Out With The Old
For last weekend's race, I was running a set of my trusty Panaracer Rampage 2.35's. Good all-round tires but a bit portly and not quite sharp enough in the corners for my taste. Thusly (don't think I've ever used this apparently made up word according to blogger even though I've heard many people more intelligent than I use it...) a purchase of a new set of Racin Ralphs was in order since my others were getting thread bare in the side wall region. Too bad too because the tread was still good. To avoid the quick side wall wear this time around, I purchased tubeless ready RR's. Slightly beefier sidewalls (and a bit more weight) should mean that these babies will keep me rolling for a while.
I mounted them up the night before the Wednesday night worlds in cape elizabeth this week so I was a bit apprehensive that things would go well.
Once upon a time my work bench was clean. Do you believe in fairy tales?
all mounted up and ready to rip.
Thankfully, I've done enough stans tubeless setups at this point to have had a powerful compressor on hand. With luck on my side the installs went smoothly and I can happily report that I didn't burp or roll a tire the whole time I was crossed eyed with effort last night. VICTORY! I did witness one spectacular crash by my buddy Mike though. On one of the many slick, pt bridges, Mike got a bit sideways, headed for the side of the bridge and tried to ride his bike off the side to save it. Thankfully for us spectators, he was unsuccessful and landed face first in a muddy, stagnant pond. He'll be checking for open sores and ringworm for the next few days...
Now onto happier days. Last week, when people still believed in the sun, this is what the Maine Mayhem course looked like. Sure does look purty doesn't it?
and this is what it looked like after a day of rain.
sorry, didn't have an actual pic of the sloppy sections of the trail...
5 comments:
She *might* be too muddy.. Maybe not though. Does seem enthusiastic - that's always encouraging.
I am loving the Racing Ralphs. So much that I now fear change.
Rick, all you need is a floor pump to mount those these days. And no more soap...too funny. Mike's crash was brilliant. What a great ride.
Killbill
who the F would even try it with a floor pump when they have a compressor? that would be like riding a hardtail when full suspension is so efficient these days. oh wait...
oh, and glad to see you're going by killbill now.
oh, and one more thing. the soap wasn't for mounting, it was for seeing where I had air leakage. so much easier when you can see the frothy bubbles.
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