Our partner in podcasting, The Gravel Ride Podcast, learn the ins and outs of gravel bike tire sealant with John Vargus of Orange Seal. John gets into some tips and tricks every cyclist should know and discusses his support of the Orange Seal Off-Road Racing Team, featuring Payson McElveen and Hannah Finchamp.
Orange Seal Website – Orange Seal Instagram
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Automatic Transcription by The Gravel Ride (please excuse all errors)
00:00:01 – 00:05:06
And welcome to the gravel ride. Podcast i’m your host dolts. This week’s podcast is brought to you by our friends. At the nonprofit bike index bike index is a free bicycle registry and stolen bike recovery platform having recovered over thirteen million dollars in stolen bicycles. Bike index is really making a dent in crime by connects is currently. It’s end of year fundraising campaign. Donations can be made at bike. Index dot org slash. Donate this week on the podcast. We’ve got john vargas from orange seal. John gets into a little bit of the history of the company and the ins and outs of tire sealant. Why it’s beneficial to gravel riders some installation tips and some great maintenance advice on how to keep your ceiling topped off as an interesting side. Note the idea for this podcast actually came from the ridership forum. There was a community member who made a post about tire sealant going into winter and asserted thinking about. Who do i know who could answer all these great questions. So the real pleasure. Getting to talk to john with all that said. Let’s dive right into this week’s interview john. Welcome to the show morning. Thank you pleasure to be here. I’m excited to dig into the topic of sealant because United states matching tee off. I’m surprised that you know number. My listeners are still running tubes. And i think the advantages of sealant are so vast that i really wanna convey a lot of good information to them before we dig into the details. Can you just tell us a little bit about where you’re located and how the company came about. Yeah no i’d love to So we started or unseal in twenty eleven. The the process started about two years ahead of that we had Started with the right across the parking lot. And we picked up a shard of glass or something and it was not see link so my partner Were my best friend at the time and now a partner said you know what i’m gonna i’m gonna make something. So he worked on it for about two and a half years and We finally got the formula where it was performing at or better than the sealants that were on the market at the time. We didn’t want to just develop another mouse trap. We wanted to take the best. And the worst of all the sealants in the market and designed something different We looked at natural look at synthetically tech. Would latex we looked at other materials and what we came back to is latex Natural latex is best plugging material and so then we just had to refine our formula. So that We could actually adhere to the robber versus just creating a plug. And that’s what makes our formulas different is at once we create a plug. It’s a permanent plug in the did. Here’s from the inside out. So it’s like inserting Plug or Bay construct from the outside. But we do it from the inside out and we’d coat the inside of the tire. What most people don’t realize is Today’s tires especially today or getting lighter faster center and so there are a lot more porous. Rubber is very poorest by by default and so are latex actually goes in and seals up all of that prosperity and creates A sealed cavity. So that you can hold your pressures longer and what another area that people don’t realize that there’s major leakage is in the tire bead mating surface and we go in and seal up those imperfections in the tire bead mating surface and so When you feel up entire beat mating surface still up the city and you still up. Anything that comes in from the external You’ve got a pretty bulletproof system and as we all know not. One formula is going to fit every single environment and every type of terrain and such and climate so we have three finalists. We came up with a regular formula endurance formula and our sub zero formula Regular is really was our original formula designed to seal faster bigger holes while the enduring it was formulated to last longer And not feel as fast but still seals permanently and then we created the sub zero for really when the fat bites took off and riding and Extreme cold climates down to minus twenty was necessary.
