in Group Rides, Bike Trips, and Events

Gauging interest in an event idea.  Last year Jin and I did roughly the BALLS route backwards in one day and it was a really enjoyable ride.  For those not familiar with BALLS, the route would be Madison to Monroe on the Badger State Trail, to Mineral Point on the Cheese Country Trail, to Dodgeville on paved bike path and town roads, then back to Madison on the Military Ridge Trail. The only required fee would be your state trail pass.  That's is about 150 miles with the vast majority being desolate gravel/rail trail and maybe 5 miles of road along with maybe 20 miles paved bike path.

 The start/finish would basically be a clipboard with a stopwatch somewhere downtown, maybe the capital area, the date would be in October so some riding in the dark would be expected along with a weather wildcard.  No entry fee (I'll accept donations to cover my minimal cost and anything extra will be donated to a bike related cause), no registration, no support; all I will provide is a route, a "GO" at the start, and a place to log your time.

If I can get a dozen people interested I'll set a date and get the word out.

That's a long ride for me, but put me firmly in the 'interested' column. I will likely be able to make it, but it's hard for me to know for sure if I'll be in town this far out.

I will do it if I have the date open.

Suffering Long Lenghts Atopa Bicycle?

Suffering Long Lenghts Atopa Bicycle?

I know it is just BALLS backwards, but that is awesome Garrett

October 19, details to follow.

For those in the know this will be called SLLAB, for everyone else it's The Militant Badger
http://militantbadger.blogspot.com/

So who can tell me more about the Cheese Country Trail stretch? I'm trying to decided between 42c semi-slick tires and 2.2/2.0 Stan's Raven tires. The 42c tires have been great for gravel grinders, I'm a little intimidated by some of the reports from the BALLS riders about the conditions on the Cheese Country Trail.

I used 3.8" fat tires this spring and it was perfect
No seriously, it will totally depend on conditions and preference. If it is dry or wet can make a big difference as there are sandy stretches. But more rocky sections than sand. I like the bigger tires as much for shock absorption as the floating ability. I lowered pressures for this section and then aired back up after I got through it. And conditions will have changed a lot after a full summer of ATV usage.
It prolly comes down to preference. Ride what you like. If you have a set up you prefer go with it. You should still be fresh as the ride from Mad-City to Monroe will be a breeze. The 45 miles of Cheese Country will be a grind. And then things will improve greatly for the finish.

How slick are your semi-slicks?

I rode these in April and they worked great...nominally 40mm wide.



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I haven't been on it since BALLS but here's my take. Having ridden everything from touring tires to a fat bike on this route on good years and bad, my impression is that the fattest tire with the least amount of tread is ideal.  There is no turning and no climbing steep enough to need any kind of traction, knobs are just going to slow you down regardless of tire width.  Since there is virtually no accelerating or climbing there weight of the bike/wheel/tire isn't a significant factor and even when conditions are good the wide tires sit up on top of the gravel and don't seem to create all that much drag.  A smooth 2.0ish tire is probably the happy medium but it's hard to beat the comfort of a worn out endomorph. Personally I would love to get my hands on a krampus for this ride.

By semi-slick I mean full-on semi-slick, Continental Cyclocross Speed... actually measure around 39mm wide. Running tubeless I can take these down to 30-35psi for improved comfort and traction. I feel like these are actually overkill for your standard limestone trails as far as width and weight are concerned, but they are flexible and work well on a variety of surfaces:


The other option I'm considering are the Stan's Ravens 2.0 and 2.2... the tread on these is shallow but I'm sure it would be enough to slow me down on limestone:


Alternately, I could be an Luddite caveman and run tubed tires. In the front I have a nice WTB Vulpine 2.0 who's only real downfall is that it is explicitly not tubeless compatible:


For the rear, I could do my very, very heavy Continental Country Ride, measuring in at 46mm:

That adds a pound over the Cyclocross Speed tires and only 6mm wider, so, never mind. Great touring tire though.

And I also have an IRC Mythos CX 42c, which also requires a tube and I'm thinking is too knobby for these purposes, unless it ends up muddy and greasy next weekend:

I have run BALLS on the 2.0 Vulpines front and back; a 2.0 Vulpine up front and 42c CSt Servant on the back; and with the 42 servant both front and back.  All combos worked well. 

IMHO, whether the trail is packed or not is the deciding factor.  the 2.0 Vulpines are better on the loose stuff. 

I feel like these are actually overkill for your standard limestone trails as far as width and weight are concerned, but they are flexible and work well on a variety of surfaces:

I'd like to get your take on how much of that comfort factor is 'overkill' after 12+ hours of tiny bumps. 

My advice is somewhat ironic though, I'm probably not going to take the fat bike this time and so the widest tire I'll have to work with is a touring tire at 35mm.  My hands are going numb just thinking about it 

The Cyclocross speeds have been more than adiqutely comfortable for 100 mi + gravel rides, including some fairly rough sections. So for graded limestone rail-to-trails, they are overkill. But its the Cheese  Country trail that makes me fear they won't be enough!