You know, I generally have the outlook that most things have a reason for happening even though we don't see it at the time. Some long time friends of my wife came over for dinner tonight and I have ridden with one of the husbands here and there. I was showing him my new bike and told him of my adventure today and the lack of an emergency tube. He called me a rookie and I could not disagree with him. I mentioned that my tire look like I ran over some carpet tack board and decided to switch back to tubes for now. He asked if I was going to stick with the gravel tires or was I looking to buy some more road like. I told him I was thinking about it, but I wanted something 35mm or larger which really limits the options. He walked out to his car and hands me a box which has pair of Cinturato Velo 35mm that he was going to return to Amazon as they mounted just a bit too wide for his bike and the rear was rubbing the front derailleur. I took them off his hands, so win win for everyone. .