00:05:06 – 00:10:05
Because don’t wanna be changing a flat at minus twenty and so we’ve had huge success with the equivalent of did arrive Rebecca rush has run are several times in the fat bike. I did rod race and very successful. Jay I can’t think of this last did very well So we have three formulas each geared towards climate and ceiling capability and We also have Versus which work into if you’re on tube still you’ve got to look at a taping mechanism a toothless vowel system embassy which we can talk about more second. Yeah there’s a ton. I wanna unpack their john Question for you about when you guys were originally working on the formula did did either of you have a sort of chemical engineering background or were you just so passionate about solving the problem that you did research over those two years and figured out what could work and what wouldn’t work. Yeah so My partner does have a little bit of a chemical mad scientists background and he was just i think we all passionate there was a group of About ten of us and we’re all passionate in cycling and we were tired of putting Tubes in tires and so Just became very passionate about solving the problem. Amazing yeah it’s amazing what you can solve as an entrepreneur when you really dig into it whether your professional experience lead you to that point or you’re just passionate about figuring something out we you set the stage a little bit but i really wanna make sure the listener whose unaccustomed to the idea. Sealant understands what we’re talking about. Historically bicycle tubes have had an inner tube inside that you inflate pushes against the tire wall. Can you tell us about what how sealant works. And how it’s different from that setup sure so traditionally Like you mentioned Tubes have come in and tires you inflate it keeps the tire into the be so that it doesn’t fall off the room so to speak and it holds air on the inside because to bliss tires were even more porous and did not have a hook into the room as to bless tires involved. They’ve created a bead hook which allows the tire to stay on the rim and mounted securely even when hitting large rocks and jumps. And all that. Good stuff So the tube is it was. Multifunction is two purposes holding air in the tire and keeping the be attached Keeping the tire attached at the be. So if you remove that now you’ve got to You’ve got the possibility of spoke holes And you’ve got to cover that up with tape And then you will need to insert a tube less valve which is no longer connected to a vinyl tube. Butyl too yeah. I think that’s an interesting visual so when you’re looking at it too tired doesn’t look any different because you still have the valve core coming out that you used to inflate the tire but when you have the tire off the rim what you’ll see as a as an owner is that you’ve just got Tape around the rim to cover the nipples as you mentioned but then that valve sticking out when the tire gets on and you put the sealant into the tire. That’s what creates the seal that you’re able to inflate against right so i mean really a we. Just add a we seal off the imperfections in the be Tire mating surface. But really the air. That’s why you When you go to to bless you have to have a initially a high volume of initial air to pop the bead our pop the tire into the channel For the rim. And so you either need to have air compressor or a high volume pump or a friend that can take a standard pump and just go Really high volume pumping that up. But there’s some tips and tricks to to getting tired. Play did which we can cover in a little bit. Yeah absolutely. I remember it sort of the early days. I just had that one friend who had a tire compressor an air compressor. And i’d have to go there every single time. I wanted to change the tire. Because he was the only one who give me that burst of air. You’re describing that sort of pops pops it against the rim and gets that steel seal started.
00:10:06 – 00:15:14
Yeah i mean every neighborhood. There’s always one guy on the street that has an air compressor as as these. He’s going to be your friend to seven tires to bliss but today’s today’s tires are are getting more They’re more easily set into the be standard high pressure pumps and such. I mean alex while she recently just set up his tires with a standard palm Brand new tires and orange peel and to blitz vows in standard pump. and like. I said there’s little tips that you can do to get. The tire started onto the shoulder. Which will set it into the beat which we can cover in more detail when we talk about setting up to plus. Yeah yes interesting. I had a set of tires a set of slicks this year. That were so porous that i could see. Every time i pump them up. I could see little bits of the white sealant coming through the actual rubber of the tire as really quite surprised by that. Yeah i mean they’re just getting everybody today. Once lighter faster thinner And so it’s like you know when you add the the materials kevlar strips. In their to stop punctures. The tire becomes very heavy. Nobody wants to ride on tractor tires When they’re trying to go uphill or run through a rock garden So that’s why downhill tires are. They’re still pretty beefy. And exc- tires are very lightweight. I mean even my racers today and the orange off road team in hannah. Both are always want lighter faster tires but they don’t punctures so they rely heavily upon ceiling and punctures are not just center of tread. They’re going to be on the sidewalls as well. because riders are under tackling more features more exposure and just really pushing the limits of of what we used to do in the maybe twenty years ago. Y’all have to say the first time i got a puncture with sealant tire and it started spray out and eventually sealed. It was one of those eureka moments. Because you know darn well you would have been sitting on the side of the trail changing that tube and spending a lotta time and when the sealant can just do its job while you’re still rolling and potentially even seal up before you lose a significant amount of air it such an amazing benefit. Oh yeah exactly. And we call it. The badge of honor When you Get a puncture and the spray is is seals up and three revolution so to speak and the person behind me is going Hey you’re spraying me. Well three revolutions and done. I remember one time we route ride and i my wife’s like hey. You’re spraying back here and my tire was spewing then sealed up and we’d just kept on going. Yeah remember vividly this year. Just getting hit from behind with some spray and wondering what the heck is going on and then finally dawned on me like oh. It’s not any water going on. It’s a big hole in my tire and being sprayed with sealant. Yep yep it’s Definitely a badge of honor. We considered a badge of honor. You mentioned some of the sort of setup tricks that you guys have explored figured out over the years. What are a couple of the top ones that our listeners should learn about. Sure so When mounting a tube wistar. let’s just kinda take it from ada zero quicks First thing we always if it’s a brand new connection or a brand new setup on a tire room specify A new setup on a new tire and room you definitely want wanna do it dry To make sure that you don’t have any additional problems because a lot of first-time users they’ll put the ceiling in an expected to just automatically seat and then they waist length they get frustrated. ’cause spills on the floor so i always recommend set the bead. I and so the way you do that is you. I know it’s gonna try to visually explain what on visually walking through with my hands here. you definitely wanna start opposite of the vowel stem and pop the be the into the center of the channel On one side mounted all the way because the specifications between tire and wheel varies in the industry so there are certain tire will come. Buzzer gonna fit tighter than other will combos so you may have to really use one. Two three lever tire levers to get it on there So get in the center of the channel away from the vowel stem because of oust him creates additional depth That takes away from mounting.
