With ski trips imminent, we wanted a ride with some climbs (for fitness and leg strength) but no gnarly stuff (don’t want to get hurt). This Streatley route is ideal – thanks, Knobblies blog!
By Lilley my tubeless rear tyre was soft, but it wasn’t getting worse, so I (stupidly) just kept going. But I didn’t have enough psi to keep the tyre on the rim, and it flatted completely on a small drop. Think I’d have been ok if I’d topped it up when I first saw it, d’oh.
The Baulk climb started super-slippy, but the top has been resurfaced – easier, but less fun. Baz’s tyres were starting to jam up on Lilley Hoo, and by Icknield Way both Speshes were really clogged (and also short of grip). My Trek (on Mud-X’s) was going beautifully 😉
Tried (and failed) to stay off the brakes at the Springs – 30mph slalom through the bushes on slippy grass was terrifying! Climbing past Jeremiah’s Tree we were feeling the pain and ’twas getting late, so we took the road back for a pie and a pint in the Chequers.
Later while hosing the bike I found 6 thorns in my front tyre, which was still holding pressure. As I pulled each thorn out the air started hissing, but I pointed the hole downwards and the Super Juice plugged it up in 2 or 3 seconds. Tubelessness rocks! 😀
Route/Conditions:
Overcast, windy, 8-12°C. The ground was very wet which meant sticky mud in places and slow progress. Total 15 miles in 4 hours.
Learning points:
1. Speshes on stock tyres get trounced by EX8 on Mud-Xs. 🙂
2. If you lose psi from your tubeless tyre, stop and pump it up!!
3. New fave carry-along snack: malt loaf. Loads of carbs, no fat, tastes the same after it’s been crushed in your camelbak…Crew, kit, bruises:
Baris (FSRxc), James (EX8), Chris (Stumpy).
Two punctures, lots of mud clogging issues.
No crashes! Baz suffering from knee pain.
mud and bruises blog 
Nice to see you are out enjoying our trails and pub (the pies are good). We went down the springs Sunday 6th and noticed someone appeared to have gone all the way down with the wheels locked 🙂 The bottom section is a little muddy.
On the ride I joked that the benefit of so much heavy, sticky mud on the tyres was that it was probably clogging up any punctures I’d got – well, turned out to be true – my front went flat as soon as I hosed it down at home!