So when I think back to what I put the most effort into purchasing, tires was definately it. I rode the tire/rim combination that I am running now, all year with NO FLATS. I thought my Unlucky 13 from the other day would have topped it off. On Yesterday's ride I was beginning to get sick so I wasn't at my best, plus we had rode the Blue Nile Gorge the day before so with several thousand meters of elevation gain this week already I am feeling a little under the weather. We rode a short 90km ride yesterday but with 1120m elevation gain, which made it feel a lot longer than the 90km it was. The last kilometer something was feeling really wrong with my tire. I asked the guy I was riding with to look at it and he said it looked okay. We rolled into camp and I got off my bike, layed it down and walked to get my stuff. I sat on my bag for a little while to regroup before going through the motions of setting up my stuff. When suddenly the camp was stopped in its tracks by a loud "BAM". It was a tire. This rarely happens so people were checking their bikes. Needless to say, it was my bike and the tube had blown up so hard again that it blew the tire off the rim, again. Paul the race director said he thought it was becoming a little dangerous and offered me his new Specialized Armadillo tires. I put them on after careful inspection of the rims, tubes and tires, but because of being sick today I didn't get to try them out. I hope I can ride the day after the rest day (23) and give them a whirl. The other difficult thing about this whole situation is that I have burned through all of my tubes and a lot of my patch kits already. I am looking into the possibility of getting some new things shipped to me in Nairobi, Kenya as my bike cannot run without tubes unfortunately.
The intercontinental hotel is exactly what I needed to cure myself. I didn't want to go initially, probably mostly because of how difficult it will be to leave here, but a good 20min HOT shower is exactly what I needed after a difficult day and night.
Thank you for all the messages of support and donations to the Suncatchers Project. Keep them rolling in!
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UPS and I are good buddies - if you need some new rubber let me know..but I imagine you can probably find something a little closer than Vic. Sorry to hear about your tire woes, but TIA! Keep it up Steph - you're doing awesome!
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