Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Testing Out Compass Tires (2015-07-04)

I rode my mountain touring bike this time, but it had some Compass Bicycle tires instead of the Schwalbe Marathon Mondials I'd been riding with.

Since I did two centuries on this weekend, I'm going to be more terse than usual with these posts.

More after the break…

This ride was really a test to see how well Compass Bicycle tires really roll. Specifically, the Slumgullion Pass tires. Thus, I rode Adventure Bound

Outbound

I started at about 06:00 since I got to sleep too late yesterday. Since these tires didn't have flat protection and I destroyed a tire with unprotected sidewalls on a previous ride, I decided to avoid downtown.

I had to stop for a restroom break on the waterfront and got an eyeful of the seawall replacement.

I cut back over to my normal route after I was past downtown.

Bicycle Quarterly has an article about tire pressure, and I followed it to run these tires at 40 psi in front and 65 psi in back. I'd probably run it at 45 psi in front next time, though.

The tires also looked pretty sweet.

I was going pretty fast on the Interurban Trail, and was dropping folks left and right. It was really the result of my hammering and the northerly tailwind, which would help out less later with my legs being so burned out.

I stopped in Sumner for a refreshment at the diner beside the local bike shop, as it was very hot out.

Due to the lack of flat protection, I decided to avoid the debris field that is SR 162, and took an alternate route south out of Sumner to the trail.

I ended up in Alderton, which I'd never seen before as the trail goes around it. It was a pretty sad place.

I also saw the work to replace the Puyallup River Bridge.

When I was just entering Orting on the trail, I received some good news!

I decided to visit the Trailside Cyclery, since the guy there is so cool. He liked my bike, and I got to see his ride:

While there, the owner gave me the idea of a different stem for my bike so it'd involve less leaning over (as though it's a road bike).

I got another refreshment at the strip mall on the trail just northwest of the bike shop, after trying to find the Orting Bakery. It was much less obvious when closed, as there weren't any crowds.

Inbound

Heading back north was more difficult, as I was fighting the wind that pushed me down here. I was starting to get some pain in my big toes and the medial balls of my feet.

I took the West Valley Highway after passing through Sumner.

When I got to the Interurban Trail, I stopped to wrap my big toes tightly with masking tape to try to reduce the foot pain.

And I got more water in Kent, even though nothing was open. Not even a Starbucks!

When I stopped to eat near South Park, a guy on a Surly Cross-check road by and have me a casual wave.

I finally gave up on finding a nice mocha and got some out of a gas station coffee fountain.

That was enough to push me home. Perhaps the combination of caffeine and sugar gets me going, despite how I eat more wholesome food all day on my rides. Maybe I'm just unable to digest it effectively due to the heavy exercise.

Throwing out my fear of riding through downtown, I crossed the Duwamish River at the First Avenue Bridge and continued along the road all the way to the 2nd Avenue cycletrack.

I got home less than 13 hours after I left, which isn't absolutely terrible, especially considering the foot pain.

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