So how bad is it really to ride your bike with a flat tyre?
I know the received wisdom is that you shouldn’t do it, but is that just a best-practice suggestion? An old wives’ tale? Or is it more serious than that?
This isn’t a theoretical question. I’ve just come back from a 19 km ride.
About a third of the way in, I thought, gosh, this isn’t very comfortable! I was feeling the gravel more than I normally would. I looked at my rear tyre but it seemed OK. After another few kms though, I could tell something wasn’t right. I stopped and felt my rear wheel and it was definitely softer than it should be. I was by myself and had no bicycle pump, so I just had to hope for the best – that it was a slow leak and I’d get home before it seriously deteriorated. No such luck. About eight km from home it got really bad, sloshing around the wheel and making a terrible squeaky noise. I hopped off and started walking back, resigned. But then I thought, to hell with this! I’ll be out here for hours! Besides, no one repairs inner tubes anymore, why bother trying to preserve it? (I learnt this last week when I got this same tyre fixed at a bike shop in town). So I cycled on. I did try to wave down the only other cyclist I saw, a young teenage boy: “Have you got a bike pump?” I shouted across the street, but he looked panicked, shook his head “No!” and raced off in the other direction. No doubt his mother has warned him about being accosted by strange women.
Anyhow, I made it home. The tyre won’t inflate at all so I’ve taken it off. Now I have to face the man in the bike shop again and I don’t know how ashamed I should be?