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Anybody else hating the weather right now?! I just checked the 10 day forcast for my neck of the woods, and they are calling for 40%-50% chance of rain EVERYDAY! We’re never going to be able to ride again… 😢
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"PSUtuna" wrote
Anybody else hating the weather right now?! I just checked the 10 day forcast for my neck of the woods, and they are calling for 40%-50% chance of rain EVERYDAY! We’re never going to be able to ride again… 😢
Yeah man, it is getting a bit old with all this rain, especially for MTB’ing. Though for white water rafting, it is awesome!!!!! 😄 😄
Wife and I got tired of waiting for the rain to stop pouring to go riding, so we went on a three day drive from the Greenville area to Cowpens all the way over and down Hwy 11 (Cherokee Scenic Hwy.) visiting most all state and county parks with waterfalls and historical value. I did not want to leave Station Cove Falls nor the Issaqueena Falls at the Stumphouse Tunnel It was a blast by far!!!! Sucked not being able to ride at Hilltop Bike Park over near Walhalla or Clemson while over that way yesterday and earlier today. Got to get back to work tomorrow… 😢 😏
Another day, another trip… 😆 😄
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Some trails out west closed due to lack of rain 😢 Extreme fire danger
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We’ve given up on riding trails and have taken to the roads.
Weds – 60 mile solo mostly paved ride
Friday – 23 mile solo mostly paved ride
Saturday – 37 mile dirt road rideHere’s some pics from the dirt road ride. It was a blast!
Pretty much every type of bike was present short of a race-style road bike (which would not have worked). I was on my road bike with tubeless 28mm tires, Stan/Michael/Keith were all on ‘cross tires in the 30-35mm range, and Gator was on a hardtail MTB.
Stan laying down some powah.
Michael and Gator rollin’ out.
Cheese!
Keith, only the 2nd ride on his new Trek Crossrip.
The first creek crossing was an easy ride.
This is good gravel. Hardpack, smooth as glass, and fast.
Some sections of road had exposed rock, which was really cool.
This creek was not rideable. It was knee deep with fast current. Soft sticky clay road afterwards…
The clay. It was wet and soft, so it rolled slow – felt like dragging bricks behind you. And with my 28mm wide tires with no tread, it was a little slick. I was able to ride everything though.
Somebody got in trouble over this I bet! He had tried to do a u-turn and it didn’t work out.
One of the hardest climbs is near the end of the route, and it was almost all soft slow sticky slippery clay. It kinda sucked.
Ya don’t say… -
This rain is getting depressing… wish we could share it with the water-starved west.
Counting down the days until I hit the road, headed for dryer (and higher) climes!
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"dgaddis" wrote
We’ve given up on riding trails and have taken to the roads.
Weds – 60 mile solo mostly paved ride
Friday – 23 mile solo mostly paved ride
Saturday – 37 mile dirt road rideHere’s some pics from the dirt road ride. It was a blast!
Pretty much every type of bike was present short of a race-style road bike (which would not have worked). I was on my road bike with tubeless 28mm tires, Stan/Michael/Keith were all on ‘cross tires in the 30-35mm range, and Gator was on a hardtail MTB.
How do you like tubeless on road wheels? Think they would be a good option on my road bike (not CX, just straight up road)? I’m thinking of new wheels and might lean that way if they are worth while.
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Lugged my bike 7 hours north to Cincinnati, OH to do some riding since it was unridable in Western NC. Rode to the trailhead of my first trail this morning to find it in worse condition than where I came from and ended up riding 25 miles of asphalt just to get some exercise. I pretty much totaled out a pair of decent tires.
I hate this rain even more than I hate asphalt.
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"gar29" wrote
How do you like tubeless on road wheels? Think they would be a good option on my road bike (not CX, just straight up road)? I’m thinking of new wheels and might lean that way if they are worth while.
