In today’s Houston Chronicle Cycling Notebook column, Dale Robertson writes about a team that will ride the Houston to Austin MS150 but not leave the Texas Orthopedic Hospital in Houston. The Betaseron Team will simulate the ride to Austin on stationary bikes.
Team members, lead by Dr. Cynthia Tait, suffer from multiple sclerosis. Dr. Tait came up with the concept in 2002. Read more at the Houston Chronicle link above.
According to the Navasota Examiner:
“Thirty women over the age of 50 have embarked on a 3,135-mile bicycle ride across the United States and are stopping to overnight in Navasota on April 8 – 9. They dipped their rear bike wheels in the Pacific Ocean on March 7 in San Diego and expect to finish their trek in St. Augustine, Florida in early May. Â They’ll be supported by Woman Tours, Inc. – the only all-women bicycle touring company in the country.”
This doesn’t sound like that big of a deal until you read that they live in Wichita Falls and the soccer game was in Fort Worth.
According to the Wichita Falls Times Record News online:
He didn’t do it to save gas.
He didn’t do it to be earth-friendly green.
He didn’t even do it for an April Fool’s Day gag.
When Rider High School parent Joe Castelli decided to ride his bike Tuesday from Wichita Falls to Fort Worth’s Northwest Independent School District Stadium to attend his daughter, Michelle’s, playoff soccer game against Birdville, he thought the effort might be a kooky way to give the team a boost.
Further down in the article Mr. Castelli talks about the Byer Bicycle Bash. This ride is May 17th. Check the event calendar for more information.
Tonight on my evening ride I had a flat. The tire was mounted on a Shimano rim. Before I left on the ride I almost did two things: change to my Mavic rims with Forte tires and pickup the Pedro tire tool. Not doing this was a mistake. Where I live road trash is a real threat, particularly on bridges where the flat took place.
This is an expensive tire but I have noticed that after the new wears off the likelihood of a flat increases dramatically. The tread area is prone to slicing from road objects. While I was fixing the flat I notice a couple of small slices in the tread. Add in the extreme difficulty removing the tire from this Shimano rim and my frustration level soars. I thought there was a problem with the Shimano rims because the number of flats is three times what I experience with the lighter Mavic rims. I changed the rim strip from the thin plastic type to a cotton one. I was thinking the tubes were being pressed down into the spoke cavity and then puncturing. Obviously in this instance the problem was outside of the tire.
Fixing a flat where traffic is whizzing by with all of the noise is difficult. You can hear the air escaping from the tube to locate where you need to put the patch.
When I got home the Pedro tire tool was added to the seat bag. Next time I think I will switch to the Mavic rims.
What has been your experience with these tires?