Well, I finally had my first flat tire on the bike. I was on the return trip of a really great ride when I felt the rear of the bike get a little squishy so I pulled off to the side of the road and into the parking lot of an antique store. Sure enough, the rear tire was flat. I put the bike up on its centerstand and rotated the tire to find the cause of the problem and it turned out to be a nail, about two inches in length. Luckily the shop owners were really nice and offered to find someone to help. After a few phone calls, we decided to take the wheel off, then drive down to a tire shop in Kingsland to have a new tube put in. I actually have all the tools required (including extra tubes) to fix the flat, but since help was generously offered, I accepted. It took a couple hours to get it sorted out, but the repaired tire was mounted back on the bike and I was on my way home. It’s funny, but I rode over 6,000 miles on my previous set of tires without a problem but only after a couple weeks of having new tires, I get a flat! But, I do consider myself lucky that it didn’t happen way out in the boonies, or while I was riding the Saddlesore 1000. BTW, if you are using tubed tires, I recommend taking spare tubes and not just a patch kit. The nail I ran over only made a tiny hole in the tire, but ripped a huge v-shaped hole in the tube. Definitely not able to be patched!
Aside from the flat, the ride that day was pretty great! I rode a bunch of miles on gravel roads and saw more wildflowers than I’ve ever seen before. It was really amazing! I’m not going to elaborate much more, but here are some photos and a video to look at. I love taking the back roads!
Odometer: 220 Miles
One reply on “Wildflowers and a Flat”
Bummer on the flat, but what beautiful pictures you got on the ride. Looked like a lot of fun. Two summers ago I did a lot of dirt road riding and got into some back country in the mountains. It was beautiful.