Yesterday was another nice day, albeit a little cooler, but still very nice for March.
I decided to give the Johnny Watts tires another go, and push them a little harder and see what the limits are.
Found 'em...and to be fair, wasn't surprised
A few things about the route. I didn't start Strava on my phone right away. I was intending to continue my test of various tech, and was trying to use Samsung watch for Strava, and phone for Ridecontrol. I worked in tech a long time and one of my experiences (aka lesson's learned) is that when things work ONCE - that doesn't mean anything.
So, where I started up this Strava session, on my phone, was a few KMs from my actual start, as although the watch said it was recording, it showed no distances. Since I knew that Giant RideControl still isn't working to sync with Strava, I wasn't leaving that to chance either - so phone app it would be. Later - Giant app was consistent - While stopped for a sandwich, the bike powered down and when I fired it up to take off again, cadence and battery levels did not refresh. Disappointed, but not something I am going to lose any sleep over, nor planning to spend and $$$ to fix,
On the right of the map, in the circle, was where I was on my way home and rode some of the alleys around my home. Our fence had been "tagged" a few weeks ago, and I wanted to see if there was much more of that crap occurring in my neighborhood. There were a few remnants, but not too many. Mine was cleaned up a few days ago - the city provides a service that cleans it up for free. As I have a Vinyl fence, I wanted the pros to clean it up and they did a fine job. 2nd Incident in 15 years in that home.
Back to the ride itself. As mentioned in other posts, I have multiple accesses onto the park. Some surface, and some via underpasses under a major feeder route.
Today I went left and climbed up from there.
Once up top, I decided that today would be some up and down, although for a limited time as I had a finite time to ride and get home.
I headed across the park to some downhills and then back up again. Did a few runs that way and when the surfaces were dry, the JWs were fine. When wet and muddy - pay attention (more on that in a bit).
Mostly dry:
Not so much:
Result:
So when tires are gooped up with mud, and you are climbing on leaves, one needs to be careful with manoeuvres - mainly anything too sharp.
I need to make a fairly sharp turn at point X on the map, and as I pushed hard on the pedals the rear tire broke loose, threw me sideways and I needed to do an unceremonious dismount. Nearly a crash - which would have been a bugger, but not the most graceful dismounts either and I think I almost had saved it when that larger tree helped me make up my mind about staying on!
Avoided any damages to myself and bike (to the right with a lovely tuck and roll), and continued on from there.
That was about a third of the way into the ride and no further incidents from there. I did take a couple more muddy routes but with some new perspectives on handling.
Once home, after the alley reconnaissance, I figure I better clean things up a bit. The bike was filthy and the jockey wheels were clogged up pretty badly.
Happy to say, all cleaned up now - just need to lube the chain and go.
Damp rag cleaning is OK, but I'll need to plan a trip to the carwash one of these days for a "careful" spray clean.
This is still Alberta, and I won't hook up my own sprayer for at least 5 or 6 more weeks.
Additional info on ride:
Max descent = 20.1%
Max ascent = 24.2 %
No audiobook - perhaps start a new one today.
Ass Saver rear fender did it's job - no outerwear laundry required - yet.
Front fork fender did it's job too - when the mud is released from the tires there's little balls of mud going everywhere!
Will probably be heading out again today - likely more of the same.
More and more of my preferred smaller trails are snow free now and a lot that aren't completely snowless yet, have enough area's to ride safely without studs.
More mud of course, but I'm not ready to put Forekasters on yet - as more pathways thies week with non-MTB friends.
Lastly, a pic that I liked the way it worked out. I like trees...