Retraction and Rampage

First, a retraction. A few posts ago I railed on my difficulty with Continental Tires. Most recently, an X-King I bought for my geared  29er. I decided to try the tire on the rear wheel of my single speed 29er. Shock! The tire went on easily. Well, it required a bit of force, but it actually got on the rim, which is better than my first attempt on the geared bike. The culprit? I think it was the Stans rims on my geared bike. The rims are tubeless specific, and the tire was not. The rear wheel on my single speed is a WTB LaserDisc, which is not a tubeless ready rim. Mystery solved although I reserve my right to rant if the tire sucks on the trail.

Tomorrow is the Rangeline Rampage, a technical time trial at Rangeline Nature Preserve in Anderson, Indiana. The trail is a great mixture of natural and manmade features that combine to make one of the more technically demanding trails in the state. The nature of the trail also makes head to head racing very dangerous so a time trial format will be used, with a portion of the proceeds going towards trail improvements and maintenance.

Here’s the kicker. Although the park is a city park, volunteers do virtually all maintenance and improvements, including non-mountain bike related work, within the park.  Additionally, the city sits idly by while horsemen ride all over the park, including trails meant for biking and hiking only, and ATV riders run amok.  Figure this is a good chance to show some support for the local mountain biking community.

Anyway, here is a link to the course map  which also shows the various trail features. One feature I will not be attempting is this:

Photo: Rangeline Nature Preserve Facebook Page

Known as The Pier, it looks rather terrifying. At least from in front of the drop it does. Not so much from this view. Luckily there is a lengthy ride around.

And to go with the whole different kind of animal vibe at Rangeline, I decided I’ll race my full suspension 26er versus my typical 29er. I’ll lose some speed (the 26er is very heavy), but considering the tight trails of Rangeline, and the numerous features, including drops, the rear suspension will come in handy. Plus, I’m going into this event with no expectations. Rangeline is a fun place to ride, and the time trial is for a good cause. That is enough to get me there. As long as I exit in one piece and have fun, it’ll have been a successful day regardless of where I end up in the standings.