Dirt Home From Work

Brown ribbon of goodness.

Once in a while I'll get the itch to take a mountain bike off road, and many times I scratch that itch by commuting to work, then I do a "Dirt Home From Work" route.

I have whittled down the mountain bike side of the stable to one suspended hard tail with gears, a single speed with no suspension fork, and a front suspended single speed. I have platform pedals on the Singular Buzzard, so that is the bike I take to work most often.

Interestingly, the way I set up the wheels back a few years ago was weird.......then. Now it is becoming something that might be a lot more familiar in the coming years. Not "plus" sized, but not "normal 29"er sized either. I did mine by way of a little trickery. I used a really wide rim and some of the bigger volume 29"er tires around at the time.

The thing I was after was volume, but without the vagueness. Wider rims support sidewalls better, and with the really wide Duallys, I got max width out of a 2.35" and 2.4" tire. Now the back measures 2.45" and the front measures 2.5" wide. I can also run those tires down under 20psi with no worries about squirming or vagueness in handling. That's the goal of the new move to 2.5"-2.8" tires coming out now.They are big enough to translate the traction benefits without the issues with vagueness in cornering. But I could go on and on about that.....

The point is I got on a mountain bike. First time in a while too. I would assess the ride as being fun, but I sure am rusty! I need to get in a few more of these "Dirt Home From Work" rides and then hit up Ingawanis Woodlands for the real thing.