When Your Words Come Back To Haunt You

***My fellow New Yorkers: Sign the Complete the Concourse petition.  Thank you***

In my most recent Outside column I wrote about old bike stuff that still works good:

One of those stuffs was inner tubes, about which I had this to say:

Well, wouldn't you know it, shortly after sharing this column last Friday I headed out on the Jones SWB Complete for a ride:

It was one of those rides that was so enjoyable I kept congratulating myself as I rode for managing to steal away, and while I'd only planned on a fairly short outing I kept making additional withdrawals from the mileage bank since this bike just makes you want to ramble:

Eventually I decided to head up to my favorite lunch spot:

That being the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture:

Where I like to splurge every so often on something sustainably curated such as this:

Moreover, I decided I'd get to Stone Barns via some singletrack I don't know all that well and that I probably shouldn't even be writing about for the sake of discretion, but what does it matter really since who even reads this blog anymore anyway?

In any event, there I was roughly 20 miles into my ride, now riding the aforementioned singletrack with visions of artisanal quiche dancing in my head and still patting myself on the back with every pedal stroke for what an awesome ride I was having.  Then, just as the trail started getting unfamiliar, I felt my rear tire go soft.  Flat tire.  Goddamn it.

Hey, no big deal.  Naturally I always carry a tube and a patch kit.  So I hopped off the bike and got to work.

This is where my words in Outside came back to taunt me.

The Jones is tubeless-ready, but of course it comes with tubes installed.  The Marin is also tubeless-ready, and it also comes with tubes installed.  But while I've never had any difficulty replacing a tube on the Marin (which I guess is why I never bothered to go tubeless in the first place), the Jones was another story.  The wheel/tire combo is snug.  Really snug.  Of course you want this when you're setting up tubeless, but when you're using tubes in the woods what it means is a protracted struggle that involves sweating profusely as mosquitos swarm all around your person and you push your wimpy thumbs to the breaking point.

Then, when I finally got the tube in, it turned out my diminutive hand pump was not powerful enough to push the tire bead completely out of the channel in the center of the rim.  (The fact that I was using an undersized tube didn't help.)  That meant that even at maximum pressure there was a gap between the tire bead and the rim that looked like this:

See?

So of course I did what any reasonable person would do:

Ride it anyway and hope he tire would seat itself eventually.

It did not.

By now time was becoming a factor (I had to be home to parent), so not only did I give up on my Stone Barns repast but I also abandoned the trail and simply bushwhacked to the nearest roadway where I emerged sweaty, dirty, and irritated.  No sooner had I remounted when another of my Outside columns came to life and a driver attempted to stop me for directions.  Before he could even finish I replied with my usual "I don't know I don't live around here," at which point the driver began to argue and insist I must know where he wanted to go, and the fact that I didn't put the Jones through his windshield should qualify me for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The upshot of all of this was that I spent the entire trip home bucking and undulating on my wobbly unseated rear tire like a novice equestrian who's never learned how to post.  This was bad enough on the flats, but on the downhills it was severe enough to nearly throw me.  So by the time I got home I was...cranky.  

Needless to say I set the Jones up tubeless the first chance I got over the weekend, and ironically the very snugness that made my trailside repair attempt so frustrating meant that I was able to get the tire seated with an ordinary floor pump.  (I should probably get one of those tubeless-compatible floor pumps, but I haven't yet.)  So all is right with the world.

Indeed, by way of redemption I headed out for a truncated version of Friday's ride on the now-tubeless Jones this very morning and had a positively delightful time:

So, in conclusion, if you order yourself a Jones SWB Complete (which you should), save yourself some time and do the tubeless setup as soon as you take it out of the box.  You'll be glad you did.  Once you get the tube out of there everything should also seal up easily thanks to the snug fit.  All you'll need is a couple of tubeless valve stems and the sealant of your choice.  (I make my own out of pancake batter.)  Then just roll up one of the tubes and carry it with you for emergencies.  (Maybe if I'd used a full-sized tube I'd have been able to get the tire seated out on the trail.)

You're welcome.