Fifty years fitting bike tyres the wrong way!
Well bugger me. I had seen in old books that when fitting a tyre you are supposed to finish at the valve. Yeh right, believe that and you will believe anything. At Mosscrop Cycles old Jim Cadwell finished opposite the valve and if it was good enough for a veteran of the First World War cycling corps it was good enough for me. After all you wouldn’t want to be caught trying to mend a puncture the wrong way with the Germans lobbing shells over.
So today I was building up a “Bitza” to take to Mallorca next month and the front wheel has a Mavic module 3cd rim that I knew was always tight. The tire was a new Specialised Turbo R 700cx28. Well when I say new it is actually about twenty years old but it was straight out of the box. Now I haven’t been well lately indeed I have had flu if not worse and I am certainly not feeling myself. I have been so ill that despite continuous sunshine for a fortnight (well obviously not at night) I haven’t got one mile in. Anyhow I couldn’t get the tyre on the rim try as I might and God knows I tried, I struggled until my thumbs were sore, stopped for a cup of tea, tried again and still the last four inches of tyre were resisting all efforts.
So I did what I should have done an hour earlier, I tried the method shown in Dunlop adverts in the fifties, I finished at the valve and on the tyre went at the first attempt. What a plonker but as they say you are never too old to learn.
The Spaniards Rodriguez and Contador hang their heads as Super Cadel surges past in the final metres to take a great win. the final ascent of the Muur at Huy was one tough finish and Evans had the power and the courage needed to win.
At last we can lick Eddy Merckx!
When in June the greatest ever racing cyclist pops in to his local post office to pick up his pension he will be able to buy a postage stamp showing his own image. I wonder if the counter clerk will demand I.D. from the super champion?
I understand that the stamps will cost euro 5.90 for a sheet of five. As they can be used only to send letters within Belgium that sounds fairly pricy, maybe there is a super star premium.
Organiser Leon van Vliet thought he had a problem on his hands when he learnt that the Icelandic Ash flying ban extended to the TV helicopters in Sunday’s Amstel Gold.
Fortunately the TV station NOS managed to obtain a dispensation after enrolling the help of the mayor of Valkenburg.