Fun with flats
 

So last night i'm out on my ride, coming into the "home stretch" so to speak and suddenly get the sensation that my tire is flatted ... "hooray" ... I think ... "my first chance to change a tire on my new bike." So I hope off and carry it over into someones driveway so i'm off the road and immediately i'm swarmed by about 100 mosquitos.

Now I must say a little logic could have prevented what happens next ... had I thought about the area I was riding in I would have thought to bring some repellant with me but I was planning on being done with the ride just before dark when all the mosquitos come out to feed on the cattle but I ran a little behind an consequently ended up stranded in someones driveway at the waining minutes of dusk. Realizing I had no chance of changing the flat right there and knowing I only had baout 2 miles to go I whipped out my co2 cartridge, inflated the tire and tore off. In the 45 seconds that took me I managed to get 67 mosquito bites. And to add insult to injury I rushed myself so much I managed to lose my tire levers so that when I got home to change the tire I found out I got to do it by hand. Changing a kevlar beaded tire with less than 200 miles on it by hand is not a good time. But it was definately a learning experience. Just thought i'd share. :D

That's what you get for thinking "hooray" when you get a flat. HA! I couldent resist.

I've had similar experiences, but there are no cattle around here. I wonder what those little guys eat on when I'm not out there having a flat tire.

67 bites owwwieee!!!

67 mosquito bites? I think I'd go crazy!

67 mosquito bites

Why did you count them? :eek:

morbid curiosity, actually I didn't count them. My friend did. On some spots of my back it seriously looks like I have bacne right now ... the only ones that really itch are on my ankles and elbow which is fortunte ... I guess.

Were you shirtless, or did the little bastards get you through your clothes?

Not shirtless but only wearing a light cotton undershirt ... I was kinda surprised they could get through my socks though ... the more I keep thinking about it it really was so stupid of me not to have some sort of repellant, especially with all the concerns about west nile virus in this part of the country :(

I'm going to have to check the "official stats", but I think I'm nearing 14,000km since my last flat! If this keeps up much longer, I'm going to have to change the tyres anyway just for practice!

This is great, there's an ad for mosquito control traps in my thread. That ad bot is pretty smart. And 14,000 is impressive ... I managed to go all ove about 200 miles before my last one ... and it was a good road too

I think there's something to be said for Geax tyres. They've seen some pretty rough roads in those 14,000km, but haven't even begun to show signs of wear yet. FWIW, I live in the broken glass capital of Australia, and I'm not even trying to avoid it anymore.

Mosquitos - phooey, that ain't nuttin'. I stopped to take a picture along the river bank Tuesdy and the grass must've been loaded with chiggers. I've got about twenty bites on each ankle/foot and the little (*&(^s are still in there. My ankles look like pizza and itch like crazy.

The worst is it's been so long since I've gotten into chiggers that I thought at first they were mosquito bites so I didn't put any nail polish on them until a day and a half later :(

Mosquitos? chiggers? Thats all lame stuff, try being chased by a swarm of killer bees!!

But that never happened to me, just thought it would be more serious! OK, it's time for me to go to bed.

When I was a kid we had no shoes, in fact, we had no feet. That's right, we had to crawl five miles to school through six feet of snow and it was uphill both ways! :)

And the school was located at the top of Mt Saint Helens right? And they didn't cancel school when it erupted. Man you're hardcore :P

When I was in alaska the moskitos would bite right through denim like it was nothing. I was out in the tundra(arctic bog of sorts) of the yukon one time and not long after the tent was up near dusk they rose, so thick that they cast a shadow, dove in and ziped up the flap real quick I tell you what. I don't know what they ate it seemed to be a baren wasteland.

Okay, that's the topper whopper - mosquitos that zip up tent flaps... :D

What's wrong with using two screwdrivers to change a tire? I always do that. As long as you're gentle you won't damage anything.

this thread makes me itch.

What exactly is a "chigger"?

It is a very, very, tiny little bug. Unlike ticks, which cling to the outside of your skin when they bite, the chigger burrows inside and begins feeding. It leaves a little "snorkel," finer than a hair, outside your skin to breathe through. When you put chigger medicine, or simply clear nail polish, over the bite it eventually suffocates the little bugger. I've also heard of people using pure Clorox to kill them, though I suspect that is more painful than the bites!

John

Thats no good! Glad we don't have those around!

It is also a derogatory term... if used in the wrong context.

Let me guess, Jordan river trail? ;)

Yellow jackets, 18 sting sites, multiple stingers in some. I was hitting the Benadryl that day :)
67 misquito bites is in 45 seconds is crazy. They must have been following you and setting up a plan of action. You didn't find one planted in your tire, that had sacrificed herself to the cause?