Older Thai Cyclist

Near the top of the mountain I came upon another cyclist. I don't often find other cyclists on this route. The guy had a van following him to block traffic. When I caught up to him he seemed to be about 70 or so years old and a local Thai. So I blazed by him carried by the momentum of catching up. After a minute he caught back up and passed. On the really steep downhill I passed him without even pedaling. I was traveling upwards of 50mph. On the flat river valley we had some time to chat. We rode and chatted for a while. At my usual turn around point he suggested he had a route to show me. So we rode up the highway together a few hundred yards and showed me a tiny little alley sized side road. It was a nice way to loop back to the other road. He said he lives in Phuket town which is about 5 miles from me. He complimented my power in the climbs and the sprint.

Last time I met someone on the mountain we had a nice ride. That guy said the mountain seems easy when you ride with a friend. That was nice from a guy I just met.

Dealing with flats

I got a couple of those flats where something stayed embedded in the tire and keeps puncturing. I haven’t been that frustrated in a while. I had done a brief feel with my fingers and couldn’t find anything. Problem was I ran out of spare tubes and I was in a dead spot on cell reception. That was annoying. Carry on

Folks from the bike group:

David from Over 60 bike group: I know the feeling. I had that on one ride and also ran out of inner new tubes ( I carry 2). I was lucky that a lone garage in the middle of nowhere had a puncture outfit which allowed me to repair them. While I was there I sat down and stripped the tyre off the bike. There I found the tiny wire splinter. The inner tube seal was obviously not so good and needed top up of air from the co2 bottle but I got home.

Brian: I find that its generally necessary to remove the tyre and bend it backwards and run fingers over the inside to find the thorns/wire that are still embedded. The tip breaks off and they hide just below the surface and re-puncture when the tyre is flexing. You wont feel them when the tyre is still mounted. Even Slime cannot cope with constant puncturing. It only takes an extra couple of minutes, unless your fingers are frozen when it takes for ever.

Geoffrey:

Marc: Might be the protective strip over the spoke ends in the rim, my wife’s bike had that problem , replaced the strip and cured the problem.

Richard: I keep a few cotton balls in my pack. Rub one lightly inside the tire, it will usually catch on anything embedded in the tire.

Ed: I carry a pair of tweezers to remove those nasty wires and tiny bits of glass that otherwise require use of teeth to remove.

Micheal: Not seen it above so here it is...I always put the tyre on so right side is chainwheel side and decal lines up with valve, just as some pros do it. Now, equally, I find the right side of tube and put that facing same way. Now when I get a flat I can line up the hole in the tube to find the culprit in the tyre, or seeing the culprit in the tyre can more easily find the hole in the tube. But I expect you all do that anyway.

William: After my first two flats I installed rubber tube guards. In Arizona the Mesquite trees drop thousands of tiny thorns everywhere. Yesterday riding in the park and stopped and picked at least a dozen out of each tire. Since installing the tire guards I have yet to have another flat. Knock on wood.

Tim: I've had that. Something is lodged within the rubber of the tire but can't be felt on the surface. Then you go over a bump of some sort at the exact wrong moment and bam, punctured inner-tube, flat tire. My answer: life's too short to go searching for hours and not finding, so new tire. problem solved.

Cyclist on the street in Phuket, Thailand

on the commute in this morning i noticed a woman riding a bicycle. less than 1% of thais I see ride a bicycle at all, mostly children. She's a timeless woman in her own world. She seems to be out of touch with the world like a survivor of a holocaust. She's got a chinese bamboo sun hat on. Traffic is heavy around her. Big trucks, cars, buses and motorbikes are swirling around. Two things I notice about the bicycle: 1) it has a new kickstand 2) on the back rack there is a fan housing with stuff inside. Nice reuse of materials! The new kickstand is what got my attention. It was brand new chrome eye catching side stand at the rear axle. It reminded me of things I bought for my bicycle at a young age. I remember saving up money to buy a handlebar mirror. I wanted an odometer that attached to the front axle. Then at some point weight became the issue and I was removing everything: kickstand, mirrors, fenders... replacing everything else with lighter weight stuff. This woman may have been caught up in the same concept - it was shiny and new, but I doubt it. For me it was a trip down memory lane in a world still new for me