Gran Fondo Ellensburg 2019: Ride Report

Some gravel dirt and wear and tear on the front - is something missing?

The day went pretty much according to expectations, following the same rhythm as previous rides - a steady and fairly easy beginning with beautiful views of the Yakima river and only the occasional rock; a very hard climb on gravel; some more gravel and beautiful views along a mountain top ridge; several harrowing descents; and a very fast ride back, being pushed by a tremendous tail-wind.

So happy to finish safely and get a badge.

Along with riding with elan and kindness, my goal was to get within 5% of the winner - I didn't quite make it but, all in all, I had a good day! The winning times over the last five years have been quite consistent and, except for last year when I had a couple of flats and a weird kind of a day, my times have been fairly consistent too!

     Winning Time             My Time 
2019 5:29:59 (Ian Tubbs)      5:49:56 (+19:56)(6% off)   8/103
2018 5:25:08 (Derek Parsons)  6:09:29 (+44:20)(14% off) 15/111
2017 5:29:43 (Evan Plews)     5:48:25 (+18:42)(5% off)   5/107
2016 5:26:01 (Steven Mull)    5:42:50 (+16:49)(5% off)  12/124
2015 5:25:31 (Tim Smith)      6:19:28 (+53:47)(17% off) 21/81

I sensed that my training had been quite good and, indeed, my sensations at Gran Fondo Ellensburg on the bike were excellent. My efforts were controlled and solid and I was able for the most part to find gentle, fast and safe lines on the descents. I think my effort on the first climb was fairly consistent from top to bottom and I found that I was passing riders for most of the climb. When I went by the place that I flatted last year quickly and gently I gained (unwarranted) confidence that all would be well this year! The second big climb was solid, I think, but not fantastic. During the middle part of the ride, I suffered some terrible cramps in my hamstrings and calves. They were disabling but got better after I did some climbing while standing and eating some caffeine stuff.  I assume that the cramps occurred because I've done relatively little climbing in training. I felt surprisingly strong over the last 10-15 miles, which I rode with Brian Kohagen, Mark Littrell, and Anthony Dickson. 

The last gravel descent was terrifying. Fortunately, however, I followed a very skillful rider, Brian Kohagen: When he bunny hopped a hole, I bunny hopped, when he swerved left to avoid something, I looked right for a safe line, when he slowed, I slowed, when he got a little too far ahead, I peddled and closed the gap. For most of the descent, Brian and Mark Littrell were 10 to 20 meters ahead of me - and I followed, approaching my limit. 

I was fascinated to learn that Brian was also monitoring his device while descending - and he would brake in plenty of time prior to the corners. I had assumed that he knew the descent well because his speed varied a good deal - but, no, he was relying on his device for signals on braking and cornering.  

The device, the bike, the rider - all working together, somehow. 

How to improve? Given my physiological limits, I'm not sure. Loose a bit more weight. Spend much more training-time on climbing. Keep working at consistency and increase volume, accepting limits of my time. Do hard threshold work paired with long, very, very easy endurance rides. Can I do more weekly minutes of threshold work? Perhaps, but too much of that and I don't seem to be able to recover. And, do very easy recovery rides. Core exercises and stretching have, I believe, been working - I felt fixed to my seat on the climbs and I'm able, I think, to vary by peddling cadence, from around 70rpm to 105rpm, while maintaining control and smoothness. So, I'll keep being consistent at all that. The Fast Talk Podcast has been particularly informative. Dr. Seiler, in particular, says a lot of interesting things!  I suppose its pretty straightforward - peddle better.

Big slash and bubbles on the tire tread.
Got lucky.

The wheels and tires.I was, in short, lucky. My back tire survived, but barely. Somehow I managed to turn about 1/4 of the tread of my beautiful, albeit "somewhat" worn, Bon Jon 35mm tires into bubbles. Yes, bubbles, between the casing and the tread, filled with air but no sealant - just like blisters on one's feet.  Two of the bubbles popped, creating impressive slashes but the casing continued to hold air and sealant.

