We spent the night behind the Wide Waters Drive-In listening to a light drizzle on the tents. We packed up wet equipment and got on the road (actually the Erie Canal tow path) and headed to Gasport for breakfast.

The bridge across the canal at Gasport was closed for repairs so we pushed on to Middleport for breakfast. As we got our food, the rain started again. We had an extra couple cups of coffee waiting for the rain to subside.

When we got to the bikes, I had a flat on the rear. It took three attempts at fixing the flat to get a tube to hold. I had run out of spare tubes and my patch kit was depleted. We decided to ride on NY Bike Route 5, which parallels the tow path because of the rain.

A mile or so down the road, I flatted again. No more tubes and the frustration factor was high. Brian looked at the map and said that he would ride ahead to Medina and see if he could find any tubes. It was a plan.

I limped along by pumping up my tire every half a mile or so.

Just as I was getting to Medina, here comes Brian. After going to several stores, he found an old hardware store that had two 27" shraeder valve tubes. He bought them. Fortunately my wheels are drilled for shraeder valves and 27" tubes will work for 700c tires.

I found a wide part of the sidewalk and took the panniers and rear wheel off for about the sixth time that morning. Brian asked if he could help and I said yeah, find some coffee.

By the time Brian returned, I had found what I had missed on every other repair attempt. A very tiny piece of glass was embedded in the thick tread of the Schwalbe touring tires and apparently only popped out under load. I dug out the offending glass and put the bike back together. I finished my coffee and we got back on the road – in the rain.

Wes