Croatan Buck Fifty

[Sunyata]

So… I know there has been some interest in folks doing DK200 this year (or other endurance style races/events). What better way to get ready for it than a “last weekend of BAFS2018” 150 (or 100 or 50) mile gravel race in the flat lands of North Carolina?!

https://www.bikereg.com/croatanbuckfifty

Anyone want to take a trip to the beach?!

Topic

[Tania]

@hozn 175234 wrote:

I’m not doing the race (if I could squeeze it into a single day, I would go, but that looks extremely impractical if not impossible), but based on that footage and the idea of it being like a “flat HBR”, I’d do the G-One Allrounds myself. I loved those tires in HBR. Now if it was really muddy — not just big-puddles to ride around, but inescapable mud — then probably a different tire would be a better choice. But even on HBR (which had some extremely muddy sections), the G-One Allround were fine. You slide around a little, but that’s fun. There were only a couple of spots where I lost traction on a climb, but those tires are so much faster on anything paved, that it would still be my hands-down choice for HBR, regardless of how sloppy.

I’m sad that I have to miss HBR this year for family vacation; I was really looking forward to riding that again [and better] this year.

…Sand. There will be lots and lots of sand. I like the idea of a bigger volume tire so that I can run lower pressure. The RnR’s are 43 or 44, and my G Ones I think are only 33’s (? maybe…not huge). Still a few weeks to vacillate on choice.

[hozn]

@Tania 175235 wrote:

…Sand. There will be lots and lots of sand. I like the idea of a bigger volume tire so that I can run lower pressure. The RnR’s are 43 or 44, and my G Ones I think are only 33’s (? maybe…not huge). Still a few weeks to vacillate on choice.

Ah, ok. Yeah, I guess there is a lot of sand in that video, now that I pay a little more attention

My G-Ones measure 40mm now on the wider rims. But, that’s a tough choice, yeah. (But the RnRs sound pretty perfect if there’s lots of sand.)

If I was doing it, I’d hope for things to dry out a little here so I could play with tires & pressures a bit in some nearby sand to see how they behave. I’ve only ridden the G-Ones through small patches of sand. I’d be curious to hear feedback with the G-Ones on this route if anyone does run them.

[Judd]

@Sunyata 175211 wrote:

So if anyone is on the fence, I really think you should come down and do it. *cough*Judd*cough*

I have a beautiful titanium cross bike that has all the parts loose fitted together.

[vern]

@Tania 175235 wrote:

…Sand. There will be lots and lots of sand. I like the idea of a bigger volume tire so that I can run lower pressure. The RnR’s are 43 or 44, and my G Ones I think are only 33’s (? maybe…not huge). Still a few weeks to vacillate on choice.

It looks like the guy in the video is rolling slicks and he seems to be doing ok.

[LeprosyStudyGroup]

you need more knobs to kick gunk onto the people behind you tho

[Sunyata]

@vern 175264 wrote:

It looks like the guy in the video is rolling slicks and he seems to be doing ok.

So, just an FYI… Savage road is approximately 3 miles and is the worst section on the course. The rest of the course is generally hard packed sand and gravel. The Ridge Supply guys have been running 37-43mm slicks/file treads and have said they work great. That said, I only have one set of gravel tires (at the moment) and that is what I am planning on running: Maxxis Ramblers, 40mm.

I have a friend who is much more timid on technical riding than I am, and she finished Savage Road with an average speed of greater than 10 mph. I think it will be just fine as long as you look ahead and pick the right lines through it.

[Sunyata]

OMG! That was a blast! Race report coming soon, but this is absolutely a MUST DO event for next year.

[Sunyata]

For your reading pleasure… (Apologies for the rambles, bad grammar, and what not… No apologies for making you feel bad that you were not there. You totally should have been there!)

http://lifebybicycle.blogspot.com/2018/03/croatan-buck-fifty-race-report.html

[Author]

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