Continental GP5000 TL Sealant Refresh

This is an update to my 6 month review of the CP5kTL, and maybe an important one. 

With any, or at least, most other tires, this would not be news, but the GP5kTL will absolutely let go of the bead when the air-pressure drops below ~ 10lbs psi, so adding sealant is a bit problematic, as the old, dried sealant tends to get between the bead and rim in an irregular way, but alas, I had no choice. 

While out riding a couple of months ago I ducked behind a shuttered restaurant, rolled through the parking lot to a discrete little nook, and relieved myself of some used Gatorade, not realizing that the shrub affording me privacy was a puncture vine, which I didn't realize until rolling across the parking lot to reenter the road from the other side. 

I stopped as soon as I noticed, and was able to pull most of the needles out of the front tire before they penetrated, but they and a couple of patches of broken glass left me with a tire whose leak became something more than "slow".

 

As a remedy I decided to try adding 30 ml of Stan's Sealant to see if that would slow the leak so I could rely on a constant pressure throughout my rides. I have to say, to my surprise it worked quite well, but there are a few caveats if trying this. 

First, is the tire worth saving? Mine was ~ 1/2 worn by the wear dimples depth, so in my case, yes. Second, I did everything I could to NOT disturb the bead while releasing the little remaining air, by turning the bike upside down so the wheel wasn't bearing any weight. Third, I used a CO2 cartridge to air up the tire as quickly as possible. Fourth, I used an injector that didn't seal the valve stem with the core removed.

I did lose a small amount of sealant, but slightly less than the normal amount, and put the full 110lbs or so of pressure in the tire to press the new sealant past the old. After sitting overnight I released most of the somewhat diminished pressure to purge the CO2, and aired up the tire with my floor pump. 

I've ridden it a few times now and it's holding air much better, so I am pleasantly surprised this prodecure can, in fact, be done with the GP5kTL. The tire still has wet spots where the water from the original sealant seeps out, but it holds pressure well during my 2-3hr rides now. I really didn't think this would go well at all, so a very pleasant surprise.

Meeting the Challenge in 2020

Strava put up a nice piece on how athletes adapted to the constraints of COVID-19 in 2020, and it's an interesting read. The thing is, somewhere in my early 30s (I'm in my mid-60s now) it hit me that it's no one else's job to keep you fit and healthy. If you want that for yourself you better learn to be selfish and make that time, because nobody else is going to make it for you. 

I upped my game a LOT in 2020, setting a ton of new PBs since retiring in SoCal, more than doubling my mileage in 2020. A big part of that was being able to do much longer rides after buying new wheels and finding the truly wonderful Conti GP5K TL tubeless tires, which do an excellent job of shaking off all the cactus needles and goat-heads here in the high desert that used to ruin my rides all the time. 

Part of it was buying better bib shorts, and now tights, so I can ride those miles, and part of it was going back to a solid seat from one with the center cut out (YMMV, but for me the extra surface area combined with better chamois did the trick). 

I also found new, remote routes, found ways and places to relieve my bladder without going into enclosed places, minimizing the time inside closed places, carrying a mask with me for when I was inside a bathroom or stopped getting water inside, and finally, just finding hydration that didn't require going into enclosed spaces. 

The political horror show that was POTUS Trump and the gut-wrenching, grim toll of COVID were also motivation to get out there and burn off some angst. Finally, as friends and loved ones were slowed due to age and disease my gratitude for being  healthy enough to do lots of long rides got me out the door on days I might have otherwise stayed home. 

For 2021 I think I'm going to up my climbing a bit, and maybe even ride fewer miles. I'd like to spend more time with my wife and our dogs, one of which is a working dog and needs a LOT of exercise to stay happy and healthy. At a certain age you stop taking loved ones for granted, because in a 55+ community people keep disappearing every week, and it drives home the point that tomorrow is promised to no one. 

Get Some!

Merry Christmas One & All

 

 

 With 299 posts under my belt I just couldn't resist making it 300 on Christmas Day. It's been a challenging year, but I did best my Annual Challenge on Strava by a good margin and am alive and well, celebrating with friends and family and hoping you are too. 

Give yourself a pat on the back. It's been a tough year and you're still here. Smile, you deserve one!

