Race Cyclocross!

It’s raining hard in Portland right now. I think we can say with confidence that summer time is over, and we’ll be cleaning mud and grime off our bikes after nearly every ride for the next six months. I’m okay with that, but the deep wet is such a change from the warm sun that I’m spending today inside. After all, there’s lots to do before racing starts, like taking care of the tire situation.

I think it’s important to glue your own tires. That way when you roll your tire on some off camber or with a shitty remount, you have nobody to blame but yourself. If you’ve done a great job you can ride all season with confidence knowing that your tires are going to stick and be your advocate with the mud. That’s a good feeling. If you screw it up the first time, you’ll do better next time. I promise.

That being said, I don’t enjoy gluing tubulars. It takes a long time, smells toxic, and in general feels like pure excess. It’s the price we pay to ride on pillows. My thumbs are raw and red from scraping old tubular glue off of rims. I’ve ridden the same set of Flexus tires for the last three seasons, and the rubber is stiff and the sidewalls cracked. Tearing them off the rims reveals this scene:

And after a little elbow grease:

And finally:

Now, many would argue that the glue should not be scraped off at all. I assure you this glue was so dried out and brittle that it was nothing but a liability to leave on the rim. If it’s still chunky and sticky, by all means leave it on.

Now on to three light coats on the rims and tires. But first, some other Saturday distractions:

Signal Cycles is building some last minute ‘cross team bikes and sharing the process through their blog. Always good stuff over there. They also posted this olde timey cross video. The announcer explains that the sport “combines all the worst elements of cycling and cross country running.” Notice the rider who takes the insane line through the crowd at the start. Amazing!

Also, I just found a whole pile of these stickers in an old box. I’d love to send you a couple. Just paypal brianellin at gmail.com with a buck or two, and include your address.