Commuting - Murphy's Law, D'Oh

Of course you know it is going to happen. You get out on the bike for the commute to work and remember you forgot to get that damn under the seat bag that has your tools, tube, and co2 pump. You tell yourself it isn't going to happen. There's that strong head wind, there's the rain in your face, and your shoes are soaked, you've tempted the fates enough that a flat on the way to work isn't going to happen.
HA!!!!!
Yep, shamefully I journeyed off on my ride to work sans the necessary equipment for a repair of a flat tire. And not only did I get a flat, I got two flats: front wheel and rear, so even had I remembered to bring the under seat bag, it wouldn't have done me any good. Five miles from work I wound up walking the bike to work, and laughing at the incredulity of it. I've been really lucky, no flats in a loooooonnnnnggggggg time. So, two in one ride isn't too bad. But I learnt me a lesson, that bag is going with me, it sure wards off evil snake bite spirits.

Happens to the best of us. I recently turned around after 4 miles just because I'd forgotten the box wrench for the wheel nuts. I knew damn well if I didn't I'd flat half way.

And Murphy's Law has changed to keep up with technology. I realized about 3 miles into a group ride that I'd forgotton my cell phone. So I think "Group ride. No problem. Just don't crash with everyone in front of me". Yep. My first wipe out in about 10 years. And I was bringing up the rear.

They just had a idea in popular mechanics about this. Just stuff the tire full of leaves and grass. Not good enough for a road bike but should work with the wide tires. If you can find so much leaves and grass that is.

They just had a idea in popular mechanics about this. Just stuff the tire full of leaves and grass. Not good enough for a road bike but should work with the wide tires. If you can find so much leaves and grass that is.


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^ What she said. :rolleys:

M's law is still disrupting my life as well: twice I flatted the first day on a new tire, then went months & months unscathed. Getting to be part of my new tire routine. Don

^ What she said. :rolleyes:

I"m all about the cheap and budget way of doing this but that sounds out there even for me to buy into it. I can't imagine getting a bike tire full of 60psi 'leaves and grass'. Yes, TECHNICALLY the idea COULD work if one had a ready source of hay and a device to pack it tightly and evenly into the tire, or even more likely, if one had enough hay and electrical tape to make a torus shape in exactly the peramiters of one's tire, taped firmly into place to make it as hard as a properly inflated inner tube...but it'd still be hell to mount.

I can no way see myself sitting at the side of the road pulling up grass and stuffing it halphazardly into my tire. I CAN see rim damage, spoke damage, lumps, bumps, decreased shock absorbency, and ruining the tires.

I"m all about the cheap and budget way of doing this but that sounds out there even for me to buy into it. I can't imagine getting a bike tire full of 60psi 'leaves and grass'. Yes, TECHNICALLY the idea COULD work if one had a ready source of hay and a device to pack it tightly and evenly into the tire, or even more likely, if one had enough hay and electrical tape to make a torus shape in exactly the peramiters of one's tire, taped firmly into place to make it as hard as a properly inflated inner tube...but it'd still be hell to mount.

I can no way see myself sitting at the side of the road pulling up grass and stuffing it halphazardly into my tire. I CAN see rim damage, spoke damage, lumps, bumps, decreased shock absorbency, and ruining the tires.



If you don't like this idea talk to Scott Kaier at;
http://www.onionriver.com/

He says to "leave one side of the tire bead hooked to the rim and cram the opening with as much soft stuff as you can find. Install the other bead and away you go". "It sounds absurd, but it really works."

This is not a way to finish the last 20 miles of a ride at top speed, but you could limping home at 8 mph would be faster than walking.

If you don't like this idea talk to Scott Kaier at;
http://www.onionriver.com/

He says to "leave one side of the tire bead hooked to the rim and cram the opening with as much soft stuff as you can find. Install the other bead and away you go". "It sounds absurd, but it really works."

This is not a way to finish the last 20 miles of a ride at top speed, but you could limping home at 8 mph would be faster than walking.

