The other day I was riding home from work for the first time on my Eddy - an ambitious undertaking for me, as I am recovering from a recently dislocated knee and the 1000 ft elevation gain in 4 miles is one I usually attack with 34T cog, rather than the 26T on the Eddy. Brand new tubular tires, my first ever (less than 10 miles).

At exactly the halfway point I hear a 'pop' which is remarkable, with my terrible hearing, but no mistaking the instant deflation. No spare, of course, and I'm hiking up that hill instead of riding it. So this weekend I got my first crack at tearing into sew-ups to patch the tube, stitching and gluing it all back together again - what a PITA! Oh, well, I've learned an important bike-nerd skill and that tire should be solid now for awhile, right?

This morning, I set out down my long gravel driveway; I've gone not more than 100 yards and... 'pop.'