Stuff Review Saturday!!! with cat: Panaracer Rampage

I did hill repeats today. Almost no one enjoys doing intervals, so I'm just going to guess that even fewer people like reading about them. Onward to more stimulating topics!


Since I am not going to write about today's ride, or lack there of, I'm going to start "Stuff Review SaturdaysssS!!! with cat" ("saturdays" purely for alliteration purposes. i don't plan on writing on saturdays. so its unlikely that the reviews will ever come on the title day.)

So. Right to it.

Stuff Review Saturdayayay!!! with cat.

Panaracer Rampage

and cat

(the notorious Z.I.P)

Grip grip grip. These rubbers grip like man juice on fabric. They hook up great on dry and wet rocks. In the slow technical sections on Laural Mountain I could not imagine a better meat. I have yet to loose traction climbing on moist soil or hard pack. The Rampage sheds mud well, but does not have the knob height to work well in very muddy conditions.

The volume is great. Running them tubeless at about 15 psi for front and rear they have really smoothed out the ride on the big carrot. They sealed tubeless with just a floor pump and very little effort. The weight (by my scale "kinda heavy") is not at all unreasonable for the big size. Cornering is almost to good. I have a tendency to over-steer and on more than one occasion the tire has refused to give traction and launched me over the bars.

grippy to a fault. i over steered, and yes, my head did become well acquainted with that tree.

Unfortunately, the massive amount of grip does not lend itself to rolling speed. I knew these tires rolled slow, but just how slow was made painfully obvious to me at the Month of Mud series last fall. All four Sundays I raced on these tires and watched everyone near by roll away anytime we hit pavement. My bike sounds like a truck buzzing down the road.

Conclusion: The big carrot feels glued to the trail with the Rampages. It never looses traction, but is a hells of a lot harder to move than it was with Michelin ATXCs. I really love the Rampage for technical tracks because they ride and stick so well, but really don't love them for racing. They are just to heavy and slow.

Like a Ferret in the Lobster Tank

Yarg! Me eyes! So much ice! On the ride home from work the all-day rain turned into little ice daggers. They stabbed my eyes mercilessly. I had no goggles. Absolutely the last time I make that mistake. Never leave the house in winter with out goggles. I won't. I won't.


I probably will.
It was pouring this morning, and by pouring I mean a slight drizzle. Sort of like the gods were shaking after a pee. In any case, I got wet. But riding in the rain is nice. When I leave my house at 6:30 its pitch black, and as I reach my destination the sun is just coming up. On days the rain is falling it feels akin to a deprivation tank (until a truck comes blasting by. why do they always feel the need to rev up the big dissle as they pass??? must be compensating for something.) If my light wasn't on I would have no idea I was moving. Its real cool in an odd way. Snow on the forecast for tomorrow. Huzzah!


(this man obviously has balls. they must just be to big to fit in his pants)

Grove Run Fail

I have no idea why I insist on riding grove run trail in the upward direction. It just never works.
Grove Run is about a five mile loop (I think. Actually I have no idea. But its more than long enough.) in Laurel Mountain, PA. The trail is cut into the side of the mountain and goes up from the bottom. Basically the whole thing is an off camber climb on loose soil with big rocks and the "occasional" downed tree. Its really really hard to ride up.

Knowing full well the trail's level of really really hard dificultness, I gave it another shot last Saturday. I failed. I think I walked up the hill for about an hour before I turned around and came back.


But the return trip was a blast. Its crazy to me how much more fun it is to ride down a hill than up it. The trail is very unforgiving (death by thorn bushes and drop off on one side and sharp pointy rocks on the other), but I manged to stay on it and keep my lovely face intact.

(I swear I hopped this one right after the picture)