{"id":1820371,"date":"2026-03-11T15:52:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T12:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1820371"},"modified":"2026-03-11T15:52:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T12:52:00","slug":"bike-skills-practice-is-important-but-practicing-this-could-actually-save-your-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1820371","title":{"rendered":"Bike skills practice is important, but practicing this could actually save your ride"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Editor\u2019s note: this article originally appeared in the February 26,\u00a02026,\u00a0Singletracks email newsletter. It\u2019s\u00a0free to sign up<\/a>, and you\u2019ll receive links to the week\u2019s top articles plus original content just like this in your inbox each week.<\/em><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t mean to brag, but I can fix a flat mountain bike tire pretty dang fast. A friend once compared me to a member of a NASCAR pit crew, and while that\u2019s definitely a stretch, I\u2019m confident I can get a busted tire rolling again in no time flat. <\/p>\n

When I first started mountain biking, I was scared to death of getting a flat tire. On more than one occasion, I decided to walk back to my car rather than waste time trying to fix a flat trailside. Over the past two decades of riding, I probably only flatted one or two tires a year, which wasn\u2019t nearly enough to turn me into a pro tire wrangler.<\/p>\n

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Then, I unintentionally stumbled onto what I had been missing: practice. For this tubeless tire plug test<\/a>, I poked dozens of holes in my tires before plugging them with various tools. Another time, I inflated tire after tire with various mini pumps<\/a> to see how quickly each one would work. And because I\u2019m always testing new tires, it\u2019s not unusual for me to swap four tubeless mountain bike tires between bikes on a random Saturday.<\/p>\n

Every now and then, I\u2019ll see a rider on the trail with a tire plug in hand and a confused look in their eyes. They\u2019ve purchased the tool, but they have no idea how to use it. I\u2019ve been there myself, and it\u2019s not a great feeling. If only we had practiced!<\/p>\n

Most, if not all of us, understand that practice makes progress when it comes to bike skills, and I\u2019m here to argue that the same goes for emergency bike repairs. It might seem silly at first, but poking a bunch of holes in an old tire and then patching them will have you feeling confident in thirty minutes or less. The same goes for taking a tire off the rim and putting it right back on in your driveway. Bonus points if you can eventually do it without using a tire lever!<\/p>\n

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Though tires generally give us the most problems on the trail, drivetrains can be real boogers, too. So pick up an old chain and practice adding and removing links with your chain tool, and fiddle with that barrel adjuster until you finally understand how it works. One day \u2014 perhaps even sooner than you think \u2014 you\u2019ll be glad you did.<\/p>\n

For the past several months, I\u2019ve been riding around with a can of GUP, a product that combines tire sealant with an inflator. I watched a video online to learn how to use it, and I felt prepared for the next emergency. That emergency never came, so I finally decided to give it a try in the backyard.<\/p>\n

It was a disaster.<\/p>\n

Sealant went everywhere, and I struggled to cap the valve when I was finished inflating. If this had happened to me on the trail, I surely would have been walking back to the car.<\/p>\n

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So, I bought a fresh can of GUP to give it another try in my backyard. Practice won\u2019t make me perfect, but I\u2019m convinced it very well could save my next ride.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the free Singletracks newsletter<\/a>\u00a0to get more exclusive content like this delivered via email each week.<\/em><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!–<\/p>\n

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Related articles<\/h4>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t–><\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\tjQuery(function() {
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tA plate displaying a \"Drip Test\" comparison featuring various substances: a small green dot of slime, a pink drip, and several others labeled as Muc-Off, Stans, Orange Seal, and a finish line marking, placed horizontally across the plate. The background shows a textured surface, adding context to the test setting.<\/a><\/p>\n
Tire Sealants<\/a><\/div>\n
We Tested 5 Tubeless Tire Sealants to See Which Ones Work Best<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTwo shot glasses filled with vibrant green liquid sit on a dark blue outdoor table, surrounded by lush greenery. One glass contains a slightly thicker green mixture with small flecks, while the other holds a lighter, smooth green liquid. The glasses are branded with a logo that reads \"DeCatur Beer Festival.\"<\/a><\/p>\n
Tire Sealants<\/a><\/div>\n
Is Slime Tubeless Bicycle Tire Sealant any good? We put it to the test.<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"An<\/a><\/p>\n
Tools<\/a><\/div>\n
I tested 10 tubeless tire plugs and tools, and one stands out as my favorite.<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/a><\/p>\n
Tires All<\/a><\/div>\n
To my surprise, Fix-a-Flat works for bike tires too<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: this article originally appeared in the February 26,\u00a02026,\u00a0Singletracks email newsletter. It\u2019s\u00a0free to sign up, and you\u2019ll receive links to the week\u2019s top articles plus original content just like this in your inbox each week. I don\u2019t mean to brag, but I can fix a flat mountain bike tire pretty dang fast. A friend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,274],"class_list":["post-1820371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-singletracks-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1820371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1820371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1820371\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1820371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1820371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1820371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}