A 7:30 start out of Emporia and a 3:30 arrival in Ottawa. Nice weather again but the winds kicked up from the morning at 12-18 mph NNW to N so we had to fight them some today, especially when we turned NE from our easterly direction. We had about 8 miles of pretty bad and rough, pot-holed road out of Emporia before we got to Old US 50 which paralleled the interstate for the most part.
After 25 miles we took a little break at an old shut-down Getty station off of Old US 50. This part of Kansas is a bit more hilly, we had PUD's (Pointless Up & Downs - an old backpacking term) all day long.
We got to Williamsburg about 40 miles down the road for lunch. We had heard about the BBQ'd meat at Guys & Maes Tavern from Jim Dean and several other people so we wanted to make that our lunch stop. The beef and ham sandwiches were excellent and the service was great too. We took a bit longer lunch as the winds were taking their toll on us and we needed to recharge for the final 16 miles into Ottawa.
Shhhhhhhhhhh. That's the sound your tube makes when you have a premature wear spot on your rear tire and it wears into your tube. I had been checking all the tires every day or so but totally missed this flat spot. I think the tire might have been thin from the get-go for it to go bad after just over 1000 miles.
You can see the tread on the rest of the rear tire looks good.
Thanks to my trusty tire boot kit from ParkTool I was able to get the tire patched and into Ottawa with no issues and less than a 30 minute delay. My good buddy Jimmy ( and also my crew chief now!) shopped around in Olathe and is bringing me a new tire replacement. I would not recommend my Clement X'PLOR USH tires, they wear far faster than Angela's Schwalbe Marathons.
We had a great dinner with Jim and his wife Candy when they so kindly came down to Ottawa to bring me my parts and pieces.
Schwalbe tires are my fave. I run them on my road and Tri bike and have never had any problems.
ReplyDeleteSorry about the tire problem, but good to know that the boot trick worked for you. Now I'm debating replacing my front tire before I head out, as it has quite a few miles on it already. My plan was to bring a spare tire along, but try and put get more miles out of the existing one.
ReplyDeleteWe have traveled I-35 past Ottawa and Emporia so many times over the last 30+ years, but it is great to see your pictures of the local scenery.
Thanks for the updates, here and on fb.
John
Your tip on bringing tire boots instead of hailing a spare tire was a great one John. It saved weight and space and dos the trick.
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