The Boogey Man

In mid April i got up one morning to find my rear tire flat.  Just sitting overnight in my living room it had gone down.  Slow leak.  Damn.  I was in a  hurry to get to an appointment, and ever the optimist, i hoped that it had just gotten low without me noticing.  So instead of reaching for my tire levers i reached for my floor pump.  The tire seemed to hold air so i rode off.  It lasted the whole day, but the next morning it was flat again, so i changed it. The nice thing about a slow leak is being able to change the tire at home instead of on a roadside.

I've changed a lot of tires in the past 40 years. A lot.  Hundreds.  Lots of my own and lots for other people.  That's not bragging, it just is what it is.  I can do it in my sleep.  I'm careful and pretty quick.  That morning i quickly got the tube out but, i could not find a hole in it.  I thought another valve might have failed (i got a bad batch of tubes from a dodgy bike shop a few months ago, all the valves failed after only a couple weeks).  I finally resorted to the bucket of water method and even then it took some work to find the extremely tiny hole barely pushing out a bubble every few seconds.  I patched the tube.  I used a big patch instead of my tiny patches because, well in the back of my mind i was a bit worried about The Boogey Man.

I searched the tire and i could not find what caused the puncture and that's always concerning.  The most important part of changing a tire, of course, is finding the cause and pulling the tack or prying out the glass to make sure it doesn't happen again immediately.  I guess at that point i really should have started to think about The Boogey Man but i didn't.  I fixed the tire, pumped it up and pedaled off and didn't think about it again. However, i did buy a new tube later that day.

A few days later i went on a 50 mile ride far from home, no problems.  But after a week of riding every day i got up one morning to find it flat again.  I was planning a bike repair party in a few day so again, i just pumped up the tire each morning at home and was able to ride on it all day each day until it was convenient to repair it.

At the end of the week, at home, i pulled off the tire and, with effort, found the tiny leak right at the edge of last week's patch.  I spent a lot of time looking for what could have caused it, running my finger around the inside of the tire, examining it closely, even using the trick of rubbing cotton on it (hoping for a snag). I couldn't find anything. 

I started to talk myself into the idea that maybe i just did a bad patching job.  It's possible after all, maybe the edge of the patch failed.  It took some effort but i convinced myself this wasn't a puncture but a patching failure.  However i guess i wasn't completely convinced because i didn't use the new tube, i patched the old tube again:  proof that in the back of my mind i was scared of The Boogey Man.

I don't have to change tires very often on my bike, and it's not just because of my partially-in-jest superstition against saying the f-word (f-l-a-t) while on the bike.  I don't like to tempt fate, but i also try to be protected.  I do a good clean job of changing my tires, but mostly i select good tires.  I often tell people that's the one part of the bike you should really spend money on.  In almost all areas, used or cheap will do fine, but not tires.

When i first moved to Western Washington my Bridgestone RB-T had it stock tires on it.  I didn't even consider replacing them when i moved -- they were fine in Wisconsin after all. But after a full winter of riding 400 miles a month on the wet roads (it rains a bit in Seattle) i changed my mind.  I changed my mind while changing a flat in downtown Shelton:  the 4th flat in the 60 mile ride from Seattle to Olympia.

Many bicycle tires (especially the cheaper ones) are made of a rubber fabric, woven strands of rubber, which spreads when it gets wet creating many tiny holes in the tire.  Not good in the rain.  A fully pressed rubber tire is far superior.  I quickly found the legendary Avocet Cross II K tires: solid tires with an inverted tread which acts like a slick when you want it to and like a knobby when you need it to. Best of all they also have a kevlar belt for puncture protection. After 12 years (with only 2 flats) i got another set which i eventually sold with the bike.   I loved those tires.  They are unfortunately hard to find.  I know people who have several sets stashed in the garage because they are so amazing.

