Crash!

I had my first crash on the weekend and am happy to report that the bike came through without a scratch. The rider has some road rash on the hip and elbow but nothing out of the ordinary for a seasoned roadie. The crash was more of a gentle 'dumping' that a crash. There was really no impact as the bike simply dumped me on the pavement as the front tire deflated. I was moving at around 40 kph at the time so I ground a fair amount of skin off my hip before I finally came to a stop. It appears that the inner tube in the front wheel cracked probably due to its aging.

In the aftermath of the crash I found myself in my freshly shredded 2XU bib shorts at the side of the road unable to remove the 20 inch Schwalbe Stelvio tire. I had to resort to the screw driver blade in my multi-tool after breaking a plastic tire lever. I applied 4 patches to the inner tube as new cracks seemed to appear each time I inflated the inner tube. Needless to say I finally had to call for backup. I have since purchased steel tire levers and will not be leaving home without them at least until I am able to build a new front wheel with a proper tubular tire. (Having raced for many years I'll never be a fan of clinchers!).