Saturday, October 11, 2008

VQ Training Ride 1

Well, with VQ coming up in a few months, I figured I would see where I stood, fitness wise. Well, I am still standing, but perhaps on one leg and I think VQ will take 2 legs. Still, I figure I am halfway there.

This ride was 34 miles and had 4682' of climbing. It was supposed to be 50% pavement and 50% dirt, but it ended up being a bit more pave' then anticipated due to technical difficulties. More on that as we go.

First, the steeds for the day: Lev and Dos.




The Dos belongs to Ed. Ed is pretty fit and is training for a 12 hour solo effort in Nov. Go, big Ed.

We hit the road into a cold morning and a slight breeze as we began an 8 mile climb. I had noticed a low rear tire when I unracked my bike, but the tire looked sound and the Stan's juice should fix any pokey thingy...not. Guess I let the Stan's goop dry out and it was soon that I was slapping in a tube on the side of the road. Delay #1.

We topped out with views of Red Mtn and Elderberry Forebay. Say hi to Ed.



We dropped about 1500' and headed into Cienega Cyn and the narrows. In the spring, the creek runs right down the middle of the road. Very nice. Alder, Sycamores, poison oak.



The climb out is a bit of pedaling. As we were in the midst of it, Ed was about 10' in front of me when all of a sudden, *POW*. Tube goiter. We fixed it, but it left a bit of a question as to the integrity of the bead seat on the Bonty rim and the tire. Very loose fit, and the rim tape was a bit in the way of the bead area of the narrow rim. I love my Stan's rims. No worries for me, but Ed was a bit concerned, especially when the first tube change leaked immediately and then we had one more flat at the top of the climb. Bad juju.




To help us get home without any more issues, we kept to the pavement and skipped that last section of dirt. Good thing too, as I was flirting with cramps on the top of the last hill.

A good day all around, but I figure I have work to do and plenty of time to do it. Today's total: 34 miles and 4682' of climbing.

3 comments:

Andrew Brautigam said...

Bonty rims STINK for that - I had a crossmark front tire blow off on a singletrack turn one time.... not fun

Guitar Ted said...

mt: What rim was that exactly on Ed's Dos? I've heard tell of these tube goiters, but never actually have seen one since my 26"er racing days when we were all running rediculously narrow rims and 2.1's. A recipe for disaster!

grannygear said...

GT - IIRC, it was a Bonty Race Disc. He built up the Dos from parts off of a Gary Fisher 29er hardtail, but I do not know which one, except that it was alu and red!

The inner section was narrow enough that the Velox tape was curled up at the edges out of the spoke bed and was intruding into the sidewall/bead area. That rim had very little bead seat to begin with, so it looked sketchy to me.