Took my much needed rest day today. Other than sitting around catching up on emails and watching a couple movies it was mostly uneventful. Breakfast was at a place in town called Bee Jays. Great food and there was a lot of it. It’s the only cafe I’ve eaten in that’s part of a tire/vehicle repair center. After that I rode over to the grocery store and picked up some lunch and a couple snacks. On the way out I spotted a loaded up recumbent bicycle with a BOB trailer hanging off the back. It’s always fun to talk to other touring riders so I looked around and sure enough the owner was texting away at the library next door.
The bike belonged to Thomas and that guy has had one hell of a day. He’s on his way down from Prudoe Bay on the northern tip of Alaska to the southern end of Argentina. Along the way he’s stopping to put his mountain climbing skills to the test by climbing the highest mountains in every country he passes through! Because just riding that far isn’t hard enough. 
He’s keeping track of his journey on his blog. We chatted for a bit at the store and I told him if he needed a better wifi signal the motel I’m at only charged $2. Then I headed back over here to rest up.
Several hours later my motel room phone rings and it was Thomas. Just 5 miles out of town his rear wheel got a nasty tear in it that no amount of patching was going to hold together. He ended up having to leave his bike and hitch a ride back into town. I went and checked out the tire and it was toast. Unfortunately he didn’t have a spare and there are no bike/sporting good stores in town. Well I can certainly appreciate how frustrating this would have been for him so I offered him my spare and an extra tube (his rear tube had 12 patches on it!). Hopefully the spare gets him to Fort Nelson which is where I bought it in the first place. It’s about 320 miles and he has less weight on the back so I’m hoping it holds up.
Philippe, the owner of the bike shop in Whitehorse, emailed me to report that my 2 new Schwalbe tires are waiting for me there. It’ll be nice not to be riding around on a pair of very used and abused tires. My lesson learned from all this, and after seeing what Thomas went through, is to never underestimate the importance of having a backup.
The weather forecast has it looking like it might be a little wet in the morning so maybe I’ll sleep in a bit.
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That was so very nice of you Scott to help Robert out. Enjoy your rest. You deserve it.
You officially won the badge for good samaritan…way to go
Hi Scott,
yes, I realize how lucky I was to have met you yesterday and that you gave me the spare tire. I could easily have lost a few days waiting in Watson Lake for a new tire to show up. I made it to Watson Lake, but you won’t believe this: After another 35 km or so I stopped at the Hyland River bridge to look at the map and there I had another flat tire in the front! (How I dread the sound of a tire suddenly deflating – tffff… – I heard this sound 4 times now in 2 days!) Then I used the spare tube with the Presto valve you gave me and after some 20 min or so I was back riding again.
What a day!
Thanks, Thomas.
P.S.: My name is Thomas, not Robert.
son, first off thanks for calling last night. good to hear you’re safe and in good spirts. Thomas, you’ll have to excuse aunt leta for the confusion with your name, she’s getting up in years and the old memory isn’t what it used to be………lmao.
Hey Scott-
Gary here, we met way back in the spring at Weston Bend State Park in Missouri. I was on the Long Haul Trucker doing a week long Missouri Parks tour. It is good to see that you are making so much progress and having a great adventure. My wife and I landed at Watson Lake in 1997 in the airplane that I built in my basement. We were on our flying adventure to Alaska at the time. If you get a chance and if you travel thru Whitehorse be sure to check out the full size real Douglas DC3 airplane stuck up on a pole at the airport that serves as a fully functioning wind sock. One of a kind I think. I check in from time to time and enjoy reading about your expierences. Thanks for all the posting and keeping us updated and good luck on down the road.
Blue skies and tailwinds to you.