This is my first experience with RoadTubeless (been tubeless on the MTB for ~5yrs now). The common complaints I’ve heard/read are:
1 – limited tire choice
2 – hard to get tires on/off the rim
3 – messy if you do get a flat and need to install a tubeAddressing those:
1 – This is true. Only a handful of options, and they’re expensive, about $100 a tire. The original narrow Hutchinson offerings are listed as 23’s, but rarely actually measure that large, most are closer to 21mm. I have the Secteurs, which is a new 28mm tubeless ready tire, and mine measured just under 28mm when initially mounted (I need to measure them again now that they’ve got ~200 miles on ’em, they may have stretched a bit). The tubeless ready tires are just like their MTB counterparts – they have tubeless beads, but a standard casing that is not air tight and requires sealant. The standard casing is lighter and more supple/comfortable/faster than the air tight versions which have an extra layer of rubber.
2 – This seems to be totally dependant on what combination of tire and rim you’re using. I have Pacenti PL23 rims, and I was able to mount one tire completely by hand, with no tire levers. The other tire I needed a lever to get the last 4" of bead over the rim. So in other words, they were not any easier or harder to mount than any non-tubeless tire. Also, they aired up with a floor pump with no problem whatsoever. Set up could not have possibly been easier.
3 – Some people have had issues with sealant sealing holes on road tires, the pressure is too high for the latex plugs to stay in place, so they end up with sealant everywhere and a mess when installing a tube. But there are also plenty of reports of folks riding the tires until the cords are visible with no flats….sooo….YMMV. I think it depends on what kind of cuts/punctures you get: punctures (from things like nails and wires) will likely seal up fine, but cuts (from glass, metal, etc) will not. I’m using a homebrewed sealant, and haven’t had a flat yet. I didn’t get flats often at all with tubes either though. But, on Saturdays ride I did miss-time a bunny hop at a bridge with a 2" tall lip at the bottom of a fast gravel downhill, it was my first time hopping while in the drops 😃 I SLAMMED the rear wheel right on the corner of the bridge and bottomed it out hard, I just knew I’d dented the heck out of the rim. Had there been a tube it would have pinched without a doubt. But I kept right on riding, no loss of air, and the inspecting the rim later I was happy to see it was fine too, no dent! I did find two cuts in the tire, but I’m not positive they’re from the bridge, because they’re narrower than the rim sidewalls. Not sure how deep they are, so I don’t know if they went all the way through the tire and the sealant did it’s job, or if they didn’t go all the way through.Soooo….depending on what kind of tires you want to use, and what sort of flats you typically get, tubeless may or may not be for you on the road. You can always get wheels that are are tubeless ready and try it if you want, and if you don’t like it just put tubes in. I will say that a wide rim + the Secteur tires = sublime ride. I’m 175lbs and using 72psi up front and 77psi in the back, and will keep going a little lower until they start to feel slow or squirmy. I like the tires a lot, grippy and fast, and at 295g they’re pretty light for a 28ish-mm wide tire, and of course you lose the weight of the tube as well. And that width, without the worry of pinch flats, really does open up your options for where to ride the bike. Not all road bikes will fit them though.
Here’s the cuts. The one at the top of the picture isn’t deep, but I’m not sure about the other.
Oh yeah…I’ve ridden wet singletrack on them too 😆
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9.25" in the last 8 days and counting. My bike is in the garage staying clean while my Fivefingers have been hitting the trail (local HS cross country one) and getting a good cover of mud. Besides this the laps in the pol are adding up also. Almost 20 miles running, 4 miles in the pool and sadly none on the bike during that time.
dgaddis, are you planning a another gravel grinder this coming weekend? If so I may suffer the slow ss road miles just to get my legs spinning.
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"brianW" wrote
dgaddis, are you planning a another gravel grinder this coming weekend? If so I may suffer the slow ss road miles just to get my legs spinning.
Maybe! Gotta see what else I have going on…
Look for hills. SS on the road only works if you have some big hills. Otherwise it suuuuuucks!
