Buying tires that are tough enough to withstand the vast majority of punctures can be expensive and require some research.  In Idaho, we have a thing called goat-head thorns and those things can go right through any regular tire and force you to stop every 10 miles or so to patch a tube, like I did on this ride.  On that ride I was using some cheap Kevlar belted tires I bought online for about $12 a tire and, as you can read in the article, they didn’t work out so well.  In the past, I’ve purchased Specialized Armadillo tires for $35 a piece at a local bike shop and they lasted for a good 2,500 miles of riding without a single flat.  However, they were pretty dang rough to ride on and not very comfy at all.  And besides, what budget-minded cyclist wants to spend that much per tire?

I believe I have found the holy grail for bicycle riding penny pinchers.  Tire liners!  Yes, these wonderful urethane liners are very flexible, but they completely impenetrable by the vast majority of sharp objects found on roads (glass, thorns, metal, etc.).   I first bought some 2-inch wide ones for my mountain bike.  After about 1000 miles of on and off-road riding, I have never had a single flat.  In fact, recently, I noticed that my aging mountain bike tires were starting to crack and split and I could see the liner through the tire in a spot or two.  If the liner had not been there, either the tube would have burst or something would have punctured the tube.

Months later, I wondered if they made tire liners for road bike tires (700×23 mm, 25 mm, etc.).  Local bicycle shops seemed to only carry tire liners for wider tires, so I visited froogle.com and did some searching.  If you search for the phrase “tire liner 25 mm” you’ll get several results for Mr. Tuffy tire liners for road bike tires, which are about $12 for a pair.  The “Orange” version of these liners fits 700 mm tires with widths of 20 mm on up to 26 mm or so (Mr. Tuffy brand tire liners are a different color for the different widths of tire they fit).  I’ve personally used this size with my 23 mm and 25 mm tires and they fit fine.  When I first took them out of the package, I noticed how shiny and slick the surface of the liners were, which I later found greatly aids slipping the liner in between your tire and tube.  Also, if you try to stab your thumbnail into the liner, you’ll notice it is very difficult to make any kind of indentation.  Yeah, urethane is some tough stuff.

Installing them can be a little tricky at first, but it is not that bad.  If you search google.com for “how to install bicycle tire liners” or something similar, you’ll get some good advice.  Here’s how I do it:

1. Take your wheel off of your bike and deflate the tire.
2. Take the tire and tube off of the wheel and then take the tube out of the tire.  You do this because the tube is usually pretty much adhered to the tire.
3. Lay the tire on the ground and place the tube back in the tire.  It helps to inflate the tube a little bit to do this.
4. With the tube inflated a few psi, slip the liner in between the tire and tube.  The liner is rather slippery, so this is pretty easy.  I joke with my friends that the liner almost feels like it’s pre-lubed with K-Y. 
5. The liner is a little longer than the circumference of the tire, so you’ll overlap a little which is normal.  After the liner is all in, check with your fingers that the liner is well centered with the tread of the tire.
6. Put the tire/liner/tube combo onto your rim carefully so as not to move things around too much.  Inflate carefully to make sure your tire is properly fit onto the wheel and you’re good to go!

I’ve taken my road bike out to some well-known thorn territory to give the liners a good test and I was absolutely elated that I didn’t get a single flat!  So, anyway, I believe the tire liners are the perfect choice for those who want to buy cheapo tires but who want a puncture-proof ride at the same time.  By the way, you can buy some really cheap tires online for around $10 a tire.  Yes, yes, the cycling connoisseurs will scoff and say “but the rolling resistance of those tires are absolutely ghastly and they weigh far too many grams!”  However, the vast majority of cyclists in the world really aren’t concerned with those things.  Your commute to the grocery store to pick up some beer probably isn’t going to be effected by the quality of your tire; however, you may want to have some tire liners for some protection against those nasty thorns

Above is a terrain map of Inman Canyon near Inkom, Idaho (courtesy Google and MapMyRide.com). The path starts on Inman Road off of Rapid Creek Road and then it turns into a dirt jeep trail that goes up to about 6600 feet in elevation up the Portneuf Range, the same range that contains Bonneville Peak and the Pebble Creek Ski Area.  About a month ago, Travis and I checked this trail out a little.  I was trying out some slick 38 mm wide tires at the time, and they handled ok on the trail, but I missed the stability and traction of my knobby 2 inch wide mountain bike tires.

