Rain, and thank you.

I don't mind riding in the rain.  After a certain point of of the year with all the traffic they see, my local trails become like concrete with rocks and roots sticking out.  No trace is left behind.  The only organic matter that leaves with me are hemlock needles, and dead leaf crumbs.  There are some muddy spots that are easily avoided with not even very careful route planning, but most of those spots are on the fireroads that connect the good stuff.

But what I really wanted to talk about was Stan's.  Stan's sealant and Maxxis tires have been a winning combination for me for the past 5 years.  The Maxxis Ignitor is the go to for most of my team.  It also was the first tire that Stan's really seemed to work in fixing punctures on the fly (no stopping, shaking, refilling, stopping shaking, stopping...).  You'd hear a squirt, and then it would stop.  You'd keep on rolling with hardly any loss of pressure.

This year has been one of those high puncture years.  Maybe because it is so dry, maybe because I've been trying racier tires than suit my, um, style of riding.  Whatever the case, I've had to resort to using a tube on a couple of occasions.  Fortunately these occurrences have all been close to home and not on some silly ride to Massachusetts.

Anyways, I've been enjoying Mary Jane set up all geared and hardtail.  On the Mt Riga ride I even had the Queef switch engaged for all but the climbs (mainly because I forgot to lock out the shock).  Descending has been a real hoot.  So much so I decided to dust off the Minute, and slap it on Blü.2.

One of the problems I've found with having a suspension fork on a bike [for me] is the fork saves the front tire, but without the feedback a rigid would give, I tend to plow my rear wheel into rocks...which can puncture tires.

Last night, in the rain, I felt my tire going soft.  I stopped, heard the hiss, and saw the milky puddle forming on my tire.  I was at the furthest possible point from the trailhead and didn't want to put a tube in, or for that matter ride a rock hard tire over rock hard rocks for 5 miles.  But the good old Stan's /Ignitor combo did it's thing.  I over inflated the tire, and began to ride.  The pressure dropped, and I feared it was tube time.  But it held.  It went from over inflated to just right and held.

Thank you.