00:15:14 – 00:20:01
Then once you get that one side on then you go back to your opposite your valve stem start putting it in the channel. Bring it around And pop it all the way on. Hopefully you don’t need tire levers now If it’s really loose If it’s that tight let’s go back to how tight it is. I if you have a really tight fitting one You may need a little lubricant to get the tire up on the shoulder so it can seat down in the bead and you can use a slight lubricant. I just put a little bit of ceiling in there Around the tire bead and just let it run all the way down and then hit with a blast of air now. You can leave a valve korean. But that does restrict airflow. So i would remove the vow cork and then injected with the air. Wait till you hear the pops but never never exceed. The tire manufacturers recommended Maximum air pressure for a mountain bike tires anywhere from forty to forty fifty psi. Don’t ever exceed that. ’cause what’s going to happen is you’re going to blow the tire off the rim. And that’s not going to be fun for anyone especially if you have ceiling in there. It’s going to go all over the garage you hopefully. You’re not doing it in the house on the persian rug. We’ve had people right in. Hey how do i get ceiling. How the persian brook. We don’t recommend doing that in my house. Definitely keep it in the garage. Hey john one question for you. I had used a very light mixture of sort of dish soap and water historically to kind of make the rubber slide up against the side walls. More quickly when i’m popping it on is that advisable are making an error there I definitely don’t recommend the dishwashing soap Definitely you’re gonna get Creates a Bubbling effect inside if some does get in with the ceiling You don’t wanna it will dilute the sealant. So like i say i would i try just sealant itself. It does have a little bit of a slipperiness to it And then there are some Tire manufacturers that make a special Applicator like swale bay. That has there’s Tire mounting soap I would just use minimal as possible. And then i would also Self that’s visits if it’s really tight fitting another tricky can do. You can take your tire lever. You go down and grab it out of the center of the channel and pull it up onto the shoulder ride around the vowel stem and take it as far as you can and put it on the shoulder that will help immensely setting it into the be and then if you could do that. On both sides you can set it up with air pump. I imagine you guys have some videos of these techniques. Somewhere is that true We don’t actually working on our video series. There will be some next year. Gotcha gotcha some of this as you said is a little bit hard to visualize but once you get in there and you try it for yourself you start to realize like why these tips are out there. Yep yeah i mean it’s it’s It’s it’s daunting as your first time at But once you get through it it’s really simple and you can do it like an old pro and no time exactly so you talked about a tight what. How do you approach a loose tire. Yeah loose tire. You definitely want to use your tire lever. Get both sides up onto the shoulders and you can almost kinda push it into the shoulder. And then with a loose tire you’re really gonna need that air compressor blast of air Initially the senate. And if it’s too loose i would almost recommend against it. I mean most tire Will combos are pretty pretty tight if it’s too loose it’s definitely not. It’s gonna become unsafe because what’s going to happen when you go into a turn. I mean the beautiful thing about two blisters. You get to run. Lower tire pressures I’d more grouping on the on the rocks and such and when you’re at lower tire pressuring you’re taking a railing on a turn you don’t want your sidewall to to flex and pull it out to be so. I always be very cautious about someone. That’s mounting of really loose tire.
