I've split me rim. Ouch.

1 km short of Kaiteriteri, the pulsing of my rear brake made itself noticed some more. Quick check reveals the wheel is still true, but there's a ruddy great split in the rim. It seems that 7500km carrying 40kg with as much air as I can possibly squeeze into the tyre has had its wicked way. so we had to get the bus back to Nelson and make several frantic calls to bike shops. The mechanic at the nearest shop in Motueka sounded like he hadn't left school and had "only built 3 wheels and they're not very good". The idiot on the phone at Bridge St Cycles in Nelson had never heard of Mavic! Let alone a D521 rim. Oh yay....

But, regardless, I got the bike booked in to get a new wheel built. turns out they didn't have any D521s in stock. Oops. But, for less than the cost of a new build (NZ$200) they could sell me a 36h XTR hub on a Sunn Rhino Lyte. and its black, :-)

Problem solved.

Now we're off into the Marlborough sounds and I'll finally get to ride the Queen Charlotte Track. Even bigger :-)