Gran Fondo Ellensburg: Getting Ready

The training since Gran Fondo Leavenworth has been good.  I'm looking forward to Gran Fondo Ellensburg, and riding with focus and élan.

I anticipate the ride to follow the same pattern as previous years. (Ride reports for 2015 and 2016.)

My new back wheel is working great. After a little gravel riding, hard uphill climbing, jumping up and down, easy commuting, and fairly hard breaking and skidding the wheel seems solid.  So, I'm hopeful that it will work well.

(On my initial 5 min. ride, the back wheel pinged twice when a put a lot of force on the peddles while going up a hill. Therefore, there was some spoke windup. Bummer.  The wheel got a very little out of true. To fix it, I had to turn two spokes about 1/4 turn each. So, I'll take that, but still more to learn ...)

For tires, I'll use the Compass Bon Jon 35 mm in tubeless mode. Getting the tires inflated and running in tubeless mode was challenging. (One bicycle store, suggested that I return the tire because it was too loose on the rim.  I thought this was bad advice but didn't wanted to challenge an expert in bikes. Another bicycle store charges $11.00 to blast air and inflate tubeless tires, which I suppose is perfectly reasonable; still, I would like to have the tools and skills to do this stuff on my own.)  So, I decided to get my own damn compressor and learn how to do this.

I followed this technique and the tires inflated and snapped into my DT Swiss 460R rims beautifully.   As best I can remember, I followed these steps:

1. Get a compressor (and ear protection);
2. Make sure the tape job is beautifully done (on my rims I used 21 mm Stans Tubeless Rim Tape); 
3. Fill a spray bottle with soapy water;
4. Take the valve core out;
5. Spray the tire bead and rim with soapy water; 
6. Put the tire on the rim; 
7. While wearing ear protection, start the compressor, and wait there is sufficient pressure; 
8. Blast the tire with air - behold: the tire inflates, and snaps to the rim! 
9. Let the air out and take off 4 inches of tire;
10. Dump 2.5 oz. of sealant (Orange Seal) into the tire;
11. Put the tire back on the rim, being careful to not spill any sealant; 
12. Blast the valve with air - behold: it inflates! 
13. Put the valve core back on the valve; 
14. Take out your hand pump and pump the tire up to 55 psi (the recommended max is 60 psi; with tubes, the recommended max is 90 psi); 
15. Bounce the tire around and spin the tire around; 
16. Lay the tire down so that it rests horizontally (alternate sides); 
17. Wait 10 min.;
18. if count > 5 goto 20; 
19. Goto 15; 
20. Put away the compressor, trying not to hurt your back; 
21. Be very happy :). 

If you need a damn compressor to inflate your tubeless tires just let me know. Perhaps, this Air Blaster or Airshot are better solutions. I like their elegance - perhaps something to investigate in the future.

I'll be riding the tires at a little under 45 psi. 

Meanwhile, I've been enjoying my riding and thinking about the monster climb (6 miles at more than 8%), the beautiful ride along the ridge, and so on.  Also, I'll be on the lookout for those massive potholes that might one day eat an entire bicycle and rider, about mile 38 where a seasonal stream crosses the road, under some trees, and we go to the left, climbing to the highest point of the ride.

Gran Fondo Ellensburg profile - see course at Vicious Cycle.