Anthem of the day:
The house of cards is beginning to collapse. Not only am I getting a flat a day, my bike seems to be possessed by some ancient specter I must have picked up disturbing some Indian burial grounds in New Mexico. When riding, my bike will suddenly decide that I need to be working harder and spontaneously shift up a gear or two. Other times, my ghostly companion will sabotage me on downhills and, unprompted, shift downward into a lower gear, leaving my legs flailing wildly without any support. When I make it to San Diego I will be balanced on two flat tires, pushing my bike with my feet while white-knuckling a broom handle I found to replace my handlebars.
Anyways, I made it to Arizona! One more state to go. Arizona joins New Mexico and Texas in the club of states I couldn’t find a welcome sign for, so as soon as I realized I had crossed the border I found something to take a picture next to.
While I was texting my friends and family that I made it to Arizona, standing completely still mind you, my rear tire burst open.
Luckily the green slime it sprayed everywhere (sticky stuff in the tire that’s supposed to help prevent flats) made it easy to find the hole, so I slapped a boot on the tire, patched the tube and headed onwards. I was trying to get a lot of miles done today so running into a flat was kind of a bummer. I noticed my tire was pretty torn up which I think has been contributing to all my flats.
Riding onward I had to stop a couple times to pump more air into the tire and it became apparent that either I didn’t give the patch enough time to dry or I had another hole somewhere. I ended up just replacing the tube about 6 miles out from Safford. I’m probably going to have to replace the tire, they were nice tires but unfortunately the mess of gas station receipts and cliff bar wrappers I’ve stuffed inside to boot them whenever I get a hole hasn’t kept them from getting wrecked by the detritus of the New Mexico highways.
That being said I still layed down a good amount of miles today, and rode through some pretty picturesque downhills in the Arizona desert.
I got a fantastic Carne Asada quesadilla and some chicken enchiladas at a Mexican place then hit the hay.
Ride info
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/83165371
Gallery
Sublime is probably far better in the middle of the desert
Try a dollar bill instead of wrappers
Julian,
Stop at a reputable bike shop and see if they have any new to you tires, aka used with some life in them, or buy a set of Schwabbies. Also a tune up will help with a chain and cassette (try 11/36) change will help immensely.