Wednesday flat

Wednesday’s bike ride started out as a fun longish adventure down the South Platte River trail, to Confluence Park. I’m still dealing with the occasional trail closures and detours due to construction, and believe it or not, some tree cutting this time. I made it down there, grabbed a snack from the local vendor, rested and drank some Gatorade, then headed back up the river. 

About halfway back, my rear tire deflated rapidly to flat in just a few seconds. So much for the fun part. I have plenty of experience, repairing flat tires with my “good old” 52 year old road bike, but not this new gravel bike. Lots of things are different with the new bike, starting with a whole different way of getting the wheel off, then learning about the new rear derailleur clutch, and the new and important (and dare I say, tricky) process of mating the tire bead with the rim. 

I was having zero success at first, simply examining the tire for evidence of what punctured it, when, as luck would have it, a very competent Good Samaritan stopped to help. He was a wizard with these new bikes, quickly diagnosed the leak that wouldn’t hold pressure for even a few seconds, rapidly had my wheel off, tried inflating the tube and realized the leak was invisible, and replaced the tube with the one he carries. Thank goodness for Venmo, which allowed me to reimburse him for his fancy lightweight spare tube, which is now *my* fancy lightweight spare tube. 😉 

After I got home, I was able to submerge the tube underwater in the sink, and immediately found the teeny tiny hole that was letting air out faster than I could pump it in. The glueless Lezyne patch in my new tire patch kit appears to have worked perfectly. So now I have a second spare tube, as I’m planning to stop at the bike store and get a new tube today. Even though I’ve done it many times in the past, the general consensus seems to be, to avoid riding everyday on a patched tube.

There are many fun sights and sounds on this route, but sorry to say, the only photo I took on this adventure, was of this pretty Snowy Egret in the South Platte River, near the beginning of my ride. 

Here’s the photo I took of my patched tube, including the part number, so I would know what to replace it with.