I've heard that idea before, and indeed, people in rural areas have used it. However, if you're in a city, I reckon you'd have a hard time scraping up enough leaves to make it work.

I've heard that idea before, and indeed, people in rural areas have used it. However, if you're in a city, I reckon you'd have a hard time scraping up enough leaves to make it work.


You could always use plastic bags and six pack holders. Raid a garbage can. Even a news paper might work.

Believe it or not, I was at work one day and forgot to bring my usual small pillbox of advil, just in case. I started to feel a cold coming on and bought a pack of Advil. Didn't even have to take it and I was feeling better.

I've had my own Murphy's Law in reverse. I was getting a lot of flats, so I stocked up on tubes. I now have four extra tubes for my winter tires and four for the summer. Of course, I haven't had a flat since I bought the tubes months ago.

Edit: I added one to my count of summer tubes because I forgot about the one in my seatbag.

Oh no Daily Commute, you just tempted the fate gods! :eek: :D

D'Oh!

I hope that reading this doesn't mean that I'll flat today. I usually have 2 extra tubes with me at all times, but used them both last week (broke the stem off of the tube replacing the first flat). A LBS is on the list of stops for this morning, but hopefully it's not going to happen before that...

Okay, so I learned my lesson. I attach the seat bag with a new tube, and tire irons, my fixie wrench, a CO2 pump with an extra cartridge, and head off to work.
D'OH
Yep, flatted with three miles to get to work. Ride the rim to the gas station, I've got a ton of time, no sweat, go in for a bag of chips and a soda, and set about changing the tube. Well, dip me in sheep dip and call me stupid, the cartridge in the CO2 is empty, so the extra cartridge is put in, well, it discharges as the top is screwed on and what is left doesn't fill the tire worth a crap. Okay, I can still salvage this, I have an extra tube in my messenger bag.
D'OH
I cleaned the bag out a week ago and figured I didn't need to carry an extra since it is in my seat bag. And for the life of me, I own one of those stupid things that convert a pista valve to use the air hose, I'm at a gas station. Do I have it on me, NO.
Trying to look for the Zen in this. All I'm getting is a Homerism: "Stupid brain. I'm going to poke you out with a Q-tip."

On a happier note I found out that those kevlar tire liners really work. Just before going home from work I noticed a hole about the size a .22 would make in my rear tire, but it wasn't flat. The tire liner had apparently saved the inner tube and was holding it in. So I rode home on it since I had no way to fix it at work.

When I got home I changed the tire and found that my hole was a gash about 6 mm. in length all the way through the tire. I think I'll keep using these liners.

If you don't like this idea talk to Scott Kaier at;
http://www.onionriver.com/

He says to "leave one side of the tire bead hooked to the rim and cram the opening with as much soft stuff as you can find. Install the other bead and away you go". "It sounds absurd, but it really works."

This is not a way to finish the last 20 miles of a ride at top speed, but you could limping home at 8 mph would be faster than walking.


This works much better with mountain bikes. It's not unusual for my buddies and me to pick up stuff discarded by other mountain bikers (power bar and gu wrappers being the most common). One of my buddies picked up an empty water bottle during a ride one day. Later, he had such a massive flat that it left a big gash in his tire. Another buddy had heard of the leaves-stuffing technique so we tried, but the leaves kept poking through the gash. So my hubby (whom is often referred to as MacGuyver -- he once fixed the transmission of my VW with a safety pin and drove it home) took that water bottle and cut out a large piece of pastic with his pocket knife and slid it inside the tire. VOILA! The section of water bottle served as a temporary "patch" for the tire. We were able to ride back to the trailhead (though not aggressively) as opposed to walking.

Same thing happened to me about a month ago, except it happened on a day I rode my MB instead of hybrid commuter. The hybrid had all my tools and frame pump. I had a spare tube but no pump. I had to walk to work. Thank goodness our maintenance dept had a compressor I could use.