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Thanks for that write up dgaddis, that was great insite! Currently I ride 23’s and don’t usually get flats. If I do, they tend to be pinch flats. I’ve been running Conntinental Ultra Gatorskins for years (same pair, I can’t even begin to imagine how many miles I have on them!). I generally run these at 120psi, which seems to work well with my size (6’4", 215). I’m wondering how the benefit of running tubeless at lower psi would be, as I never go off road with this bike? Definitely more comfortable I would imagine!
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"gar29" wrote
Thanks for that write up dgaddis, that was great insite! Currently I ride 23’s and don’t usually get flats. If I do, they tend to be pinch flats. I’ve been running Conntinental Ultra Gatorskins for years (same pair, I can’t even begin to imagine how many miles I have on them!). I generally run these at 120psi, which seems to work well with my size (6’4", 215). I’m wondering how the benefit of running tubeless at lower psi would be, as I never go off road with this bike? Definitely more comfortable I would imagine!
Yep, should be more comfortable for sure. Even at your size I imagine you could go with lower pressure even with tubes. 120psi is crazy high!
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After almost no snow all winter, we’re in a pattern where we’re getting almost daily thundershowers.
But . . they’re short
and even when raining, out humidity stays pretty low
and most of our trails drain and dry so quickly, the rain rarely prevents us from riding. -
"skibum" wrote
After almost no snow all winter, we’re in a pattern where we’re getting almost daily thundershowers.
But . . they’re short
and even when raining, out humidity stays pretty low
and most of our trails drain and dry so quickly, the rain rarely prevents us from riding.Just gotta get out early in the morning, correct? Early afternoon thundershowers?
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Well, we’ve been dry for two days. I think it may take more than two for the local trails to dry up, but I see they are calling for 50% of rain on Thursday and 60% on Friday. Just my luck, my days off. lol. I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one hating this weather right now. I really need to invest in a road/cyclocross bike. I don’t like taking my mountain bikes on roads if I don’t have to.
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"PSUtuna" wrote
Well, we’ve been dry for two days. I think it may take more than two for the local trails to dry up, but I see they are calling for 50% of rain on Thursday and 60% on Friday. Just my luck, my days off. lol. I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one hating this weather right now. I really need to invest in a road/cyclocross bike. I don’t like taking my mountain bikes on roads if I don’t have to.
Unfortunately that Tropical Storm near FL is predicted to hit the SC coastline by Sunday/Monday, so most likely more rain on the way in the Upstate. Most likely what is swooping down from the NW will cause all the weather to stall over us again or just west of us in GA. Better GA than here though…. 😆 😆 😆 Sorry you GA mountaineers…. 😆
I know I am itching to ride again, but as ‘PSUtuna’ stated, going to take a few sunny days to dry the trails for shredding… 😉
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Monsoon time in Arizona makes for great riding. Very dry and dusty trails finally get some moisture and get that perfect tacky surface…just stomp on the pedals for climbs and dive into turns…no worries about traction. And the whole world turns green as everything soaks up the water. Of course it is a good idea to be off the trails when the lightning arrives. Ride early and ride often.
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Augusta is having flooding, like, real flooding, the Savannah River hasn’t been this high since the 90s. The Corp. or Engineers has been releasing water from the three dams upstream of Augusta because all are approaching their maximum flood storage capacity. This time of year the river flow is typically 3,000cu.ft/sec the last couple of days it’s been at 40,000cu.ft/sec !!!!!!
I’m glad I live on a hill!!
Here’s a small idea of what we’re dealing with. This is the 1st creek bed crossing on the Modoc trail, the water you see in these first 2 pictures is actually a lot more water than normal for this creek bed, which is dry more often than not.
This is the creek last Weds. The rock John is standing on the rock behind the bike in the pictures above.
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"dgaddis" wrote
Augusta is having flooding, like, real flooding, the Savannah River hasn’t been this high since the 90s. The Corp. or Engineers has been releasing water from the three dams upstream of Augusta because all are approaching their maximum flood storage capacity. This time of year the river flow is typically 3,000cu.ft/sec the last couple of days it’s been at 40,000cu.ft/sec !!!!!!
I’m glad I live on a hill!!
