After having breakfast at a fund raiser for my daughters drum-line team and visiting with my brother and his family there, we went home. We invited my brother over afterwards because his wife had other pending business and we wanted to have some coffee and chat. Plus it gave us another opportunity to talk about the green eggs they served.
After my brother left I kept thinking I should go riding, I should go riding but, man the air is cold and moist. I really had nothing to do with myself after fixing one of the brake levers on my cyclocross. I continued thinking... I should go ride I'm all tense and uptight. Then I thought NO no... I need to ride...
Determined, I went and put on two pairs of socks, my Nashbar Mansfield thermal Cycling Tights a Nashbar long sleeve jersey, a Canari Velo Shell , grabbed my Nashbar Gloves, and another coat, helmet, water, tools and loaded the bike on the back of the explorer.
It was 4:30pm and I had finally overcame my procrastination. I don't know why as, I love to cycle...maybe it is the weather or I'm just a big puss.
I had not yet taken my cyclocross off road I have had the bike for nearly two years and been running around on it with street tires and setup street version. That all changed a few weeks ago when I decided to try it off-road and purchase cyclocross tires. I researched tires since I'm also a tire fiend. I decided on a pair of Continental Cyclocross race clinchers This is an enthusiasts review since I'm not a racer.
I decided to take a ride on the paved path way and then venture off on dirt roads along the river. I was surprised to find some single track too. The soil by the river is mostly sandy with some dirt.. Some of the roads are hard-pack and some of the trails off the path are sandy.
The tire does really well on hard pack with some loose soil on-top. It also does well in wet sand. Not so well in dry sand. I also noticed that the wet sand packs into the tire but, the tire does not seem to loose its grip.
The tires seem to roll very well and even-though they are much larger than the ultras I normally use 700 x 25 I really cannot tell a difference.
I was running these tires at 60psi since I was riding between pavement and off road. I absolutely had a blast this day wandering around over some river bed type rocks and dirt and sand. I was amazed at how well this bike road off road nothing I would ever thought. Since I was apprehensive in the riding position. But, all went well surprisingly as aggressive I was riding in some parts around loose turns etc...I never wiped out.
It is my impression that these are good tires at least for the way and where I ride. I would not recommend these for really dry deep sandy areas and found that you will need to keep your momentum up otherwise you will get bogged down and be forced to dismount. This happened to me a couple of times. This was good in my case since I was huffing and puffing and needed a few rest breaks.
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