 or 8 tubes on hand at one time. Well, except when I buy huge quantities - at one point I bought a box of 50 700c tubes, and I don't think I've used that many tubes in 10 years for anything.

To counter my anti-patch crusade, I very infrequently flat and therefore usually have a few tubes floating around. As I mentioned before, I give most of my tubes away.

Exception to my anti-patch thoughts - low pressure tires, like kid's bikes or wheelbarrows and such. Say 40 psi or lower. Those can be patched.

I guess it's a pet peeve of mine. Heh.

Phew, right?

Right.

Tomorrow I'll be going to the Red Trolley Crit. I plan on doing the 35+. When I first thought of my trip out here, before I got sick for 3 weeks, I thought of doing the P12 race. You know, because I can.

Enter it.

But when I started scanning the short list of pre-reg riders, some names popped out at me, names I didn't feel like riding against.

In contrast the M35+ race seemed more realistic. As one of my hosts said succinctly, "I know which one I'd register for."

I'll be meeting up with one or two virtual friends, riders I interact with online.

I don't really feel great, comfort food notwithstanding, so I have very low expectations. I told the daughter here that I expect to do maybe five laps, maybe ten. Not much more than that. I didn't want her to go to the race with high expectations of their annual training camp guest.

She told me that I should do at least 20 laps. And that I don't need to win, I could just finish the race instead.

If only life were that easy. But I am going - I even took money out of an ATM machine to pay for my entry (those that know me know I use ATMs to withdraw money about as often as I used patched tubes in my tires).

I just have to see how long I'll last in the race.

How To - changing a tube/tire

In Florida, on the first ride we did, I flatted riding on some glass. Although you should avoid sand, glass, rocks, etc., if possible, sometimes you have to ride over it, and that sometimes causes a flat. In my case, I was trying to be careful on a narrow shouldered road with cars passing at 50-60 mph and ended up riding for a while on debris on the side of the road.

Although inconvenient, the flat was not a ride-breaker because I had a tube, pump, and I knew how to change a tube. You might think that knowing how to change a tube is common knowledge but I've watched Cat 1's struggle for many minutes with a tube so it's not necessarily true.

You should virtually never flat bottoming out an uninflated tire (also called a pinch flat) - that is simply a reflection on poor bicycle maintenance. I check my tire pressure every time I ride. To balance riding comfort and pinch-flat resistance, I pump my tires to 110-120 psi (front lower than the rear). A vicious impact on your tire/wheel will cause a pinch flat but there is a technique I'll describe later that will enable you to avoid even those types of flats.

Tires, even relatively light ones, will last thousands of miles in the rear. Front tires last so long it's a good idea to rotate them to the rear so you wear them out. Tubes should never puncture.

Changing a flat actually starts with installing the tire properly. When you first install the tire, make sure you have a good rim strip (covers the spoke heads and protects the valve from the edges of the hole drilled in the rim), the right length valve (longer for deep rims), and a clean tire. It's a waste of time and money to flat because your rimstrip was insufficient or the valve ripped off the tube due to the rim edge digging into the valve base.

Note: electrical tape is NOT a viable rim strip. Go to the shop and buy a few and keep at least one or two spares in your gear bag. Inevitably one of your less educated cyclists will complain about puncturing every 5 miles, and when pressed, will admit to using some substandard material for a rim strip. Your spare rim strip will be a ride or race saver.

Line up the valve to the label on the tire and install it so that the label is on the right side of the rim (the drivetrain side of the bike). Pretend a photographer is taking a picture of your bike and that you want your tire sponsor to be visible. It might actually be true! Even if it's not, the label/valve position makes it easier to troubleshoot if you do have a flat. If there is no label, line up the pressure rating to the valve - this way you don't have to look around the tire to see if it's rated to 120 psi or 240 psi.

(Note: there is a "cheat sheet" summary at the bottom but it skips a lot of details)

1. If you do have a flat, stop off any busy road - a driveway, a side road, the sidewalk, etc. There is no reason for you to be replacing a tube in the middle of a busy road.

2. Next, remove the tire and tube using a tire lever or three. If the tire is very tight, insert one tire lever under the bead, then about 2-3" away insert another one. Move another 2-3" and insert a third one. The second one will fall out. Put it in 2-3" past the last lever and repeat until you can remove the tire and tube.

Note: ALWAYS start opposite the valve and finish at the valve.

3. If you've lined up the label and valve, remove the tube from the tire. If you haven't, hold the valve in place of the tire by pinching the tire sidewalls with your fingers. This is so you can track the puncture and check the tire in the puncture vicinity.