Here’s a small idea of what we’re dealing with. This is the 1st creek bed crossing on the Modoc trail, the water you see in these first 2 pictures is actually a lot more water than normal for this creek bed, which is dry more often than not.
This is the creek last Weds. The rock John is standing on the rock behind the bike in the pictures above.
I imagine on Turkey and Wine the creek has flooded the trail. 😕 Have you checked them out? This is getting ridiculous… 50%-80% chance of rain for the next week… again.
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"PSUtuna" wrote
I imagine on Turkey and Wine the creek has flooded the trail. 😕 Have you checked them out? This is getting ridiculous… 50%-80% chance of rain for the next week… again.
No need to check, they have both without a doubt been underwater at some point, they flood even when the river isn’t flooding. I imagine that both Turkey and Wine will be pretty well FUBAR’d, with several bridges missing. I’m scared of how badly damaged they may be…
Parts of Bartram were in the Lake also due it it being a little over 2ft above full pool. Yesterday morning the lake was 2.2ft above full pool, and the COE tested all 23 gates on the dam for about 2.5hrs I believe. This morning, after all that water was let out…..the lake was 2.16ft above full pool 😆
We got some HEAVY rain last night, for a good 1.5hr or so. And yep, there’s lots more on the way.
Really happy to have a roadie in the garage!
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"dgaddis" wrote
[quote="PSUtuna":2j1g7k01]I imagine on Turkey and Wine the creek has flooded the trail. 😕 Have you checked them out? This is getting ridiculous… 50%-80% chance of rain for the next week… again.
No need to check, they have both without a doubt been underwater at some point, they flood even when the river isn’t flooding. I imagine that both Turkey and Wine will be pretty well FUBAR’d, with several bridges missing. I’m scared of how badly damaged they may be…
Parts of Bartram were in the Lake also due it it being a little over 2ft above full pool. Yesterday morning the lake was 2.2ft above full pool, and the COE tested all 23 gates on the dam for about 2.5hrs I believe. This morning, after all that water was let out…..the lake was 2.16ft above full pool 😆
We got some HEAVY rain last night, for a good 1.5hr or so. And yep, there’s lots more on the way.
Really happy to have a roadie in the garage![/quote:2j1g7k01]
Damn, I didn’t even think about Bartram. There are quite of few sections right on the lake that I’m sure are under water 2 feet above pool. I guess time will tell to see how bad Turkey and Wine are damaged.
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I think I’ve ridden road bike once in the last almost two weeks… Excited to leave this dreary rainy weather behind as I hit the road 😃
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I went for one 4 mile ride since Gregg’s Dirty 30. My hips are going to hurt on my ride tomorrow. Going to do a gravel grinder as all our trails are still mud!
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Found out today that part of Razors Edge (an alternate semi-technical side trail on the Canal Trail) has fallen off into the river. Hopefully it can be repaired….
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"dgaddis" wrote
Found out today that part of Razors Edge (an alternate semi-technical side trail on the Canal Trail) has fallen off into the river. Hopefully it can be repaired….
Dang, craziness! Have you posted any photos to FB of the most recent flood waters?
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"mtbgreg1" wrote
This rain is getting depressing… wish we could share it with the water-starved west.
Counting down the days until I hit the road, headed for dryer (and higher) climes!
Yea we have had 10 inches of rain in July so far.
Greg, its funny that you have to go to Oregon to find dry trail. 😆
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"CraigCreekRider" wrote
[quote="mtbgreg1":2suoyb7h]This rain is getting depressing… wish we could share it with the water-starved west.
Counting down the days until I hit the road, headed for dryer (and higher) climes!
Yea we have had 10 inches of rain in July so far.
Greg, its funny that you have to go to Oregon to find dry trail. 😆[/quote:2suoyb7h]
There’s definitely none in the east, that’s for sure! 0 chance of rain in the 10 day forecast for Bend 😃
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After hearing so many bad reports of the wet trails in our area, I’ve decided enough is enough!
