I’ve been in rain for the past two weeks. I haven’t ridden much at all. Plus, I’ve been driving across the country. I hardly ride inside at all, so I had to ride some in the rain. I don’t ride too far wet if I don’t have to. But, I don’t mind riding in the rain if it’s not too cold out. I usually only ride by myself if it’s raining. Road spray is bad enough from my own wheels, let alone someone else’s. Rain has been good for the garden. It’s doing pretty good.

Leaving to go to Arkansas for Joe Martin Stage Race NRC. I glued a tire onto a super light wheel that I’m going to use for the hill climb TT. I’m getting sort of anal about glueing tubulars onto carbon rims. It is kind of weird how many rolled tires I see. Especially in cyclocross. But, on the road too. I’ve gotten to the point that if I’m home, I’ve been using a ratcheting tie-down to strap around the tire until the glue dries. It is overkill in my estimation, but it doesn’t take much extra time and it’s better to be safe than sorry I guess.

To tie the above two subjects together, the best tires by far to race in the rain are Vittoria tubulars. I’m not so concerned about the tread pattern. The rubber is so much better than other brands that the tread pattern is nearly irrelevant. If you are looking for a specific tread, then the KX or CG pattern would probably be the best for a wet criterium. The new CX , 320 thread count, would work great too. In a 23mm size would be best. But, any Vittoria is better than any other tubular tire. And any tubular tire is usually better than most clinchers. If you’re riding clinchers, I’d use Michelin PRO Grip in the rain. I’ve ridden one wet criterium with these tires and they worked 90% as good as Vittoria sewups. I wasn’t big on riding carbon rims that day, but I’ve gotten past that with SwissStop yellow pads. And, don’t ride high pressure. 90 psi or less.

Update from Joe Martin later this week.

Tire strapping method.

Vegetable garden is appreciating the moisture. Bromont in the background treeing a squirrel.