"Oh! I Shit On Myself!"

Remember how I was talking about the Vredesteins I just bought were a little too tight? Well, I went on the shop ride today, and about ten minutes in I hear a "click click click" and before I can go "what the fuck is that noise?", there's a nice, loud explosion and steering inputs become a suggestion. At 22mph. I kept the bike upright, changed the tube fairly quickly and tried to fill it with my pump. I say "try" because it's a complete piece of garbage that will only put 40psi into the tire. It's now smashed and in a dumpster.

After I got the wonderful 40psi in, everyone started riding like I didn't have a problem with my bike. I had no confidence going down hill and I could only make contact on the uphill sections because everyone else was a much weaker climber than I am. Knowing that I'm out of shape and can out climb a group of people was about the only highlight of my day. It finally got to the point where I couldn't continue on without at least trying to get some more air in, so I yelled ahead for everyone to stop, and no one did. I hopped off, put in as much air as I could (5psi. Really, the pump was straight garbage) and started trying to catch them. I get to the first intersection, and after making a point of telling everyone I had never done the ride before, and had no idea where I was going, they didn't wait and I had to make a choice. I chose home. I knew enough of where I was to get me back to the shop, and I do have a Garmin, so if I got lost, I deserved it.

I was furious when I got back to the shop, and when I went to pump up my tire, I got to 100psi on the nose and the tube exploded again. I took a look at the sidewall of the tire and it had completely blown out in one spot. The guys warrantied the tire, and tube, on the spot. I had them watch me put the new tire on just to make sure I wasn't doing something wrong and they all said I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary. Oh well, chalk it up to manufacturing defect.

The bike is in the shop anyway and their going to take a look at the wheel and make sure everything is kosher. I'm going to do a cross ride later this week and then bring the bike home with me Saturday so I can do the Tania ride Sunday.