Flat Filled Fun, Atascocita – Indian Shores Road – Walden Ride
After watching the women’s and men’s Strade Bianche bike races I thought my ride would be sedate. Was I wrong. I rolled away at 10:54 AM on my Cervelo Caledonia bike. The sky was overcast and the temperature hovered around 70 degrees. Fortunately the wind was light at 7 mph from the south which was where I was headed on my Atascocita – Indian Shores Road – Walden route. This was a different combination of streets and roads for the first time. Today was a variation of the Atascocita – Walden – Indian Shores Road route. I rode 38.28 miles and earned the Strava Local Legend on KPHS Sprint (55s) before all of the flat tire fun.
The ride was going great. I saw another cyclist on Fairlake Lane which I didn’t expect due to my late start. But as I passed the Pentecostal church on Old Atascocita Road the rear tire went flat at 19.0 miles. I circled back to the church to find a spot to fix the flat. It turned out to be the same patch from the sharp rock several rides ago. The adhesive patch was not sealed on one edge. I replaced that patch with another adhesive patch, stuffed the tube back in the tire, aired it up, and it held pressure. While I was fixing the flat a number of other cyclists went by headed west. Back on the bike I rode to Indian shores Road, made a u-turn and headed to Huffman and FM1960.
All was still good with the rear tire. I looped through Walden after crossing Lake Houston. Riding north back to Kingwood on Upper Lake Drive the rear tire went flat again at 32.5 miles. This was the same patch. I think I’ve patched this tube 4 times in the same spot. This time I replaced the tube with my spare TPU tube. I aired the tire up and continued to Kingwood. As I passed a house with a trash can in the street I dumped the leaking tube in it. The rest of the ride went well and I finished at 2:42 PM with no other flat problems.