A Preventable Winter Disaster

I’ve not been riding this week due to an upper respiratory illness.  That is really unfortunate, because that meant that my planned January 200k ride did not happen on Monday.  Now I’ve got to squeeze a ride in within this last week of January, or lose the progress I’ve made toward my second R-12.  That is simply going to be difficult.  Stay tuned to see how I make out.

Last Friday, with temperatures hovering around freezing, Mike B had a slow leak in a tube.  He worked diligently to replace the tube quickly and then pulled out a CO2 canister to inflate the tube.  He nearly handled the discharge of the CO2 canister with bare hands.  I stopped him before he did.  Those canisters super-cool when discharged and could freeze to the operator’s hands.  He was grateful for the advice.

After inflating the tube, there was a bit of the tire that was not properly seated.  The tire was deflated, then re-seated, and the tube re-inflated with another CO2 canister.  Except that the tire didn’t inflate.  A pump was pulled out, and inflation still did not happen.  We pulled out the tube, and this is what we found.

The cold CO2 flash froze and shattered the tube on either side of the valve.  It looks like I’ll be putting away the CO2 until warmer weather appears.  In the cold, I’ll stick with my pump.