At the beginning of the day I had two options: try and make it 130 miles without any places to eat or refill water to Kayenta, AZ, or go northwest and follow the ACA maps a little longer. I opted for the latter.
On my way out of town I went to look for the bike shop in town to buy some more tubes only to find that it had closed 3 weeks earlier. I still have a couple tubes though so it’s okay. On the road, I was greeted with rolling hills. Definitely out of the mountains, with miles and miles of visibility.
After a few miles I got another flat in my rear tire. While replacing it, I noticed the tire was getting a bit worn so I patched some thin spots with duct tape, lubed my chain, and moved on.
The day went on pretty uneventfully and I entered Utah. A few miles later I get another flat in my rear tire. This is starting to get old. A couple pulls over on the highway and asks if I need help. I tell them that I’m almost out of tubes, and after a couple phone calls (unlike me, they had cell service) they determine that nobody in the area sells tubes, but they know a road biker who I can contact in the town ahead.
I arrive in town and call up Matt, the biker, and he gives me a tube. Pretty sweet. I get back to my hotel room and decide to change out my rear tire with the spare I’ve been carrying. Then my pump breaks. I neglected to mention that on my last flat I got sick of endlessly pumping my tires up so I used my CO2 cartridge. So now I’m dead in the water, 60 miles from the nearest bike shop and with a flat rear tire.
To be continued…
Today’s mileage: 61 miles.
Total mileage: 2846 miles.
You should start spray painting flat tire graphics on the side of your bike like a fighter pilot. You’d be an ace 3 times over by now.
It’s weird: I used to get that at Tahoe with my new Montague folding mt. bike (it was electric). I bought rim tape, this and that, and the rear tire kept blowing and I kept changing it. It was eerie, and it would happen all over the back country, seemingly for no reason. Like your bike, it was hard for me to change it because of no quick release and electrical components. Then then the axle rotated where it shouldn’t and caused other problems. Finally I couldn’t get any more tubes and just had to ride another bike. The solution was to physically take the bike back to the dealer in Newport Beach where he changed the back wheel. After that it was fine. This was 07 and So. Cal was in flames which was strange because we had been close to the Agora Fire at Tahoe. To make a long story short we ended up living a few miles south in Oceanside and eventually found a better mobile home to live in in Oceanside.
I’m thinking that this is a message to you, as it was to us. Don’t know what else to say. BTW, the offer stands to drive you out if this is unsolvable, Galen.
Bob
A can of Fix-A-Flat should work in a pinch.
i assume the orange sign in the first picture says “danger: minefield”
Dan: Yeah, decals for flats, replaced tires, broken pumps would be pretty sweet. There’s a beer out here called fat tire, makes me think of flat tires every time I see it.
Bob: Sorry to hear about your bike troubles, but I’m glad you got them taken care of. I’m thinking it was just my rear tread in addition to the road I was riding having a bad shoulder.
Matt: would fix-a-flat work on presta valves?
David: I think it was just an underground cable sign. However, coming out of Versailles, Indiana, I passed by a wildlife refuge that was fenced off and had signs warning of unexploded ordinance with little graphics of people exploding. I should have taken photos but was too busy trying to figure out why google maps was trying to take me through a minefield.
> There’s a beer out here called fat tire, makes me think of flat tires every time I see it.
Clearly you need to drink one for every flat.
Way ahead of you, Doelleri.