By Susan Westemeyer
All Adam Hansen wanted to do was go for a nice six-hour training ride to get ready for his first season with his new team, T-Mobile. And knowing that the worst can happen, he took an extra tube, a can of foam and some patches with him. He thought that would cover any situation... Little did he know!
"So here I am, going out for a 6 hour ride at 220-240 watts and in the first 40 mins I get a flat," he wrote on his website, www.adamhansen.com. "I change the tube on the front and carry on, which I don't like to ride without another tube as I'm still new with the foam can and still not comfortable with it. But I carry on. 10 mins later my rear goes down."
So there he is, with another five hours to go and no spare tubes. But nothing else can happen, right? Wrong.
"So here I am screwing on the foam can onto the valve of the tube. Release the foam into the tube and it seals the hole and I don't need to change anything else. Perfect.......till I screw the can off the valve and you wouldn't believe it; the valve stays on the end of the can and the valve, screws off the tube!!!!!?? Which meant... Foam pouring out from the tube! All over the place! I have one finger on the end to stop the foam from coming out, this is my last tube!!!! And I try and screw the valve from the can, which was almost impossible with one hand, well it was impossible with two hands, I needed a pair of pliers to get it out, which I didn't have..."
There was only one thing left to do. "Lucky I kept my first flat tube. I patched it and was off."
Three flats in one day just don't happen, do they? Just ask Adam, who found "a big bit of glass in my rear again... Which is my 3rd strike! I'm out! Worse off again, I didn't have enough money to buy myself some tubes either and was about 5kms to the next bike shop. I get the glass out and just ride it to the bike shop." Fortunately, the bike shop advanced him three tubes -- one to use and two as spares. And then he was able to get home again safe and sound. "Lucky for me, no more flats for the rest of the ride!"