How did these bubbles occur? I wrote Rene Here Cycles and asked: What can I learn from this? I had three hypotheses: (1) Rider mistake - I locked up the back wheel and skidded; (2) Tire problem - something wrong with the tire; and (3) Worn out tire (see interesting discussion). In their judgement, the bubbles were due to #1 and #3 in combination. I appreciated very much the time they gave over to my question.

I don't understand the physics of the bubbles. How do they occur? Does the friction of braking very rapidly cause the tread to separate from the casing? Why only air and not sealant in the bubbles? I guess, well, because the sealant stays inside the casing but the air escapes the casing. Why would a worn tire contribute to the creation of bubbles? Perhaps because over time with power going into the tire the bond between the tread and casing weakens. Perhaps, the weakened bond together with the friction of rapid de-acceleration, or skidding even on gravel, creates the bubbles. I've never seen bubbles in tires before. It's all very interesting. But, I hope I don't see bubbles again - or feel them while riding!

Did I lock up the back wheel and skid? Oddly, I do not remember locking it up. There was no one singular event as far as I can remember. In fact, I encountered no "known" close calls. But, absorbing events and remembering them seems inhibited when one is highly focussed. Hence, I wouldn't be surprised if I had skidded. I was on and off the brakes repeatedly and aggressively on the descents, at my limit. When at speed and focused - and when trying to be efficient and gentle - braking happens so quickly and unconsciously that I have no idea whether I'm skidding or not. I think not or, if I am, for very short periods of time, but perhaps those short periods of time, if they do occur, add up.

Anyway, last year I was unlucky with my slashed side wall; this year I was lucky to not get a flat (while, for example, riding fast to the finish). That's how things go I suppose. In professional cycling, riders speak of "luck" all of the time, which has always fascinated me. There must be some psychological advantage to appealing to luck - what might it be?

So, all in all, a great bicycle outing in a beautiful landscape. I'm so lucky to be able to ride a bicycle and experience the sensations of riding hard - peddling smoothly; finding gentle and safe lines; shifting cleanly; and chasing that sensation of focus and effortlessness.

Thanks to Vicious Cycle for a great event. Only about 14 weeks until Gran Fondo Winthrop!

I hope I don't see these bubbles again.

Gran Fondo Ellensburg 2019: Getting Ready

This will be my fifth Gran Fondo Ellensburg, a half decade of rides in the beautiful landscape, east of the Cascades, by Vicious Cycle. Still having fun on my 50-year old frame - a 1969 or 1970 Raleigh Super Course. 

Will the ride follow the rhythm of past years (see 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015)? Or, will some fast riders blow things up at mile 10? I hope not. It's fun to draft in a big group for 25 miles or so. 

The ride, 90 miles, 7,000 feet of climbing, 36 miles a gravel. (From Vicious Cycle.).

I'm looking forward to no lost bottles, no flats, no broken rims, no falls - and a nice day out in the beautiful landscape, riding hard. 

Can I get to within 5% of the winning time? I think I've made it to a good level of fitness and if I have a good day - including no flats - it might be possible. But, when out there in the sun and wind, roads and gravel, who knows. About two weeks to go. 

The training has been good - with several very long, hard rides and good consistency. I've been exploring different three-day patterns of training, trying for aerobic adaptions. I don't think I have any Type IIB muscle fibers remaining. With lots of threshold intervals and comparatively long efforts in Zone-3 of a five zone heart rate model, my Type IIB fibers (fast twitch glycolytic), not that have very many of those, have been converted to Type IIA (fast twitch oxidative). 

Unless I'm particularly motivated by, for example, Brig's back wheel, I don't think I can get into Zone 5 anymore. Ha!

With Gran Fondo Ellensburg on week 24, I get two easy recovery-type weeks. This week I'll do one hard interval workout ( 4 x [16 min. HARD + 2 min recovery]) one 3 hour ride and some ridiculously easy recovery-type rides. I'll try to sleep a lot and not eat much and do about 8 hours total. Next week, I'll do several very easy rides and a couple of short, very hard efforts, for about 4 hours prior to GFE. And that should do it. 

Hopefully, somehow I'll meet up with Brig Seidl and Frank Colich after the big descent and we can ride hard to the finish with a big wind blowing us along. 

But, who knows - the main thing is to focus and be alive to all that the day holds. 

I'll try to ride hard, with elan and kindness. 

