One of those mornings

[Freewheeler]

Looked out of the window this morning, it looked a little grey and drizzly so I put on my waterproof jacket, rainlegs, overshoes and peaked cap. I got about 1/2 a mile from the house and was just beginning to get warmed up and enjoy the ride when I came across a milk bottle smashed across the road. Tried to avoid it with my front tryre, only to hear the dreaded sound of air exploding from my rear tube.

Back home, not enough time to get changed, drove to work in my cycling gear and sat fuming in the traffic jams, calculating where I would be on the bike. Now I'm going to miss the ride home too, gutted. I'm off to the LBS now to get a spare tube ready for tomorrow as the current spare will be fitted tonight (I expect the burst one to be beyond repair considering the size of the glass shards and the speed at which it deflated).

 

[robz400]

Sorry to hear that, sounds shoot!

I will however laugh my arse of later if you come on here after being pulled over by the rozzers and having to explain your choice of clothes

 

[Freewheeler]

I probably looked like a rozzer this morning, driving along wearing an orange jacket and hi-vis vest. I'll be leaving my work clothes on for the drive home though.

 

[downfader]

I think people do it deliberatley to damage tyres, whether cycle or motor. There are a couple of cycle lanes around here notorious for smashed glass - never in the road, just on the cyclelane.

 

[PBancroft]

I think people do it deliberatley to damage tyres, whether cycle or motor. There are a couple of cycle lanes around here notorious for smashed glass - never in the road, just on the cyclelane.

To be fair, I think that some people just don't realise what they're doing. I saw someone brushing broken glass from the road into a cycle lane once, and I asked him what he was doing. He told me, rather snarkily, that he was getting it out of the way of vehicles.

I asked him about cyclists, and he just looked blankly at me for a few moments and said they could cycle around it.

 

[downfader]

To be fair, I think that some people just don't realise what they're doing. I saw someone brushing broken glass from the road into a cycle lane once, and I asked him what he was doing. He told me, rather snarkily, that he was getting it out of the way of vehicles.

I asked him about cyclists, and he just looked blankly at me for a few moments and said they could cycle around it.

LOL, I'm sure that if you have a breakage you're supposed to take the glass with you.

 

[mr_cellophane]

Some of it will be people throwing bottles out of cars.

Don't go that way for a couple of days because the glass will still be there.

 

[Batzman]

Yeah, there's a rather hairy exit from the cycle lane back on to the road on the local bridge, a nice smashed bottle right in between the bollards where you're supposed to ride... fortunately I made it home to spend a few minutes picking glass shards out of my tyres...

 

[threefingerjoe]

I have frequently stopped and kicked large amounts of glass off the cyclepath on my commute. More often, though, I stop and pick up unbroken bottles, and slip them into an empty water bottle cage, or bungee them to the top of my bag on the rack, and deposit them in the nearest rubbish container. I've found that if I pass up an unbroken bottle, then on my return trip, that bottle will be smashed all over the path. I guess kids enjoy that. It takes a lot less time to pick up the whole bottle, than to kick glass off the path, or repair a tire.

 

[goo_mason]

I was the victim of a smashed bottle on a backstreet on the way to work yesterday. Thought I'd avoided it but there were shards scattered right to the middle of the road, and I got on in the front tyre. Cue immediate and rapid loss of air (with an impressive jet of steam effect).

Fortunately the shard was so big that it was obvious where the hole was; that allowed me to quickly pull out only the affected section of the inner-tube and patch it. I then decided to play the lazy card and used my CO2 inflator to quickly get the pressure back up, allowing me to get back on my merry way without much time wasted.

There does seem to be a deliberate smashing of glass on cycle lanes elsewhere around here though; when I used to use the off-road paths I seriously thought about attaching a brush to the frame so I could detach it and clear up the worst parts so I wouldn't have to face them on the way home....

 

[hackbike 6]

Don't you carry spare tubes then mate?

I remember one morning at Mile End (Yawn) I hit a pothole in the rain and I had both tyres go down.Fixed them both and still got to work on time.

 

[downfader]

I was the victim of glass this morning. Walking the bike across the path to walk past some shops on the way into work, I wheel it over past the locking rail for cyclists and hear "Pisssssshhhhhheeedddddd!" and all the air was gone.

Took me an hour to walk the rest of the way, and then I had to walk home 5 miles (stopped off at a bike shop to get a new tube though, will get rid of the kenda tyres and put on something decent instead as thats half the problem)

 

[hackbike 6]

I wheel it over past the locking rail for cyclists and hear "Pisssssshhhhhheeedddddd!" and all the air was gone.

That's what tends to happen when you hear that sound.

Why not carry spare tubes?

 

[downfader]

I wheel it over past the locking rail for cyclists and hear "Pisssssshhhhhheeedddddd!" and all the air was gone.

That's what tends to happen when you hear that sound.

Why not carry spare tubes?

No space for it, small rucksack with all me work gear, plus locks etc. Had a repair kit it turned out in the end, but it was right at the bottom of the bag. Too much faff in the dark, lol!

 

[goo_mason]

I [...] hear "Pisssssshhhhhheeedddddd!"

That wasn't a flat - it was Magnatom lying in the gutter, announcing his current condition after overdoing it on the Buckfast...