From Flat To Fat

Some days just start off badly. As you might have guessed, today was one of those days. After a great sleep I woke up ready for another day of riding. Sadly, my front tire apparently wasn’t as enthusiastic about the day. Instead, it started the day rather flat. Actually, completely flat. Of the ways I thought today would start, this was not one of them. Actually, the thought of having a flat BEFORE I hit the road never even occurred to me. Although, it’s not the first time it’s happened. But it’s the first time on this trip.

As usual, my repair options were to either replace the tube or patch the tube. Given that I was in the comfortable confines of a motel room I opted to patch the tube. I prefer to save my new tubes for any potential roadside repairs where patching a hole is a bit more of a challenge. Well, the patching isn’t so much a challenge but finding the hole can be.

As has been noted with previous repairs, one of the toughest parts (at least to me) is getting the tire on and/or off the rim. Generally, removing the tire isn’t too bad. Reinstalling it generally is. The operative word in that previous sentence being, “generally”.

For reasons that escape me, the tire REALLY didn’t want to come off the rim this morning. At all. I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t impressed. Clearly the tire CAN be removed. I’ve removed it twice on this trip already. And yet the struggle continued. And so, despite my best efforts, I had to resort to the only technique I know of in such matters. Rage. Pure, unadulterated, Bill Bixby-like rage. No, it’s not pretty. But desperate times call for desperate measures. Fortunately, the rage is very targeted and lasts but a moment. And the results are typically favourable.

With the tire now released from the rim, I was free to actually fix the tube. Finding the hole was easy. Finding the cause of the hole was not so easy. In fact, the cause of the hole remains an unsolved mystery. That’s particularly distressing as I have no idea if I should expect another seemingly random flat tire further down the road. Only time will tell.

Returning the tire to its rightful place on the rim went much more smoothly than anticipated. There was no need to re-summon Mr. Bixby. As such, I had the bike back together and loaded up shortly after 9:00. I was only marginally behind schedule.

Fortunately, I only had to go about 100 km to get to Bell today. Unfortunately, I was going to have to spend much of that time battling another strong headwind.

As I often do when riding in a headwind, I covered up my trip computer so I wouldn’t be constantly reminded of how slowly I might be progressing. Instead, I would just focus on pedalling. That said, at one point I took a quick peek only to find the word “computer” showing on the display. I had never seen that before. Fortunately, the computer was still functioning properly but upon investigating the situation it would seem that, after 13,000 km, the battery was finally running low. Given that it had lasted this long, I suspected (or perhaps hoped) that I could at least finish off the day before the battery died completely. Spoiler Alert: I was right.

While much of the day was spent heading east, fighting through a headwind, the final segment was infinitely more pleasant as I turned south and found myself enjoying a tailwind. A partial tailwind anyway. And that tailwind guided all the way to my destination.

The timing of my arrival at said destination was pretty much perfect. With about 400 metres left to go, Gabriela and her husband drove past in their car. They called out, waved, and essentially escorted me the rest of the way. Moments later I officially met Gabriela’s husband, Tracy, who led me to my home for the night. Side note: Just like Gabriela, Tracy was great. Super friendly. Super welcoming. Interesting to talk to. Just a lot of fun.

Gabriela and Tracy (who I later found out just got married about a month ago), live on a great and vast property which includes a couple of houses, a lot of trees, and a Travel Supreme trailer. The trailer gets particular mention because it became my home for the night.

As I was unloading my bike I couldn’t help but notice that my front tire was once again a little on the flat side. But only a little. Okay, maybe more than a little, but less than completely flat. It would seem I had a VERY slow leak. Since I only patched the tire this morning rather than replace the tube, I can’t help but think that my patch job wasn’t as perfect as I thought. That said, I managed to travel over 100 km before I noticed the problem so I think that qualifies as a slow leak.

With only two days of riding left, I’m tempted to push the limits of the leak and see if I can get to Lakeland without having to go through another battle of removing and reinstalling the tire. No, that’s not an ideal nor good long term solution but the reality is I’m no longer in a term term situation – although, I plan to be again in the not-too-distant future. And so, I opted to pump up the tire to see how long it would hold a useful amount of pressure. We’ll see how it is in the morning.

Shortly after inflating my tire, Gabriela, Tracy, and a long time friend of Gabriela’s rode over on fat bikes. For those unfamiliar with fat bikes, they’re exactly what they sound like. Bikes with giant 4-5 inch wide balloon-like tires. I’d seen them before from a distance but had never ridden one. That changed today when Tracy and I exchanged bikes for a bit of a ride around their extensive property. I have to say, the fat bike was a lot of fun. And apparently they’re even more fun on sand. The four of us rode around the area for a bit before eventually making out way back to the house for dinner.

Dinner was very relaxing, very casual, and very tasty. Everyone was so easy (and fun) to talk with and despite being a newcomer to the table, I felt like I was having dinner with friends I’d known for years. Side note: Gabriela claims to have never cooked venison before but you’d never know it because it was fantastic. Truly fantastic. Tracy and Betsy agreed wholeheartedly.

The rest of the evening was spent hanging out, drinking wine, talking politics, and solving the world’s problems. As you might imagine, we’re pretty sure we have all the answers. We’re also pretty sure that no one is asking us.

Despite the day getting off to such a flat start, I really can’t imagine the day ending any better than it did. The people, the conversation, the dinner, it was all fantastic. Oh, and of course Leo the dog was great too. Actually, apparently there were five dogs running around outside but I only officially met two of them. They too were very friendly. It really was incredibly fortunate that I ran into Gabriela yesterday. It made for a very memorable today.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 102.13 km
Ride time: 4:38:47
Average speed: 21.98 km/h
Maximum speed: 31.11 km/h