My Wheels

As regular readers - ha: I don't have any! - know, setting up my tubeless tires (René Herse Bon Jon Pass 35mm) on my rims (DT Swiss R460) has been an ongoing, challenging, and a generally awful pain-in-the-ass process. Here's an account from 2017.

Long story, short: Those fast Bon Jon tires are installed tubeless. 

Jan Heine demonstrates how to do it. His knowledge for materials and his skill is, I think, impressive, actually to my eye utterly extraordinary. 

I've been practicing and trying to learn over the last three years with the same tires, same rims, and same tools.Yet, my skills do not seem to be developing. I'm still incompetent. 

I bought two new Bon Jon 35min tires - planning to install them on rims that worked well last year.  In their tidy packages these supple tires look beautiful. When I look at the tires, lying folded and flat, I'm full of optimism - I'll get them on the rims and they'll be fast. This will be easy, nothing will go wrong.

But, what the hell: 

Tire #1 - It took 90 minutes to get the new tire on the front rim. I tried to blow up the tire with a tube to set the tire bead into the rim shelf but upon deflating the tube the tire separated from the rim. So, that didn't work. So, I went back to the tire and a really loud air compressor and I blah, blah, blah, bah. And more, blah, blah, blah. Finally, I got the tire inflated and dumped 2 ounces of sealant into the tire but then when I tried to inflate the tire with all the nice orange sealant inside it just wouldn't inflate. What! Then, as I was trying to inflate the tire, orange bubbles of sealant escaped and soon enough there was a flood of sealant coming out of the tire. What a mess: Sealant and soapy water all over the garage and all over me and my pants. Fortunately, I had enough sense to not wear good shoes. I tried again and got it to work but without sufficient sealant so I worked on getting two full ounces into the tire the next day. Finally, it worked and I blew the tires up to 50 psi; then, the next day the tire was 20 psi. But, after pumping it up to 50 psi again it stayed there. Yah

Tire #2 - I tried for 60 minutes on the back tire. No damn luck. I figured something must be wrong with the tape job or the valve. Hence, I tried an old Bon Jon tire that was not too worn. And, I got it to inflate immediately; yes, on the first try. What the hell! So, I went with the older tire. It should be okay, I hope. All my fiddling and messing around just did not work with the new tire. I lack knowledge of my materials and tools and I lack some kind of skill. But, where exactly do my gaps exist. I have no idea. 

So there you go. Yes, indeed, Brig, you are correct: I was screaming to myself in anguish, not about my Raleigh headset, but about these wonderful tires. (Nice blog post. I wish I was out there with you on GFL but I needed to travel.)

Anyway, I took the bike and my wheels out for a long Saturday ride and they worked beautifully. Fast on the road and fast on nice gravel. 

For Gran Fondo Ellensburg, I'll put 45 psi into them and hope they work. That's too much air pressure when going up (the bike will be bumping off the gravel); not enough air pressure when going down (at high speed, if I don't find good, gentle lines, I risk ripping the side walls or banging the rim into the ground); and about right on the road. See this very interesting blog post by Jan Heine, and this one - well, actually, read the whole blog: well-written; beautiful photographs; great stories; inspiring in an intense sort of way. 

Anyway, I've taken off the fenders, cleaned up the bike, put on some new brake pads, changed the gear cables, and put on a new chain. That should do it. Ready to go. 

I hope nothing breaks. And, Brig, I do hope that I have sufficient grease in my headset since I've not checked for a while. 

Being Alive

On the Centennial Trail, green as green can be in oh so many patterns, I saw two bald eagles quietly observing a lake (June 2, 2019). What were they thinking about? How did the warm sun feel? Some important questions to consider while being alive to the landscape and riding through the sun and shade.

Bon Jon Pass Tubeless Set-up

Given my weight plus the bicycle
weight and riding conditions,
what is the optimal
tire pressure?

I've been using Compass Bon Jon Pass 35 mm tires on DT Swiss R460 rims (18 mm inner and 23 mm outer width) for about 4 weeks now. With tubes and at 40 psi, front and back, the wheels have felt exceptional on the road and pretty good on nice gravel (Tolt Pipeline Trail and Snoqualmie Valley Trail).

