With winter around the bend and 11 straight days of rain, I was getting a bit down. But the weekend suddenly cleared off and temperatures soared, 40 degrees C higher than it was two years ago! Better go ride. The ground was still very wet so I decided to change up the Atlantis:
- Put my Velo Orange 52mm fenders on and picked up some leather off-cuts from a local shop, cut them into mud flaps to extend coverage. - Mounted some 38mm Compass extra light Barlow Pass tires - Tried mounting the Carradice Camper Longflap up front for a change, just to keep all my load in the front I went on a 100km ride through some really gnarly terrain, including crossing a handful of gravel pits, a beach, travelling along hydro lines, crossing a farmer's field, riverbed trails, gravel roads, mud pits from new construction developments in progress, and more. Even flew through two big piles of glass that I didn't see at night. I rode with four other guys - one on the regular weight Barlow Pass, a guy with WTB nano's, another on some 26" tire, and a Jones 29+. Everyone flatted on the ride except the two Barlow Pass riders and the Jones. Wow, I was surprised! Even more surprising was how much they instantly transformed the feel of the Atlantis. It feels MUCH quicker than any other tire I've ridden before. I was able to stick with the group for the full 100km, which has typically been a challenge for me while riding the Atlantis. They gripped nicely on most surfaces. Only slick mud and wet leaves posed a problem, which would be an issue for any slick tire. Maybe I just got lucky, but I've gotta say I'm a huge fan of these tires. And the mudflaps were great as well - everyone else looked like they jumped in the river, and I ended the ride clean and dry. <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lnAe2Nu7XJc/VkC82qKNqAI/AAAAAAAANes/2ZMSg65xnRM/s1600/_DSC5346.jpg> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-aIzJrjlkPaU/VkC8XJSTJSI/AAAAAAAANeg/8y9lBhogeo4/s1600/22890922201_79282053e8_o.jpg> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bg69qBNepgA/VkC8-qV4DHI/AAAAAAAANe0/PHh69nlc1dM/s1600/IMG_9469.JPG> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
