2017 - Black Cat Award

[queequeg]

I have shamelessly copied from the 2016 Thread, which was itself shamlessly copied from Ozkaban's 2013 Black Cat Award thread and all of Ozkaban's wording. Everyone should know the drill by now.....

1. Only people who have registered a puncture or interest in the competition prior to June 01 2017 will be counted. This is in case this competition gets sponsored again - I don't want people suddenly popping up and saying on Nov 1. "I've had 37 punctures this year".
2. Every puncture must be listed individually or with some substantiation - "Five punctures on my 16km ride today, three from thorns and two from glass" is barely acceptable, but "I had five punctures last week" won't be counted.
3. You can only claim one puncture if you have not ridden the bike before discovering the next puncture. That is, breaking the valve stem off whilst pumping doesn't mean two flats. However, a double flat (both front and rear tyres at the same time) can be counted as two.
4. It has to be a flat to your bike, fixing someone else's flat doesn't count, and it must be on a bike. No car, pram, soccer ball, or blow-up doll flats please.
5. Flat must have occurred between January 1st 2017 and December 31st 2017 inclusive.
6. To have punctures listed in this competition, your must be a forum member or an immediate family member who has been the subject of amusing/scary/blonde moment stories on this forum. Or have slipped me a $50.
7. No post whoring, let's try and keep chatter to a minimum.
8. Dumb newbie questions re. punctures and prevention should be directed to The Shed. But I'll give you a freebie for how to avoid punctures - if you don't ride your bike, you don't get punctures.
9. When you post your puncture, include a little story, but I want your running total listed - otherwise I make mistakes. Maths isn't my strong point.
10. All other contentious points that aren't addressed by these rules will be decided by me. If you don't like my ruling, read the last sentence of Rule #4 and ask me again.

Glossary
Fairy Pube : Piece of tyre reinforcing wire.
Caltrop, Goat Head : Tribulus terrestris.

I'm not going through everyone's posts and updating the totals, so if you are participating, please keep a running total of your flats in your posts.

Best of luck in the comp for 2017. I'm not sure if that means more flats or less...

[foo on patrol]

I'm winning = This morning, three flats and a blow out on the rear tyre.

Foo

[Mulger bill]

I'm in, hoping to be winning by losing again.

I'll sticky this one, a reminder in a few days to unstick 2016 as all entries should be in and tallied by then would be taken as a kindness

Shaun

[1Rowdy1]

New year, new bike, 2 punctures in the first 75k's, not the start I was looking for, 1st was fixed fine, for the second I could not find my tyre leavers ( left on the side of the road at the seen of the first puncture??) Result, a 10k walk

2017 total 2

[AUbicycles]

This morning, three flats and a blow out on the rear tyre.

I call PEPs - Performance Enhancing Punctures!

The solution to this problem, I think, is investing in a new set of wheels. But yes, you are probably winning for 2017.

[foo on patrol]

It's gunna be one of those years!

The rain has cleared out for a bit, so out I go to have a ride and guess what???? My bloody front tyre is flat!

Foo

[am50em]

Was hoping to avoid this thread but 4km into todays ride - flat rear. Nothing obvious from inspection of tyre. On removing tyre noticed the tyre liner had a fold in it. Inspecting tube showed long line where it had rubbed on tyre liner crease. So self inflicted. Sigh.

[foo on patrol]

Well I'm gunna pull my hair out (oh wait, I have none) and cry like a baby soon. I got another bloody flat! That's 5 for the year!

Foo

[g-boaf]

I'm winning = This morning, three flats and a blow out on the rear tyre.

Foo

What on earth are you guys doing? At that rate, you'll be winning the award!

Here is hoping I don't upset the puncture gods.

[foo on patrol]

I finally got a ride in without a puncture!

Foo

[AUbicycles]

Seriously, something is not right - where are the punctures? Is it a rim issue because you may be up for a disqualification if you know there is a sharp metal shaving in the rim.

[foo on patrol]

Nah, I have discovered the rim tape had bunched over a spoke hole up on the front wheel but the others resulted from the rear tyre being on the brink.

