Raleigh Rainier Gets Ridden!

<===In the sun.

Just thought I'd let everyone know I finally got this Raleigh Rainier out for a ride. It's a pretty smooth ride too, what with the carbon fork and my fat-as-I-can-fit tires. Which brings me to a teensy problem.

There isn't enough room for that IRC 42mm back there. Oh, it spins through the frame okay. It's just that there is no room for error! If I got any mud back there, or had a slightly out of true wheel, well forget about the paint job! It would be gone. So I got a cheapo Bontrager 35mm tire down at the shop and slapped it on there. Bingo! Lots of room now. At least I'll be able to gravel grind and commute now on this. Which brings me to my next point......

Gravel and paint on the down tube don't seem to mix, at least if history is any indicator. So I will be getting some frame saver tape at a motorcycle shop, or somewhere, to line the lower quarter of the down tube and the bottom bracket shell. That way I won't have an ugly, pitted, or chipped up frame from gravel projectiles. Which leads me to my final point..............

The gravel is pretty soft yet, so this won't be the weapon of choice until things dry up. All I can say about cyclo cross is "No wonder you guys are blowing up yer heart rates!" These cyclo cross tires, (and I was running 42mm, mind you) just knife right into the earth! Makes you work waaaay too hard. So I will be riding some good ol' fatty 2 inchers until the roads firm up and then we'll bust out the skinnier tires. Maybe I'll have to commute to work on it. Tuesday maybe, so Captain Bob can roll in to check it out.