Long Live Long Rides

Perhaps since the very first time someone replied “You can DO that on a bicycle?”, I’ve been kinda addicted to long day rides, in addition to long multi day/week/month long rides (aka: tours). Non-cyclists are almost assured to question a number of things about riding all day … including my sanity … and usually good for a chuckle or two.

Maybe it’s the endorphin buildup after hours on the bike, but I just think it’s a cool way to spend a day. Like today! Taking advantage of the milder weather today (70’s and sunshine, with just a bit of wind), I took off on the Riv to see how my new fattie tires roll on a long one. 

I also wanted to see how a couple adjustments up on the workstand yesterday played out. New tires (WTB Horizon 650BX47) JUST fit in the fork and chainstays. New chain replaced the previous one that was between .05 and .07 on the CC32 checker. I put my Cambium saddle back on and did some brake cable adjustments … required so the straddle cable clears the tires … yeah … these tires are waaaay bigger than the 1 1/2” Conti’s I replaced after three seasons and maybe as much as 5 to 8 thousand miles on them WITHOUT a single flat!  (This is NOT normal.) I finally started seeing cord on the rear visible at center of image below.

Two spots are just the beginning of the end.

​The Horizons are rated 40-70psi. I started riding them “squeezably soft”, or roughly 25-30psi and I get away with that since I don’t ride this bike “loaded”, I don't ride it on "technical" trails, and I only add 130lbs to the mix. That was wonderful on trail surfaces but sloooooww on pavement. Eats up potholes like candy. That’s cool.

But for road riding, I started ramping up the pressure till I hit 60psi … 10 below upper rating. At that point, I didn’t feel like giving up any more of the nice cushy ride these treads can give, just for an insignificant speed boost. For me, the sweetest riding is right around 45-50psi.

The tire/tube pairing is significantly heavier than the Conti’s and I could feel that getting them spun up to speed. As it was anyway … overall average speed came in lower than average for the Conti’s, but not enough difference to matter.

I still pulled off another century today with tons of daylight left. It was a long-enough ride to honestly say I like the new Horizons enough to leave them on the rest of the summer. Maybe after getting used to the new sneakers, I might adapt and pick up speed. I’ll keep knocking off big rides when I can. Ten centuries so far this year contribute to about 6200 miles riding to date in 2024. Here’s what that looks like from space.

Ten rides of 100 to 152 miles

​Of course I carried a different colored torch with me on every ride.  ;-)