A tale of two tubes.
 

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I left Kingman, Arizona early yesterday morning, heading West towards Laughlin, Nevada. That takes you through Golden Valley, Arizona, and I grabbed a pic of it, coming in. Immediately after that, I got a flat in the rear tire, around the valve stem. Seeing that it was not repairable, I put on my spare inner tube, and continued.
It got slightly over 100*F, so I kept in the shade most of the day, then got most of the way to Union Pass, when it cooled down. 😎
Then this morning, I got across Union Pass early, to beat the heat. Coming down the other side, I stopped to take a pic of Bullhead City, Arizona. Guess what? I immediately got another rear flat! 🙄😬🙄
I got my good tube off the front, and onto the rear, so I can at least push the bike, lol, but it's slow going. I'm about 5 miles from town now, so it'll work out fine, eventually, but it sure is frustrating. 😉
The moral of the story, don't stop to take pictures, anywhere around Golden Valley. Unless you have plenty of spare tubes. 😋🤪🙄😉

I often carry 3 spares, especially when I have a lot of unpaved roads/trails on my route.

Must be something wrong with your camera.

There is the Thorn Resistant inner tube ... the weight penalty is in there bring more rubber thickness,
for thorns to poke through..

but it is a ' no free lunch' trade off.. for greatly increased puncture resistance.. ...







...

Develop some cycling skills and you can ride on one wheel.

are you sure you're shooting landscapes and not inner tubes ?

It took me a few seconds to catch that, but I think you must be right. 😁
Indy, if you carry 3, I probably need 6. 🤔😉
I'm kinda slow at a lot of things, it seems. I just realized awhile ago, why they call it Bullhead City. It has nothing to do with rodeos or cowboys, just those vicious-looking stickers, that might very well turn fatal. 🤔 I noticed a few, right near me, AFTER I sat down a minute. 😲🙄
At least lunch is good, Hawaiian pizza. 😋😍😋

These were the so-called thorn resistant ones. 👍 Normally very decent, hence me only carrying one spare.
That second flat this morning was weird. I picked up a sewing needle, which "normally" would have been easy to patch both holes. But since I was going somewheres around 30-40 mph, it took some time to stop. In that time, the valve stem area got pretty mangled, from me braking so hard while the bike wanted to keep going. That'll get your heart pumping, lol. 😁

Opposite 9 month tour , British Isles, not US S-W.. TR Tubes (PV 622-40) no punctures ..

just Pints :beer: pub jam sessions..

plodding along at 7~10 mph..




..

BTW, they must have been expecting me, here in hell, lol. 😉 It's supposed to hit 113* F today, but it's "only" 109* F now. They're predicting 112* F tomorrow, then cooling off to the 105-ish range for a few days. 😳
Can I change my mind, about coming here? 🤔🙄😉

Ouch! That's hot!

Keep taking those photos - tubes can be replaced, but photos last forever!
Besides if there's no photos, it didn't happen 😉

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True that. Here's one of the hotels in Laughlin, along the Colorado River. The other side of the river is Bullhead. I chose Laughlin as a goal, because marija- huana is legal in Nevada now, lol. 😎😁😎 Still need to hit the dispensary later.
It did hit 113* F, and that's where it's at now, but Accuweather says the "real feel" is only 112, so I oughta quit whining, huh? 😁 Still, there's an extreme heat warning, so I'm sitting here by the river, drinking lots of tea. 👍
When I read the heat warning, I saw that Death Valley is only around 5 degrees warmer than here. Maybe I should try that soon? 🤔 Naah. 😋😉

Same here. Two in the seat wedge. One in the spare parts. Replaced as soon as I get to a shop. But I take 3 even on paved roads. Those little wires from steel belts can be a bytch. ;)

Some people are gluttons for punishment. ;)

Are you insinuating something? (Also from Monty Python). 😁😉

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OK, so maybe I really am here. 😁 Weed's a bit spendy here, so I only grabbed a quarter, for now. I see much better deals online from up in Vegas. 😎👍😎 But Laughlin is a tourist town, can't hold it against them, lol. 😉

LULZ, Nevada now has a law forbidding employers from pre-screening folks for weed use. A bit ironic since the state used to have ultra-strict penalties on mere possession. Some western tourers claim tubeless works well.

