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24-Hour Ride Update

06.28.2010 by Ray Niekamp // Leave a Comment

You may recall that last month, I blogged about Bike Noob reader Tommy Foster and his plan to circle his local high school track for 24 hours to raise money for the Livestrong Foundation. He did it this past weekend.

Tommy posted a short item on his ride, with some videos, on his own blog.

Next on the agenda for Tommy is a raffle featuring a three-bike rack. If you’re interested, you can take a look.

Congratulations to Tommy for finishing something that I would never even consider as possible.

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Categories // Rides Tags // 24 hours, charity ride

Bikeable Roads

06.27.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 9 Comments

For the past few days, we have been on the road (in the car) to attend a reunion of sorts in Illinois. Maybe because I have not been on the bike, I’ve been noticing roads in the areas we’ve passed through, with an eye to their bikeability. And I’ve gotta say, there are some areas out there where bikers have it rough.

The thing that makes for rough biking is a lack of shoulders on roads.  Most of the roads we took were two lane, heavily trafficked, with no shoulder. I wouldn’t take a bike on them on a bet. The roads were hilly and curvy, which would have made for great riding in other circumstances. But on these roads,  cars and trucks moved at more than 55 mph, leaving little chance to react if they should suddenly come upon a bicycle.

As if to add support for this notion of unbikability, I saw only two cyclists in five days. They were a bike touring couple, loaded with panniers, slogging up a hill on a U.S. highway that did have a generous shoulder.

The areas I paid most attention to are in northwestern Arkansas and southern Illinois. Maybe there are cycling groups there, and I hope if that’s they case, they check in with some good routes in those locales.

How about where you are? Is there an overabundance of roads that are designed for motor traffic only, with no consideration of cyclists? I’ve got a few gripes about my home, Austin, Texas, but on the whole, I’ve got plenty of alternatives for riding. The places I’ve been on during this short vacation — not so much.

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Categories // cycling Tags // bike routes

The Flat Spare

06.24.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 5 Comments

Among the spate of flats I’ve had recently, one stood out as particularly irritating. I was riding down a flat, suburban residential street when I felt the rear tire sag. I pulled over, got the tire off, and got the spare tube and tire levers from the seat bag.

But when I tried to pump the spare a little to mount it on the rim, I discovered that it had a puncture. I always carry a small patch kit with me, so I set about patching the tube.  It seemed to have worn with age and use — there was more a crack in the rubber than a puncture. I finished the patch, rested the bike against a nearby fence, and proceeded to clean up and put away my mess. When I walked over to the bike to put everything back in the seat bag, the tire was flat again. I got it pumped it up to 90 psi, and figured since I was only about two miles from home, I could make it back on a soft tire.

I couldn’t. I rode about a half mile, and the tire was flat again. This time, it wouldn’t take air.  The puncture must have widened with the riding.

I had two choices. I could pull off the tire and patch the leak I had missed the first time, or I could just walk the bike the remaining distance home. The temperature was about 90ºF (32ºC), the sweat was dripping onto my sunglass lenses, and I was tired and cranky. I walked.

I keep my spare tube in an old sock, to prevent it from rubbing against hard surfaces or sharp-edged tools in my seat bag, so what caused the puncture in the spare is a mystery. I assume it was always there, and I missed it when I put that particular tube in the seat bag.

Has this ever happened to you? What other tips do you have to prevent your spare from getting damaged in the seat bag?

Periodically, it’s worthwhile to check your spare tubes.

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Categories // tires Tags // flat tire, tires, tube

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