So, for those that can’t ride… we paddle! 😆
http://app.strava.com/activities/67137252
No joke, it rained for at least a good two hours today…
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"PSUtuna" wrote
After hearing so many bad reports of the wet trails in our area, I’ve decided enough is enough!
So, for those that can’t ride… we paddle! 😆
http://app.strava.com/activities/67137252
No joke, it rained for at least a good two hours today…
We tried to go hiking today and hit up the cool mountain springs at Jones Gap, but it rained pretty hard all day long after 10am, so it we just went home bummed out again. It looks like it may dry out a bit this week for this coming weekend though. I guess we will see when that time comes…. 😆
Hope ya had fun in the water! 😄
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We’re finally getting some much needed rain here in Colorado. Trails will be dry by tomorrow though. 😃
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Managed 14 miles of trail running this weekend at Bartram Trail. Way to wet to ride. Tread was solid for the most part but lots of standing water, mushy areas and parts of it are now under the Lake (2ft above full pool). With the water table up it will take awhile for parts of the trail to dry up. Only saw one set of tire tracks out there.
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Rode my road bike a little this weekend. Just missed the rain, neighborhood was soaked when I rolled home.
I’ve had the roadie for right at a year now, and Saturday’s ride put it over 2,000 miles. Most of those are miles I woulnd’t have ridden if I didn’t have that bike. I don’t go road riding instead of MTBing, I go road riding when I can’t ride the MTB due to either time constraints or wet trails.
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"mtbgreg1" wrote
[quote="CraigCreekRider":b4e68whs][quote="mtbgreg1":b4e68whs]
There’s definitely none in the east, that’s for sure! 0 chance of rain in the 10 day forecast for Bend 😃[/quote:b4e68whs][/quote:b4e68whs]
Have fun in Bend, its a great town. Check out Oakridge too if you have a chance. It will look more like the typical northwest than Bend.
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"PSUtuna" wrote
After hearing so many bad reports of the wet trails in our area, I’ve decided enough is enough!
So, for those that can’t ride… we paddle! 😆
http://app.strava.com/activities/67137252
No joke, it rained for at least a good two hours today…
Nice! I actually did some river canoeing on the flooded rivers last week–crazy stuff! Didn’t want to bring the phone for Strava in case we dumped, haha
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"CraigCreekRider" wrote
Have fun in Bend, its a great town. Check out Oakridge too if you have a chance. It will look more like the typical northwest than Bend.
Definitely planning on checking out Oakridge!! About a week in Bend, week in Oakridge, and then Colorado bound!
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"mtbgreg1" wrote
Nice! I actually did some river canoeing on the flooded rivers last week–crazy stuff! Didn’t want to bring the phone for Strava in case we dumped, haha
The lake was pretty rough, so I placed my phone in a zip top bag, placed that bag in another zip top bag that has a piece of foam noodle in it, and then place the whole contraption in the dry storage of my kayak. 😆
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"PSUtuna" wrote
[quote="mtbgreg1":367vrrk1]Nice! I actually did some river canoeing on the flooded rivers last week–crazy stuff! Didn’t want to bring the phone for Strava in case we dumped, haha
The lake was pretty rough, so I placed my phone in a zip top bag, placed that bag in another zip top bag that has a piece of foam noodle in it, and then place the whole contraption in the dry storage of my kayak. 😆[/quote:367vrrk1]
And you still got GPS through that? Pretty impressive!
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"mtbgreg1" wrote
[quote="PSUtuna":2c125y4t][quote="mtbgreg1":2c125y4t]Nice! I actually did some river canoeing on the flooded rivers last week–crazy stuff! Didn’t want to bring the phone for Strava in case we dumped, haha
The lake was pretty rough, so I placed my phone in a zip top bag, placed that bag in another zip top bag that has a piece of foam noodle in it, and then place the whole contraption in the dry storage of my kayak. 😆[/quote:2c125y4t]
And you still got GPS through that? Pretty impressive![/quote:2c125y4t]
Yeah, I didn’t expect it to work but it did. I guess with no trees to block signals it was strong enough.
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