It was a Bontrager tube, not old or beat-up. I guess a rear brake could have slowed me that much faster. The need to continue to pedal in an emergency situation does make it harder to control things. A few years ago on my road bike I had a front tubular blow out at the top of a steep hill, and I stopped PDQ. If it happened a few seconds later at 35 mph it would have been ugly. I gave up on tubbies after that.