There I was, departing the bucolic 19th century wild west mountain town of Silverton, Colorado, itself already almost 10,000 feet up in the mighty San Juans, on my way even higher. The mountain passes we were aiming for topped out at over 13,000 feet, and the roads were strewn with rocks, many of them sharp. With every little bump of a possibly pointy piece of pumice, I whimpered like a sniveling rodent.
Because the SUV I was driving was a borrowed vehicle and not something I owned, I was riding on OEM tires which, like all OEM tires, were not designed to meet the needs of rugged off-road explorers, rather the million different parameters that buyers of all vehicles, almost none of which ever go off road, demand: low price, great gas mileage, quiet running, excellent longevity, good grip in both wet and dry conditions, yada, yada, and, finally, yada.