"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Tubular flat during a race

For those of you that race with tubulars.
Do you pull off the tubular, replace with the one in your pocket and limp back to your car?
Or do you take a free lap and continue racing with a not completely glued wheel?

is this a bit?

I have a spare set of wheels.

How would you change a tire in time to get back on as the group comes back by? If you don't have a spare set of wheels in a crit, you're done.

You ride the flat tire back to the pit (that's why you race on tubulars) and put your spare wheel on. Duh!

Never been in a crit race
=)

Was something that popped into my head.

Never ever ever ever ever ever ever do anything at speed with an unglued tubie. It's one thing to roll around your driveway to seat the tire, another entirely to race.

Ok.
Wanting to try out my first race. Its in 2 weeks. 108km, 12 laps. Does this constitute a crit? It has laps, but they are fairly long. If a mechanical happened, would there be a free lap?

Its a fairly informal race (why I picked it as my first) so there are no rules posted on the site right now, and no reference to what rules they use.

no and no. though there may be a wheel van. if you flat though your day is probably done. wheel van would be to get you a good wheel to get home on.

That would be considered a circuit race or road race, for upgrade purposes. No free laps.

If you flat in that race and there is a wheel truck, you will change the wheel and try to chase back on the group. If there's no wheel truck, you are SOL and will have to change your own tire and chase on the back. There is no free lap in a race like that. Typically only criteriums have free laps.

Ok.
Wanting to try out my first race. Its in 2 weeks. 108km, 12 laps. Does this constitute a crit? It has laps, but they are fairly long. If a mechanical happened, would there be a free lap?

Its a fairly informal race (why I picked it as my first) so there are no rules posted on the site right now, and no reference to what rules they use.

Not a crit. Crits usually have courses that are 1-3 km in length, and the race is measured in time rather than distance. No free lap; if there was, everyone in the peloton would have a mechanical or two to shave off five and a half miles a pop from their race.

Usually there is a wheel car trailing the pack. You flat, you get a new wheel from the wheel car; you chase futilely for a while; you realize there isn't a snowball's chance in h*ll you'll get back on; you pack it in when you pass the start/finish line again.

Don't flat.

Right. Don't flat, don't crash. Don't be surprised at being yelled at, and ride my heart out...
Think I got it!

clinchers in the wheel pit or neutral support

That's pretty much it.

But don't forget to come up with excuses before the race on why you won't do well, just in case. :P

Besides that I'm fat?
Umm... the guy beside me told me there was another lap...

bbgobie it would be terribly unfair to your fellow racers if you continued to race on a tubular that was not set.

It's not something I would do. I was just wondering what you all did with tubies, since I'm inexperienced with road racing.

Uh, the advantages of tubulars, I've found are primarily evident in crits. Smoother cornering at the limit when going over rough bumps. Vertical compliance with lateral stiffness in the rims. Not so much of an advantage for circuit or road-races. And you had better be sure your glue-jobs are good enough. When flatted, you can actually corner on a tubular, rather than scrapping on the sides of the bare clincher rim and going down. I wouldn't bother with them until you get to the point where they can actually make a difference between 1st and 2nd for you.

I wouldn't bother with them until you get to the point where they can actually make a difference between 1st and 2nd for you.

And, based on the questions the OP asked, I'm willing to bet that he's pretty inexperienced.

So, OP, stick with clinchers for now. Breaking a set of carbon tubulars in a Cat5 crit might make you shed a tear or two.

Never raced a road race. Have been racing mtb for a few years.
I started asking all the tubular questions because I enjoy riding on the road as well, and spend a lot of time there as there is less planning time involved.
But mainly because I scored a great deal on some new DV46!
=)

Never raced a road race. Have been racing mtb for a few years.
I started asking all the tubular questions because I enjoy riding on the road as well, and spend a lot of time there as there is less planning time involved.
But mainly because I scored a great deal on some new DV46!
=)

Ah, congrats on the DV46's. Now you know one big difference between the rules of road and mountain bike racing. In mountain bike racing the rider can not get outside support (therefore you must change your own flat). In road racing, you're allowed to use outside support (that is, you can have a wheel car or wheel pit with spare wheels) There's no changing flats in road racing, whether they be tubular or clincher.

Haha.. Thx Mtn Mike.
I thought I was pretty much all set a few weeks ago. I mean, how hard could it be, go out and ride!
Than I started reading all these ethics threads, don't do this, push this guy this, tubular, flat, free laps, and all this crap and it started making me nervous.

I can ride my line, I know not to brake or swerve and other than that I'm just gonna go out and ride.

MTB is so simple...

Haha.. Thx Mtn Mike.
I thought I was pretty much all set a few weeks ago. I mean, how hard could it be, go out and ride!
Than I started reading all these ethics threads, don't do this, push this guy this, tubular, flat, free laps, and all this crap and it started making me nervous.

I can ride my line, I know not to brake or swerve and other than that I'm just gonna go out and ride.

MTB is so simple...

Aside from the fact that you're riding a bike, the two sports have very little in common besides a start/finish line.