Rainbow Ramble 200 - Ride Down

Mike & Osvaldo help RBA Dave with tire

Didn't really want to spend the whole day Saturday on a road ride, but had another weird one: start a rando route early from north county and pick up the randos doing the scheduled 0700 start Rainbow Ramble 200 in Pacific Beach/Dog Beach. Had just the route in "Walkin' The Dog".

I was off at 0400 dark to 34F temps under clear cold skies. Long wool socks, knee warmers, arm warmers and my wind reflective home-madie vest should work fine. Also added a neck warmer that I could pull up over my mouth for the super cold valleys. Traffic was the expected nil this early. Double rear blinkies covered my backside as my cygolite worked up front. Felt good as long as I was moving along. Hangin' around was another matter.

Rando gruppo riding eastward on path

All the lights seemed green for me as I rolled along down Coast Hwy. 101. Only saw 1 rider headed northward the whole trip. After the warm climb up Torrey, the Garnett downhill was freezing. A few water puddles were still roadside as I sped onto the Rose Canyon Bike Path. Several mud crossings there, which totally clogged up my brakes against the carbon 60mm rims. No way around them. I sort of picked a little of the mud off, but it was the sticky reddish kind and made a worse mess.

As I crossed the SD River Bridge near Sea World, my watch read 0650. Should I turn on the Ocean Beach Bike Path or take the advertised route in reverse? A little adventure time as I hit Old Town and turned right onto Sports Arena Blvd. I couldn't remember exactly where today's Brevet route went, so after a few turns I ended up on the Bike Path! Duh. A few minutes more and I was pulling into the Bacon St. 7-Eleven. Fortunately, the gruppo hadn't left yet.

"Uncle Zeke" pushing in Poway

Keith Olsen was heading over to the local bathrooms, so I followed in hopes of cleaning off my brakes/wheels. No such luck as the bathroom was closed! After waiting around the group was finally ready to roll. Once on the OB Bike Path heading eastward, RBA Dave D. had a flat. The group waited around as Mike & Osvaldo offered flat tire help (standing around checking things out.

New guy, Roberto, had a carbon BMC racer... no bags, no storage and one bottle. Looks like he was ready for the long ride today. Sandy Aniya was atop his new TREK Domane, as was Mike Shaw. Nice. Lisa Nicholson rode her heavy duty rando bike with fenders and big tires as did Osvaldo. Keith was grinding hard on the fixie climbing up past USD. Hector joined the few riders up front. Looked like a race pak to me.

Lisa compliments Keith on fashion colors

We were soon off to the races, as I joined the 3 riders up front. Route cuts eastward on Miramar Road and then climbs northward on Pomerado Rd. thru Poway. We had several red-light regroups along the way and were treated to the ultimate cart-man at a light stop on Poway Road.  I called him Sandy's uncle Zeke!

I dropped back later and chatted with Keith, who was commenting what happened to the camaraderie of long distance riding? Recent rando rides have been a "race-type" atmosphere I concurred. Big regroup at Chevron just after crossing Lake Hodges. Great photo op there and I got a few. The next climb up Sunset really broke up the group. By north Broadway, they were scattered along.

New rando Roberto on carbon BMC

After a farewell to Keith and Sandy, I turned westward on Country Club Dr. My riding day was soon over. Not quite 90 miles and it wasn't 1100 yet! After a check-in at the San Marcos 7-Eleven, I was finally on my way home. As Keith reminded me earlier, I would be washed up, filled up and watching the SDSU Bowel game and he would still be riding toward Rainbow!
Go figure,


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Prepping The Scott Scale Plus, Rando Style

Tubeless tire kit

1/4 lb of reflectors come off!

Time to start "prepping" the Scott for trail rando fun. First off was to convert the Maxxis tires to tubeless. Loose some weight, lower air pressure, more comfy riding over the rough stuff and enhanced flat protection, esp. from those pesky thorns around here.

8oz Schwalbe tube

First off, I made the garage warm by turning on a floor heater. Warmth is important to "working" the tires and installing the sealant in them. The tires were warm up and I put the little sealant bottles next to the heater.

Alcohol wipe-down first!

