Flat Resistant Tires -- I Love 'em!!!!

The word "Connecticut" is the anglicized version of the Algonquin word "Qinnektikut", which loosely translates into "Land of bad trails". Historians and linguists will tell you it really has something to do with the big river that runs through the middle of the state, but it doesn't eat bike tires, so I don't believe them. It's gotten so bad recently that a local university radio station plays a public service announcement warning its students that "Connecticut's roads are poorly designed, poorly maintained, and strewn with debris", and to be careful when riding because of it. They should probably tell them how to repair a flat, too............

Years ago, it wasn't so bad. I could run a regular set of road bike tires, and maybe have 3 or 4 flats a year, depending on where I rode. Not bad at all. But around the turn of the century, I started having 2 or 3 a month. So after having to walk part of the way to work one day, and having to call a friend from a payphone to come get me (Ripped a tire beyond repair on a piece of sharp metal that was embedded in the pavement), I decided maybe I should start using flat-resistant tires.

So, I got a set of Specialized All-Condition Armadillos. Wow!! What a change. I went 3 years without a single flat, and had to replace one of the tires because it got a slash in it -- but it never went flat. Another year and a half went by without a flat, and I picked up a nail that would have taken out a car tire. I was in heavy traffic, and didn't even see it. Can't hold that against the tire. I changed the tube, and all was fine for another year. Considering I ride into Hartford on my bike to work days, where you might even hit a hypodermic syringe or two, I was impressed with the tires.

But what happened between then and recently was the economic meltdown. The state went basically broke, and stopped cleaning many state roads. And where I live, a lot of the roads that go anywhere are numbered state roads. I came to realize just how many rednecks there are around here by seeing the number of broken glass bottles in the road, and the amount of garbage that piled up everywhere. That and the gravel and small stones -- just asking for pinch flats. Many of my regular rides got noisy with stones popping out from under my tires -- but no flats. Until this summer (2009).

I was out on an after work 20 miler, and coming down a hill, doing maybe 30 MPH, when I heard a clicking sound coming out of the rear wheel, I hit the brakes, but by the time I stopped, it was too late. I picked up a small shard of glass that ripped right through the tire. And this after spending most of the ride dodging broken glass successfully. I didn't think much of it, fixed the flat, and finished my ride.

When I got home, I saw that the glass did more damage than I thought -- there was a slight bulge in the tire where the glass had ripped in. Ugh! Time for a new tire.  I bought 2 new ones, and kept the old front tire as a spare.

So while the tires are still very impressive with their flat resistance, I learned that they aren't bombproof. And I won't use anything else now. I'm switching over to flat-resistant tires on my mountain bike as I ruin them, too. I have a Serfas Krest on the rear that I'm trying out for flat resistance. I had a flat right in front of my own house one night with a trailer full of groceries attached to it, which made me realize that it was a good idea.

"Land of bad trails"....truer words have never been spoken.