psystemupdate

what does that? what makes it feel like your tires are down 20 psi each? is it lactic acid? i feel like i have plenty of energy to continue, but it just feels like tires are lower.

Troul 

i usually get that feeling when i weigh in on the scale. oooooooooophf

CAT7RDR

Chipseal will do that to me.

rumrunn6

I've ridden tire/wet dirt surface combos that felt like fly paper. I've felt like I had no strength. I've felt strong only to get my doors blown off by a rider one wouldn't categorize as strong or fast. I've felt so fast that I thought my tires would burst into flames. have an off day? don't sweat it. cuz on another day, you'll feel the opposite. like days where time goes slowly & other days fly by

Troul 

sometimes if I am in the mood, I'll wear the hrm band & take note of its data. Most if not all rides are reasoned with that data.

jon c. 

Generally only happens to me on hills.

downtube42

False flats are mind killers.

base2 

I have.

What always get me is I'll hear a "plink" or a "clunk" or some "tink-tink" like a piece of metal fell off or run over & I'll have to stop & check that there's nothing wrong with my bike.

Call me crazy, but FWIW I've never lost a part of my bike while riding.

(I've always found it & picked it up. )

SpedFast

I had 4 flats in 5 rides just a few weeks ago, always the rear tire and ever since I keep feeling the rear tire go squiggly and have to crane my head around to see if it's low or flat again. Thankfully, it never is (yet) but I probably just jinxed myself.

rsbob 

It only happens once every 7 years on a Thursday. Must be planetary misalignment or something I ate.

This happens to everyone - could be fatigue, low blood sugar, a persistent head wind or combination of things or manopause.

kahn

A pause would have been welcome but continually getting older, now that's an issue!

livedarklions

There's a section of a state road I ride several times a year that looks like it's evenly paved, but somehow has a wear pattern on the surface that makes the rear wheel vibrate just like you were riding on a flat. Every time I ride that, I either crane my neck to check the tire or actually hop off my bike. I'm kind of embarrassed by how many times I've fallen for this.

canklecat

Yup, sure. Sometimes it's just dead legs. Sometimes a change in pavement composition. Sometimes it is the tires or tubes.

To me, striated concrete is the worst because it seems like it should feel smooth, but it drags without feeling particularly bumpy. We have lots of chipseal, getting coarser all the time. I expect that stuff to feel sluggish. But some of our new roads were prepped with striated concrete in anticipation of finishing with good ol' smooth blacktop, but it never happened -- economic downturns, a proposed development fell through, the pandemic slowed down lots of infrastructure maintenance, etc.

On our open rolling prairie, sometimes the wind can be tricky. I've ridden on days that seemed still but felt definite buffeting of the wheels, like a crosswind. Once when I stopped to check the wheel, I felt a distinct breeze below my knee. The wind was following the pavement along this rural highway on open prairie, but only a few inches high from pavement level. Weirdest damned thing, and I've noticed it often during spring and autumn when the pavement stays warm longer from daytime sun, while the ambient air chills rapidly near dusk. Creates some interesting wind conditions. A couple of years ago I switched to ankle socks and can usually feel it while riding.

And with latex tubes sometimes it's just under pressure. I usually don't forget to top up since latex tubes lose 10-20 psi a day. But I recently tried some narrow 700x19-23 Vittoria latex tubes, and that pressure loss is more noticeable than with the wider 700x25-30 latex tubes I'd been using for a year.

With butyl tubes I'll sometimes cheat and just pinch the sidewalls to guestimate pressure. Usually good enough.

Sometimes it's the tires. Check the rolling resistance review site. Some tires retain reasonably low rolling resistance anywhere from maximum pressure down to 60 psi (such as Continental Ultra Sport II and older Ultra Race -- both have reasonably low rolling resistance and don't get much worse at lower pressures). Others show significantly worse rolling resistance only 10-20 psi below max pressure and feel sluggish (Vittoria Zaffiros are reasonably fast rolling at max pressure but harsh, and sluggish at lower pressures).

Fredo76

Sometimes it's the tires, sometimes the weed, sometimes the grade, and two weeks ago the front started bottoming out. So I walked home, not too far, luckily, and with flat-soled shoes.

shelbyfv

It's probably a feature of the bike. https://www.bikeforums.net/general-c...yone-else-got-kent-nazz-700c-gravel-bike.html

DonkeyShow

Yes but then I go home and check them and find them down 20 psi.

jpescatore

One thing (in addition to what others mentioned, especially tar and chip/chip seal) that always causes me to think I've got a flat or leak is seeing my speed drop on my Wahoo Bolt when the elevation or wind hasn't seemed to change. Similar to putting black tape over the Check Engine light in my car, on long rides I try to mostly ride with just the map view showing and not speed or distance data - seems to minimize imaginary rear flats/leaks or the other phantom - imaginary brake rubbings...

seypat

Flat tire feeling, or one of the brakes is dragging.

JohnDThompson 

One word: "headwind"

Miele Man

In the Cambridge, Paris, St. George area of South Ontario, Canada, there's a road, Blue Lake Road that ends at East River Road. When you turn right onto Est River Road from Blue Lake Road you're often positive that you've flatted or have a slow leak in a tire. I rode that route one year during the recreational ride "Tour de Grand (definitely NOT a race) and stopped on East River Road just after turning onto it. I was positive I have a flat. It turns out that it's the type of road surface asphalt pus the uphill grade. Now when I ride that route with a group on that Tour I tell people who slow down after getting onto East River Road to keep going that they don't have a flat.

Some paved road surfaces really do make you feel like you have a flat of very low air pressure when you first get onto them.

Cheers

ThermionicScott 

I never could get the hang of Thursdays.

scott967

Not as a fatigue thing, but after getting a rash of flats, I often feel like I'm kind of "bouncy" on the saddle and I find I'm trying to force weight on the saddle to confirm. I try to convince myself, "no it isn't a problem" when in the back of mind I'm getting ready to find a good place to stop and pull the spare tube. It's worse on tubs, as I am hoping a shot of sealant will get me home (but TBH, flats on tubs are rare for me).

scott s.
.

smashndash

I've found that this phenomenon pretty much disappeared entirely once I got a power meter.

rsbob 

LMAO! Good one

Kapusta

It tends to go like this:

1- Keep pushing the downshift lever hoping that there is one more lower gear that I forgot about (there isn’t).

2- Look down to see if my tire is going flat (it isn’t)

3- Accept that I am just slow right now.