Haven't posted here in a while, since most of my ride data & info is posted on bikejournal.com, but this one should be placed here, since there really is no ride data. This will be more of a rant. An obscenely irritated rant.

No ride today because I got new wheels. That's the good news. The Alex DA22s have been holding up well, but during the last training ride, they felt "shifty"...probably due to the fact that there's probably at least one spoke broken on the back wheel. Also, it may be due for a truing. So I took the wheelset to McCully Bicycle to have it re-trued, and I picked up a pair of Easton Vista wheels. Attractive, nice, 33mm rim, good weight, and oh so sexy. I also picked up a new pair of Conti Ultra Gatorskin Tyres and new tubes. So far so good. I am happy. And all of this is finished by 2:30pm, meaning that I had a lot of time to mount the tyres and get in a good amount of riding before the sun went down.

Then the bad news. Those Contis are a bitch to mount on the Eastons. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get the second bead to go on. First bead: No problem. Tube inserted: no problem. Half of the second bead: no problem. The last few centimeters of second bead to mount the wheel: PROBLEM. And not just for one wheel. Nooooo. After giving up in frustration working on the rear wheel, I tried the front wheel and met the same fate. All this time, the weather is really nice, the sun is going down...Grrrrrr...I finally gave up around 7pm (FIVE FREAKIN' HOURS LATER), as the sun was almost down and my tummy was growling in urgency. Maybe I could find ideas on the Net. I'm sure others have gone through this same dilemma. So I went over to my parents' house, had dinner with them, and went online to look up answers. Yes, I found posts by others bitching about how difficult Ultra Gatorskins are to mount on Campy/Eastons/Eurus/. But NOT MANY gave tips on how to mount it. One person suggested using soapy water or butter, kind of like how women use it to remove rings that get stuck on their finger. But I'm not too keen on putting soapy water on a new rim and a new tube. One person suggested throwing the tyre in the dryer and cooking it for 10 minutes. The idea is to heat the rubber up so it becomes more malleable and easier to manipulate. It's an admirable thought...but I can see Les furious that I had put a TYRE into the dryer. Another suggested leaving the tyre out in the sun...meaning that I'll have to wait until TOMORROW to mount the tyre. I guess I can wait, but I'm impatient.

So now, I'm stuck with two half-mounted tyres on wheels that are off my bike, sore blistering thumbs, and probably no chance of riding tomorrow if I can't get these damn things on.

The sad part is I really do like these tyres. But if I can't even use them, I guess I'll have to return them...

Ahh, that's my rant for the day. Hopefully I'll get some ride time in tomorrow...