00:20:01 – 00:25:13
If you don’t if you don’t need tire levers to get it on. I would probably say it’s too loose now. There’s things that you can do to make that tighter but You can put a layer of gorilla tape in there on the shoulders because it’s thicker And there are certain tire will combos. You definitely don’t want to use guerilla tapan because it creates too much of a of a spacer in there and you’ll never get your tire. I’ve had one tire will combo that. It took me two hours. Nine hundred a cut my tire off to they had used guerrilla tei to cover the spoke holes and they went from the to be and so that was just absolutely horrible edges. Most of the tire rim combinations. I’ve tried on the gravel space when you’re taking a tire from a quality manufacturer that sets have generally been Quite good from my experience most definitely and there’s so many good gravel tires and wheels out now back about five years ago when gravel was just kinda still getting its foothold. It was a little bit Tougher but you know. There’s so many good tire combos today. So now that you’ve got the tire on without sealant in there. And hopefully the listener by now’s has thought about removing the valve cores. Being there right approach. Do you advocate inserting the lubricant. Just via the the valve core via the valve. I definitely do and that’s why we We have an injection system attached to our forums and eight ounce bottles And you just slide that over and injector On a gravel tire one to two ounces And then while you’re there we also include a dipstick with our sealant A little black thing. It’s coffee stir bourbon. Stor a ceiling. checker You definitely want to stick that in there and get a measurement and that’s what you’re gonna use to check your sealant levels every thirty to forty five days just like you check your air pressure every week you wanna check your ceiling with the dipstick. Because every time you break the bead you are just creating additional workload. I mean that was another thing that we won at our sealant to do That other sealants didn’t is we didn’t want it. We didn’t want to use their tap to open up their tire to remove Things that had built up in there. That were free-floating called asteroids or whatever monsters There’s no reason to check your ceiling with orange seal. Just keep topping it off. I mean i have tires on one two years and i just talked them whenever the dipstick tells me to add some and i just pulled a tire off my mountain bike that i’ve been writing here lately on the road a lot lately throughout the year and I mean i wore the rubber out and there’s not a huge up on the end side. ’cause remember i mean people always worry well if i keep top it off. Do i need to peel out the inside layers adding weight. You’re taking it off because you’re burning rubber the logs off at a greater amount that you’re adding more way because a lot of it is dissipating in When it dries out so for seven hundred by forty four tire how much sealant or are you putting in. i would. I mean you can’t go wrong with two ounces. one and a half is is sufficient. I would say two ounces can’t go wrong it’s not gonna hurt you There’s been several studies done. Does it add to rolling resistance And it doesn’t Support one of our professional world tour road teams the israeli started nation and they just did some extensive testing With one and a half ounces in a twenty five c tire and there was negligible Rolling loss watch negligible amount of watch loss. Okay so and going back. Just so i understand correctly. With the dipstick you provide a my sort of holding the valve cores removed just sliding through the valve and sort of testing. How much sealant is pool down there at the bottom. Yep it’s just like checking the oil on your car. You wanna make sure the valve is up the six o’clock position and then you just stick your mouth Dipstick down in there. And based upon i mean you know people always ask. Well what mark do i said it to. Will there’s so many different wits and depths of tires that we recommend that when you put in initial two ounces stick it in there and get a mental measuring checkmark so to speak the key is if you stick it down in there and nothing comes out.
