Mel-

Congrats on your big win this last weekend. I am rooting for ya. I met you when you came to talk with the triathlon club of San Diego. It was a good time, very informative, and answered a lot of questions I had going into my first season of Xterra (and triathlon in general).

Since then I have done 5 Xterra's this year finishing 2nd in my AG(25-29) in Temecula and 3rd in Richmond. I am having a blast and have qualified for Natl's and Worlds.

So here's my question and I know I may be out of line asking, and am pretty sure I will not get a response to this, but here it goes.

Tire reccomendation for Tahoe??? I know you ride Maxxis. Are you riding the Larsen TT in Tahoe? Any help/advice you can give my would be incredible.

Keep tearing it up... and good luck in Tahoe.

James


First off, I am psyched for James because top 3 finishes in your first Xterra/TRIATHLON season is amazing.. but onto the Nationals...

The course is one word SANDY. My spies have told me it is sandier than ever, so be prepared for some seriously slow motion climbing.

The best thing to do with sand is to float on top of it. You need big fat tires. So Maxxis Larson TT is a great tire for this course and has been my choice for a long time.

BUT, what I may ride this year is the Maxxis Oriflamme tire. Same fattiness, just a bit faster because it is a semi slick. Because the course is sandy, fat low pressure tires give you traction, not so much the tread. I will train on that one in the weeks prior and then you will have to come to the Saturday clinic to get the final word on tire choice.

Happy training until then!

Mel

Post edited by: melanie, at: 2006/08/22 18:20

Thanks for the advice Mel. I rode the Larsen TT"s (UST version) and they worked great. I was able to ride 26 PSI on the front and 28 PSI on the rear. I have never been able to deal with conditions as loose as Tahoe on any other set up.

Any suggestions for Maui?

Congrats on the win!

-james

Hi James,

Ok, if Maui is as dusty and loose as last year, likely I am going to ride the Maxxis Larsen TT or the Maxxis Ranchero or the new Maxxis Crossmark. I find that more tread on the Maui course seems to be good insurance against thorns... which is why I am staying away from the Maxxis Wormdrive and Maxxis Oriflamme. The course tends to be mostly rocky with some grippy dirt so traction is usually not a problem until you can't ride at all. It is mostly good technical skills that helps you ride that course because you bounce off of rocks the whole time.

I think a higher volume tire is a good idea to give you a bit more "suspension" on the bumps, lots of latex or slime and a UST tire and a bit higher pressure is a good setup for Maui. The pressure might beat you up a bit but could save you in the event of a thorn.

I won last year on Larson and I did well the year before on a Ranchero so those are good options.

M