I recently participated in the olympic distance Mighty Hamptons Triathlon in Sag Harbor, New York.  In early August, I completed the Greenwich tri--my first triathlon--and was hoping to use a few tricks I learned in Greenwich to improve my overall time in the MH.

My plan didn't quite work out as I hoped because of an unexpected problem during the bike portion of the tri.  After a strong thirteen miles on the bike, I noticed a little bounce in my front tire.  That bounce turned out to be a full front flat tire.  I couldn't have been farther away from the transition station.

I rode on the flat for about a half mile, hoping to find assistance from a police officer or a race official: there was no help.  After deep consideration, I decided to forge on and try my best to finish the bike portion without doing any of the following: falling off my bike, damaging my wheel, or losing my patience.  I managed to do all three, very slowly.  Averaging about 8 miles per hour, I finished the remaining 10 miles in an 1:15 minutes, giving me a total bike time of 1:42 minutes.

I finished the tri in 3:18 minutes.  Considering the circumstances, I feel confident that I should never ride without a spare tube; it's just not smart biking.