The Avocet Cross tires on my road bike had me spoiled and i eventually found some tires with puncture protection for my city bike and for at least 10 years now i've ridden heavy, expensive, protected tires.  It's saved me a great deal of time and bother.  The last 12,000 miles or so i've been riding on Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires on my combination road/city bike.  I first tried them when a friend gave me a pair (she didn't like the weight).  I've found them to be wonderful, dependable tires that are comfortable on the road or on the trail.  They work great on my highly customized on road/off road Bianchi Volpe.  I very, very rarely have to change a tire.  Every few weeks i examine the tires and pry out pieces of glass and shards of metal that didn't make it through to cause problems --these are very durable tires.

So trying not to think about The Boogey Man i remounted my tire, pumped it up and set out on my errands. As usual, once i got on the bike, i didn't think about the tire at all. And once again, i got another full week of riding without a thought and without problems until one morning i got up and saw my bike in my living room.  Another flat; DAMN!

I had several appointments to get to. I changed the tire so fast i wasn't sure if i knew exactly how the tube was oriented, so i wasn't 100% sure it was the same spot on the tire, but the puncture was in the same spot on the tube, just a few millimeters from the previous two patches.  I patched it up quickly and was on my way.  Now i really was consciously thinking about The Boogey Man.  All the signs were there. It had me scared.

Once again after rolling out the door, i thought no more about it and once again i got a full week of riding, including a half century away from home.  This time, after 8 or 9 days of not thinking about it i grabbed the bike to hurry out of the house and as i rode out the driveway i knew.  Damn!  It was flat again.

Once again, it was a slow leak.  After 3 more days of pumping every morning. I piled yet another patch on the little pile of patches.  For this one, and the next one the following week i used the super tiny patches less than half an inch in diameter. They went right next to one of  the larger patches, so it looked a little like the cartoon of a water molecule, or Mickey Mouse(tm)!  I took the tire out in the bright sun with a magnifying glass and my pocket knife and examined it as closely as i could.  I was certainly not using the new tube at this point because now, i couldn't deny it, i was running from The Boogey Man

After the fifth go round i called up my buddy Kent and told him my story:   slow leaks, nothing can be found in the tire, lasts a few days each time.  He confirmed my fears.  It was The Boogey Man.  Actually what he said first was: "You're fucked."

Michelin Wires are kind of the Boogey Man of cyclists.  I have to say, i'm not sure i really believed in them.  I had heard about them, but i had never encountered one in over 70,000 miles.  And even though as august an authority as Kent regaled me with horror stories, it sounded almost like a campfire ghost story to me.   Beware The Boogey Man! Boo!

Just to twist the knife, Michelin Wires actually come from cars.  They are part of the steel belt in steel belted radials.  The steel belt is not solid, it is a woven fabric of hair-thin steel wires.  When someone drives that tire down to the steel belt, the wires, or the whole tire can wind up on the side of the road.  When the wires are long they are not much of a problem, but as they decompose they wind up as little teeny tiny shards.  These almost invisible bits of wire can slowly work their way into your tire.  My personal demon probably spent weeks working through that 5mm protective layer.

It's a good tire, it's got 4,000 miles on it and i'm sure it's got another 4,000 more left in the tread.  At this point i'm scared to use it.  But i don't have another one and i don't have any money so i don't really have any choice.  I went to the storage locker and pulled out my previous set of Schwalbe Marathons with 8,500 miles on them.  But they are worn almost through in places.  I didn't trust them.

The offending tire was already marked up with sharpie and chalk markings as i tried to limit the area of the search. Sigh.  So i patched that same tube again.  I tried booting the problem area of the tire with duct tape in hopes that would help (Kent said it wouldn't.  As usual, he was right.) I was also hoping that maybe the big pile of patches already there (six, for those who are counting) would start to form a layer of protection against my own personal Boogey Man.

I put the wheel back on this time with a Sisyphean certainty of yet another puncture.  Every previous time i had some secret, overly optimistic hope that i would be ok.  This time i knew better.  It went against my instincts to put a any tube in that tire, new or otherwise. I had this morbid understanding of the futility;  but i was hoping that next time i could take the tube out carefully enough to pinpoint (pun intended) the precise location of the offending Michelin Wire and extract it with tweezers.