On Sunday, September  7, I decided to put my knobbies back on my mountain bike and explore this canyon.  I took 3 liters of hydration and my regular supply of granola bars, spare tubes, and tools and headed off to Inkom.  I pulled into the same park in Inkom that I always visit on these trips to top off my water supply and there was a couple of 40s-ish women on road bikes who obviously do the same thing.  We chatted for a bit and then headed off to our destinations.

I made my way up Rapid Creek Road then right onto Inman road and soon the road turned into trail.  The loose dirt and rocks on this trail made me thankful I put on my mountain bike tires.  I had to pull off to the side of the trail about 5 times during this trip to let ATVs and pickup trucks go by.  On my way up, I stopped at a small pull off and took some photos of a near-by stream and said hi to a mountain biker and another guy who was looking for a good place to shoot.  My water supply was getting rather low so I knew that I had better just try to make it to the apex of this trail and then head home.

Next, the trail began getting pretty dang steep; I had to hop off and hike-a-bike a couple times because I was so pooped.  Finally, the trail opened up into a clearing and forked off down the opposite side and south side of the mountain.  Later, I identified this location as Inman Pass and the two trails lead to Chesterfield and Lava Hot Springs. I desparately want to pack more supplies sometime and cycle to both!  However, that would certainly turn into a multi-day cycling trip in order to get back all the way to Pocatello.  This certainly underlines the fact that 100 miles on flat asphalt and 100 miles on a mountainous trail are two completely different things ;-)  Photo gallery is here.

Anyway, my friend Travis Poppe and I decided to give it another shot this year and this time we were going to keep it simple, easy, and fun.   We decided to camp at the Goodenough camp grounds near McCammon, Idaho and just bring along the bare minimums.  Ok, actually, I went a little crazy and also packed 6 cans of beer as well.  After all, the destination was only about 30 miles away.

We set out after work on Friday, August 29 at around 6:30 pm.  We met up at Travis’ apartment and we lifted each other’s bikes to compare packing weights; both bikes felt very heavy even though we really didn’t pack a ton of stuff.  Cycling toward McCammon felt very easy to us, however; we thought it may be due to the fact that our momentum was enhanced by our mass.  By the time we began cycling up Goodenough Road in McCammon, darkness had fallen and we were very glad for Travis’ hub dynamo and uber-bright headlight on his Surly Long Haul Trucker touring bicycle to light the way.  Upon reaching the campsite, we used Travis’ little flashlight to set up the tent, drink our much-welcomed beer, and eat our dinner.  As we ate we called a friend and chatted with them about our experience so far.

During the night we heard an owl constantly as well as the occasional yapping of some coyotes in the nearby hills.  I slept very well, but Travis didn’t fare so well.  Between his insomnia and the owl, he only got about 4 hours.

The next morning we walked around the area a bit and Travis shot a short movie with his camera.   We took everything down, packed up, and cycled further up Goodenough Road to check out the other camping areas.  Then we cycled into McCammon to get some much needed coffee!  After that we were off back to Pocatello.  Again and again we exclaimed about how much of a perfect success this S24O was.  Especially compared to last years.  But that is for another blog entry sometime… :-p

Here is the photo gallery of this expedition as well as a movie that Travis made at the camp site!

After learning that Travis wasn’t going anywhere that morning, I thought that I would try the ride around American Falls Reservoir I’d been planning.  Or at least I’d scope out the territory a little.  So, I headed for Fort Hall to find Ferry Butte Road which is the southern most bridge across the Snake River on the north end of the reservoir.  As you can see on the map, I kind of wandered around before finding it.  But, hey, it’s fun to wander and just see what there is to see!  There aren’t very many landmarks out there, except for the one hill that looks like a lump in the vast Snake River Plain: Ferry Butte.  It was how I knew I was in the general correct area, but I was on the wrong side of the butte.  Doh!  There was a bit of straw on the side of the road that I ran my bicycle through merrily, and shortly thereafter I got my first goathead thorn deflation.  Actually, thorns were stuck in both of my tires and so I had to repair both tubes.  This wasn’t supposed to happen since my tires were supposedly made with Kevlar.  Obviously the Kevlar wasn’t thick enough.  After making repairs and chatting with a local farmer who came to my aid, I carried on.  Note to self: stay out of the debris on the side of the road!

