hubcyclist

Thinking of doing this event, as I happen to be flying in for a family visit the day before. Still have a bit of training to do as far as time in the saddle (fitness is great for me, just have to work on feeding/drinking myself for that long), fortunately I'm doing a fondo in July with 15000ft of climbing so that should help me as far as that sort of time conditioning lol. I'm sort of hoping to do it in 8hrs, might be ambitious, but based on some power data on strava, that seems to be the realm of possibility with my own power for endurance.

So I know some folks are from the area or had done it last year, so curious to know some recommendations regarding tire choice. I currently use clement mxp on my cross bike, and it's a good all-around tire for CX but I'd imagine I'd want to go a bit wider, maybe less knobby? Should hopefully be a good time if I manage to get stuff together to do it

Marcus_Ti

It will depend a great deal on the weather. If it is sunny and dry that week--it'll be hard and fast...if not, it will be a mudpit.

Those country/farm roads over hill and dale around Lincoln vary a bit from old loose pea gravel to dirt/rock MMR. Will also depend if you are in-it-to-win-it or just ride it. Last tear's GW had about 12,000ft of climbing. FWIW your 8 hour goal is very very ambitious, For perspective, the entry to top-10 of Open Men last year was 8 hours. The top-100 was about 10 hours.

ksryder

The year i did it, it was almost entirely gravel, other than a half mile of dirt MMR. I rode on 38 mm trigger pros, basically a file tread.

shoota 

How do you like these tires? My cross bike is somewhat width limited and I need a tough tire, Trigger Pro is one of the few tires out there that ticks both of those boxes.

ksryder

Love them. 4 dirty kanzas and one flat -- and that was before I had them set up tubeless. Surprisingly fast rolling on pavement, even.

shoota 

Good to hear! How do they ride when set up tubeless? They aren't light by any measure so I'm wondering if they feel like riding on frozen garden hoses. What PSI do you run them tubeless as well?

ksryder

Nah they're smooth. I weigh about 185 and I run them between 35-40 psi.

Orange Seal ftw. Stan's allegedly corrodes spoke nipples.

shoota 

Perfect, that's about what I weigh. Thanks for the info!

hubcyclist

Thanks for the info, definitely lots of options to consider for tires, I'm sure there are many excellent options. I've been thinking more about pacing and feeding. Based on what I've seen, IF (intensity factor) for these type of long events ends up being about 0.70 so for me that would be in the neighborhood of 200w, although I've seen some to indicate that some earlier pushing the pace is typical. I also have to really make an effort to eat from early on, for sure, as I can easily go 3.5hrs without eating on a normal ride and even minimal eating during harder rides, will definitely get a top tube bag for the occasion lol

Marcus_Ti

Originally it did...supposedly they changed their formula to not damage alloy anymore.