Bike Patrol to the rescue!
RESCUED! After the third flat in one ride I was lucky enough to have the Bike Patrol find me sitting on the trail trying to fix my latest flat without any more CO2 cannisters for air. These guys were a hoot, a regular comedy team. They gave me a new tube and a CO2 canister. Then they watched me fix my tire and told jokes. A big thank you to Paul Rieger and Rick Tower of the Bike Patrol.
I love bicycling along the American River Bike Trail, I seldom get flat tires but in April I had an annoying string of flats on the trail. On April 22 it came to a head, Della and I were doing a 44 mile round trip, from home to a point along Lake Natoma and back. On the return trip I had three flats! First one I fixed with a patch, second one I replace the tube, third one, Della continued on home to get the car. I was fixing the flat but I had no more air, and then I got rescued by the Bike Patrol. You may have seen these men and women out on their bike along the American River Bike Trail? They are a part of the Ski Patrol that you meet up on the slopes if you are a skier. They lend assistance to people along the trail that, like me are having mechanical difficulty or perhaps injuries, they can assist with directing medical services to your location. I think I owe them a small donation. You can donate to them or find out more about them at this url: AmericanRiverBikePatrol.org
Do you see the spots inside the rim where the rim tape leaves the spoke hole partially exposed? That must be the cause, same placing on the tube of the patches as the distances between the spoke holes. This tube was less than a month old. I had had REI put a new set of tires and tubes on the bike in early April. So once off the trail I took my wheel and patched up tube off to REI for to complain about my bad luck with my new tires and tubes. It wasn't their fault, but something was wrong. I have spent a lot of money at REI and at their bike shop at the Cal Expo Store. I have no complaints, in fact hey are great and do a great job on our bikes. The prices are fair very good too. So the bike shop (manager?) Parker fixes my tire by placing a new liner inside the rim and replaces my tube at no charge. I haven't had a flat tire since. So another big thank you goes out to the team at the Cal Expo REI Bike shop. You guys are great!
