So we heard that a prime TV channel is interested in shooting the activities of RA organization.
http://www.ruzgaresmes.com/ , for details.
Levent the head organizers, calls everybody in for demo ride on saturday, in the forest. Great news since I can reach the place they start in about 10 minutes. And this time we do not “riding” start at 7:00 AM but 8:30. If you like sleeping in the morning, this even better.
Saturday rolls around, I get up prepare and get on the bike start riding. Half way through I realize the bike doesn’t want to turn but go straight. Something is wrong. I stop to see that front tire is flat. This is the second flat in about 10 years. I actually feel lucky. It could have happened while I am in deep forest. Like I was last week. Or like I was planning to be in about 1 hour.
Later on what I have found out can be summarised as following,
– There are no tire shops at where I live (strange since they are almost everywhere),
– The tool set that come with Husky (Husqvarna) is made out of cheese! The pseudo allan wrench gets mushed easily ( photos later),
– The get the front tire of you need good tools, experience and a helper.
As I am trying to figure a solution a friend on the way to the ride saw and helped, that was welcomed. We have located actualy a motorcycle mechanic which had far better tools who managed to get the tire off.
The problem was that the air valve was ripped. This was expected since there was no visible damage outside of the tire! Finally I got a heavy duty inner tube, so I was ready to go. It took 5 hours only!
But where to? I was informed that another friend had flat tire (also front). And the event was cancelled since the forest guards did not like the idea of 10 riders in their forest!
So all this people got there and were going home all clean. Well not us. After getting the tire fixed hit the trails. Sure the rain is showing its effect. The mud season is here! So we managed to find some new paths with creek crossing and mudy hill climbing. The tires I have gotten after Karoo’s were done perform great in deep mud water. Keep it straight and keep it steady, you will proceed. We called it the day just as the slow rain was starting.
Overall, a nice day and a short but great ride..
Lessons learned?
– Get decent toolkit to carry al the times including levers to take the tire off. Maybe similar to this.
– Get a spare inner tube for back and front.
– Get rim locks. They prevent the tire to move independent from the rim.
They may prevent the air valve failure.
