Thank You Scott Gudmanson

December 30, 2008 · 5 Comments

I've been up in the Rocky Mountains getting some altitude training. I've been riding around Denver the last two days. Today we made our way to Loveland and I got out for a ride and headed out West of Loveland. Since I didn't know what the weather was going to be like in Colorado I left the Orca at home and brought the Fuji. Since I thought I might run into snow I didn't want to expose the Orca to road salt plus I brought the trainer and I don't put the Orca on the trainer. I forgot to move over my saddle bag with my CO2, tube, patch kit and tire levers. When in Denver I went to Bicycle Village and bought a Blackburn AirFix CO2 inflator that has a tire lever and an assortment of allen wrenches and a chain tool. I was somewhat prepared for a flat, or so I thought...

When we arrived in Loveland the weather was 57 degrees, but when I walked out for the ride it felt a little cooler so I went back in and put on arm warmers. I got out of Loveland and at mile 7 I felt the wobble of my back tire that is the sign that I had a flat. I got off and verified that I indeed had a flat. I got out the Blackburn AirFix and got the tire lever and attempted to get the tire off. I quickly found out that it is very difficult if not impossible to get the tire off with only 1 tire lever. Not sure what Blackburn was thinking with only putting 1 tire lever on the device. I'm also questioning the functionality of the allen wrenches, it was very difficult to put on bottle cages with the Blackburn.

The sun went behind a cloud while I fumbled with my 1 tire lever predicament, the temperature was quickly dropping. My fingers were starting to go numb as I wore a pair of fingerless gloves. Luckily a roadie came along and he provided another tire lever. He also traded my tube for one of his tubes when he saw that I was only carrying a patch kit. We got the tire changed and with the dropping temperature I conceded defeat and turned around and head back into Loveland with my savior.

We chatted a bit as we made our way back into town. I gladly offered my rear wheel to my new roadie friend and pulled him back into town into a stiff head wind. I'm glad to see the brotherhood of roadies is strong in Colorado and the code of conduct of helping out a fellow rider is adhered too. Thank you Scott Gudmanson for the help.

Thank You Scott Gudmanson

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5 responses so far ↓

1 331miles // Dec 31, 2008 at 8:09 AM

No offense intended...I only carry 1 tire lever, and it works for me. Once I use the lever to break the clinch at one spoke, I slide it around the edge of the tire to get it 1/2 removed, then change the tube. Are you using a particularly tight-fitting tire (I've heard some are worse than others, but Michelins seem to work fine this way)?
2 Mike // Dec 31, 2008 at 9:13 AM

It could have been a couple of factors, it being 35 degrees and my fingers were cold or the fact that the tire was fairly new and hadn't been "stretched" much. Once I'd get the tire off the rim a little and work around the rim the part of the tire that I had off would fall back on. I even had trouble getting the tire back on, it was an extremely tight fit. I bought a couple more levers when I got back into town.
3 Creaky // Dec 31, 2008 at 11:49 AM

didn't your mama teach you to wear knee warmers below 70F?
4 Mike Weiland // Dec 31, 2008 at 9:05 PM

My knee warmer limit is below 45 degrees. Somehow I didn't pack them though, I have 2 arm warmers.
5 331miles // Dec 31, 2008 at 9:11 PM

One thing I forgot about the cold -- tire will be stiffer, plus material properties cause it to actually fit tighter on the rim. I've never changed a flat at 35F, but I think I'll have more than one lever from now on...

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