[Borregokid]

I got tired of slipping and slidding in the mud and the V brakes that were more hindrance than help, so I rolled out my Giant VT-2 and put a set of Nokian 296 Extreme tires on. I also got out my headlight that was last used down at the Old Pueblo in Feb. After riding the hardtail non stop for three months or more-what a difference.

I hit the streets and all the dogs started barking-the studs are kind of noisy. This bike was like a tank-someone from the Army must have designed it. I headed up the RP shuttle road-its muddy due to the grading. Saw an excavator parked at the Rat Pac Junction. I went down to the "new road" that cut into the RP trail. It was muddy to say the least-hopefully it will be graveled by Friday. I decided it wasnt worth finding the RP trail. I did hit the little used trail that parallels Rat Pac and though muddy the studded tires did ok. This trail is bisected like RP by the gravel road. After crossing the gravel road it picks up to the west. Further down I spotted one totally busted up Yamaha Snowmobile, guess someone wrecked it a couple of years ago. The trail turned into logging road and came out by the big slag pile.

If you havent thought of studs, I think they were pretty good in mud also. It wont be long before this stuff is frozen anyway and then snow.

 

[NineFingers]

I got tired of slipping and slidding in the mud and the V brakes that were more hindrance than help, so I rolled out my Giant VT-2 and put a set of Nokian 296 Extreme tires on. I also got out my headlight that was last used down at the Old Pueblo in Feb. After riding the hardtail non stop for three months or more-what a difference.

I hit the streets and all the dogs started barking-the studs are kind of noisy. This bike was like a tank-someone from the Army must have designed it. I headed up the RP shuttle road-its muddy due to the grading. Saw an excavator parked at the Rat Pac Junction. I went down to the "new road" that cut into the RP trail. It was muddy to say the least-hopefully it will be graveled by Friday. I decided it wasnt worth finding the RP trail. I did hit the little used trail that parallels Rat Pac and though muddy the studded tires did ok. This trail is bisected like RP by the gravel road. After crossing the gravel road it picks up to the west. Further down I spotted one totally busted up Yamaha Snowmobile, guess someone wrecked it a couple of years ago. The trail turned into logging road and came out by the big slag pile.

If you havent thought of studs, I think they were pretty good in mud also. It wont be long before this stuff is frozen anyway and then snow.

We could of used them today, 3 inches+ of snow for the first 4 miles...

 

[oly]

studded tires arent allowed till nov1 .... haha.....

 

[Snacks]

So were do you get these studded tires?

We ride over in Eastern WA every Thanksgiving and would come in handy.

 

[Borregokid]

Funny even in Cle Elum. Not sure if the cops would give me a ticket or not. I have had a couple of CS tickets-seems like they have plenty of time to write those up but when someone stole a brand new $700 bike from my garage they couldnt figure out who did it.

The weather is starting to suck over here. A small jet crashed up in the hills, a couple of people around here thought they heard a "whump" when it went down. So far nothing has been found. I think the pilot must have tried flying visually and didnt know how high the mountains were over here.

 

[Borregokid]

Studded tires seem to come in two varieties cheap and not so cheap Nokians. The Nokian 296 tires I bought from Bikeman out of Maine for $70 each. Thats about the cheapest for the Nokian. The LBS in Eburg was selling studded tires for about $30 each last winter. They really work pretty well when the snow is about 2 inches or less on the hills. Mostly they work well riding the streets. I will use them on Cle Elum Ridge until early December.