My first serious gear change - Tyres

As part of my fitness regime months ago I started riding to work. Then, when I started actually "training" I took my morning rides and turned them into what Joe Friel refers to as an anchor session - a core component of my training regime. This has been outrageously successful.

Until last week.

After months of very occasional problems last week I got three flat tyres in three days. Apart from forcing me to rely on mates to cover for gear shortages, making me late for work, and generally pissing me off this run of issues has me questioning my gear and my reliance on cycling. Suddenly the cornerstone of my entire training regime is uncertain.

So how bad had the problem become? Well without really noticing I discovered I had this nasty tangle of bike tyre entrails that had quietly accumulated in my garage over the past few months:

From Instant Upload

Discussing my problem it appears my tyre choice was appalling. The continental ultra race tyres that came with the bike rode nicely, had good grip and were quite quick but its appears they offered all the protection of a rice paper condom on Newcastle's seriously industrial debris strewn roads. Well the obvious choice was the continental gatorskin, after all I was generally happy with the conti's I had and it made sense to stick with what I sort of knew.

The problem was I couldnt find any in Newcastle. Usually I would just order them over the net (after all its so much cheaper) but I really wanted to do this before my next commute next week. Luckily all was not lost. A local shop (Drift Bikes) offered an alternative, the all-condition armadillo elite . And here they are:

From Instant Upload

Now the tyres are fitted but thats as far as I've got, I havent even tested them yet. I'll let you know how they go in a week or so.