Ride Photos 28

I never even heard of rim tape slashing an inner tube, but that’s what happened to me today. I was all set for a long ride and I was testing some ideas for making my tires and tubes more reliable, but it turned out that I suffered something I could not have predicted. I was about 13 miles out when the normal flex in the tire eventually caused a stiff spot in the plastic rim tape to saw back and forth until it sliced open the inner face of the tube. Without a heavy automotive tire patch, there was no hope for even a temporary fix.

I went through the hassle of turning the rim tape over to lessen the risk, but I had no such patches and no spare tube. Once again I was pushing the bike. This time, I was within reasonable distance from a bike shop, so I headed that direction. About halfway there, some dim memory tickled in the back of my mind. I stopped and whipped out my phone to look it up. Nope, they are closed on Mondays. Lacking any other plan, I headed on into downtown. Passing two tire shops on the way, I asked if they could sell me a tire patch. They were both Mexican owned and neither was willing to even talk to an old Gringo pushing a bike.

I walked a little farther and ended up in the deep canyons of downtown; eight miles to go. Another memory tickled in the back of my brain. I called a sweet old lady whose computers I’ve fixed often over the years, and she was quite willing to pick me at the Bass Pro Shop in Bricktown because she knew where that was. So I hustled over there and had just enough time to fold up my bike before she rolled up.

God bless you, Sister Ruth!

I got home and replaced the rim tape temporarily with Gorilla Tape. I’ll have to ride back up to that bike shop tomorrow and get the real stuff. They keep some nice fabric stuff that works really well and fits better.