It had turned into a great day. *After about 55 miles into my 95 mi.
trip I had a slight wind pushing me along and I was going to make some
time. *The asphalt had buckled against the expansion joints but no
need to slow down or swerve. *I was double tubed.

The first bad bump was about 5" above the bridge deck. *The front
wheel came down not quiet properly aligned with the direction of
motion and the water bottle flew out. *I recovered the water bottle
and quickly resumed riding in the same fashion. *A mile later the same
happened again except with a softer bounce. *The water bottle stayed
put. *The front tire was definitely softer than when I started out. *I
thought, finally an opportunity to ride on one tube but it quickly
became clear that _both_ tubes had pinch flat punctures.

This brought up one advantage of double tubing. *If the innertube
rubber is pretty thick and if you shift as much weight as possible to
the back wheel, you can more or less ride on the flat tire for short
distances.

I'll check to see if the punctures on each tube are side by side
indicating that both pinch flats happened on the same bump.

If not then the usage other cyclists have been recommending may hold.
Once one tube goes down then inflate the other tube, at least on
longer trips.

Two punctures lined up, side by side, but a shard of glass still in
the tire indicated it wasn't a pinch flat over one bad bump. *It
wouldn't have been a likely scenario for me to get the glass out
before the 2nd tube went down.

What's really curious is the 2 tubes only leak in two places each
after 33 miles of rim riding.

Bret Cahill

The perceived risk of further punctures has been a concern of mine
when getting a flat on tubular tyres, which is why I'll pump the tyres
back up as soon as the rims are knocking and see how long they hold.
With your report here, I may continue to ride on the rim for longer
than I have previously, just as one should to finish a bicycle race.

You'd have to have quite a lead or be near the finish for that to
work. *Also two flattened tubes will holdup better than just one, 2
thick wall tubes a lot better. *Also the tire casing/belts will
probably be damaged. *If it's damaged the tire will be lumpy when it's
reinflated to full pressure. *I'll pump this one up in increments with
a single tube to save time but it's all but certain to rip apart above
45 psi.

The tire held up at 50 psi.

My doctor just told me to start eating steak, whatever it takes to get
my weight up to 200 lbs.

That's not gonna happen but I will eat a steak tonight.


Bret Cahill