I haven’t been out on my bike in quite some time, so when it ended up being a nice evening last night I decided to head out. After topping up the tires, as usual, I headed out to follow one of my usual routes that takes me along the Ottawa River to the Rideau Canal and along to Dow’s Lake before returning home. It was an uneventful ride until I stopped to adjust the seat height. When I got back on there was a sound like a gunshot. After a quick check to confirm that I wasn’t, in fact, being shot at, I discovered that the back tire of my bike had blown the sidewall off the wire. A couple of people walking by at the time said they jumped when it went off.

I rummaged through my saddlebag to see if I had a patch kit. Though I did, I quickly realized that it probably wasn’t going to do the trick. If I’d been in the Middle of Nowhere, I might have attempted it, but I wasn’t so I didn’t. Instead, I called my friend, Bev, who didn’t live too far away and begged a drive home from her. She showed up shortly thereafter and I loaded my bike in the back of her pickup. (Thanks, Bev!)

Before I headed out, I had made sure that I had more than enough money to cover a cab ride home from anywhere I might have been able to ride to. While I usually carry some money with me, I don’t usually carry quite that much. In all the years I’ve been riding, I guess I’ve been fortunate in that I haven’t had a blowout like this before. I recall getting a flat once, but that was caused by a nail or glass and was easily patched an repaired. After that flat, I added kevlar inserts to my tire to make them very puncture resistant. My current tires have kevlar blended into the rubber so they’re very puncture resistent.

When I changed the tire last night, I noticed that it was a slightly smaller profile tire than the one on the other rim. I vaugely recall buying a new tire last year and there being some fuss at the time over the size. The spare tire I had on-hand is the same size as the other one, so hopefully I won’t have any problems with it.