Hainauly hilly 28.8mile TT

[Jon H]

Unusually for a Sunday morning time trial, I got a lie-in this morning. The event had a very civilised start time of 10am, and I was towards the back of the field with a start time of 11.31am, so didn't get up until gone 8 o'clock.

Felt I was going OK, had done all the hard hilly bits and only had 4 miles to go to the finish when I punctured. So a DNF for me. Started walking back planning to blag a lift from a marshall at the next junction, when another competitor's dad stopped and gave me a lift.

[Snoop Doug]

what a pi55er Jon, with all the hard work done and all - kinda takes away from the nice feeling of the lie in....

Stil....Dads eh...? Gawd bless em good fer summat

[Andrew G]

Unlucky, bit of a bugger when you think you were going okay, which probably for a normal person means very quick.

[Jon H]

Before puncturing...
[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2395/2321717048_04a115bd0e_m.jpg[/img]

[tel]

Is that a new frame Jon?

Terry

[Jon H]

[quote="tel"]Is that a new frame Jon?

Terry

[Ian A4size]

Bad luck Jon.

I must ask what you normally do when you puncture ( apart from swear)

Do you keep a spare tub?

Walk home ?

Is there an inflating device (bait) which will seal a puncture?

Do tubs puncture easily?

[Andrew G]

I'd like to know that one meself Ian, from Jon and t'other tub users.

No tub under Jon's saddle in the pic but I know some do, as they haven't secured them properly and I've gone past them lying in the road, hope it wasn't a Dugast.

There is a canister of sealant stuff/foam you can get, has anyone used it? I'm sure it'd be good enough to get back to HQ but does it make the tub irreparable?

If you carry a spare tub do you pre-tape it? Leave the backing on or take it off? I have a nearly new tub taped on to an old rim, if I take that off to use as a spare will it have enough glue on it to use as is?

I had a thought, which may be a load of rubbish, but would a bit of duck tape over the puncture hold enough (if you pressed it down really hard) with about 50-60psi in the tub to get you back.

Sorry for the hijack and the ton of questions.

Cheers.

[George]

I raced all last summer in road races with tubs, I seemed to have loads of punctures for some reason, but they were mainly due to hitting large potholes extremely hard whilst not seeing them in the bunch, but the ride is second to none, I just think it must have been bad luck.

In TT's I'm not sure I would carry a spare tub in anything less than a 50 as stopping to replace it, you would be out of the running anyway.

With a spare tub you wouldn't need to pre tape or glue it cos if you firstly glue the rim then stick on the tape when you pull off the old tub then the tape will stay stuck to the wheel.

[quote]I had a thought, which may be a load of rubbish, but would a bit of duck tape over the puncture hold enough (if you pressed it down really hard) with about 50-60psi in the tub to get you back.

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

[quote]There is a canister of sealant stuff/foam you can get, has anyone used it? I'm sure it'd be good enough to get back to HQ but does it make the tub irreparable?

If you carry a spare tub do you pre-tape it? Leave the backing on or take it off? I have a nearly new tub taped on to an old rim, if I take that off to use as a spare will it have enough glue on it to use as is?

[Jon H]

The only time I carry a spare is for 100s & 12 hour, which are long enough to be able to change it and still do a decent time. For a 50 or shorter losing five minutes chnaging a tub means your race is effectively over. I just rely on getting a lift from someone if I puncture - if you're in a race with clubmates they should come to the rescue if you don't appear back at the HQ at a reasonable time. Otherwise it's take pot luck, but every time it's happened to me someone has given me a lift.

The aim of a time trial is to cover the course in the least amount of time possible, and carrying spares just adds weight, increases drag and slows you down. Carrying them is planning for failure, which is the wrong attitude to have when you're racing.

[Snoop Doug]

[quote="Jon Hemming"]The aim of a time trial is to cover the course in the least amount of time possible, and carrying spares just adds weight, increases drag and slows you down. Carrying them is planning for failure, which is the wrong attitude to have when you're racing.

[Dominic]

I spent a few races last year carrying spare tubes and in all the instances I punctured, there were a few, I seem to remember I got a lift back to the HQ from complete strangers connected to the race ie other people's partners, even before I had taken the wheel off

Having had a rethink this year I think Jon is spot on

[Andrew G]

Cheers chaps. I understand exactly what you're saying Jon, and for yourself I can fully understand. However I think I'll invest in a can of sealant as the if the puncture fairy strikes 40 miles into a sporting 42 or 50 I'd rather lose a couple of minutes on my time than have to squeeze another one in to my schedule to complete the SE SPOCO. 10s and 25s I'm not bothered with as it would cost too much time.

[Tamar]

In a 25 last year, Keith shot past me (all normal so far) but then a few mins later I shot past him as he had punctured. I was a bit surprised when 10 mins later he hurtled past again and went on to finish in the top 10 I think. Apparently it doesn't take long to change a tub if you're determined enough.

More to the point....he was able to finish. And whilst it may not have been the best time in the world it meant that he would still count in any team competition. Bec lost any hope of the SCCU team BAR last year when one of their riders didn't take a spare tub for the 100 and ended up DNF.

Keith reckons the best way to fit a tub is to only put tape on alternate gaps between spokes - not recommended for track, but fine for TT. You then need to leave the backing tape in place and fit the tub. Inflate and leave in place 24hrs. This ensures the tub tape is stuck good and proper to the rim. Now remove the backing tape and fit the tub again. The idea is that you can remove the tub and leave the tape in situ on the rim making it easy to replace with a spare pre-stretched tub on in the race.