On Sunday I decided to take a little test ride on Blackbirb to break in the new aero bar, and ended up riding a little loop around Calero County Park and Rancho Cañada del Oro OSP, for a bit over 40 miles. This is quite a decent distance to ride on a mountain bike, but it turned out quite well.
Other than, that is, the part where I got a pinch flat on the rear tire. I was coming down the steep part of Cottle trail quite quickly and hit some rocks that were apparently a bit more jagged than I had assumed, and one of them was pointy enough to bite through the rubber.
Unfortunately the sealant had dried out and was no use, and the gash was a bit on the big side so I'm not sure it would have sealed anyway. Either way, this tire was getting worn down well past its use-by date, so I picked up a fresh new pair and they just came in today.
Unfortunately while I was sitting on the side of the trail stuffing an inner tube in my rear wheel, a process that requires removing the tubeless valve, I somehow managed to misplace that rather important but luckily inexpensive component. I didn't notice until I got home, so there wasn't much point going back out to find it, and thus I just ordered a new pair.
That shipment hasn't arrived yet, so in the meantime I just swapped the tire on the front.
Looks all pretty and new!
In addition to being new, it's also a slightly updated version of the tire with a fancier rubber compound, better puncture protection, and better tubeless compatibility. It's also slightly larger because they no longer sell the size I had previously (thus I'm now running 2.25 instead of 2.1 inches, which isn't a dramatic difference but still slightly larger nonetheless).
I'm planning to keep the old front tire as a spare, though with any luck I'll never need to use it.
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