|   First Race - First to Fifth On A Flat!!! | Whitey
Jun 30, 2003 10:38 AM | | Hi, all. I entered my first race today - California Fireman's Olympics, novice class XC. Having never raced before and mainly riding alone, I had no idea how it would go. I ended up dropping the rest of my class on the first hills and even passing several from the Sport class which left 5 minutes earlier. About 8 miles into the 10.5 mile race, I flatted my rear tire. In the year that I have been riding, I have NEVER had a flat. I keep good air pressure and run tubes with Goop in them. Anyway, I lost my 2-3 minute lead and ended up 5th. I am guessing that it took me at least 6-8 minutes to change the tube and go (rear). Too slow, I know. Guess I'll have to practice doing this for time. Anyone practice this? I had a pump, not a CO2 filler, another couple of minutes lost. Anyway, I was thrilled to have such a strong race and I had a blast. Any tips for flatting during a race?
Thanks, Whitey |
| Yea, go CO2 for races... | Fat-tire
Jun 30, 2003 11:08 AM | | you can pump the tire up in minutes.
With a bit of practice, you should be able to change a flat in less than on minute.
However, great job nonetheless. |
| I carry no tools... | mzzm
Jun 30, 2003 11:11 AM | | If I break/flat something in a race, I don't worry about it as it knocks me out of the running. The top guys in my class finish within two minutes of each other on 1 to 1.5 hr races. I would carry something for longer races. Thankfully, no flats or major mechanicals thus far. Yesterday, I raced DORC in Naperville (3rd out of 42!). |
| great race Whitey!!!! | namaSSte
Jun 30, 2003 11:13 AM | | CO2 definitely helps. I even use it for all my rides (yes, Im impatient with stuff like that!). Good work though on the race. Sounds like your next one will be in sport class! |
| sounds familiar... | glenzx
Jun 30, 2003 12:14 PM | | ...except I was by no means leading my 1st race, but I did eneter the Sport class, as just from the description of the course and laps to do, beginner sounded way to easy... maybe you ought to try sport next time and not risk the "sandbagger" flak you may incur!
But the point though is that I had a front tire get wanked on a rock and lose most of the air. I stopped, pumped it up a little and tried to finish. On the downhill section of the course that tire was way too squirmy so I stopped and pumped it all the way up. I went from the leading the group of 3 or 4 of us in the middle of the pack of the 30-34 sport class to just a few places above last of 15 or 16 guys. It was heartbreaking! Of course dropping the chain twice did not help either.
The next day I bought the Innovations set up and a couple CO2 cartridges, including a couple of those "Big Air" canisters. |
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