Farkin 'ell. Had a crazy hankerin to ride 50 km into a 50 degree howling westerly to see the (hopefully) new lady. Tried breaking in to the two bike shops in town to pinch a tire for my bike but my burgularly skills are lacking sadly. As a last resort I was talking to an old riding mate, who told me he had an old orange Kenda Koncept tire in my size that had been sitting in his shed for a couple of years. Good mate that he was, he sold it to me for $20 (what was I thinking?) so pay the extortion and home I take it. The thing was so old riggormortis had set in, the thing was so stiff to handle. Putting it on the rim, bits of rubber with the consistency of sand were falling off around the bead as I was levering it on. But on I got it, blew it up to 110 and off I set. And fark me!!!! WHAT A TIRE!!! The thing rolls like a dream and rides the **** roads heaps better than what came on the bike. I'd been on half that ride once before and it's a real teeth rattler. But this tire smoothed it out a crazy amount. Riding into the 50 degree gale up about 300 vertical meters (excluding normal up and down stuff) almost killed me though. Most misearble ride I've ever been on. I was in a state when I got to my ladies house. Lovely girl took care of me, ignored my salt stained and undoubedly stinking self and let me sit on her couch to recover while watching the Will and Grace marathon... only to promptly send me home once I was coherant. What a gal! I think I'm in love.

Hey quick noob question. Took the old blown out tire off, and I had a terrible time getting the tube out of it. The tube had stuck almost solid to it like it was glued in. Is this a common thing with the orginal tires on new bikes? Could it have caused my bulged and blown out tire?