New tires and the dreaded summer cold

I rolled over 4,500 miles on the Surly today. Still have the original tires that were new on it back in October of last year. The tires were Panaracer Pasela Tour Guards. I thought about replacing them around 3,000 miles when I had a flat on the front and then on the back tire all in one week. But I didn't. Then I had a flat around 4,000 miles and thought about replacing them. I never thought I'd get that many miles out of these tires. They rode on a lot of salt, sand and gravel over the winter. The tread still looked in pretty good shape. The sidewalls were a different story. They were just about shot and worried me everyday, if I thought about them. I picked up a pair of Continental Grand Prix 4 Season tires last week from my LBS and finally got those put on today. Bryn sold the tires to me at $5 below MSRP. I'm not sure why he goes that low, but I'm not complaining.

With all the miles I've been putting on the bikes the last few years I've gone through some tires. What I've learned is on cheaper tires the sidewalls seem to go before the rolling surface is completely shot. I get sidewall punctures just as frequent as other punctures as the tires get older. Last year I put Continental Ultra-Gatorskins on my road bike with the Dura-skin sidewall. In two seasons I've never flatted with those tires. So I thought I'd get tires with the same Dura-skin construction for my commuter bike. Three or four years ago when I was just getting into some bigger mileage years I was still buying sale priced tires from Nashbar. I thought anything over $9.99 was too much to pay. But I've learned a good quality tire is way nicer to ride and more worry free.

I'm really excited about the new tires and I'm looking forward to my commute tomorrow. It's the little things!

Susan was back at work today after three days at home nursing her cold. I always seem to get a late summer cold. This time Susan got it first. I'm really hoping I can avoid the full force of this one. I've been experiencing some cold-like symptoms, but it hasn't nailed me yet. I'm hoping my immune system is better this summer then any summer in the past. It has probably been compromised for most of my adult life up until the time I was diagniosd with Celiac Disease three years ago. It's a hereditary auto-immune disease and is an intolerance to gluten protein (proteins found in wheat). Back in May I decided to cut back on my intake of lectin proteins because other people in my family with Celiac disease also react to lectins. I discovered I too was reacting to lectins. I have never felt better since cutting them out of my diet. I sure hope I can fight off this cold virus, it did not look fun.

Mileage update:
Tuesday: 20 mi
Wednesday: 25 mi

August: 450 mi
2006: 4,885