Against the tyranny of tubes, Stan’s and Big Oil!

my day had actually nothing whatsoever to do against Big Oil, other than I am still feel flush from buying my rack. And the righteous anger sounds good. And I would revolt against Big Oil if it were possible, and fully expect a drunken diatribe against Big Oil before the day is done! Here goes…be back in a sec…

much better now.

i have finally purchased myself an air compressor. along with cheap mold builder to make sealant, cheap strapping tape and pipe tape to make rim strips, and old valve stems to make ghetto tubeless valves, I have cheaply taken back my tires! Hard to believe that Stan’s charges $60 for their kit for 2 tires, when for $17 of mold builder and tape and old tubes you can do 25 tires. Some presta tubes now have their own removable valve cores too. The compressor brings it all together, and makes it simply a task in the ManCave and not a giant risky sweaty proposition that could leave me exhausted and my tires flat and my garage floor looking like the set from a porn movie.

Stan’s, basically, is a scam. That’s not quite fair to say, as they do offer a turnkey convenient solution. But they do not match it in value. Maybe it was ok when they were the first on the market, but now that so many other people are offering rim strips and ghetto knowledge – the Power has returned to the Streets mothafugga!!! i’m particularly pissed at Stan’s now after they charged me $12 to ship a 4oz package. Here’s how that played out: my rimstrips both tore at the valve core through normal wear, i called Stan’s and politely asked if that was normal, they offered me 2 new ones at half price $11 each. That is not a bad deal for pre-made strips, so i said hey thanks, feeling much better about them. Then they charged me $12 to ship UPS ground, which is the same time as the $5 for USPS Priority Mail – its not that the money is that big a deal, its that they were ebaying me after trying to retain me as a customer, cuz i ship UPS too and it aint $12 with a corporate discount!!!

Many people talk about less rolling resistance and more touch on the trails due to tubeless tires, but its been really hard for me to put a finger on that. But on my ride Thursday, i had tubes in both tires for the first time in a long time, and i felt the absence of those benefits very acutely. The Heckler simply felt sluggish and less nimble, and a few times i was coming closer to washing out than i’m used to. I spilled on National near Telegraph Pass on what should have been relatively straightfoward riding, fortunately with no ill-effects other than a heightened sense of what i was missing.

My ride had a lot more shit going on than the tires. My chain exploded 5 yards into the climb up 24th St., and the only mechanic to blame was myself. I spent the next 20 minutes fixing it on a bench in the parking lot, and got to listen to a family across the street with a child maybe a bit younger than G playing in the pool. They were singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and all the other goofy shit and sayings, and i wanted to put the chain tool through my skull like the stungun in No Country for Old Men. Whew! It was rewarding to know that i do still hate children, other than my own. My brakes were fugged up too, and apparently need to be bled, but i still managed to climb 24th and out to Telegraph and a few trials i am new too and progressing upon.

Viva La Revolucion!

Inspired by $4/gallon, and having happily used the same rack configuration on my trip to Moab, I dropped about $700 to get a new Yakima Holdup rack and trailer hitches for the Prius and the Acura from a U-Haul dealer near work. It allows me to take 2 bikes on either car, in a simple configuration that should not provide too much drag against my mileage. I averaged about 40 mpg in the Prius with 2 bikes to Globe and back, vs our normal 45 – not too bad, in the mountains. The rack is about 5 minutes work to put on and take off, along with the hitch weighs about 80 lbs, and tucks up nicely when not in use. It takes about 20 seconds to mount a bike, and less than 10 to get it off. Did you say 10 seconds? Yes, 6 seconds in fact when i timed myself!

$6000 hanging off that tiny car.

Getting everything ordered and picked out involved a few hours ordering from Agee’s, several trips through Scottsdale from U-Haul to work on my rollerblades, and of course the assembly. It was not bad, but did not go ideally. I put the trays on reversed – not backwards, but there was an ambiguity in the directions and of course i stumbled on it. Then trying the lock that attaches to the hitch bolt, i realized it can not be gotten off due to some metal on the hitch. How i got that on there was really just an exercise in willful stupidity, but realizing my brand new rack was now irrevocably locked to my car, i pretty much shit my pants. So i hacksawed through one of the metal loops on the bottom of the hitch that appearred to have no structural value whatsoever. This was confirmed the next day by the U-haul guys, thankfully after 30 minutes lying on my back sawing and and getting iron dust in my eyes and hair.

Alex and I gave took it on its first run to join u2metoo (Sam) and skinny-tire (Jeff) climbing Pinal Peak and then descending Six Shooter Canyon. It was 2.5 hours, 15 miles and 4500 vf to the top. Miles 10-14 were tough, you had to keep gut-checking through to the next switchback. I wanted to stop, but Alex wasn’t, so I didn’t. I needed that!!! Finally mile 15 rolled us to the trailhead. Very steep, super-thin trail in places on loamy sandy soil with pine needles forced me to stay in control the whole way down…way in control. Some trials and b-lines have been added to the trail and we hit every one we could find. The best was a log ride that is unlike anything i have done before – basically roll down a log’s length. The first time i stopped right at the entrance, the second i rolled off outside but felt comfortable since i didn’t fall, and then got it a couple times finally for fun. the trick was to just focus on what was there to ride on, and not what was not there. More trials, rock gardens, jumps, loose stuff, and boostable step-downs at the bottom – really just a huge variety of challenges in the hour and 15 minutes down through the entire scope of AZ terrain from Pine Forest to High Desert to Desert.

at the parking spot there was a Honda Element and a Prius and we thought by gawd the meth heads are gonna knock off these big city treehuggers!!! It took Alex and me just an hour and a half to get home, awesome riding for being so close to the East Valley.

Some vid from Sam: