Tubeless disaster. Fully my fault. Ruined Melinda’s Four Peaks Farewell Mt. Umunhum Finale. 🤦🏻‍♂️ So much thought, preparation, and stress went into this ride that to have it end prematurely this way was very disappointing and deflating. And obviously feel really bad for messing up the ride for Melinda. 🥺 The main reason for the stress was the rain that was originally not supposed to start until 4 or 5p but it kept creeping up earlier and earlier. At one point the rain was supposed to start at 10a but on the day it wasn't supposed to start until 1p. And we never got rained on before my mechanical. And... now as I'm typing this, the hourly forecast is now saying 3p is when the rain will start. WTF? So, yeah, we kept changing the plans and the route. At one point we had a long route with Chick N' Bros for lunch which we were both stoked for. Another reason for stress was how steep Mt. Umunhum is and how Melinda's just basically gotten back on the bike after months of no riding. The profile made the first small climb, Kennedy Rd., look steeper than it really is and that psyched her out a bit. But once we went over it and she realized it wasn't so bad, she was feeling much better. That's when disaster struck. On the flat start to Hicks Rd., I don't know what I hit but something caused my "repaired" rear tire to open up. Tons of sealant was spraying out. We stopped to try and get it to seal but no dice. I should preface this by saying, there had been a small cut before that I was riding on fine. But on Wednesday morning, when we were riding gravel, it had opened up and resealed itself without me knowing. I was on the fence about whether to mess with it before the ride but in the end I decided to plug it to be safe... or so I thought. When I put in the plug, I could tell I was making the tiny cut into a larger hole. My initial plug actually popped out. I was eventually able to get it plugged and sealed but I'm guessing there were a) still some gaps between my plug and the hole that were too big to seal and b) not enough fibers in the sealant to plug up those gaps. I never normally get big gashes so I don't carry a tube. It's always sealed fine. Melinda had a tube but unfortunately the valve stem wasn't long enough for my deeper section wheels. So I jumped on her bike (swapping my Garmin on to hers) and rode back to get the car. The seat was too low but it was manageable. Almost immediately though, my inner quads were straining. I think it's because her stance is wider than mine. I've also been bugging her about her tire pressures but riding her bike felt pretty good, just a touch too much. I was thinking I guess I was wrong but then I remembered, I much heavier than her and she's running tire pressures that are almost perfect for me. 🤣 While Melinda was waiting at the side of the road for me to return with the car, several people had stopped to see if she needed help and someone actually gave her a tube with long valve stems. Only problem was she had no cell reception to let me know. But we were still going on the assumption that it was going to start raining earlier rather than later. UPDATE - I patched the hole. There wasn't a clump of sealant at the puncture nor did I notice any clumping fibers in the sealant that was left in the tire either. Very strange. I started a new bottle and I wonder if they changed the formula. While Melinda was waiting at the side of the road for me to return with the car, several people had stopped to see if she needed help and someone actually gave her a tube with long valve stems. Only problem was she had no cell reception to let me know. But we were still going on the assumption that it was going to start raining earlier rather than later.