This week I found myself doing more road riding than in I have in a while. Well, not real skinny tire, hi-viz kit wearing, cafe stopping, kilometer talking, take your pull and follow the unwritten rules road riding, but rides in which I spent a higher percentage of time on paved roads (or what passes for paved in Michigan) than on dirt and gravel. Case in point: yesterday’s forty-six mile roll through the mythical rural landscapes of Mighiganderburgh atop the Boone.
The sign didn’t lie. THIS is why I run 35c tires at the very least. Well, that and I’m soft.
After a dark, dank, cloudy week it was nice to have the sun make an appearance, even if it was just for a few hours. It was also nice to have semi-OK legs and the time to get in nearly three hours of crap pavement and dirt road riding.
More beans, more farms.
As previously mentioned this week, I switched over to the Clement X’Plor USH 35c tires the other day. I find these tires a bit too narrow for my usual forays out onto dirt and gravel, but for this week’s rides they have been awesome. Love to have it in a 38 or 40 but these will do fine until I get some new, wider rubber. Speaking of the X’Plor, I saw on QBP’s Facebook page yesterday that the tires should be back in stock in early September. There was also a link to an excellent review on Red Kite Prayer. Despite how fast they roll, still think I’m partial to the award winning Nano 40, especially since there is a tubeless option for it.
No sign of Stacy… Of course there’s barely a sign of the dugout.
Enough about tires, I want to talk about my crap ride! No, no I don’t. But I will talk about how every time I pass a baseball field dugout I think of the scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High where Stacy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) looses her virginity in a baseball dugout. I know it’s weird, but every single time I see a dugout I think of that and NOT the years I spent playing baseball as a youth.
You would think over 46 miles of pavement and dirt roads that I would have more to talk about than tires (again) and Stacy Hamilton’s sex life… but I don’t. You’re welcome.
Sort of damp and rainy here this morning. I might take the fatty out for a quick, slow roll or do a Better Than The Trainer Loop™ north of town. Or I might just sit around looking at photos of Stacy and Linda.
Later.