Happy trails, happy gear

I got out early Saturday to ride the new trails at Wakefield. All I can say is...WOW! IMBA/MORE/JoeP and all the volunteers did an amazing job reworking that park! I've been riding there for over 4 years now, and I don't recognize where I am when I'm on the new trails. You can't see any old trails, you're not confused into taking the wrong path. You've got no desire to try and find the old trails cuz the new ones are so much better. Plus you get a couple of boardwalks to play BC-stylie on. Very impressive. I only wish I could say I was out there helping build them a month or two ago. I'd have been proud to be part of that.

While talking about biking, I just have to say that I got my first flat in 3+ yeas on my Hutchenson Green Tubes. This says a lot coming from a 220-250lb guy riding a full rigid singlespeed. I punish my wheels/tires/tubes. Anyway, in years past, I've hit a curb so hard I cracked a rim without pinching these tubes. On a ride last week, I had too little air in the rear tire and hit something. Whatever I hit, it was hard enough to tear the sidewall of my tire. Still, my Green tubes got only a pin-hole leak and I was able to limp back to the parking lot without totally flatting. Threw on a glueless patch, and I'm back in business. These things are golden. I gotta go buy a couple more now, for spares. I think over three years on a $24 pair of tubes is pretty good. I can't put a dollar value on all the time I didn't spend fixing flats trail-side.