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Sunday, February 15, 2015

Dirty Kanza 200 Chronicles V2: Bumping The Needle

Well, not a whole lot has happened since last week. I took the week off for healing, as stated yesterday, and only got in one ride. That said, I was doing more off the bike in terms of planning and altering my diet now to try to cut some weight. More water, less snacking, lowering portions again. Hopefully by the time I am healthy enough to hit things harder it will all come together. Right now my focus is still on gaining back fitness and not digging myself back into a hole again where I need to recover again.

I already have identified the tire I am going to use at the Dirty Kanza 200 this year, and I know from my past observations and experiences that a bigger volume tire that is tough is going to be a better choice than some tires that are lightweight and have supple casings. Flint will shred a tire like that, and my past DK 200 attempts were all done on 2.0+ sized 29"er tires, and I had but one flat in three attempts. Back in the day, there weren't many good 40-ish millimeter sized tires to choose from unless you went with the favorite of many in those days- the Schwalbe Marathon series tires.

But I am sure you don't really care about the past, and you want to know what I am using, so here you go. I will be riding a set of WTB Nano 40 TCS tires on WTB Frequency i23 rims tubeless. Well, that's the plan. I have a few months to dial it all in and make sure it works for me. So far, that is the only equipment choice I have dialed in with any surety. Everything else is still on the table. The bike choice included. The Vaya shown is certainly in the running for the steed I might be seen on in Kansas. We'll see, but I am holding out for a couple of other possibilities here.

Well, I hope to have more actual training reporting to share, but for now I have only just bumped the needle off of zero. There's a long, long way to go.
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3 comments:

  1. Unknown10:33 AM

    GT - doing DK200 1st time this year. been riding the Challenge Gravel Grinder Race tire (w/tubes) on Stans Grail rims and really liking it. I am concerned about its durability though for the DK200. Was thinking about something a bit more durable and also going tubeless. I was thinking about the Specialized Trigger Pro 2Bliss but they have not been available. What do you think about the Nano TCS tubeless on the Stans Grail? Compared to the Challenge Gravel Grinder, Trigger Pro or even the Clement X'Plor that everyone seems to love?

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  2. Guitar Ted11:28 AM

    @Steve Reid: I wouldn't go that route: (Stan's rims/WTB Tubeless) Reason being is that the combination of a TCS tire (UST dimension), and Stan's rims, (slightly bigger than UST dimensions) will result in a tire fit that is so tight it may take upwards of a half an hour to fix a flat should you need to dismount the tire. At DK 200.....that is HIGHLY likely. Stick with a non-tubeless type tire for your Grails, as that is what they are meant for- to set up non-tubeless tires as tubeless.

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  3. Unknown11:59 AM

    Thanks GT. After posting I did some additional research and came to the same conclusion. Too bad at the Nano looks like a nice tire. So now I still need to determine what to use at DK200...

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