Well, I did it again. After vowing to never say the words "flat tyre" after my last flat tyre, I got another flat today. Lucky though - I didn't realise I had a flat till I got home and took the bike out of the car and as the back tyre made contact with the ground - the usual bouncy nature was replaced with a thump.
Before I go on to explain my attempt at changing the tyre I will have you know I rode really well this morning. A few of us set out for a 2hr ride at 6am and from the get go the pace was on. I managed to attack the hills again as best I could after last night's track session (which I will go on to explain a little later) really took it out of my legs. The other thing that was bothering me again was my back - always on the left hand side - can't it just ever give me a break.
On the way back the tempo really started to pick up again and right at the end Sue and I decided to hammer it home. The last bit has a decent and then it is flat to the truck stop - it was here Sue and I managed to gain a maximum speed of 52km/hr and hold it to the end (not far), but enough for it to burn the legs and for me to be giddy with excitement. During this time I tried to really focus on the full pedal revolution as I was told that I pedal using my hamstrings and therefore drive the bike on the upstroke.
Somewhere in that last stretch I heard a bit of a POP and thought that sound belonged to a passing car - but I was wrong. Lucky it was a slow leak. Needless to say today I had my first tyre changing experience - and believe me I spoke to myself every step of the way to make sure I did it in the right order. Anyone would have thought I was performing brain surgery. Here are some photos - PROOF of my adventure.
Flat tyre
Inner tube out
Nasty critter No 1.
Nasty critter No 2
Partially inflated new tube
Tube in, wheel on - Hey Presto
It actually wasn't as hard as I had imagined it to be. I guess my next ride will be the test to see if I have done it properly. During this experience I actually had to do most of it sitting down as my legs were/are extremely sore from last night's track.
- 1.2km warm up
- 3 x 800, 800, 400 - all 800's done in under 4mins
- 2 x 1km efforts - 1st - 4:58, 2nd - 4:55
- 400m cool down