4. If there is an obvious cause of a flat (nail sticking out of the tire, etc.) skip this step. Otherwise, inflate the tube a bit and listen for escaping air. If it's escaping too quick to pinpoint the location of the hole, fold the tube in half around the suspected area (one fold on each side). This will allow air pressure to build up around the rest of the tube. You can move the folds closer together until you pinpoint the puncture. If you've held the tire in place, you can check the tire. Too many times there will be a piece of glass or something in the tire. If left alone, it will puncture your new tube right away.

5. Verify there aren't other punctures. Nothing would be worse than to replace the tube thinking the big nail sticking out of the tire was the only thing that caused the flat only to find a piece of glass elsewhere also punctured the old tube... as well as your new one.

6. Pump up the tire until it is holding its shape. Do not let it stretch. On a floor pump, it would be one or two strokes. For a mini-pump, maybe 3-6 strokes. You want it to fit inside the tire with no problems but you do not want it to "grow" so it doesn't fit in the tire anymore.

7. Line up the valve and the label as described above.

8. Insert the valve and seat the bead on the first side of the tire. For the sake of this tutorial, I'll say the left bead first, if looking at the wheel from behind. The left bead would be mounted from the right side of the rim. If necessary, use tire levers to pop on the bead, being careful not to pinch the tube. This is the only time you should use the levers.

Note: ALWAYS start at the valve and finish opposite the valve when mounting a tire (the opposite of removing the tire).

9. After getting the left bead on the rim, push the tube into the tire so it sits inside the "U" of the rim. Again, start at the valve and finish opposite it.

10. Now your tire should look almost mounted from the left side. The right side is still hanging outside the rim. Pull the bead onto the rim at the valve and about 8-12" on either side of the valve. Push the valve in and push the tire down so both beads seat solidly on the rim.

11. Pull the bead onto the rim from the left side, using your four fingers. Don't use your thumbs and try and push the bead on - it's a lot harder. You'll probably have to push the tube in place every now and then as it has a tendency to pop outside of the rim. It's absolutely critical that you keep the tube inside the rim.

12. At the opposite end of the valve, when you have about 6" of bead left, hold one hand (say your right hand) with your fingers anchoring the bit already on the rim and using your other hand (left) immediately next to the right hand to pull the bead over the rim. It takes effort, especially on new tires, but you should be able to pull the bead onto the rim without using tire levers.

13. After the bead is all the way on, pinch the tire on both sides so you can see the rim strip under it. You should not see the tube at all - if you do, you'll need to carefully push it under and past the bead. If you do not, you are assuring yourself a spectacular blowout with immediate pressure failure at some point in the future.

14. Now you're ready to inflate the tire. Do one final push on the valve (push it up into the rim, not all the way, push the tire into the rim, then pull the valve back out) and inflate the tire.

15. DO NOT use the little threaded nut to "hold" the valve in place. It is sometimes useful to hold the valve high enough if the valve is a bit short, but if you use it that way, remove it as soon as the valve has enough pressure in it to mount the tube without it.

The main reason you should not use the threaded nut is that it hides a sliding tube. When you ride an under inflated tire, the tire and tube will slip along the rim. A great early warning indicator is the valve starts to tilt relative to the rim. If this happens, you need to move the tire/tube unit around the rim until the valve is perpendicular.

If you use the threaded nut, the valve remains perpendicular even though the tire and tube are slowly rotating around the rim. You only learn about it when the valve rips right off the tube. Using the threaded nut is like disabling your car's warning lights - you never see the oil pressure light go on and only learn you're low on oil pressure when your engine seizes. Not good.

Let's review (this can serve as your cheat sheet):
1. Always remove opposite the valve, and always finish opposite the valve.
2. Line up label with valve. If no label, line up PSI rating with valve. If one label, put on right side of wheel.
3. Pre-inflate tube till it just holds its shape and insert into tire before mounting tire.
4. Put one bead on, then the tube, then pull the other bead on.
5. DO NOT use tire levers for the second bead (i.e. to finish the tire)
6. Before inflating, push valve stem a bit into the rim and allow the bead to seat around it.
7. DO NOT use the little valve stem locknut.
8. Before every ride, check tire pressure.

If your labels are not lined up with your valves or you have never changed a tire before, you should try it in the luxury of your home. It certainly beats figuring it out while the sun is setting, you're freezing cold (or bonking or whatever), and generally miserable.

Congrats, you're all done now.

If requested I'll post a vid on this.