The Good, The Bad

Yesterday my tree skirt arrived.  Kerri had helped me pick out both the tree topper and the skirt.  They have some coordinating elements that I think look good together, something she pointed out that would have flown over my head.  I like the 2022 edition of my tree.

Last night I spent a couple hours editing two videos. The first one was from a very quick ride Sunday where I talked about what I have been doing and why I have not been posting many videos recently.  Hint, Kerri’s name comes up there as well.  I also got around to posting the footage from the return trip to PA which had nothing earth shattering in it, just a documentation of what happens to a human being after hours and hours on the road.

After finishing up the editing I thought I would dive back in to working on the S22 since I had the replacement tubes in hand.  I had a modest goal to just get the new tire/tube installed since that was such a struggle previously.  I took a different strategy, trying to start mounting the tire near the valve stem and then finishing on the opposite side to hopefully minimize opportunities to damage the tube.  I entered the task with a positive attitude and high hopes.  Many times if I struggle with something if I step away from it and come back later I get better results.  This was not one of those times.

Once again the tire was a ridiculously tight fit.  I tried using my body weight and hand torque to muscle it onto the rim but I just couldn’t.  Instead I had to again pull out the 9 inch tire levers and even with those it was a tremendous struggle.  I would prefer to avoid using these as they have the potential for mass inner tube destruction.  In total I bet I was fighting with the damn thing for close to an hour.  My reward for this struggle was the tube again not holding air, because I tore it……again.

My frustration level was very high as you can imagine.  I have done at least a half dozen tire/tube changes on EUCs, never has one been this difficult.  I ripped the old tube out, after fighting to unseat the tire, again.  I have one more tube left, it’s do or die time.  I need to give myself a little mental break before attempting this again.  My hands are sore from all the cranking on the stiff tire.  I will make sure the next attempt will include use of dish soap on the tire/rim to make things as slippery as possible.  I probably should have lubed from the start, lesson learned.