Going Long and Hard.

Small update before we head into the season.

Looking ahead I have a 100+ mile event almost every weekend from HoH until the NJ600 in June. I put the feelers out to some of my long distance Clubmates and have cobbled together a 6ish person Ultra group. There are 3 of us looking to qualify for PBP so we'll be doing a bunch of Brevets, obvi. Super excited that one our customers, David, has joined the group. He's won RAAM and most of the qualifiers leading up to it. If you follow my IG, I'll usually post pics of his bike during the rebuild before events. Might actually happen today as his bike is in for a rebuild after a 4-week hiatis in Australia to train. Absolute monster on a bike. Old skool. Knows how to suffer. We also have one of the fastest woman Triathletes in the country. She's gone off the deep-end and is bored with Ironman events and wants to push her limits a bit more. And we have 2 guys from the Club that I did events with last season already. Ian and Silas. Should be a ton of fun and everyone is pretty pumped after our first get together Monday night.
 
Common theme in the last few rides, trees falling down, everywhere. I watched 2 dozen or so come down in 2 hours riding around town this afternoon. I also watched a NJ Transit train blow straight through a tree this size. I was sure the train was going off track but it wasn't phased at all, just pieces of tree all over the place.

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pearl said:
Meant to say this earlier today, can’t believe you found other mental, local people like yourself to ride with.
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I've been Dave's mechanic for the past few years so I knew he exsisted, but he's never expressed interest in joining forces. He's one of the few people that the shop fully Sponsors. He's also best friends with the President of our club so there's a bunch of 3 degree stuff happening there. The others I may have helped cultivate over the past couple years. Some folks were ultra-curious and just needed a little direction, like Silas. He's naturally a monster on the bike and we just had to build his engine to go longer. It's exciting.
 
So. I've been reading a lot of unrideable snow condition posts around the interwebs. At the deepest last week I was in snow up to my knees, see pic above. 100% rideable. Here's the super secret Pro Tip.

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Carry one of these with you. When the bike stops because snow is too deep, remove your valve cores. Pro Tip #2 - This only works with 100mm rims and 5" tires. Anything less and you're better off buying a Plus bike because you ain't going anywhere ungroomed.
 
jimvreeland said:
So. I've been reading a lot of unrideable snow condition posts around the interwebs. At the deepest last week I was in snow up to my knees, see pic above. 100% rideable. Here's the super secret Pro Tip.

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Carry one of these with you. When the bike stops because snow is too deep, remove your valve cores. Pro Tip #2 - This only works with 100mm rims and 5" tires. Anything less and you're better off buying a Plus bike because you ain't going anywhere ungroomed.
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Jim, I may try this, probably just to prove you're absolutely right that anything less than 100mm rims + 5" tires won't work (and breaking Pro Tip#3: Never question a Pro's Pro Tips). I'm wondering if Bud/Lou, being a bit bigger than your Dillinger5s, might be able to perform at least somewhat the same at essentially 0 psi on deep snow with my 90mm Nextie rims. Every try that? Will I just sink to new lows?? I'm doubtful that I can fit a Lou on a 100mm rim on the Fatboy out back. Do you suspect that I'm right about that? Thanks!
 
I know they'll fit on the carbon bike but you'll lose 1st gear. Or you need to reverse the chainring to gain clearance. I would also add that it does take some wattage to keep the bike afloat, similar effort to climbing.
 
jimvreeland said:
I know they'll fit on the carbon bike but you'll lose 1st gear. Or you need to reverse the chainring to gain clearance. I would also add that it does take some wattage to keep the bike afloat, similar effort to climbing.
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Yep, I figured as much on the wattage -- something I could use a lot more of...
 
Me and Woody got in 1st tracks last week yo. A bunch of survival campers beat down a track near flag pole at trailside nature center, other then that the place has been empty.
The down trees kill flow more then the deep, wet snow.
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Very mixed conditions. Snow has compressed to a fat-friendly depth with mud in many places. Trails will be wet for weeks.

Good TM weather, doe...
 
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