The Windy Point Connector

Tunnel X Over on Friday evening ride at Lynton

Saturday morning Mavic freehub service

On Thursday I entered my first MTB race. This race was the 2009/2010 AMTBC Summer Series ‘Dirt Crit’ No. 1.  A ‘dirt crit’ is similar to a regular road crit or criterium in that the course is very short, but it differs in that the course is mostly dirt, hence ‘dirt crit’.  The race format sets a fixed amount of racing time for each race grade plus one finishing lap after the allotted time has elapsed.

This being my first race, I wasn’t quite sure which class/grade to enter. The grade system for this race was A through E, A being fast/elite and E being something like slow/recreational.  The E grade raced 15 minutes plus one lap, and each successive grade added five minutes; the A grade raced 35 minutes plus one lap.

I entered in the B grade.  My logic was that C must be average, and like everyone else, I think I’m above average.  As I checked in and realized who was racing and what grade they were in, I began to question my self-assigned grade.  But, it occurred to me that the worst that could happen was a last place finish.  And, as luck would have it, that is exactly where I finished.

My official results; minutes:seconds:

For comparison, grade average lap times; minutes:seconds (number of laps completed):

Full results and more info available on the Adelaide MTB Club site: www.amtbc.com.

My average lap time was 2:20, which was only one second slower than the next fastest rider, but I was behind the cutoff and finished one lap down.  Comparing my average lap time to those in the C grade, it looks like I could expect to finsih somewhere in the middle grade.  This being the case, I think I’ll spend some time in the C grade and see how things work out.  But, we will have to wait for the next dirt crit in January to see what happens.

Until then, a photo of a camera Velcro’d to a helmet (if ‘Googled’ is a word, then so is ‘Velcro’d’):

…and a koala from Eagle Park:

I replaced the surprisingly short lived Hutchinsons with a pair of Maxxis Larsen TT 2.0″ tires from BMCR today.  The above photo is a Hutchinson Toro 2.15″ with less than 200km of trail use — no pavement.  While the Hutchinsons still have some life left, they are certainly past their prime.  The Larsen TT tires are fast-rolling XC tires which weigh either 500g or 540g each depending on which model I have.  So far I haven’t been able to determine which model, but I really don’t care, so we will just leave it at that.

When new, the Eriksen was originally weighed with a pair of Panaracer FireXC Pro 2.1 tires (590g each).  The total weight was about 23.25 lbs.  After arriving in Australia and rebuilding the Eriksen with a few minor changes and the pair of aforementioned Hutchinson tires (570g each), the weight was down to 23.09 lbs (10.47kg).   So with my armchair bike scale, the total weight should now come in between 22.78 and 22.96 lbs (10.33-10.41kg), depending on which tires I actually bought.  However, I probably didn’t comply with the standard bike weighing procedures as I left the bike computer mount and a few other insignificant accessories installed, so none of these numbers are worth anything anyway. We will just call the total weight around 23 lbs.

Back to the tires.  I left the bike shop and proceeded directly to the Mitcham MTB park where I then crashed.  We’ll get to that soon.  The new tires are definitely faster than the old worn out Hutchinsons, climb better and seem to have sufficient braking grip.  Climbing on loose gravel is a little sketchy, but the tires perform well on most other surfaces.  Cornering grip is not as good as a tire with a more open tread pattern, but it is usually a good trade off for a faster tire overall.  I have not used the new tires in the mud, but due to the closely spaced blocks I suspect they would quickly clog.  The Hutchinsons, even in their current state, are probably a better mud tire.

UPDATE: I rode Eagle Park on Sunday.  The ride started out warm, dry and sunny, and the new tires performed well.  The ride ended cool, overcast and rainy.  The Larsen TTs gripped well on wet rocks and on damp ground.  The tread did start to clog and pickup wet clay on the climb up ‘Top Deck’, but traction was still very good.

Overall, I am very happy with these tires and will probably stick with these or try another fast/low rolling resistance tire when they are shot.  A fast tire, like the Maxxis, really works well with a hardtail.  While there are tire designs that offer more grip and more stability, they can (and usually do) make an otherwise quick handling and fast hardtail feel slow and sluggish.

I’ve had a few tires on the Erkisen over the past year and a half:

The crash.  The lack of cornering grip should not come as a surprise based on the Larsen TTs low(ish) rolling resistance, closely spaced blocks and narrow cross section.  I’ve ridden similar tires before, and generally prefer them to more stable, wider and slower tires.  What did come as a surprise can be seen in this convenient video at approximately 4:15: