Utter disgrace to you all

[caimg]

I write this as I walk slowly and unevenly in my cycling shoes back home from Regents Park after experiencing my first puncture and having been nowhere near able to fix it. Despite spending 15 mins trying, and now covered in grease and dirt.

I apologise for my inadequacy and will head home, lock myself in a room and fix it whilst cutting myself with my lame tyre levers.

 

[ianrauk]

what was the problem?
No one stopped to help?

 

[caimg]

what was the problem?
No one stopped to help?

The problem was I hadn't done the sensible thing and practiced replacing a tube at home! My main issue was for whatever reason I couldn't get air into the replacement tube I had, and I had no idea why.

I was kind of surprised that I must have had at least 40 people pass me whilst I was there and no, not one stopped!

Home now, at least I'm out of the rain!

 

[dellzeqq]

don't beat yourself up about it. There are free basic courses in bike maintenance all over London. Give us a borough and we'll see if we can find something for you

 

[Pat "5mph"]

I think somebody that cycles in cycling shoes should be able to mend his tyre on the go

 

[caimg]

don't beat yourself up about it. There are free basic courses in bike maintenance all over London. Give us a borough and we'll see if we can find something for you

S'okay I'm only kidding it's just frustrating as today was the first day I've been out of the flat since Sunday thanks to illness, and I only managed 6 miles until the puncture!

My local Evans does a free maintenance class on Thursday's so I might check that out. In the meantime it's onto YouTube...

 

[xpc316e]

It is disgraceful that nobody stopped to offer help, but it doesn't really surprise me much. Last weekend I did the Norwich 50/100 and just out of Norwich we stopped for a drink and saw a rider have a nasty crash about 200 metres behind us. The rider immediately following the poor victim just swerved around him and rode on with no hint of concern. Shame on him! I would have thought that we cyclists should stick together and offer help in adversity.

 

[ColinJ]

The problem was I hadn't done the sensible thing and practiced replacing a tube at home! My main issue was for whatever reason I couldn't get air into the replacement tube I had, and I had no idea why.

It is 99% likely that your tube had a Presta valve and you either didn't unscrew the knurled bit at the end (you always need to do that) or you did unscrew it but the inner part of the valve was stuck and you didn't press it in with a finger/thumb to free it before attaching the pump (you often need to do that)!

 

[e-rider]

I've had a cyclist wave me down and ask me to fix their puncture! He had no spare tube, patches or pump but was miles from home. I did fix it for him and told him to go prepared next time.

When I used to organise weekend rides at uni, I'd often get people turning up for a 30 odd mile ride with no pump or puncture repair kit, and these were people on 'proper' road bikes with clipless pedals etc not just some poor student on a BSO!

I think Graeme Obree summed it up quite well recently, with his comments about how in the past, a new cyclist would join a cycling club and serve a kind of apprentiship to learn all things cycling, from bike maintenence to bunch riding and racing; these days so many people are cycling that club runs often consist almost entirely of newbies, or cyclists just enter sportives etc and never learn any of the necessary skills.

 

[caimg]

I think somebody that cycles in cycling shoes should be able to mend his tyre on the go

Pat I couldn't agree more. I looked like a really, really obsessive cyclist who has no idea how to ride a bike on the way home

 

[caimg]

It is 99% likely that your tube had a Presta valve and you either didn't unscrew the knurled bit at the end (you always need to do that) or you did unscrew it but the inner part of the valve was stuck and you didn't press it in with a finger/thumb to free it before attaching the pump (you often need to do that)!

Ah, I had a handle on whole 'knurled end' vibe but the stick valve theory would have completely escaped me...I'm working on it now so we'll see which schoolboy-error I made!

 

[caimg]

I've had a cyclist wave me down and ask me to fix their puncture! He had no spare tube, patches or pump but was miles from home. I did fix it for him and told him to go prepared next time.

When I used to organise weekend rides at uni, I'd often get people turning up for a 30 odd mile ride with no pump or puncture repair kit, and these were people on 'proper' road bikes with clipless pedals etc not just some poor student on a BSO!

I think Graeme Obree summed it up quite well recently, with his comments about how in the past, a new cyclist would join a cycling club and serve an apprentiship to learn all things cycling, from bike maintenence to bunch riding and racing; these days so many people are cycling that club runs often consist almost entirely of newbies, or cyclists just enter sportives etc and never learn any of the necessary skills.

Do I get some points for having managed to lever the tyre off, discard the old tube and then utterly fail with my pocket rocket?

 

[caimg]

So, I didn't unscrew the knurled end the whole way so that it was tight at the bottom. You can throw things at me now

Thanks for the support!

 

[caimg]

It is disgraceful that nobody stopped to offer help, but it doesn't really surprise me much. Last weekend I did the Norwich 50/100 and just out of Norwich we stopped for a drink and saw a rider have a nasty crash about 200 metres behind us. The rider immediately following the poor victim just swerved around him and rode on with no hint of concern. Shame on him! I would have thought that we cyclists should stick together and offer help in adversity.

I totally agree...in defense of the many, many people that passed me, they probably assumed I had it all under control as I was kitted out an had the gear with me. Still, I would have stopped and then proceeded to have been no help whatsoever.

 

[numbnuts]

Now if you had been cycling in my area I would have stopped to help you, I help everybody.