I have a bicycle tire pressure gage but evidently any gage's reading can vary by 15% (see discussion, August 22, 2016, at Compass Bicycles). So 40 psi could be 40 psi +/- 6 psi, which could be a very meaningful difference but, hopefully, any error in accuracy is consistent. I suppose I should seek to calibrate the gage.

Also of great interest:  Given the supple casings of the Bon Jon Pass tire, 40 psi was probably too low of a tire pressure - a little higher, perhaps 45-50 psi, is probably better (see discussion, March 9, 2016, at Compass Bicycles). That is quite high given my experience with Specialized Trigger tires in the Gran Fondos. But, that said, the Bon Jon Pass tires are likely more supple and so perhaps require more air pressure.

The simple approach would be to pump some tubes up to 50 psi, ride conservatively on fast downhills, and be done with it.  However, I've made it tricky because I want to get good performance (speed, reliability, and safety) out of the combination of rim, tire, and riding conditions. The big challenge is the riding conditions, which I assume to be 100 miles of 1/2 gravel and 1/2 road, with very, very fast descents, which expose you to pinch flats, and quite varied kinds of gravel (nice bits and deadly chunks).

In the five Gran Fondos that I've done, I've had three flats - one flat on the road for unknown reasons (back tire), one pitch flat at high speed when I went over an unexpected creek bed too quickly (back tire), and a "burp" when I hit an evidently ordinary rock at very high speed (front tire). In 1/3 rides with tubeless setups I've not had problems; in 2/2 rides with tubes I've had problems.

Compass Bon Jon Pass tires. Note
 those black lines after about 50 hr of
riding. Have I damaged the tire by
riding low tire pressure?

See those black streaks on the tire (right). I think, perhaps, the threads that hold the casing together have been damaged. It is noteworthy that the black streaks do not appear on the front tire, suggesting there's an issue with the tire pressure. If the threads have been damaged, the tire is not likely to reliably hold air in tubeless mode - bummer. Anyway, as usual with these things, there is a lot to learn.   Update: I was wrong.  Those black lines are not related to casing.  I wrote Compass -- they were extremely helpful -- and they pointed out that the back streaks look like "aluminum oxide from the brake surface of the rim."  True enough - a little water and elbow grease and they come right off. 

So, I'll pump them up to 45 psi and hopefully that will prevent further damage and, moreover, hopefully the tires won't stretch such that it rubs against the frame; alas, the tolerances are fine back there. Last year the Specialized Trigger  38 mm tires worked great until the back one stretched and began to touch the frame, although I think they are quite slow on the roads.

The Compass Bon Jon Pass tires seem to fit the rims superbly. As I inflate the tubes, the tires make a sharp popping sound as they seat with the rim groove, and the tire shape with the rim looks, to me, really good. So, I'm hopeful I'll get them to work tubeless.  But, alas, I do worry, since experts have reported frustrations and challenges - and I'm not, dah, an expert.

Attempt #1 - Failure.  I check my rim tape on my front tire and it looks pretty good to me.  This tape worked in the autumn with Specialized Triggers 38 mm. Just in case, I put another piece of tape over the valve hole, seeking to get a good seal with the valve. I used Stans Sealant and, since I don't have a compressor, I used a handy compressed air cylinder that I carry on my rides. This method for putting a lot of air into the tire fast did not work - just a lot of sealant on the garage floor and a mess to clean up.  The tire did not even get close to seating with the rim. I have found this method to work with the Specialized Trigger tires but no luck here.  So, onward .

Attempt #2 - Success! I ordered some Orange Seal Tubeless Tire Sealant, and headed off to one of my favorite bicycle shops, Counterbalance Bicycles, which has an outside air compressor. The Orange Seal sealant is evidently better for these tires (see review and discussion, August 22, 2016 at Compass Bicycles). No need for soapy water.  Instead I took the tube out while carefully keeping one of the tire beads on the rim. Once the tube was out, I put in the valve.  Then, keeping the wheel  horizontal, I put some sealant into the tire and brushed it around the bead and slobbered it around on the inside rim edge. Then, I put the tire back on the rim.  I blasted it with air while jiggling the sealant around near the valve, and sure enough the tire filled with air and the bead made a sharp snapping sound as it popped into place on the rim. Magical. That worked on both wheels, quite easily, in pretty much the same manner. I inflated the tires to 50 psi and rode home. Three hours later the tires seem to be holding air just fine. Tomorrow, I'll lower the pressure and give them a whirl on my weekly long ride.

