GCN Show: The worst ways to ruin a bike ride

The big talking point on this week’s GCN Show is inspired by Si Richardson’s misery. On Saturday morning, Si headed out on his well-worn local gravel loop but suffered not one, not two, not three, and not four, but five - yes, five - punctures. It’s no surprise that he’s calling it the worst ride of his life, and he’s joined on the GCN Show by James ‘Hank’ Lowsley-Williams to discuss the topic of ruined rides.

Repeat punctures

Si’s Saturday morning ride is, as he puts it, ’sacrosanct’, but the latest one descended into farce. Running tubeless tyres on his gravel bike, he’d topped up the sealant on the front, but not the back, and it punctured on the first strip of dirt. His spare tube had a hole in it, and the three he blagged off his friends all went flat after barely five minutes. He thought he’d removed a thorn but took a closer look at the tyre and found 10 more - “it was a pin cushion, effectively”. He decided to call it quits, tied a knot in his last tube and nursed it home.

“It was just awful. Short of ending up bleeding and in an ambulance, I couldn’t have more comprehensively ruined mine and my friends' ride,” he concluded.

Forgetting to charge

As for Hank, he’s prone to forgetting to charge his various gadgets, the most crucial being his Di2 battery. He describes not one but numerous occasions where he’s gone out in an group and suddenly, an hour in, he’s unable to shift. “You’re stuck in the smallest gear as well, which is the worst - you’re stuck at the back of the chaingang trying to hang on for dear life spinning at 1000rpm.”

The weather

Weather conditions will have caught out almost every cyclist, and ruined countless rides. “I’ve had rides where people have literally had to undress me because I couldn’t get my helmet or clothes off,” says Si, referring to ill-advised trips over seemingly warm Spanish mountain passes. In the depths of winter, ice can be particularly ruinous. “The amount of times cycling clubs go out regardless then there’s literally hundred of thousands of pounds worth of broken carbon - and femurs - because you hit a patch of black ice.”

More riding = fewer problems

There is, happily, a solution to most of these problems, according to Hank. “I genuinely believe that if you ride more, less shit happens. If I don’t ride so much, I kind of get out of sync with it all - the charging, the temperature changes, the weather. If you ride more consistently, you’re on top of everything.” And that is as good a reason as any to get out on your bike more.

As always, we want to hear from you: what ruins your bike rides? Get involved in the comments section below.

Cycling shorts

• Picking up from last week’s debate over who’s the youngest rider to win a WorldTour race, Josh Tarling’s father has got in touch to tell us he was born at 2am, giving Remco Evenepoel just a two-hour window to take the crown. So Remco, what time were you born?
• Si and Hank delve into one of the stories covered here on the GCN website, namely the recent study that suggests cycling fitness can reduce the risk of nine types of cancer in men.
• Cannondale has entered cargo e-bike market with two new bikes. You can read more about them here.
• McLaren is behind a buyout that has saved premium Dutch e-bike maker Vanmoof from bankruptcy.
• BMC has launched a new time trial bike, developed in collaboration with Red Bull, with Si particularly fond of the shark fin that deflects dirty air away from the down tube. You can check out the new bike in more detail here.
• The 2023 Zwift Academy is not far away, kicking off on November 6.

Hack / Bodge

As ever, we have an eclectic array of your bike tinkering, including an elastic band for a bottle cage and a tyre lever for a Wahoo mount.

Coming up

This week on GCN

• How to train indoors
• Top 10 worst things to say to a cyclist
• Are fixed gear bikes great training?
• Light vs aero: Hill climb edition, featuring Andrew Feather
• I just bought the cheapest e-bike on Amazon

This week on GCN+

• Vuelta a España
• Tour of Britain
• Simac Ladies Tour
• Documentary: Mitch Docker’s Great Outback beer run