Having a bad day

Rubbish ride to work this morning.

Thought it was going to be a dry one. 100 yards down the road and it starts raining. As it was light I carried on. Quarter of a mile later, it's getting heavier so I put my waterproof trousers on.

The rain is constant but not a problem. Just under half way to work I get a rear puncture! To my amazement it stops raining. I find the cause of the puncture immediately. A large shard of glass. I take it out, pull the tube out of the side of the tyre and patch the cut. I proceed to pump the tyre back up but upon removing the pump by unscrewing it from the valve it starts undoing the valve core and I lose all the air!

I screw the valve back in tight and try again but no luck. The valve comes out completely. At this exact moment a fellow cyclist comes along and offers help. Yay!

I pump the tyre up, turn the bike over and start riding. It's only a few yards before my tyre is flat again. Grrr!

As the tyre is wet from the puddles on the road I can see a lot of bubbles coming from the same place I had the puncture I'd just fixed. Maybe the patch hadn't held? I take the tube back out. The patch is holding well. I put some air in the tube to find the cause of the deflation and lo and behold, there's a pin prick inline to the original cut. I patch that, put the tube back in the tyre and pump it back up with the borrowed pump. This time it holds and we're on our way.

I'm slightly apprehensive about my back tyre for the rest of my ride but I have a ride buddy for most of my journey as he's going the same way.

When I got to work I realised that I had mud all down my shorts. This was because I put my waterproof over trousers on with muddy shoes. Something that's difficult to avoid when it's already raining.

Lessons learned from today's adventure are:
  • Threadlock all valve cores as my Lezyne pump is annoying.
  • Carry my CO2 pump as a backup
  • Carry a 15mm spanner and a 2mm allen key to get the rear hub off if I need to change the tube (I used to carry this last winter but must have forgotten to repack it)
Edit: I also need superglue the cuts in the tyre when I get home.

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