October 14-15
We took two days off in Reno, because we had plenty of hotel points for a free stay and we were feeling a little rushed with a lot of chores to do for the next section, including actually figuring out our route through Nevada.
Time for a bike and gear update, as we’ve been on the road over 4000mi/6400km now.
Although we replaced our rear tires back in Whitehorse, we have both been riding on our original front tires: Vittoria Mezcal 29” x 2.4” and we’ve loved them. I’ve had no punctures, and Paul had one puncture way back on the Cassiar Highway in Canada, which he plugged up and it’s held fine since then.
Now we’ve both got fresh tires front and back. I got WTB Peacekeepers, and Paul got Maxxis Recons, both still 29” x 2.4”. We chose from what was available at the REI near our hotel, and had the bike mechanic there change them out for us. He also replaced our chains (we are on our 4th chains), adjusted the brakes (original brake pads still going strong), and replaced the rim tape.
We had really great service at the REI bike shop, the mechanic was so pleased to work on the bikes, and despite being dusty and filthy, he said they were cleaner and in more sound mechanical condition than most bikes he works on! He did clean the cassettes a bit for us as well. So we feel like we are on brand new bikes, and with luck everything should last until we get home!
We had some terrible chain lube we’d gotten back in Canada that did not hold up well to the dusty conditions we’ve been in for the past two weeks. We had to stop multiple times per day to clean the chains and cassettes, so we are glad to have gotten some T9, which holds up much better in these conditions.
On to other gear updates:
We’ve both added more clothes along the journey, which I’ve updated before. But I got a warmer pair of gloves here in Reno, as my fingers have been quite sore on the cold mornings. I gave Paul my old pair, which is warmer than what he was using, so hopefully we’ll both be slightly less numb in the cold.
Back in Oregon our stove stopped working, so we got a new one in The Dalles, called a Kovea Fireman. It’s very similar to the Pocket Rocket, but it seems to have a more dispersed flame and higher heat output, so I’ve noticed less hot spots while cooking. It does perform worse in the wind, but it works for our needs.
Our Exped sleeping pad has had a couple internal baffles start to break, so we are working on getting a warranty replacement sent to us. Exped has great customer service for warranty issues.