Blow out

Yikes, yikes and double-triple yikes.

I was going to do a few hill repeats on Somersville Rd near Black Diamond mines. It's about two miles with a couple of ten-percent-plus sections perfect for coughing up a lung.

I'd strapped on my heart rate monitor and had done one slow warm up grunt and was descending when, at the 10% zone my front tire went boom. Suddenly I was riding on the rim, pointed downhill and doing 25 mph with a corner coming up.

I'm not sure if i didn't panic, or if I just froze. It's hard to tell the difference. The brakes weren't working much, and the ride was very sketchy. It seemed like I had a lot of time to ponder crashing. I managed to not go down, and as the road turned right I crossed the lane and headed for the dirt. I was wondering if I should lay the bike down, or just try to crash into the roadside berm.

But somehow I slowed enough to get a foot down.

Check the graphic. Downhill tire explosion, speed drop, and then my heart rate go up up up.

I unwrapped the tattered tube from the hub. I was so rattled I installed my spare tube without really checking the tire. It, of course, promptly blew up, there big a large hole in my tire.

Stuck on a no-cell-reception road in Shimano cleats I was wondering what to do when a Dow Chemical Fire Fighter with a pick up drove by, stopped, and offered me a ride back to my college.

So, I'm OK, I didn't have to walk miles in Sidi shoes and I didn't crash. My Roval wheel may be trashed. The edges are very scuffed and scrapped. I'll be trying to contact Roval and finding out if I can buy a hoop, or a discounted new wheel.

I don't know what caused my blowout. My tire was near new, I hadn't over-braked coming down, I didn't see anything, or feel like I hit anything. It's a mystery.

But mostly I'm just happy to not be bleeding.