Old 10-28-21, 12:52 AM
  #13  
canklecat
Me duelen las nalgas
 
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Location: Texas
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Yup, sure. Sometimes it's just dead legs. Sometimes a change in pavement composition. Sometimes it is the tires or tubes.

To me, striated concrete is the worst because it seems like it should feel smooth, but it drags without feeling particularly bumpy. We have lots of chipseal, getting coarser all the time. I expect that stuff to feel sluggish. But some of our new roads were prepped with striated concrete in anticipation of finishing with good ol' smooth blacktop, but it never happened -- economic downturns, a proposed development fell through, the pandemic slowed down lots of infrastructure maintenance, etc.

On our open rolling prairie, sometimes the wind can be tricky. I've ridden on days that seemed still but felt definite buffeting of the wheels, like a crosswind. Once when I stopped to check the wheel, I felt a distinct breeze below my knee. The wind was following the pavement along this rural highway on open prairie, but only a few inches high from pavement level. Weirdest damned thing, and I've noticed it often during spring and autumn when the pavement stays warm longer from daytime sun, while the ambient air chills rapidly near dusk. Creates some interesting wind conditions. A couple of years ago I switched to ankle socks and can usually feel it while riding.

And with latex tubes sometimes it's just under pressure. I usually don't forget to top up since latex tubes lose 10-20 psi a day. But I recently tried some narrow 700x19-23 Vittoria latex tubes, and that pressure loss is more noticeable than with the wider 700x25-30 latex tubes I'd been using for a year.

With butyl tubes I'll sometimes cheat and just pinch the sidewalls to guestimate pressure. Usually good enough.

Sometimes it's the tires. Check the rolling resistance review site. Some tires retain reasonably low rolling resistance anywhere from maximum pressure down to 60 psi (such as Continental Ultra Sport II and older Ultra Race -- both have reasonably low rolling resistance and don't get much worse at lower pressures). Others show significantly worse rolling resistance only 10-20 psi below max pressure and feel sluggish (Vittoria Zaffiros are reasonably fast rolling at max pressure but harsh, and sluggish at lower pressures).
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