At the Ferry Butte crossing, there’s a parking lot and restroom where people park and can enjoy the scenery or go boating on the river.  After taking a look around (and finding that my camera batteries were dead), I continued west and then turned left on Hilltop road towards Rockford.

Hilltop road seems to go on forever, but it is very smooth and I had a south wind pushing me to an easy 25 mph.  The houses along this road look very pretty and picturesque and they got even prettier when I turned right onto Thomas road.  Lovely landscaping and giant homes; it made me want to move to Blackfoot… almost ;-)  After cycling over the bridge and going through a bit of Blackfoot, I was on Highway 91 going back to Pocatello.  And then I felt the familiar wobble in my rear tire.  Gah!  Another flat.  Sigh.  This time I angrily pulled my patch-polka-dotted tube out, stuffed it into my trunk rack and replaced it with a brand new tube.  I was growing tired of flats on this journey.

I cycled on toward Pocatello at a slow pace of 15 mph, pushing against the south wind.  I got into the drops and spun at a low gear, then shifted into my highest gear, stood up and do a slow cadence to rest my weary quads and my sore hiney; lather, rinse, repeat.  Soon I was in more familiar territory on the northern end of Hiline Road.  I saw a hill ahead so I shifted up, stood up, and began climbing the small hill.  My balance began getting wobbly and I thought to myself, “gah, I must be bonking or something” and then it dawned upon me that my front tire was going soft.  Yes, another frickin’ goathead thorn.  I swore to myself as I performed the repair that I didn’t care what it cost, I was going to buy the most expensive nuclear-bomb-proof tires on the market.  I mean, really, I had taken great care to stay away from road-side debris for the last 40 freakin’ miles and I was still getting flats.  As a matter of fact, the only place around Pocatello that I seem to get flat is in the Fort Hall Reservation area.  Hmph.

By this time, I was hot and pissed.  The temperature outside had risen to about 95 degrees and I just wanted to go home and drink a gallon or two of cold beer.  Luckily I made it home without anymore flats.  I drank a few refreshing beers, took a shower, and then drank some more.  Ah, there’s nothing like soothing sore muscules with a hot shower of lots of Pabst Blue Ribbon.  Mmm, life is good.

P.S.  My trip meter on my bicycle computer said 68 miles at the end of the trip.  Also, for reference, the wussy tires of which I speak in this article are Hutchinson Quartz Kevlar tires (700×23) that I bought from nashbar.com on sale for like $9.99 a peice.  Yeah, for that price, no wonder they didn’t perform the best agains the evil thorns.  In the past, I’ve purchased Specialized Armadillo tires from a local bike shop for about $35 a peice and I never got a single flat in those tires for thousands of miles of riding.

Cycling around with 20 pounds of beer on the front of your bike takes a little bit of finesse.  Steering feels heavy and slower and I wouldn’t recommend whipping around any corners or performing any other tricks while hauling heavy objects.  Also, as you can see in the photos, I have a bungee cord strapped firmly over the top of the beer since hitting bumps tends to toss things out of the basket.  However, this is a very convenient means of hauling stuff around without having to fire up the family sedan.  Save money, stay fit, and enjoy your beer!

A friend of mine told me that the road turned to gravel at some point so I decided to take my trusty mountain bike.  After cycling to Inkom, I refilled my water bottles at the local park (Glenn Park Field) and continued on to Green Canyon Road via US Highway 91 and Inkom Road.  Upon entering Green Canyon Road, I felt that I knew this place and almost immediately I recognized it as the place my mother grew up.  I remember her showing me the house and the pasture so many years before and I stopped to take some shots of the house.  As I continued my cycling, I was shifting down, shifting back up and standing up, and doing every other technique I knew to keep pushing on at a decent rate.  Either I was tired or this road is pretty friggin’ steep; later I found a sign that proved that the latter was true!