Real tubeless type tires are tough to get off the traditional way, you know.. loosen them up,
tire irons, etc.  Just think inwards and it's a breeze. I soon pulled the Schwalbe tubes (lightweight ones @ 8oz/227gms) and wiped down the inside of the tire with a alcohol induced rag. One side of the tire was still sealed to the rim.

Next up was putting in the Stans tubeless stems. Tight, tight, tight is the secret here. The Syncros X-35 / 27.5" rims had tubeless ready tape in them, so the stems slipped right in for a good seal.

Stan's tubeless stem in place

Add 4oz Stans Sealant per tire.

With the tire back on, I aired them up to 40 lbs with a floor pump. No problem with this set-up, they "popped" right into place. Next up was pulling the core using a 4.5mm mini-wrench. Then with valve stem down, I added 2 bottles (4 oz) of Stans Sealant (shake well first). Valve core installed, I rotated the stem to 90 degrees and aired up to 40psi again.

Time to slosh the sealant around inside the tires. Holding the tire horzonital, I sloshed the sealant around, flipped the tire and did the same again. Then laid them on a bucket and periodically repeated the process while working on the next tire.

Tire sitting horizontal to let Stan's coat inner surface

Later on, I reinstalled the wheels and added a bottle cage. Lots of wasted space below the cage. No second cage on the seat tube... hardly any room there for one as I thought of adding one there with Riv-Nuts. Have to do something for more water storage... never did like anything on my back. Under the downtube? Front forks? HB bag? RR seat baggie (tough with a dropper). I'll figure it out

Also removed the "required" bike reflectors. They weighed 4 oz.! Left the plastic saucer on the rear wheel to protect the spokes in the future.

By removing the tubes, changing over to tubeless and removing the reflectors the Scott lost 1 lb!
Now weighs 25.26 lbs.

SCOTT Scale 710+ Walkaround Video


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Pick-Up SCOTT Scale 710+

Nytro Joe making a few 'adjustments to the SCOTT Scale 710+

Been 6 months since I said "adios" to the C'dale Beast 3+ mtb as I shipped it off to Arizona land. During that time, it's been looking, researching and dealing for a replacement Rando mtb. OH, almost forgot the "van ran over my head" crash in September, which took me out for a while too. I settled in on a SCOTT Scale 710, Plus size 27.5" tires again. Slightly lacking on the bottle cage space, but overall a step-up from my last ride.

Walking, train and bus found me down to Encinitas and the Nytro store. After some chit-chat and a transfer of measurements, I was off for a quick spin on some local surfer paths. Long time since I've been on a mtb and I felt like it. Dropper post and 11-speed were something new to me as was the 3-mode fork remote. I played around for 30 minutes, loaded up my backpak and headed back to San Marcos. Didn't get too far before I was hearing a slight "rubbing sound!

Super stock SCOTT on the way home.

Pulled over and flipped the bike. Removed the front wheel. Scott's 110mm front axle removes much more methodical than the Beast 3's quick release did. The front 180mm rotor and calipers were an upgrade too. No rubbing there, so it's time to tackle the rear wheel.

Solid arm on the rear 112mm axle. Just unscrew it. No lock-down or QR there. I noticed removing the axle that the arm brushed the seat tube (which was protected by a heavy plastic "wrap"). Not good. May take some grinding for more clearance. A big plus for tire removal is the "lock button" on the SRAM GX-1rr derailleur. Move the derailleur forward, push the lock and all chain tension is removed for real clean, easy rear wheel removal. The C'dale Beast had the Shimano tension derailleur which just released some tension on the chain and you had to monkey around to get the cassette on the chain and the wheel in.

Cable ferrule jammed in behind the chain guide.

All clear at the rear so I trained my attention to the front SRAM GX-1 30T chain ring. The Scale 710 came with a neato  chain guide, so your chain never comes off the front. Upon further inspection, there was a cable end ferrule jammed in behind the guide, forcing it to rub the chain a bit. AHHHHH!. I removed the ferrule and tightened the guide down with a 4mm hex tool. BINGO all well now. I don't know how that ever got into there, but Joe will soon get the message. Not to be deterred, I was soon off down the road back home.





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