Foo

[cancan64]

I am off to a good start, 4 day bike packing trip on the CX bike, the highlight of the ride was to be the Timber Trail (By Taupo) which was day 3 and pinch flatted on the gravel road going in (have ridden a lot of gravel roads with no issues to get here).... changed tube and off I went. 30km in I was looking at a info board and looked at the track and there was a rock... got the front wheel around it but clipped the rear and heard the hiss of death... lucky I had 2 spare tubes but now behind time so picked up the pace and 5km pinch flatted again (had rained the last 2 days so track was muddy but other parts of the track were large gravel .... no spares so tried to patch the first tube which failed so 5km walk to halfway camp ground but no one had a spare tube that would suit (wouldnt take their only tube) ... managed to get a lift out after a bit of a wait.
I did successfully patch and managed to get 25km the next day before that went flat but I had picked up a couple more tubes by then. Tyre was new when I put it on the bike before christmas so had done 800km or so
So that would make 3 so far for the year

[trailgumby]

@foo_on_patrol: I had 6 in in the first 5 days of the year once once a few years back, thanks to the New Year's Eve clowns dropping beer bottles and covering the road with little shards of impossible-to-see brown glass at the slip road running past The Body Mechanic at Milsons Point.

I figured out a new route after that.

[foo on patrol]

Well guess what???????????????

Yep, I got another one this morning down the Gold Coast when I ventured over the Border. We turned around at Kingscliff and coming into a round about the front went flat! Lots of glass on this ride, so I was sort of expecting one of us to get one, I just didn't want it to be me.

Foo

[queequeg]

Well I'm gunna pull my hair out (oh wait, I have none) and cry like a baby soon. I got another bloody flat! That's 5 for the year!

Foo

Geez, I feel incredibly lucky now, winning 2016 with 15 for the entire year. Looks like 2017 is the year of the nail lol

[cancan64]

Front puncture commuting this morning .... found the hole and cut but no culprit.
I am waiting for an overdue delivery of tyres so currently have the road wheel on my commuter and for some silly reason I hadnt changed the new tubed Schwalbe one tubeless puncture enhanced tyre over ... may be down to the road bike tomorrow
so thats 4 so far although when it comes to punctures I do have an advantage living in Auckland

[foo on patrol]

I'm over it, No8 for the year this morning. I never had this many when I trained on singles in my racing days as a youngin.

Foo

[foo on patrol]

Woohoo, I got a ride in this morning without a flat!

Foo

[Mulger bill]

I'll chuck in with two.
Picked up a nail in the rear while urban mucking about on the hardtail.
Decided to head for the trails, picked up a thorn. Ride over...

[caneye]

Commuter front tyre was flat in the morning when I was about to leave for work.
Topped it up, fingers and toes crossed. Made it to work an hour later with no dramas.
In the afternoon, same tyre was flat just as I was going to leave work. Again, topped it up and made it home, keeping a very close eye on the depleting pressure.
Tyre was entirely flat 12 hrs later.

No cuts/nasty bits on the tyre.
No discernible leak in the tube when it was inflated. As it was a patched-up tube, I didn't bother wasting too much time trying to hunt down the minute slow leak.

Schwalbe Marathon Plus 28mm.

YTD = 1 puncture per 1154km

[rangersac]

Two in the last few weeks, the first was a mysterious pinch flat despite the fact I never had the tyres under inflated or remember hitting anything. The second started off as a very slow leak which I eventually lost patience with a couple of evenings ago. To be fair the tube did look like a Joseph's coat given the number of patches already on it!

[jasonc]

First entry for the year.
Previous total: 0
Front tyre gp4000. Side wall cut from debris on the road after rain (been raining on and off all week here). Tyre has done about 2000kms but it's now a bin job
New total: 1

[queequeg]

1. GP Four Seasons - Went riding on Sunday and had no issues. Parked the bike after my ride, came back and checked on it tonight and the rear tyre was flat. Nothing obvious, so took the tube out and pumped it up. Still nothing. Dunked it in bucket of water and found bubbles coming out from under a rubber seam on the tube. Looks like a faulty tube, as there wasn't even a hint of a cut or anything in the tyre.

Running Total: 1

Side Note: i was going to include the rear tyre on my spare bike, but I don't think me accidentally sticking a hole in the tube while fishing out a chunk of glass actually counts!

Also, my reason for so few punctures this year so far is because I have done most of the last two months on the KickR instead of commuting!

[Mugglechops]

I finally get to kick off 2017. Tyre was flat at lunchtime yesterday.

I thought I stuffed my tyre change when I only got about 4kms from work.

But no....