When I set out on today’s bike rid the last thing on my mind was a flat tire. It’s been awhile since my last flat and its easy to forget about them until you have one. choosing the “Kingwood – FM1485 – Kingwood” route I set out at 12:48 PM. Weather during the bike ride: start 74 (64% humidity, 61.5 dew point), a few clouds, wind S 8 mph. Finish 76 (63% humidity, 62.1 dew point), a few clouds, wind SE 6 mph. Biking in the shade made me appreciate my wardrobe choice: long sleeve jersey under a short sleeve jersey. The air had a chill to it as I moved through the shade.

I chose this route because of the miles and ended biking 30.39 miles. The week’s total came in at 192.24 miles, marking the second week in a row below 200 miles. But I was close. The month stands at 684.42 miles, 16 miles short of my goal. Year to date totals 6,893 miles.

The bike ride was going as planned until I thought the rear tire was getting soft. When I rode over a bump the rear tire didn’t feel hard. Biking north on Loop 494 just south of FM 1484 at the railroad tracks I started looking for a place to check the tire. Going through two traffic lights I decided to take the road from Loop 494 to US59 behind FoodTown. I stopped short of the frontage road, squeezed the rear tire, definitely soft. From there I walked to the FoodTown parking lot and picked a spot in the sun. I removed the tire not knowing what to expect. After leaning the Canyon against the building I inspected the rear tire, turning it slow from the valve. About half around I spotted the problem, a staple sticking out of the tire. I am amazed how such a thing and tiny piece of steel supposedly laying on the road ends up sticking into a tire, penetrating into the tube. The culprit.

Leaving the staple in the tire I removed the tire bead on one side and pulled the tube out. Matching the staple’s location with the tube a tiny little hole was barely visible. To be sure this was the hole I aired the tire up and put my lips close to the hole. A faint stream of air came out of the hole. To mark the spot I put a screw in the hole and enlarged it some. After roughing the tube I put the screw back in the hole, applied glue and waited for it to dry. I think because the air was cool the glue took several minutes to dry. Applying a patch, pressing it firmly I put the tube back in the tire and remounted the tire bead. Now the work began, pumping up the tire to a firm pressure. Without a tire gauge I guess at the pressure by squeezing the tire. The small pump can go to a high pressure (120 psi) but getting there takes a lot of strokes. The end of the pump gets hot from the work so I carefully checked it when I thought the tire was hard enough. Waiting a few minutes to verify the patch job I put the tools back. The pressure held and I got ready to ride about 25 minutes after I stopped. One thing I noticed the new patch was only a few inches from another patch. My observation is that patches cluster together which means the flats do too. This photo shows the patches (the old one is to the right of the new one in the round dark spot on the tube.

Back biking again I returned to the route under US59 and back to the south. I thought there might be a headwind but it wasn’t enough to slow me down and I improved my overall average speed to 13.8 mph until I entered Kings Manor and then Kingwood.

After finishing the ride I aired up both tires to 100 psi. I will check the rear tire later to see if the patch worked.

Monday’s weather should be in the 80’s and biking on the schedule.