Update,  April 15, 2017 - I filled the front and back tires to about 43 psi and I rode hard today on nice gravel. The Compass Bon Jon Pass tires are beautiful. They felt really good, both on gravel and then on road and vice versa. I noted that sensations on the transitions - seemingly, fast on the road, fast on gravel.

The only problem, and its a big one, is that after 4 hours I needed to stop and blast the back tire with air.  It went from about 43 psi to less than I suppose 15 psi (I couldn't quite see my gauge which I carried along with me). The front tire was great - I don't think it lost air or at least it was minimal.

Hmmmm. From magical, to disappointed.  I'm not sure where the tire is leaking - no obvious signs. I can press the tire inward and cause sealant leaks but that doesn't seem to be what is going on.  I guess the next step is to watch it carefully and determine if it leaks when not being ridden. And, then, perhaps add more sealant and see if that makes a difference.  Or, perhaps I should swap the tires and see if that makes a difference -- perhaps its the tape or valve?

As it stands, because of the loss of air, the tires are probably not viable for GFL, which is a real bummer given how nice they are to ride. However, because they ride so well, perhaps I should simply stop every two hours and pump them with air. Ha!   Or, perhaps I should ride with tubes at a fairly high tire pressure and ride very conservatively on the downhills to avoid high speed pinch flats.  Neither of these solutions is very appealing.

Update, April 16, 2017 - Anyway, the next day, after about 18 hours, the tire is dead flat. So, with my stand-up pump, I easily bump it up to 50 psi. And then I checked the pressure every hour.  Here's the sequence of readings, in psi, hour-by-hour for six hours: 50 - 42 - 33 - 28 - 22 - 15 - 10. So, during yesterday's ride, I started at 45 psi.  Therefore, after about 4 hours, one would expect the tire would be down to less that 20 psi. This prediction seems to be about right, although I would imagine that air would leave the tire more quickly when riding than when stationary.

I retrospect, I should have also recorded the pressure on the front time, which seems okay. I can say, however, that the front tire has gone from about 45 psi to 20 psi in 30 hours. So there is a lot of leakage but it is slower leakage.

So, I think the next question is: Where is the air escaping?  I see no obvious places. Is there a way of correcting the problem or have I somehow irreparably damaged the tire? (Note: The tire held air the first night.) If I have irreparably damaged the tire, how exactly did I do that? What should I learn for the next time? Could I have done anything differently?  Was it an issue of tire pressure?  I don't think so and I don't think my riding was out of the ordinary.

I think the next step is to dump a bunch more sealant into the tire, pump it up, and see what happens.  But, that will have to wait, alas, a couple of days ...

Main conclusions: Tubeless tires are great; Tubeless tires are a pain in the ass; I want to make the Bon Jon Pass tires tubeless because they feel fast both on gravel and on the road.

Attempt #3, April 23 - Success!!!  I contacted Compass and asked for some help diagnosing my troubles. We exchanged some e-mail and they generously considered my observations to be a "warrantee issue," and sent me a new tire. I though that was extremely nice, since I really didn't have clear evidence that it was a problem with the tire casing.

Anyway, I re-taped the back wheel and dumped 2 solid ounces of sealant into the old tire. It inflated beautifully. I pumped it up to about 50 psi and the tire held air all night.  Then, the next morning I lowered the pressure to about 43 psi and did a long ride and the tire held air just fine - perhaps losing 1-2 pounds over 24 hours.  What was my mistake?  Perhaps, I didn't use enough sealant or perhaps there was some problem with the tape job.

Anyway, the tires feel very, very good. They feel fast and quite solid - if a little squirely at high speeds - on both gravel and road surfaces.  So, with 4 weeks until Gran Fondo Leavenworth I believe I have an good tire set-up.  Here's to hoping that I don't cut, stretch, or otherwise wear out these beautifully designed and manufactured tires in the next 4 weeks. Ha! Fingers crossed!