Normally the day before a Sunday ride I give my bike the once over. However this weekend was a little different......
Called into work Saturday (normally a day off) from 9.00am till 5.30pm, get home at 6pm to get ready to go to my cousins engagement party.
Get home at 1.00am, wake up at 7.00am. Organise all our gear ready and waiting to load onto ute. Mate picks my wife and I up at 8.00am. Tired, but everthing going to schedule. Push bikes out of garage......what the.....rear tyre is flat on my KDX!! I had only just had a new heavy duty tube put in 6 months ago! :mad:
Try to pump up tube, but it sounds like the tube is ripped at the valve. In desperation I try a spare valve - no luck.
Load up bikes, knowing that the club will have some spares at the trail ride. Drive for an hour, get to entrance and ask money collector where the spares truck is? Well, they haven't organised any spares this year!
Heart sinks.:ugg:
Find a park and unload my wife and friends bikes. They get suited up and I tightn the chain and give my wifes bike the once over for loose nuts etc., then go and watch my wife ride (first trail ride for her).
After watching for a while and looking back at my bike still on the back of the ute, I decide to see if another rider has a spare tube I can buy as well as borrow some tyre irons.
Found someone.....:), who then ripped me off!
Spent next two hours doing my first tyre change. After much trial and error, I finally worked out a method which I hope will only take me 15-20minutes next time. Inflated tube successfully :) Put rear tyre back on bike.
Get two laps in before it's time to go home.
The moral of this long winded story.....always make time to check your bike over before the day of the ride; carry a spare tube and tyre irons; and learn how to change your own flat tyres within a reasonable time frame.
Called into work Saturday (normally a day off) from 9.00am till 5.30pm, get home at 6pm to get ready to go to my cousins engagement party.
Get home at 1.00am, wake up at 7.00am. Organise all our gear ready and waiting to load onto ute. Mate picks my wife and I up at 8.00am. Tired, but everthing going to schedule. Push bikes out of garage......what the.....rear tyre is flat on my KDX!! I had only just had a new heavy duty tube put in 6 months ago! :mad:
Try to pump up tube, but it sounds like the tube is ripped at the valve. In desperation I try a spare valve - no luck.
Load up bikes, knowing that the club will have some spares at the trail ride. Drive for an hour, get to entrance and ask money collector where the spares truck is? Well, they haven't organised any spares this year!
Heart sinks.:ugg:
Find a park and unload my wife and friends bikes. They get suited up and I tightn the chain and give my wifes bike the once over for loose nuts etc., then go and watch my wife ride (first trail ride for her).
After watching for a while and looking back at my bike still on the back of the ute, I decide to see if another rider has a spare tube I can buy as well as borrow some tyre irons.
Found someone.....:), who then ripped me off!
Spent next two hours doing my first tyre change. After much trial and error, I finally worked out a method which I hope will only take me 15-20minutes next time. Inflated tube successfully :) Put rear tyre back on bike.
Get two laps in before it's time to go home.
The moral of this long winded story.....always make time to check your bike over before the day of the ride; carry a spare tube and tyre irons; and learn how to change your own flat tyres within a reasonable time frame.