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OPINION
Saved By The Gel
Sun, Dec 22, 2013 17:43
13
Discarded Energy GelThank you to the lazy, inconsiderate, selfish cyclist that threw their empty energy gel wrapper into the verge some time in the past. I found it in the long grass when I was looking for something to patch the large rip in my tyre that my tiny Lezyne tyre-boot was having trouble dealing with.
Thanks to your thoughtless help I was able to limp home.
Jo Burt has spent the majority of his life riding bikes, drawing bikes and writing about bikes. When he's not scribbling pictures for the whole gamut of cycling media he writes words about them for road.cc and when he's not doing either of those he's pedaling. Then in whatever spare minutes there are in between he's agonizing over getting his socks, cycling cap and bar-tape to coordinate just so. And is quietly disappointed that yours don't He rides and races road bikes a bit, cyclo-cross bikes a lot and mountainbikes a fair bit too. Would rather be up a mountain.
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13 comments
Thank you so much for this tip!
I had a very similar blow out this morning, 10 miles into a 40 mile ride out of the Pennines, downed a Hi-5 Gel and used the wrapper to cover the hole and hold the tube inside. A SIS gel wrapper would have been better as they are stiffer.
It held for long enough to get to a bike shop (15 miles) and buy a spare tyre in case it gave out (CBFA changing it right then as it didn't match) and then lasted almost all the way home (another 15 miles), close enough that I didn't mind walking the last mile rather than be seen out with mismatched tyres.
Next time I see someone throw away their gel wrapper I'll use these anecdotes to explain the folly of their ways.
PS the tyre damage in the picture looks like damage from a long term mis-aligned brake block - a good reminder to check mine
Its a good idea to wrap a spare tube inside a cut section of tyre, keeps the tube free from abrasion damage and you will always have a really useful boot to hand.
pockets full of crap have saved me many times...old cable ties,patches ,pocket lint and old chain links and safety pins and my all time fav...Gaffer tape..got me home so many times I've lost count. real world stuff
I have no idea why but this is powerful.
or maybe not *kicks internet*
i think that got subbed out before you commented, but thanks anyway
'Lack of virtue creates ITS own reward'. No apostrophe requied there my friends, unless you really do mean 'it is'. You're welcome.
an r is required in required though!
Jo... I'm hoping you tried the old mountain bikers trick of packing it with high pressure grass first
Seriously, has anyone actually tried that? I once tried to pack a mountain bike tyre with grass and the quantity required is huge -- I stripped a long length of verge but still didn't have enough. And it is very hard to get it packed enough to stop the tyre just loosely flopping off again and jamming the brake blocks.
It was my son's bike on a family ride, and he got a long lecture about Always Bringing the Right Pump With You as we all walked home.
I've seen people try it, and I can only surmise that it was the reason for the "winky" face and the "high pressure" joke - it's complete nonsense that has been floating around since at least the 1990s - it was repeatedly spouted by MBUK back then!
A only marginally more effective bodge I saw someoone resort to after attempting grass and leaves was putting gaffer tape around the tyre and rim at intervals to stop the flat tyre rolling off! The tape bits didn't have much traction and I can't remember how far they got like that!
It is a modern day parable.