The area is pretty scenic and green, thus the road name.  I passed forrest and pastures and felt like I was in Hobbitville or something.  After pausing to take some snapshots of some birdhouse art (see the gallery), it was confirmed that I was indeed in the land of Hobbits.  A pretty cool work of art and congrats to whoever built it!  After pausing for a rest and a granola bar, I came upon a sign that said “12% grade 2.2 miles” and that confirmed for me that this was one of the steepest roads I’d ever cycled on.

After getting to the part of this road that begins switchbacking up the mountains, I realized that I needed to get back home since I promised Emily I’d  be back by 2:00 pm and the time was nearly 1:00.  I knew this probably wouldn’t be a problem because I’d probably break the sound barrier on the downhill.  And the downhill was absolutely exhilarating, hauling ass down the snaking road.  Lots of fun.  I recommend this ride to anyone who loves a good hillclimb!

One of the best investments I’ve ever made is buying a Wald Bicycle Basket! When cycling home after work, I like to stop by a local grocery store and pickup some ingredients for dinner, beer, or both. Previously I had been carrying my stuff home by cramming it all into my small trunk rack, but I soon realized that better solutions had been invented for transporting items by bicycle. I had seen bicycle baskets before on old bicycles and in movies (think Elmira Gulch’s bicycle in the Wizard of Oz) but you really don’t see them very often nowadays. Searching Google’s Product Search, however, brings up quite a few good deals.

After measuring the interior distance between my drop handle bars, I purchased the Wald 198GB Multi-Fit Basket from one of the Google search results. I bought this model since it is the most versatile of all the baskets as far as getting it to fit on your bike. My drop handlebars were just barely wide enough to fit this basket, by the way, so make sure you measure carefully.

And as you can see from the photos, this basket works great for transporting quite a load of groceries. I decided to buy a six-pack of my favorite beer, Pilsner Urquell, to christen my new bicycle accessory. I quickly found that I needed to buy some bungee cords to keep things from bouncing out of the basket, and I also found that the basket I bought can hold a lot more than a tiny six-pack. On my next ride, I bought a couple of six-packs and rode home fine with them (didn’t have a chance to shoot a shot of that, sorry folks). On grocery ride number three, I bought a couple of large bottles of wine and some frozen veggies, also part of the gallery. Are you seeing a pattern here? Yeah, I’m a cyclist who loves his beer and wine

Today, I use my basket every day to carry my lunch to work in a cold-food pack that fits perfectly in my basket and a few of my co-workers have asked where they can get one. Just remember, get the black painted models if you don’t want your bike to look too feminine! And be extra careful when you’ve loaded up some heavy items into your basket since the bikes handles differently. But, don’t worry, you get used to it quickly. It’s a snap.

Happy cyclo-shopping!

On Earth Day every year, Idaho State University’s Outdoor Club has a bicycle parade.  The route starts at the Student Union Building at ISU, loops down through old town Pocatello, and finishes back at the SUB.  It is quite a fun ride and I especially love the old town section; cruising between all those old and ornate buildings and shops is awesome.  Here are a couple of videos I shot from my bicycle of the Earth Day 2008 bicycle parade:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pj21JlmHpA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAuq63okBLs

Yeah, sort of a new and cooler version of cyclophotography, aye?  I got the idea from my friend Travis Poppe when he did the same thing the previous year (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaqSV9QQzTo).

This year I’ve participated in the Pocatello Critical Mass once, which is an event that happens on the last Friday of every month.  Stay informed of this event by joining the Pocatello Critical Mass Facebook group!  See you on the next ride!

I dashed home early from work, donned my cycling clothes, stretched, and headed off to Scout Mountain on my road racing bicycle. I thought to myself that most of the racers would probably drive to the event, since it is a few miles south of town, but I always enjoy cycling to an event if I can. Cycling is just fun, whether you are racing, cruising, shopping around town, commuting to work, or trail riding. Also, I knew that I sure as heck wasn’t going to set any records, this being my first cycling season, so getting to the starting line fresh probably wasn’t going to help much. I probably shouldn’t even bother participating in races, but I think they are fun and they are a heck of a good workout. And in a small town like Pocatello, everyone is encouraged to participate as much as possible in community activities, since activities like this are lucky to have a handful of participants.

