Aravis
Putrid Donut
- Location
- Gloucester
I imagine those of us who consider ourselves experienced cyclists reckon we're OK on this. A cautionary tale from my ride a couple of days ago...
With about 3½ flattish miles to go, a tell-tale softening in my rear tyre, a Marathon Greenguard. It was just about able hold enough air for me to limp a short distance, so with several pauses for reflating I made it home safely. Investigating today, I found the culprit (the object on the right, about 5mm long):
It was the hooked end which was embedded, only the very tip of the straight end being visible and impossible to detect by touch.
At home I used an awl to expose enough of the tip to get a firm hold with sharp-nosed pliers and pull it out, and only then did I know there was a barb on the other end. With what I had available at the roadside I don't I'd have had a chance of shifting it.
As I've been writing this I've realised that a piece of tyre casing, which I usually carry as an emergency tyre boot, could probably have solved the problem long enough to get wherever I needed to go. And unless we're in the middle of a pandemic we can always knock on a door for assistance. But having located the foreign object in a tyre it had never occurred to me that I might not be able to remove it.
With about 3½ flattish miles to go, a tell-tale softening in my rear tyre, a Marathon Greenguard. It was just about able hold enough air for me to limp a short distance, so with several pauses for reflating I made it home safely. Investigating today, I found the culprit (the object on the right, about 5mm long):
It was the hooked end which was embedded, only the very tip of the straight end being visible and impossible to detect by touch.
At home I used an awl to expose enough of the tip to get a firm hold with sharp-nosed pliers and pull it out, and only then did I know there was a barb on the other end. With what I had available at the roadside I don't I'd have had a chance of shifting it.
As I've been writing this I've realised that a piece of tyre casing, which I usually carry as an emergency tyre boot, could probably have solved the problem long enough to get wherever I needed to go. And unless we're in the middle of a pandemic we can always knock on a door for assistance. But having located the foreign object in a tyre it had never occurred to me that I might not be able to remove it.