14 August 2009 - 0:22Fool’s Gold and New Tires

Dalonega GA, once the scene of the only gold rush in the east, is now home to some pretty sweet bike riding, and an ultra endurance event held by Eddie and Namrita O’Dea. Fool’s Gold is a 50 or 100 mile race, depending on how many laps you do (1 or 2).

DA and I went down last year, to represent Bike 29, as we were a proud sponsor. During our road trip, we made a lot of great friends, and got to ride some new and super fun trails. Earlier this year, Mandy was lucky enough to have a work trip coincide with Namrita’s Women’s Weekend, held at Mulberry Gap for a sample of the region’s finest single track.

Well, another year has passed, and Bike 29 is once again a proud sponsor of the Fool’s Gold race. This time, we are awarding prizes to the King and Queen of the mountain. The first climb on the course is a doozie, and we will reward the first male and female to crest the top.

And, as luck would have it, Mandy’s travel schedule has made it possible for her to compete in the race. She’ll be doing the 50 mile lap. She has been training hard for SSWC09. Having already finished 50 this year at SSAZ09, and with all the training she has done, I’m sure she will have a great race. Hopefully she remembers to take some pictures…

While Mandy is racing, I’ll be checking out some sweet new tires from Bontrager. I managed to get my hands on a set of Team FR tires. The sidewall says 2.35, but these suckers are huge! The near continuos center ridge on the high volume casings look like they will roll pretty fast on hardpacked surfaces, while the aggressive, deep tread blocks seem like they could pretty much tackle anything. The rubber seems fairly tacky but the tread blocks do not rebound quite as fast as a Nevegal when pushed with your thumb.

They are not light, but I wasn’t really expecting light. My tires weighed 1020g and 990g, and added .87 lbs to the overall weight of the WFO. Still under 33lbs, but with over 3/4lb of extra rotating mass. Oh well. It’s how well they hold onto the ground that concerns me.

The sidewall is  extra thick. The tires held their shape without even being on a rim, so I’m willing to bet you can run these tires at some atrociously low pressures. I’ll be getting my first ride on them tomorrow.