It’s going to be a bit muddy this go round. Organizers are even advising CX width tires. I assume that’s for people riding drop bars.
This Year’s Cobbler is Leadville practice for me, so I’ll be on my Scalpel HT, running 50mm Ramblers which is about as narrow as I can go on 30mm IW rims. 2" wide tires should on that bike should provide ample mud clearance.
I’ll be in USMES kit again this year, so in combination with my ride, should be easy to spot.
Any other TR riders going to “The Bake” for some shenanigans next weekend?
I’ll be there.
Currently have 40mm G-One Rs on the bike that I was planning to run but they don’t leave me a massive amount of clearance. Have had a dig through the garage and have a pair of 35mm GK SK+ or some IRC 30mm Serac Sands that will probably blow out to 32 on my rims. Think I’ll probably end up on the 35mms as hopefully that’ll give me enough clearance to get through moderately muddy sections hile reatinign some degree of control. Any more than moderate mud and I guess everyone will be walking anyway, such as the ranch section (?)
Yep, that sounds about right. I ran GK SS 38’s on a mud test last year and while the front caked up, the rear managed to keep itself moderately clean. One thing I think everyone will have to keep an eye on is transitions from mud to sand because “Hey let’s make concrete!” Packing my Unbound spatulas for sure.
That was a brutal day out.
The mud, while not as bad as feared, felt like riding through velcro most of the day, constantly sucking my wheels. Had a massive bonk and cramps between aid 2&3 during the climb, genuinely struggling to get any power down at all. The last hike-a-bike felt like scaling the North Face of the Eiger.
Great weekend though with spectacular scenery in the hills
Velcro is a very accurate description. Off road to Aid 2 was so crazy hard not to mention that 100% mud section about 6 miles before aid 2.
The bite valve on my hydro pack broke before the start I as managing it pretty well and at aid 2 it completely failed. There was no way I was going to complete 90 with no hydration so I took the Pebbler cut off. Kinda hard to eat when you’ve got nothing to wash it down with. One little thing goes wrong and it feels like the ride goes to shit.
The hike a bike was a struggle but the downhills were so easy on an MTB it felt like cheating.
