Tire Blow Out on the Highway

Just as the title of this post describes my rear tire blew out on my while in the fast lane on highway 95. I was heading to visit my folks and had just made it across the Philadelphia border when I heard a loud pop along with feeling a small explosion under me. My first reaction was to wonder what had just happened when thankfully reality kicked in and it no longer matter what had happened but how I reacted. I immediately pulled in the brakes and pulled off onto the narrow shoulder. Up ahead I could see an emergency vehicle turn around with a state trooper parked their. So I managed to limp it up to where he was parked and I must have startled him as he started screaming at me inquiring what I was doing and instructing me to remain where I was. I quickly responded that I meant to ill harm and had gotten a flat tire. However I think my helmet camera may have spooked him and he took off promising to return to check on me. I called AAA and waited in the hot sun with 3 delicious hoagies but no water to take them down with. While waiting I noticed that very few if any bikers waived to me despite me having nothing else to do. One old school Harley rider stopped and offered his assistance as well as a guy on a Ninja 250, go figure. AAA arrived shortly as they deemed this a priority and I was relieved to see it was a specially configured pickup truck with a powered bed that lowered down to ground level. It was nice and convenient and afforded piece of mind on the ride home. I contacted the stealership which wanted way too much money for replacement tires. In the end I found a fellow rider fairly close who offered his old tires for free. So in the end everything worked out but it was certainly a nervous experience to say the least.

Screwed!

It happened again, I got screwed.

I left work early on Friday to head out to the Valley Forge Convention Center to meetup with the 'VIP' ride through Philly. This was being filmed for the show Super Bikes on the Speed channel with Jason Britton. There were ~300 bikes that rode through Philly stopping at the Art Museum and ending at Pat's and Geno's in South Philly. I was fortunate enough to ride back to the convention center on the backroads with Jason Britton and Jessica Maine along with a few others.

Woke Saturday to meet up with a friend to ride to the actual show, Clutch Control 2007, at the convention center. It was hot out there on the asphalt but the riders really ripped it up. I have some pictures and video (including the entire ride on helmet cam) I will post at a later time. On the way back my friend took me on some really interesting back roads. The sun and the fun really had me by the time I got back. Before putting the bike away I did a quick post ride inspection and what do I find?

F#*@N SCREW !!!

(dead center in my rear tire)

- Why does this have to keep happening to me? It's always on a Saturday after 5pm too and no bike shops are open on sundays or mondays. Spent 3 hours in the shop today getting it patched. When the guy comes to get me he says "Oh you've been done for some time I thought you went somewhere." What??? This guy had my keys and bike and then had the audacity to overcharge me by charging me for an hour labor at $65 rather than a tire patch at $55. At least the guy ringing it up and the owner both sided with me.