The Northwest Arkansas Roadies rode my favorite mountain route today, down old US 71 south from Fayetteville. Our numbers were off a good bit from previous outings, and we had only 10 on this ride.

Today was the big game between Arkansas and Alabama, so the airport where we park and start was crowded with private and corporate aircraft. The were some low clouds as I was arriving at the airport, and I saw some unfamiliar huge form in the mist from afar.

Turns out, we made the big time today. After the fog/clouds burned off a little, I saw that it was the blimp in for aerial photography of the game.


Four of us decided to continue on over the mountain to Mountainburg, which is about a 65-mile round trip. The weather was cool, and all four of us did well on the ascents.

Things went south about 13 miles from the vehicles on the way back. We heard a quick and short hiss, and I said, "what's that?". About 3 seconds later, I said, "it's me!". I ran over something (don't know what it was), and it put a nice gash in the side of my rear tire.

Fortunately, I carry Park Tool boots in my wedge bag. I put a boot and a tube in the tire, aired it up to 90 psi, and made it back to the vehicles without incident. The tire is toast, but I made it home at a decent pace. One of our group had some GoJo wipes, which got all the chain goo off my hands.

Here is the tire after I repaired it. You can see the gash and a little of the boot showing.


The boots have an adhesive backing and stick to the inside of the tire. There is some paper over the adhesive to protect it until it is used. Just peel it and stick it. Here's a shot of the inside of the tire with boot applied.


As of a stop at O'Reilly Auto Parts after the ride, I have added GoJo wipes to my wedge bag. They work.


If you don't carry a boot in your repair kit, you should IMHO. They're flat, don't weigh much, and don't occupy a lot of space in the bag, This is the second time I've had something slice a tire, and both times, the boot got me home.

There are other materials which can be used for boots, on which others will comment, but I've had good luck with the Park Tool version. They stick to the tire, stay in place, and appear to be strong enough to hold the tire together with enough air in the tube to get home.

Ah, what a bummer - that looks like a new tire too.

Anyhow, glad you got your ride in and got back to your starting point on the bike, not pushing it.

That sticky tire boot is pretty neat.

I carry the boots because I have had a tire casing failure.

Yes, the tire was fairly new. Amen on riding it back and not pushing!!!!

Probably can Shoe Goo it together enough to use on your trainer this winter.

Part of my Puncture repair kit is a sheet of 3"x 2" old style patch material. Very thick and not pre-glued but hopefully I will never have to use it.

+1 on Das Boot! It saves you having to carry a spare folding tire, so it's much lighter and more space/weight-efficient.

I use the boots made by Filzer, sold at Mountain Equipment Co-op in Canada for about $6.50 Cdn (and overpriced at that). They're about comparable with Park. They are made of some too-soft material made to look like a carbon fiber weave. For that sidewall cut illustrated above, the Park or Filzer boot would likely hold long enough to get home. Had the cut been to the tread itself, I doubt if the Park boot would have held; I know the Filzer wouldn't, unless you used two or three layers. I cut the Filzer boots in half, and when I need to boot a tire, I use two pieces, one over the other. This is usually good enough for about 100 km maximum. At that point, the boot wears thru, the tube sticks out, and you get another "wear" puncture, denoted by the hiss-hiss-hiss sound as the tire rolls over the cut.

Another thing I carry is a defunct credit card to use as a boot. This usually keeps the tube from poking thru the hole in the tread, but when you remove the tube after the ride, the card will be completely destroyed, broken into strips. Sometimes you'll get a junk mail from some credit card company with a sample card made of a material slightly thinner than a real credit card. This is ideal; put this card into your seat pack; you can use it to supplement the boot. The tire will make a tiny "bump" until you get home, but that's OK; you are going to chuck this tire anyway.

L.

I got a bad bubble and made a temporary repair with a folded dollar bill per recommendations here. It worked fine. I don't know if a bill would work on a slice that big - maybe.

The Razorbacks needed that boot late in the game yesterday. It seemed they cut a sidewall with a couple interceptions in the 4th quarter. Sounds like you had a good ride.

Yes, that was a heart breaker. Would that their experience had turned out as well as mine.