Averting disaster

Descending a 7,200ft pass in eastern Uzbekistan is asking a bike to do a lot.  With 300 pounds of bike, gear and rider, slowing down downhill for obstacles and turns puts the brakes to work.  In fact, they can, and have produced so much friction against the braking surface of the rim that the pressure in the inner tubes causes it to pop, which it did.  Just as I was about to pull over to let the rims cool down the sound of air quickly hissing out of my tire put a frown on my face.  Upon setting to the task of changing the tube, I noticed a sizable crack along the sidewall of the rear rim.  I guess after five years and around 10,000 miles have been enough for the poor rims.  I duly changed the tube and proceeded to even more gingerly descend the mountain, this time using only the front brakes for fear of the rear rim totally losing integrity which would be a very messy situation.  Stopping every few hundred yards to let the front rim cool down meant that getting down the mountain took longer than climbing...very frustrating.  At the bottom of the mountain was a vast plain and I was able to ride safely without brakes at all, being careful to avoid any obstacle that could jar the rear rim to failure.

CLOSEUP OF THE DAMAGED RIM

In the meantime, I shot off an email to James at Wheel & Sprocket, a guy who I know loves challenges such as "Hey James, I need an identical new rim sent to me, and btw, I'm in the middle of Kyrgyzstan!"  True to form, James and his crew ordered up a new rim, mindful to get a matching rim, and process all the paperwork lightning quick.  In fact, as you can see from the tracking below, it was five days from door to door, not too shabby if you ask me.  It really is pretty amazing how close and connected our world has become.

PROGRESS OF MY NEW RIMS FROM WISCONSIN TO KYRGYZSTAN

When I went to go to the DHL office in Osh to pickup my package, I had to pay a $12 customs charge, but it was no big deal.  I rushed back to the guesthouse and set about on the rim transfer.  I was sad to part ways with the old rim as it was on a wheel that has stayed remarkably true and round for five years.  I have not broken a single spoke despite the worst roads on the planet I has ridden in the deserts of western Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.  This wheel would be dismantled and fitted to a new rim, the process of break-in would begin all over again.

DUTIFULLY TRANSFERRING EACH SPOKE FROM THE OLD RIM TO THE NEW

A glaring tool missing from the entire operation is a truing stand.  I can probably find a truing stand a few days from now in China, but for now I must build the wheel using only the brake pads with the wheel in the frame...eventually I get the new wheel set, the tire mounted and now the bike is ready to go...Huzzah!

ALL DONE!

POSTSCRIPT:

With the old rim out of the picture, I leaned it against the wall and a minute later it slid and loudly clanged onto the floor.  When I went to pick it up, I was surprised to see that the mild shock of it falling on floor had jolted the rim to deconstruct itself.  The rim fell apart at the weld and split along the crack...as you can see below, it totally self-destructed.  I'm glad this didn't happen to me while I was riding.  To come back to the beginning of the story, it turned out to be very fortunate that I had a flat descending the mountain which allowed me opportunity and cause for me to see the beginnings of a serious problem...disaster averted!

RIM SELF-DESTRUCTION