Time was ticking by. I got off my bike and took the wheel out again and removed the tire and rim strip (which I had to shove in the top of my bib shorts b/c my pockets were full!). I was out of CO2, so I went for the pump I had been carrying. It didn’t work. Miles and Jen came by and threw me a CO2. My adapter failed and all the air rushed out of the CO2. A guy without a number plate was coming down the hill so I flagged him down and he and I tried to get his pump to work for a few minutes. It failed. Selene blew by taking the lead. The time cutting in my GC started ticking. Tick tock. Another racer came by and threw me his pump(thanks!) but we couldn’t get that one to work either. 3 failed pumps. A minute or so later, another guy came by and threw me his Big Air and adapter. It worked. I filled the tire so it was very firm. I was back in business. All in all, I had spent 20 minutes messing around with my tire. A tremendous disappointment.
I rode the rest of the race (the last 10 miles or so). My legs had shut down from standing for so long. I had to ride the descents much slower than I normally would because I was afraid of flatting again. I managed to stay positive – at least I was moving again!
(Photo by Bill Hade)
Entering the last 2 miles of singletrack, I threw caution into the wind and time trailed to the finish. In the end, I had lost 9 minutes in the GC and about 20 minutes in the stage taking 2nd place.
I was not alone in my flat trauma today. At least 10 people I know had issues. I was bummed, but that’s part of racing. It happens to everyone at some point. I’ve been very lucky and can count the number of flats I’ve had in races in my hands over the last 8 years. I’m hoping not to repeat this incidence in the last 3 days, but I’m armed and ready. I bought a new pump, am carrying 2 CO2 adapters, and carrying 1 Big Air and 2 16 gram CO2s. Overkill? Yes. If I had that stuff with me today, the flats would have been less costly. Again, that’s racing!!
