Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Careful What You Wish For

We had a wet Spring and Summer.
Very wet.
The past few weeks of relative dryness have been a nice change (with the exception of Tropical Depression Danny).
High traffic areas that have a hard time drying like the Res., are in pretty good shape.
Unfortunately the dryness hasn't been so kind to other areas.
Yesterday I was riding at One of the Happiest Places in the World, and was surprised at the conditions. Loose talc and scree over hardpack. Amazing how a matter of 5 miles or so along the ridge can make such a difference in trail conditions.
I was feeling a little flat, which when you add that to the dry, loose conditions, and slightly larger gear than optimal left me on the wrong end of the bell curve.
Short, technical, little grunts that I'd have a chance at were being walked.
Race Kings wouldn't be the tire of choice if these conditions were typical. Maybe Saguros.
Which leads me to this:
What tires to run at Landmine?
Race Kings are tough and fast, but aren't the best in soft loose stuff. But they are fast. If the course is hardpack with some mud and rocks they'll be great. Too dry or wet, not so much.
There's always good old Ignitors, or the Ignitor / Nevegal combo pack.

4 comments:

James said...

It looks like the rain on Friday into Saturday will bring ideal conditions. The race kings have been good to you. I wouldn't go with anything that would slow you down on the pavement sections. I'm toying with 34x18 for my gear choice.

CB2 said...

Ironically, I'm just sitting down after swapping over to the Nevegal / Ignitor combo.
Sounds like they reduced the pavement some; the promoter claims about a mile total.

James said...

I'm wondering if I should put the rampage on the front. I like the ignitor but last sunday my hands and wrists were killing me. The rampage is bigger volume and might be better for hitting rocks and roots. ?

CB2 said...

That's my thinking with the Nevegal ,very similar to the Rampage or so "they" say.