On The Road

Day 60 – Tires and Tubes to Mukdahan (not)

We had an idea, to cycle 150kms in one day and cover two provinces, Amnat Charoen and Mukdahan. It didn’t really work out like that.

We woke at 4.50am to get an early start and hit the road when civic twilight occurred at 5.20am, giving us the most amount of time in the cool of the morning. We rolled off in light rain, nothing too heavy but quite cold. It was a good start to the morning and at around 8km we made a quick stop for some snacks.

The road had more hills than what I had imagined, and also any helpful tailwind was non existent, probably because we were riding in an area protected by the hills. So, rather than the usual 25kms an hour we might have expected we ended up doing more like 19kms an hour.

We covered around 50kms and then stopped for breakfast. At only 10 kilometres or so from Mueang Amnat Charoen we hit the post office, found a bicycle shop, and then continued on to the remaining 90kms that would take us to Mueang Mukdahan.

Ten kilometres outside of town, our front tire went flat. Luckily, it happened only a few feet away from an empty sala, so we had a seat out of the rain and set about replacing the tube. I checked everything for splinters, looked for problems, cleaned the rim, and inspected the tire. To tell you the truth it was one of the most thorough jobs I’ve ever done, because during wet riding conditions I’ve found that if you don’t do a good job, you’ll most likely get a second flat.

About 5kms down the road we got a second flat. This time it was a blowout! Both times we managed to avoid a crash (unlike our first front tire flat) but I was really shocked about the second flat, I was sure I had done everything possible to avoid this happening.

I checked the rim and the tire for splinters and burs again, nothing. We examined the tube again, and found that the hole was on the inside (rim side) of the tube… same as before. I was thinking there was something stuck in the rim tape. I really didn’t know.

I gave the tire a second check, and that’s when I found the real problem. The tire’s wire bead had been weakened by the wet conditions, high air pressure, and heavy load of the bicycle. The wire bead tearing apart was the source of the blowout. So now we were 15kms away from the nearest town (and all the bicycle shops) with an unusable tire and no spare.

It had been raining ever since we left Yasothon and now with our tire problem we started to see our plan of doing 150kms slowly slipping away. We had already decided that to make the effort worthwhile we needed to arrive in Mukdahan before 4pm, the time the post office would close.

So as we sat in the driveway (undercover) of a local house chatting to the owners, we noticed they had a car. I asked Natt to ask them if they would be willing to drive us to town and back for a fee. We figured that we would be happy to pay to get back on the road. It was a 25km round trip and using public transport was was possible, but we were sure that it would take significantly longer.

They said they would so we decided that I would wait with the bicycle and Natt would head to town to get a replacement tire (and a spare tube while she was there). It was a 40B trip into town on the public bus so Natt gave our helpful saviors a 100 Baht for their trouble. We offered to give them more but they would not accept it, this is typical Thai generosity.

I chatted to the house owner and father for half of an hour, breaking out all the Thai language I could possibly use and trying hard to understand what he was saying to me. He understood my Thai skills were limited and kept to easy phrases as we chatted about simple things.

It was great! I love sometimes when there are only 2 people who are willing to work hard to communicate but with no one else around. All parties are more willing to make fools of themselves to be understood, something that does not happen in groups.

Natt returned with a cheap BMX tire rated at 35psi, even worse than the one we previously had. But, having the new tire meant the bicycle could roll again, which was the important part. I know there are bicycle shops in the next 3 towns, having cycled through them before, so we will keep our eyes open for the best tire we can find to replace this new one, hopefully before it blows.

We rode on in the rain to make it to 100kms and Lhong Nok Tha, covered in mud, wet, still cold, and ready for a warm shower. It was amazing how much grime and mud was on the bicycle, bags, and legs. We washed the bicycle, wiped down the bags, and took ourselves inside around 2:30pm. It was about 8 hours since we had started, and although it was not a particularly hard or hot day of ‘work’ on the bicycle we were both ready to stop.

This gives us only 50kms left to Mukdahan. So I think tomorrow we’ll sleep in late (7am would be my guess) and then ride. It will only take 3 hours to go 50kms and then we’ll be done for the day. It should be nice and easy.

Natt and I have just been talking and think it would be a good idea to have a front and back spare tire. We will be able to buy a foldable tire for the back, which is a standard 26″ size, but finding a foldable tire for the front might be much more difficult. We might use the current front tire as our spare as soon as we find a higher quality replacement, we will see.

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3 Responses to “Day 60 – Tires and Tubes to Mukdahan (not)”

  1. On กรกฎาคม 31, 2012 at 10:41 am