My wife is getting a bike so we can do some trails together. Thatās great, but Iām going to have to really dial things back when we ride together. But I still want to get the best endurance workout I can, so Iām trying to think of ways to increase my resistance. Tires come to mind. What are the slowest, crappiest rolling, gravel tires available? Other ideas for increasing the workload?
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Increase weight?
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Here are two prior threads on a similar topic, road biased but possible still beneficial:
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Thanks Chad
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I forgot to mention, that a quick search on Bicycle Rolling Resistance in the gravel tire category may give you some ideas on slow tires. You can sort by CRR and just look to the highest values.
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what kind of bike is she getting and what trails do you hit together? If sheās a beginner in MTB just take your time and treat this as a fun date for your wife and yourself and dial back your training ambitions.
Maxxis Assegai f/r in DD casing will slow you down pretty good. But then it might not be that fun for you if itās more pedalling than actual trail riding (which I assume it will be since sheās getting into MTB).
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WTB offers a multitude of options for going slow
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Quick check shows these as a 29" x 2.5" tire that I doubt will fit on what I assume is a āgravel bikeā per the gravel tire request above.
It would be good for @BrianSpang to share what bike and tire size limit he has to narrow down the possible options.
Tannus airless tires.
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Iāll be riding an aluminum Specialized Diverge, 47mm tire clearance
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Bontrager GR1 Team Issue 40c, those are both expensive and slow. As a bonus they do come with a bad puncture resistance so a bad time on a ride is guaranteed.
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Sheās getting a Specialized Sirrus X. Itās not a light bike, but sheās not willing to invest any more at this time. Weāll being doing mostly rails to trails riding. Itās very flat. So me adding weight doesnāt really help much.
Knobby, steel studded winter tires. They are SHOCKINGLY slow.
Plus you get the benefit of a great option for winder riding when itās icy out.
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Hey thereās a SKU Trek can lose!
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Hmm, thatās an interesting option. I do ride all winter too. How loud are studded tires on asphalt?
Similar to driving a dump truck through a bees nest I imagine.
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Uff, must have missed that. Was reading bike and trails and instantly assumed weāre talking about MTB here.
I have a Schwalbe Marathon on the front of my commuter and absolutely hate it. 5/7 would recommend to slow things down.
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You need some like a single speed cruiser? Tires arenāt going to do it. Just slow down and enjoy the ride. Or do some short accelerations and turn around. But I think itās best to slow down otherwise you may end up making her feel bad for slowing you down.
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Steel wheels and downhill tires
Epic ride chain lube
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Kids trailer with some weights in it? You can usually find them cheap on fb marketplace
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