Today is the end of my 7th week on the road. It certainly doesn't seem like it's been that long.
We had a short ride planned into Del Rio. We are calling this a rest day before we venture into the long, bleak stretches of west Texas. I also had a new set of tires overnighted to Del Rio so I can quit worrying about the slices in my rear tire. The Bontrager has been OK, but it probably isn't suited for cross country touring (especially on crummy roads).
The ~30 miles went by quickly. The early morning temperatures were nice, and we even had a little tail wind for a change.
The last 12 miles into Del Rio were very nice, as we finally escaped the chip seal. The silence of a smooth road was quite bizarre, my body had almost gotten used to the vibrations and noises.
We pulled into town before 11am, which was good because the temperatures are climbing quickly down here.
A trip to the local bike shop was both good and bad. They replaced the spoke on Jake's wheel, but didn't do an awesome job of getting it trued. There were still several spokes obviously loose. They tried to fit a larger tire on the wheel, but the frame on Jake's bike is too narrow to fit anything bigger. This means we have exhausted pretty much every solution on his current bike. Given the desolate nature of our next stretch, neither Jake nor I were comfortable riding into the desert with doubts about our gear. ***(Note for potential Southern Tier riders: This bike shop, Lakeside Sports, has a great selection of touring tires, Armadillos, Marathon Pluses and a number of others in all sorts of sizes)***
This ongoing rear wheel issue has left us in a very difficult position. Jake considered bailing on the trip and going home. Perhaps this trip just wasn't in the cards. Luckily for us, we have some very persuasive family and friends who reminded us that we've already ridden a very long way, and it would be silly to quit now. That is a sure fire recipe to sit around in Kansas City with a whole bunch of would of/should of/could of's.
So. The current solution is to get Jake a new bike. Tomorrow, Jake is renting a car, heading back to San Antonio (and maybe Austin) to find something new that will get him to the Pacific Ocean. I'll just hang out and enjoy the A/C for a change.
Oh yeah, I also installed my new tires (Schwalbe Marathon Plus). I put a 700x25 on the front and a 700x28 on the back. They are SUPER beefy. Hopefully, they keep me flat free, and I'll just have to deal with the slower speeds.
When I took off my previous wheels, there were only 3 locations where I had cut all the way through. I also found a whole bunch of sand (presumably from the beaches), and even a small piece of metal. I'm amazed they held up as well as they did.
Day 49 - 32.76 Miles
Trip to Date - 2659.81 miles
Coast to Coast - 1657.36 miles
No comments:
Post a Comment