Date: 17th December 2012
Riders: Isabelle, Bob, Tammi,
Claire, John, Sandra, Richard.
Route: We started from Scarbrough
and rode adjacent to the ocean through Redcliffe, Margate, Clontarf,
crossed the Ted Smout Bridge, continued along the pathway through
Brighton to Sandgate as far as the Sandgate Pier and stopped for
coffee at Cafe on the Park at Shorncliffe. Nice location and sea
breezes.
Weather: A fine sunny day with a
light wind. After a longer than anticipated coffee stop our return
ride was a little more difficult after the wind had turned around to
a very strong northerly.. Quite a challenging return journey. Well
ready for lunch and a rest when we reached Scarborough.
Kilometres: 55.
We did this ride earlier in the
year. As the weather had been very hot we decided to repeat this
ride where there would be an ocean breeze and some shady areas in
favour of Boondall to Mitchelton which can be very hot with little
shade. However, we shall schedule the Boondall/Michelton ride when
the weather cools a little.
Isabelle had a mishap with one of
her tyres. She has already e-mailed members with precautionary
information of what occurred. If it
was missed by anybody, you can find her account below.
Sorry guys, although we took photos,
we must have inadvertently had our camera on the wrong setting
because the photos were of very bad quality so I'm not posting any.
Isabelle's
Report: French Valves
(In
case you're wondering, a French valve is the narrow type of bike
valve with a small cone shaped cap.)
As
the patient and long-suffering cyclists on last Monday's ride are all
too well aware, I inadvertently sabotaged the ride when I attempted
to pump up a bike tyre at the coffee stop and instead gave myself a
flat (for which I apologise - again!). In the event, this meant
that the ride ended up much longer and more arduous than originally
anticipated so that, like me, they are probably all still recovering.
When
I removed the pump from the bike there was an almighty bang and all
the pressurised air escaped as the central section of the valve had
disappeared. Initially it was suggested that it had blown out
because I had over-inflated the tube but I have since found out the
real cause of this disaster.
Incidentally,
Tony of Wolves Bike Den has now told me that if you over-inflate a
tube it does not blow out the valve but instead the tyre will come
off the rim.
Tony
says you must ensure that the bike pump is inserted straight over the
valve, i.e. at right angles to the wheel rim, assuming the valve is
in the correct position. It seems that I accidentally had the
pump at a slight angle. This dislodged the central part of the
valve which then shot into the tube itself when I started pumping
(which is, of course, why we could not find it anywhere).
I
have been cycling for over 50 years and this has never happened to me
before. I didn't know it could. I am sharing my
embarrassing experience so that, if you were not aware of this
potential hazard before, you are now. Hopefully it doesn't ever
happen to you.
(Just
an accident that could have happened to any of us. The beauty of
riding as a group is that we can help one another when something
unexpected happens. So no sweat, Isabelle. At least the only sweat
was that generated by a warm day and riding over 50 km and we all
learned from this incident.)
