At the top of the climb there was one of ten tech boxes. These were specific open top boxes that were positioned approximately every 10km throughout the course with sealant and inner tubes. A track pump was also available.
As we crested the climb the descent came fast. I could see there were already some riders who had been in front of me on the side with mechanicals! Blimey I thought.
As I got towards the bottom I hit a hole and double punctured. OMG! Or something a little more fruitful I’m sure I said. I pulled over as there was a good amount of riders behind. I’d had the tyres set up tubeless and the rear was completely flat, whereas the front was just soft. I whipped the rear wheel off whilst laughing about it to another rider only a few feet away in the same position.
This is technically where my day ended – although I hadn’t yet worked that out. I removed the small needle nosed pliers and set about removing the tubeless valve once one side of the tyre was off so I could put a tube in. I turned and turned it for what seemed like ages until I’d worked out the whole valve was spinning as the nut was so tight I couldn’t get it off.
I picked the rubber off the inside of the rim at the bottom of the valve and forced it out of the wheel. In went the tube and up it went. This had taken me 45 minutes. By now I was definitely at the back of the men’s field. Oh well, just get some air in the front and I can enjoy the rest of the course.
This also wasn’t to be. The removal core of the valve kept coming completely out when I removed the pump. I couldn’t believe it. I was now getting very frustrated!
With minimal air in I set off to enjoy the day. It was very slow going on the rough stuff with very low pressure in the front wheel but I figured I wasn’t that far from the next tech box where I’d use a track pump. The track became a bit more favourable and I started to speed up.