This morning when I went to leave for work, my bike (which was on the back of the car) had a flat tire. I opened it up, ran my hand carefully around the inside of the tire to check for anything poking through, and found nothing. The old tube still seemed to hold pressure, and after a new was fitted things were fine. Tonight’s ~22 mile ride had no problems, but after eating at Rochester Mills I found my front tire low again.
It turns out that the thorn seen above was hiding under some mud, relatively dull, and slowly poking at the tube. Oh well, at least I can patch them and be ready for riding on Friday, and it’s not something weird like rim tape shifting, bad seams in the tube, or a defective valve.
(Yes, I know that’s a terrible photo… It was a very long exposure and I think the tire deflated some while it was sitting there, moving the subject.)