To add to my stress, i had a long planned metric century (64 miles) far from town planed for next week that i was really looking forward to.  I didn't want to miss it!

It punctured again only 5 days later.  I noticed it, at home again, mid-afternoon when i had appointments that evening.  I can't begin to express my frustration.  This time i wrestled with the tire for a couple of hours.  I could not find the damn wire.  This is a great tire and i love the protective layer, but it's possible that protection is working against me here.  I think the little booger is retreating back into that layer when the tire is not inflated making it impossible to see it, to feel it, or to grab it. With a complete hopelessness i put a seventh patch on the pile.

Then i did something strange. There are these "tuffy" style tire liners on the market.  In my experience they cause more flats than they protect against (because the tube gets cut or pinched by the liner) and they weigh a lot, but i was desperate.  I gave in against my best instincts.  I put one in and i duct taped the place where the two ends met to try to mitigate the pinch problems.  I rode to my appointment and back home without problems. Unlike before i did not forget about my tire, i was constantly aware of it. Then the next day my errands went off fine.  By now i was checking the tire every 15 minutes.

Tuesday, the day of the metric century in the forest,  i set out early in the morning for light rail.  I got the short distance to the train and met my friends for our ride. It was raining, which i really enjoy, but is hard on tires. Once we were through Renton and out in the forest we had a wonderful ride.  I checked my tire regularly and thought about it constantly.  It poured rain and we rode through some very remote areas.  I noticed a little slippage side to side on the big downhills, but i attributed it to the rain. 

Forty-three miles in, right where the lovely country road meets a highway, as we rode back towards civilization, i started to bonk.  We stopped under a bridge out of the rain and i very quickly downed a protein shake.  We were up and rolling again in two minutes, and as we were merging off of the country road and on to the busy highway i asked Dennis, behind me what my tire looked like.

"Flat", he said, passing me.

I hopped off the bike on the very narrow shoulder of the busy highway in the heavy rain and pumped up the tire as fast as i could.  My arms were really tired. 

Then Karen and i split off from the group and rode as fast as we could into town.  I was extremely frustrated about the tire and i was bonking.  I am very grateful to Karen for pacing me the five miles into Auburn.  Once in town, as the sun came out, i stopped to pump the tire up again while everyone waited.

Everyone just thought it was a normal puncture, that a quick tire change was all i needed.  They didn't know about The Boogey Man!  I knew this tire couldn't be changed, i had to pump and ride, that was my only hope. From that point in downtown Auburn it was about 8 miles to the town of Kent and another 6 or so to our end point at Tukwila and i thought there was a chance i might make it just pumping several times.  I wasn't thinking clearly. Damn the Boogey Man!!!!!

When i got the tire pumped up a bit i took the pump off and the presta valve came apart in my hand, blasting all the air out. As if that wasn't enough of a sign, i was sitting one block from the train station.  I really, really, really wanted to finish the ride, but i knew this tire was a goner.

Finally i read the signs and accepted my fate.  I told the group to leave without me.  I walked 1 block and waited for the train.  It was an 80 minute wait. While waiting i called Bike Works and ordered a new tire.  You can't fight The Boogey Man.

I was frustrated while waiting but i was pretty happy once i was on the train. Trains always make me happy.

The next day i took the old tire off.  The flat in Auburn was not caused by the Michelin Wire. The "tuffy" tire liner seems to have held that thing back, at least for a couple of days.  However the tire liner itself cut the tube, that's what caused this flat.  And the tire liner badly abraded the tube in three other places, (including near the pile o patches) all looked ready to fail in the next 20 miles.

A couple of days later i got a call that my tire had come in at the shop, but it turned out that the distributer couldn't get the tire i ordered so sent something different.  I called several other local shops and no one can, at the moment, get that tire. They all have the 32, the narrower one, but not the 35 to match my front tire. I finally ordered one from the always dependable Peter White Cycles (he only had 3 left!).  I put on one of the old badly worn tires in it's place and will ride that with my fingers crossed until my new tire comes. Although knocked down by The Boogey Man i will ride on.  But now i believe.