Toll Fish Toll Ride Report

Tuesday was a rest day relative to pedaling, however we did make it up to Homestake Pass for some bouldering action.  The skin was a little tender on the digits but it just means the callouses are on their way!  Woohoo!

I got warmed up on the mothership boulder on a nice V2 that traverses from right to left on a big rail.  The decomposing granite boulders are always a little exciting because they tend to be loose with lots of stuff falling off...in the process of traversing, sand came off the rail and showered me in my face, etc...always a little weird to have sand coming off as you climb...made it a point to have very precise movement with no dynamic lunges that would put extra stress on the holds.  As it is, you can see a couple of places where holds have come off.

After warming up, it was time to get on the proj.  I got through the crux on three different times but did not have enough go go juice to finish up business...my endurance is lacking...slowly but surely....It is a great line and will be worthy of the work going into it once sent (hopefully soon).  The movement is pretty cool with a sit start on a couple of finger flakes and a left heel hook...you pull up to a leftie crimper, bump up to a rail and then flag super hard to bring the right hand up...then the clock starts to tick tock as you work you way along the rail and top out like a beached whale...

Wednesday ended up being a rather busy day although I was able to squeeze in a quick ride up Toll Canyon, down Fish Creek that ties back into Toll Canyon, then back up Toll Canyon switchbacks and down the CDT to the car.  It is a lollipop loop but super fun and relatively fast. 

It was my first time back on the singlespeed in a couple of weeks and the legs felt surprisingly decent.  The singlespeed steed has decided to make things difficult as of late by being testy with the rear tire (someone suggested a non UST, or tubeless, tire and the problem was that it would not seal on to the rim). 

For the non riders out there, a tubeless tire is just like your car tire in the sense that there is no inner tube.  I have been riding tubeless for the past 4 yrs and have had very few issues.  The idea behind tubeless tires is that you essentially eliminate flats since it is usually your inner tube that gets punctured.  As part of the tubeless system, there is an option to add sealant which essentially seals any leaky areas with a silicone liquid goo stuff.  The other great benefit to a tubeless system is that you can run a much softer tire pressure and that ends up giving much better traction and better rolling resistance.  I was pretty skeptical until I made the switch and have been amazed by how effective the tubeless system is.