I think my only time riding out west was with tubes, but I've been mostly tubeless in the east for a few years now. The set-up was a pain, but with an air compressor, it goes much better. Once it's set up, it's been pretty bulletproof. I had two flats so far, and both were from failing to refresh the sealant in a timely fashion. I need to add a little more through the valve stem every few months. Both flats were slow leaks where I could pump up the tire enough to ride for a couple of miles. And both were addressed by adding a little more sealant when I got home. Unfortunately one of them I tried to fix with a tube so I wouldn't have to pump it back up every 15 minutes. The tube I was carrying was for a much narrower tire, and it was useless, and once I had pulled the tire off the rim, getting it back together tubeless was not going to happen until I got home. Other than that, it's been great. When I'm touring, I carry a small bottle of sealant and a spare tube, just in case. I've only seen it in action one time. I don't know what I hit, but I heard the tell-tale spurt of air. I saw a brief, orange mist erupt from my front tire. Then nothing. I just kept going. I didn't even lose enough air to justify stopping to pump up. I'm sure there have been other times because I've seen the telltale orange spots show up on my tire, which is the color of the sealant. But seeing it in action that one time had me sold.

One caveat is that I've seen some tests with higher pressure tires that didn't look quite as reliable. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it just made a mess. My tires pretty much max out at 40psi, and it works great. If I were running my old, 70psi touring tires, I'd have some reservations.

It's not fun riding in that kind of heat. One thing that I've done that helps is to soak a cotton T-shirt in water and wear that - keep soaking it with more water as it dries out. Be sure and stay well hydrated and watch out for heat rash. I wouldn't ride in the middle of the day - wake up really early and try to get the bulk of your miles in before 11am.

Thanks for including pictures in your posts! That's beautiful country.

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Yer darn tootin' it's beautiful country. It just so happens to be, that it's too darn hot here, for most of us. 🙄😉
I still haven't bought fresh tubes yet, lol, but I've located a proper bike shop, I think. But between that herb (Sunset Sherbert, an interesting strain), and surviving the perils of the Colorado River, I just haven't made it there at the right time yet. 😋
There are a couple dozen people near here, so not nearly as crowded as the touristy areas. 😎

I ended up riding South again, against my better judgement, lol. I'm back in Needles, California again, even though it's way further this way. Sometimes the horse you know has it's advantages. 😎 I see weed is roughly half price of Laughlin's, but like I said, that's a tourist town. 😉
I bought a pair of those Slime tubes, in the now-popular 29" x 1.80 (I think) size. I only mounted one for now, in the rear tire, and only did that yesterday. So far it rides pretty decent, but it's awfully early to go evaluating things. I just put a normal-weight tube in the front, two days before I bought the Slimes at Wally World, so I'll just swap that one in too, so I carry the lighter tube as a spare. 👍

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I finally put a new tire on it today, an off-brand 700x37c knobby, kinda like a cyclocross tire. It might not fit in the back, but there's plenty of room for it as a front. ✌️
I got done in time to hit the dispensary, but it was definitely crowded, lol. 😁 I found something called Flo (Flodica, a strong sativa, it's Purple Thai crossed with Afghani). It says online this strain is kinda rare, but I got a half oz for a good price. 😎
Happy 4th, all! 🙈🙉🙊

I carry one spare tube and a repair kit. That's always worked for me. The likely hood that you'll destroy (as in unrepairable) two tubes before passing some place to purchase a replacement is minimal, and your anecdote upholds my conjecture.

Get yourself some patches. You can carry a whole pile of them with not much weight or bulk. I like to pull the flat tube from the bike, patch it, and install a tube that holds air. Then the one I just patched has time to dry and set. I'll air it up and make sure it holds overnight when I get to camp that evening. If it holds, I pack it up and it is now a good spare tube.

I've heard that in thorn country, some people will still use tubes, but get ones with removable cores. Then they put some Stan's sealant in the tube. Basically it's a sort of easy and less messy way to get the puncture protection of tubeless sealant. I've never tried it, so don't know if it works. I do know I never got a flat when running tubeless. I ran that set of tires until there was no tread on the rear. I've gotten several flats since going back to tubes. I'm about to go to the trouble of tubeless again. It's less hassle in the long run when you consider changing flats.

Obvious karma from liking fruit on pizza :)