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Tires and Tubes – A Tale of Two Monkeys

Dave’s Race Report & Product Review

The Dirt Crit Cranky Monkey – Aug. 6
I’ve had a few semi-slick MTB tires gathering dust in my basement for years. They saw me through my first adult bike race, the 2001 Cyclocross Super Cup in Baltimore. I was riding a $300 MTB and had no idea what I was doing. The tires, however, did just fine. Last Sunday’s Cranky Monkey Dirt Crit seemed like the perfect time for the semi slicks to reappear.

The semi slicks raised eyebrows at the start, but performed great. I had no problems charging up the gravel hill at the start. (OK, no more problems than usual). They rolled well, gripped through the turns, and kept me in control on the big downhill. They even held tight on the edge of the trail as fellow 41-year old family man Chris Clarke lapped me on his road to victory. I wheezed out a 12 of 16 finish in the 35+ group. The fault was not in my tires, but in myself.
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The Fountainhead Cranky Monkey – Aug. 13
One week later, I squarely blame my lackluster performance on my tires, not myself. For the technical trails of Fountainhead, I returned my semislicks to the basement and reinstalled my standard knobby tires, Panaracer Fire XCs I think. My 35+ race started well. I entered the singletrack slightly behind the lead pack and was starting to pass folks one-by-one. Just before the first steep, root-filled downhill I felt something was wrong. I pulled aside and found I had TWO flat tires. I don’t know what happened. I was riding relatively smoothly and not going for extreme air. My choice of 40 psi was a mistake. I watched EVERYONE pass me by while I changed both tubes. After another 10 minutes of riding, I saw the front tire wobbling all over the place. Part of the tire had rolled off the rim. No flat this time, but another stop to deflate/re-inflate my tire.

All of this stopping, starting, futzing and pumping had me flustered. I lost my mental race mojo. I was so far behind as I came down shockabilly hill, that the course marshal thought I was the 35+ leader. I had to slow down to explain that I REALLY did have one more lap to go. I regained a little composure on the second lap, and finished the race as many of the expert were coming in. BLECH. Now that my “bad race of the year” is out of the way, I look forward to a better day at the final Cranky Monkey at Quantico. See you there.

Dave

Comments»

1. Tris Newbury - August 14, 2006

I got four flats at a race at Fountainhead once. That was the last time I only carried CO2. Thanks to a friendly pre-course rider I did not have to walk out from the far end of fountainhead, but finished so far behind I think they were about to send out a search party.

2. Tris Newbury - August 14, 2006

I got four flats once at a race at Fountainhead. That was the last time I carried only CO2. Thankfully a nice course pre-rider helped me out so I did not have to walk out all of the last four miles of the course. I took so long to get back I think they were about to send out a search party.