u/thx1138guy

My wife of 28 years died, alone, in our home, in a fire that destroyed it. I was 300 miles away, visiting family. I will never know what caused the fire or why she was unable to escape it.

I thought I would've gotten 'over it' by now. And yet, I'm like Willy Wonka's office (Gene Wilder version), where everything inside of it is half of the whole. My wife is the missing half of everything in my office.

Too late to start again? Easier to do nothing but is that going to be acceptable during my last 20 or so years? To be continued.....

I've been riding e-bikes for the past 3 years and have thus far logged 1000 miles on my most recent one that I bought two months ago. Tuesday was the first time I've ever used a helmet for its intended purpose, and man, I am extremely glad that I was wearing it properly!

For a reason yet to be determined, I fainted while riding my e-bike. I was riding it at about 10 mph on a slight incline (4° or so) at the time on a concrete bike path (sidewalk really). I was 10 miles away from the starting point of a 34-mile ride, 20 of which were on the bike path, all of it paved with either asphalt or concrete. I regularly take rides anywhere from 25 to 50 miles total with the first and last seven miles on city and residential streets leading up to the path.

The bike and I crashed and I hit the pavement on my right side. My MIPS helmet performed as designed and the foam lining compressed at the point of impact on its side instead of my noggin hitting the pavement and potentially cracking my skull. I didn't regain consciousness until I was in an ambulance on the way to the nearest hospital. I was initially confused (did not know my home address or day of the week) The bike path had many bike riders, runners, and walkers that day and someone must've seen me lying on the pavement soon after I crashed.

I could've been much worse off as I was no more than a block away from a two-lane street parallel to the painted bike path in the business district of the town I went through that has several cross streets along its length on my way back to my starting point on the path.

I am okay now except for a fractured right clavicle (first bone I've ever broken) and multiple scrapes and bruises. I underwent numerous tests at the hospital and have a few more yet to do. I was released after one day for observation.

I lost consciousness in no more than a second or two with no advanced warning (dizziness, feeling unwell, etc.). I know exactly (or think I do) where I had been before I fainted and crashed because a group of road bikers had just passed me going the opposite direction on the path. I think, but don't know for certain, that I didn't need to swerve to avoid one of the last riders in the group. None of us were going more than 15 mph.

This was the first and only time this has happened to me in over 60 years of riding bikes since I first learned to ride in 1963.

I see a lot of bike riders without helmets and wish they'd wear one. I know most (but not all) e-bike riders are wise enough to wear a good helmet (mine was only a month old).

I might never know why I fainted if my doctors are unable to pinpoint the cause. As I said, I felt nothing out of the ordinary up to the crash. The fact that I didn't attempt to break my fall with my right hand indicates I was unconscious before I crashed. I have dumped my e-bikes in the past and have always been able to get back up and finish my rides. This one was very scary as I have no memory whatsoever what had happened.

I'm 68 and bought my first e-bike at 65. I had always ridden road bikes up to this point and I now need an e-bike's assist to climb a few steep hills, otherwise I'd need to walk the bike up them which ain't fun. A much lighter, more expensive road bike perhaps for those hills, nah!

I've owned two e-bikes. A Juiced Ripcurrent fat tire (26x4) and a Juiced Crosscurrent X step through commuter (27.5 x 1.75). 1800 miles first one, 900 so far on the second. No flats on either bike.

The Crosscurrent has Schwalbe Marathon tires. I don't recall the brand for the fat tires (I no longer have the bike).

I ride up to 25 miles out and back regularly. I am trying to decide if I should add Flatout now to prevent a flat or carry the 16 oz bottle with me along with a valve core removal tool and other tools. I also plan on carrying my battery electric air pump. These would all fit in a backpack I would place in the wire basket on my rear rack.

I don't like the idea of having a liquid sealant pooling at the bottom of the inner tubes after waiting for a stop light because I read it can affect handling until it spreads out evenly once the wheels are spinning. Maybe this concern is unwarranted since I would only add 6 oz in each tire.

Asking for advice based on your experiences. My philosophy is if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Adding a liquid sealant inside the inner tubes as a preventative/preemptive measure is a great idea but what problems occur with it? Do the Kevlar fibers clog up the valve core? I definitely don't want that!

Please comment only if you've actually used flatout small tire formula. I read that it's a bad idea to use the thicker on road formula in narrow tires.