Yesterday I was planning on riding the entire Chequamegon 40 race course, but it down poured rain all day. And it was only in the upper 40’s most of the day. So instead, I spent a lot of the afternoon trying to seal up a few tires with latex. I learned a few things.

#1 Don’t try to seal up a cold tire that has been folded up for its entire life.

#2 Don’t use a pancake air compressor, that doesn’t put out much air, to try to seal up the before mentioned tire.

#3 Don’t get over excited after your tire has sealed, after 30 attempts, and over inflate (+60 psi) the above mentioned tire.

Right now I’m riding Stan’s Notubes Raven 29’r tires. They are around 500 grams and have a huge air volume, so you can ride them at a pretty low pressure. I rode the last half of the course on Tuesday, letting air out all day, and ended with just around 20 psi in my tires, which seemed pretty great at the time. I’m riding a fully rigid 29’r, so low pressure is a priority. But not such a priority that flatting should be considered. I used to be able to finish on the podium with a flat, but that isn’t how this race is anymore. One flat and you’re done. Just burping your tire is enough to lose the race.

Kent Eriksen and his wife Katie showed up yesterday afternoon. They are riding a sweet tandem that Kent build. Titanium of course. I’ll post a photo of it later. Along with his custom ti roof rack on his BMW that holds their two hardtails and the tandem.

Dennis’ compound is going to set a world record for guests this weekend. Maybe up to 15. I’m not sure. But it is going to be a lot of folks. It should be a good time. Crowded, but fun. Food is always the concern with so many people and one real kitchen. The Kansas Garage has a small ‘fridge and microwave, but you can’t really cook over there. Luckily we have Lisa Davis and Katie here. They both are unbelievable cooks. Tonight we had rice with lentils and grilled flatbread. Oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Pretty great.

I stood around way too much yesterday afternoon and finally decided to go out for 45 minutes behind the house, in the wilderness, with Bromont. In a complete downpour. Bromont was going a hundred miles an hour, but kept coming back and checking on me. I was pretty cold when I got back. And completely soaked. I laid in the sauna at 190 degrees for 30 minutes. Then took a wee nap. My legs are pretty sore right now. I felt unbelievably great two day ago. Hopefully I’m just stiff from the cold and will have a good ride today.

We’re going to ride most of the course today. It’s going to be pretty wet. And the puddles are going to be huge. I like it that way. Makes it more of a thinking course. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Wheels not sealing. Finally tried the soapy water trick. No go.

Above is an example of too much air. Latex everywhere. Ringing in the ears still.

Katie showing off the dough for the flatbread.

My Eriksen 29’r with Dennis’ 650B behind it. You can’t really see that much difference of the wheel size. 650B is 27 1/2 inch. His bike is faster in the single track for sure though.