Monday, September 12, 2005

6 days and counting

Race day is almost here. This is going to be quite the experience for me. I think I have a real shot at getting on the podium, but regardless this will be an awesome experience. Today was my last intense ride before the race. Pat, who is also racing next Sunday, was my riding partner for the day. He really pushed me too. I never fail to be amazed at how much faster/harder I ride whenI'm riding with someone...someone who is a strong rider. Pat pushed me for an hour of solid riding. I ended up with an average speed of 12mph, covering a distance of 12.2 miles. If I can do that, or very near it, then I'll have a race to be proud of...regardless of how I place.

Ohh, here's an update on the Stan's conversion. I found out that the tires do have different ride characteristics when they are tubeless, compared to tubed tires. I've been running the same pressure in these converted tires as I was running with the tubes(40psi). Last Thursday I noticed that in our dry conditions, hitting pine straw, etc. the back end was losing traction a lot. That never happened when I was using tubes. So I decided to drop the pressure in my tires. I'm now running 35psi front and rear, and I'm happy to report that the ride/handling is MUCH better. I think I've got the tires dialed in now, and everything is good to go. Being free from pinch flats, and thorn flats is quite refreshing.

No comments: