May Ride #2

My plan had been to swap my old, larger tires from my old wheels to the new ones.  My thinking was that the wider, beefier tires would help to absorb any impact from road debris.  So Wednesday night after work I took the wheels off and dismounted the tires.  I then started putting it all back together and realized I had a problem.

My awesome new Chukker wheels are a deep V design which means I need longer than standard valves on the tubes in order to make it through the wider rim.  I tried to get the ones I had to work, but there was no way it was going to happen.

So Yesterday at lunch I made a trip to ProCyclery and was lucky enough to snag the last 2 700c x 35-42 mm 48 mm presta valve tubes in the shop.  I sure am glad they had 2 left.  For insurance, I ordered a couple of tubes online with 60 mm valves.

This morning I put the  tubes in and put it all back together.  It was time for my second ride in the month of May.

I started out with a couple of laps around the block just to see how the tires felt and to make sure there weren't any issues.  I could tell the difference between the Gatoskins and the comfort tires.  The Gatorskins felt like race tires.  The  new tires were able to absorb the the imperfections and debris on the road.

I then decided to take a nice easy ride out towards Blue Diamond.

The sun was shining, the temps in the 70's and the winds were fairly light.  I rode for about 30 minutes and then decided to turn around and head home.

I didn't set any speed records but enjoyed the ride.  The bottom line is that until i lose a bit more weight, I'll be riding the wider tires, with their increased rolling resistance.  Its worth it to have them be durable and reliable.