Rain was predicted for the evening, and this actually made it more exciting since it would be interested to see how things turned with the weather. While cycling to the starting point, it began to steadily rain, but the temperature was high enough that it wasn’t very bothersome at all. After getting to the Cherry Springs parking lot near Scout Mountain, I saw a few familiar faces, put my name on the race list, got my number pinned to my jersey, and continued warming up by riding along the roads around the starting point, even though the 8 or so miles I cycled to get to the race was plenty of warm-up time! While dawdling around waiting for the race to start, I noticed that I was the only one with a “granny gear” (the #3 small chain-ring) on my bike. I really don’t mind showing my naivety, so I exclaimed to another contestant, “wow, I think I’m the only one here with a granny gear!” and he replied, “yes… just remember not to use it!” I gulped.

Soon, the lady coordinating the race (Smitty Faure was her name I believe), began taking the roll call and then the first contestant was off, and then the next and the next in 1 minute increments or so. I was the 4th person off, and later on I was really glad of this since if I had been one of the last people to go, I would have held up the race coordinators waiting for my slow ass to finish After starting, I kept a pretty grueling pace (for me, anyway) and was determined not to let the guy behind me overtake me… even though I knew it was probably going to happen.

Next, a couple of the racers behind me had overtaken me, including the 60-something guy with the big, white chops-style beard… yeah, that guy is seriously hardcore. Soon, I was seriously getting exhausted… about midway, actually. I was alternating from shifting-up-stand-up to shift-down-pedal-fast… this is my own method of working both aerobic and anaerobic systems without fatiguing either… even though both were pretty danged fatigued by now. And at the same time I was pretty proud of myself: I was in the best condition of my life and I knew I was doing something that a year ago I couldn’t do. So I trudged on…. More cyclists passed me, each of them saying something like “good job” or “hey” briefly. By this time, I didn’t really care, I only wanted to finish this torturous race! I had ridden this road before at much slower pace, so I had an idea of how much further I had to go.

Soon, I could hear the folks at the finish line and then they were in sight! I gave it one last push, crossed the line, laid my bike down, and walked around catching my breath. After a few gulps of water, I put on my windbreaker and headed down the long and winding road off to home. All I could think of was a nice hot shower and eating the equivalent of a full-size cow. On the way home, Sam Krieg hollered at me from the passenger side of a car: “Wow, you’re a tough guy, want to warm your hands by my heater?” Hehe, Sam’s a funny guy.

The next day, the results showed that I made 21st place out of the 23 contestants and I had finished with a time of about 36 minutes. Yayz! The course was 5.1 miles with a 1500 ft elevation gain. Whew.

Subject: Critical Mass Ride this Evening

Hey everybody!

You guys pumped for our first ride of the season?

We’ll be meeting up in the parking lot where the farmers market is held; between main and the tracks, behind the Old
Town Pocatello building, just north of Scott’s. You know where I mean.

At 5:30ish we’ll take off, route yet to be determined. I’d like for us to be visible but not pissing people off (our first time out anyway).

I found the Idaho laws about bicycling; they’re a posted item on the Event. In short:
If on sidewalk, yield to pedestrians
If on street, ride as close to the right side as you can safely, vehicles can overtake you.
Riding two abreast is fine but don’t take up more than one lane and only fill a lane if you’re not holding up traffic.
When approaching a stop sign, slow down. If the coast is clear blow through it!
When approaching a red light, come to a stop. If it’s clear you can proceed.

Ride like a flock of birds. Get separated, catch up, rinse and repeat. Have fun. Don’t get hit by a car.

After you’ve worked up a thirst, you’re welcome to join a bunch of us at Goody’s for Drinking Liberally this evening.

ALSO: spread the word! Drag your friends along. Invite some of your facebook friends to the group right now… After all, we need a CRITICAL MASS!