 

Castelli Lightweight 2 Bib Tights Review

I've been doing a lot of Winter riding the last few weeks, about 300 miles in the last 2 weeks, and have had a chance to try  out my new Castelli LW 2 bib tights, AND, ride my old PI Barrier bib tights for comparison. When sizing, Italian Rules apply, go UP one size. My PI is a large, so my Castelli are XL - and still nice and tight.

I wore the Castelli on a day that started out @ 9:00AM around 60F, with lots of sunshine, and after an hour clouded up with the wind picking up to a solid 10-12mph. I was getting pretty warm riding on the sunny side of the Mojave Bike Trail, where the Garmin reported 67F, and the long knee-socks and lightweight Polartech (Garneau - no longer made) leg warmers under the LW2s were really warm on my calf, and I was seriously thinking of stopping and stripping off the leg warmers - a really great option with these LW tights. Then the sun went behind a wall of clouds coming over the mountains that separate us from LA.

The temps dropped to 59F within minutes, and then 57F and eventually 54F and no sun at all. When you ride you perform a balancing act between generating heat and shedding heat, and you seldom nail it perfectly without working up a sweat on hills or headwinds, and chilling down with a tailwind, downhill, or just leaving your zipper down for too long. Bottom line, sooner or later you're going to end up riding in wet cloths, and then even a slight chill becomes a problem.

IF the sun is out you can usually find a warm place out of the wind to peel off your jacket, balaclava, gloves and helmet and let all that and your jersey and tights dry out. The back of the neck on the jersey and balaclava are usually the most problematic for me, but in a warm, sunny spot you have time to warm up and dry out. 

Unfortunately, no such luck on this day, and the only place out of the wind was inside the unheated  public bathroom at SVL. This means stop time has to be limited to a few minutes, and no drying off is possible. After a few minutes you lose so much heat your restarts are very cold as your core struggles to generate enough heat to get back into equilibrium. 

All in all then, a very challenging day, and yet, I was amazed at how comfortable I was, riding on flat ground somewhat protected from the wind, I tried to keep my HR constant and adjusted my jacket zipper to regulate any excess heat. If the sun had come out, as was forecast, I could have peeled the leg warmers off and stowed them, so a very flexible system. 

A couple of days ago it was forecast to be cold, windy and go from partly cloudy to near complete cloud cover, AND be 5-7 degrees colder throughout, so I decided to wear my old PI bib tights. 1st, they were quite loose, which should have been a tell, but they also turned out not to be as warm as I remembered, and the chamois felt paper thin at the end. They'd be great on really cold days with heavy leg warmers and knee socks, but they already weigh 2-3X as much as the Castelli, so that's not very appealing. I'd rather wear the heavy leg warmers under the Castelli. The PI are just not as warm as I remembered them being. They're 10yrs old though, so maybe that elastic is just letting go a bit.

On my next outing, the air was 50-61F, and somewhat cold at the start, but the sun kept burning through the cloud-cover all day, until it there were lots of nice places to stop and warm up. The Castelli did a good job keeping my glutes warm, the compression level was awesome, they're light enough to not bother your cadence much, and the chamois is awesome for a tight. I also had the option to peel off the lightweight leg warmers underneath all day. I did take the sleeves off my PI convertible jacket, but put them on when the sun started getting low to stay warm. What a huge difference! Options in winter are wonderful!

My only complaint about the Castelli is the Lycra below the knees (remember, this is Castelli's response to knicker sales declining, so a tight that's close to a knicker) was easily scratched by the side of my pedal when pushing off and missing the clip-in a bit.  SMH

Castelli makes great stuff that just doesn't hold up well in my experience. We'll see about these bib tights, but it is disappointing they can't seem to bring themselves to add a little robustness in a few areas and have a stellar product through and through. Maybe instead of using Lycra printed with their name in giant 4" letters they could just use something much tougher in Screaming Yellow, or Castelli Red for that matter, and print their scorpion label on the legs. 

So with that caveat, I highly recommend these bib tights. 

 

PS: Shimano bought Pearl Izumi 2-3 yrs ago, and the quality of PI is spotty now, though they seem to have pretty much worked though their warehouses full of old gear. It's a frustrating time to be searching for a new label. Their PRO bib shorts are awesome. I bought 2 pair, but so far Shimano hasn't impressed me with its take-over management, and I hate getting old crap sold as new. PI has dated their mfg season for as long as I can remember, so it's just obvious that it's old inventory.