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Unbelievable number of punctures today at Thetford race !! I had two, some people had more! When I stopped with the first one there were three of us in the same place at the same time fixing flats. I must have seen a good 30+ punctures being fixed !
Fire road of doom!
It always amazes me when I see punctures in a race. Why on earth don't people run tubeless?
The fire road of doom even got them too!
Yes i was one of the victims of puncture road but i didnt notice until a bit later on the 1st lap, i thought it was the frozen ruts making my bike feel weird, sadly not as i entered the first wooded section rear was flat. My woes didn't end there , fitted a new tube and inflated with a co2 cartridge which partially filled the tube and then froze the tube either side of the valve expelling the rest of the contents everywhere else except the tube, no back up pump either, end of my race and the walk of shame back to the arena.Hard lesson learned take a pump instead. Guess the -1 weather didnt help things on inflation.
I couldn't beleive how many were stood at the side of the trail little more than 200m into the race. Road looked fine was it flints or something?. Had nothing stuck in my tyre. I even heard some poor racer begging riders as they passed for a tube 😯
Discarded tubes littered the circuit. No doubt the riders went back for them at the end....
Miraculously, having punctured at least once on every other ride I've done on the Swift, today I got away with it for four hours! I fitted Maxxis Welterweights today for what it's worth. The reason I'm not tubeless is that the Maxxis Beavers I have are a really baggy fit on my Halo rims.
Tubeless here. still got two punctures stans did not seal.
Was very odd yesterday to set off and see so many people already fixing bikes in the first 1/2 mile!
It's doubly odd as that fire-road was used for D2D and there were no puncture problems then (although the ground was a fair bit softer).
I got away without a puncture for my whole 5 laps (tubes) which is odd as I can usually get a flat just by looking at a tyre...
This is not unusual its an age old problem on the Mayday/High lodge side of the forest its been happening since the days of Kens races, which always seemed to start down a fireroad.
have seen so many friends puncture just off the start line.
It seems to be more common in groups almost that the rider in front flicks up a flint and then you run over it and cut the tyre.
Years of racing there have taught me never to follow anyone closely down a fireroad and to try and pick a line away from anything white 😉
seems to help
bol - MemberIt always amazes me when I see punctures in a race. Why on earth don't people run tubeless?
Every thread I read about tubeless has convinced me not to try tubeless.
🙂
Never had a puncture at Thetford, come to think of it.
Unless you count puncturing my leg on a nail head after flying into a tree.
I think it was a combination of the forestry re grading the fire Road early in the week, (I was not happy when a saw the massive Volvo grader on Tuesday) and latex not working because it was -5 when I got out there at 6.30 on Sunday Morning and it never got above freezing all day, still it was a much nicer day that WS#1 were it rained and was windy all day. 8)