Riding Saturday in Jacksonville with a nice group of folks at 21-23 mph when I heard the bike in front of me run over some small debris in the bike lane. The next sound I heard was a really loud explosion from my rear tire. I managed to slow and stop, and the folks behind me managed to avoid me. One of the riders asked me if I was carrying explosives, and commented that they had never heard such a tire explosion. I was asked about my psi, and it was 100 (I have HED fr 60's) which, I think, should have been proper for the Conti 4000S 23mm tires (less than 1000 miles on this set of tires). I flipped my bike and saw a large bent nail sticking out of my tire. I pulled out my spare tube, but as one of the riders who stopped with me was saying I could put a dollar bill in the tire, we noticed a 7-8 inch rip/tear completely through my sidewall. With the help of a runner who stopped to help, I was able to tell my wife on my cell phone where I was, and she came and got me.

Back at the bike shop, the mechanic looked at the tire, shook his head, and said: "EPIC!" There was some damage to my rim, which the mechanic sanded down, it appeared to be damage from contact with the asphalt after the tire deflated. I will go for a ride this afternoon to check it out. I've ridden a lot since last Summer (5000+ miles), and I've had a few flats and one other blowout, but nothing like this one. I've always been able to change the tube and keep on riding.

My question is: "Is this a relatively common occurrence, or at least not uncommon, to have a puncture blow out a large section of the sidewall of a good quality tire?" While I haven't seen it, I only ride with a group once a week, and only restarted riding a year ago. I normally stay about 2 feet from the bike tire ahead of me in a pace line, I think I'll back off to about 3 feet. An observation...the new Conti 4000sII tires are expensive!!! ($75.)