00:25:13 – 00:30:01
Then you’re definitely emptied. You need to talk paul Got a healthy fear. That when i do that later today in my current set of tires it’s going be bone dry. We’ll make sure your posts pictures. That’d be great visual so just to help to drive the point home so when you have sealant inside the tire and you you get a nail goes through or staple or what have you what what’s going on the inside. The what does that liquid doing for us. Yeah so You know we always like to say we train the monkey defined the whole and When a nail comes in It is going to go it’s gonna shoot out due to pressure and fluid is always going to escape out the whole There’s mad science that happens in that process of the sealant escaping that we can’t really talk about But with that said if you get big nail or puncture in your writing and it doesn’t feel up sometimes you have to get off the bike. Put it down so that the sealant starts to come out and then rotated back up and actually the sun is your friend. Put it in the sun. And it’ll help speed up that process of vulcanized the latex into rubber compound Creating permanent plug if it still seems to be leaking out at a greater rate than looks like it’s going to be able to seal is that should the rider be looking at a tire plug kind of solution in that scenario. I would if it was me. I’d give it a couple of world i mean your air pressure is gonna drop A little bit i I ride typically eighty psi and i have gone down to forty psi before with a really large slice There are i mean center of tread. More than likely it’s going to seal. If you just put the rotate it down let the ceiling come out rotate. It back up let it dry let it go back down. Get more ceiling. Come up let it dry. If you’re up for that a couple of times. I have sealed up some pretty big slices that way And i- full disclosure. I was out on the ride recently. And i took a piece of glass Sooner of tread and Guess what. I forgot to check my ceiling before i left and i definitely flouted and it’s the first time in eight years i forget to put tubes in I had to call for sag wagon. Because all i forgot i just forgot to check my ceiling and it was stri. Yeah it’s going to happen does the does the sealant sort of efficacy change. Or evaporate where. I’m with him in hot conditions versus cold conditions. Yes most definitely. The what people don’t realize is we do recommend Probably a larger amount of sealant On initial use and top offs Because what people don’t realize is feeling of prosperity so it’s using sealant right. Away is filling up the imperfections in the tire bead meeting surface. And then you’re going to get punctures that you don’t even know about the clock. The hot and cold climates the aired climates all that affects the rubber which expands and contracts at different rates so of the tires so definitely The frequency you ride at the air pressure you right out. And that’s why we always recommend we haven’t talked about initial setup when you set up a tire initially Traditionally there’s been video circulating where you put the elon and then you turn the tire on one side rotated on the other side spended around in our opinion all that ceiling up is the imperfection and the tire bead meeting surface. What we recommend is when you first. Put the ceiling in Aired up to get your bead set. Make sure you go round and look at the beat on both. make sure it’s completely seated Usually takes forty or on a on a gravel tire up to Eighty psi maybe and then drop it back down to your riding way but don’t exceed manufacturers maximum air.
00:30:01 – 00:35:02
Drop it down to your writing. Wait thirty five forty psi And then go right it because that pressure enrolling over obstacles creates it opens up the pores of the tire on the sidewalls and we wanna feel that prosperity And that will ensure long term success of your tire sealing up internally says that recommendation basically like get work on your your sealant entire setup and then go for a quick ride immediately afterwards. Okay and do do lazy age. If you can’t go very far you’ve got five minutes to go out and do lazy eight’s Make sure your tire pressures down low and that’ll really get that tire flexing and pulling in sealant to where it needs to be josh. Okay cool and obviously there’s there are other sealants on the market. Is it a bad policy to mix sealants if you had set up one with one brand and then you happen. Have some other around well Sometimes when you’re in dire need and you forget your low or it’s feeling properly. I mean you gotta do what you gotta do if you need to make sealants. Mix them It’s you’re gonna get results. It’s not the last guy that was in. That’s the failure or success it’s It’s a combination of them. As a general rule we don’t recommend mixing sealants because it does change the properties of sealants. But if you’re in a bind definitely mix somewhere if your buddies low and he’s going to have another ceiling and they’re definitely wanna give some orange seal. It’s going to help and make sense. I was just gonna say without within our formulas the regular the endurance and sub you can mix are within our range now if you mix endurance and regular. you’re going to get a hodgepodge of longevity and faster seedling. Just note that and with with when you mentioned longevity. Is that extending the amount of time. Like if i’m if i’m checking every thirty days out checking every forty five days because of the endurance formula or is it formulated around something else. That’s exactly right We have seen up to one hundred eighty days with our endurance. But i still say it’s you know you just don’t know how many punctures you get while you’re writing or if your tire pressure was really low and use more In the beat. Or whatever. I mean i just recommend for endurance checking it about every forty five days with regular every Fifteen to thirty days and subzero. You can check that every sixty days. Okay yeah so they. I really need to drill into my own. Head is just the idea that the and is constantly working. Whether it’s because i’ve got a poorest tire or there’s micro cuts coming in here and there when i’m riding you kind of only think about the sealant when you get that gaping hole where it sprang sealant and finally seals but i really readily acknowledged after this conversation that clearly like there’s a lot going on with sealant every single ride yeah and I appreciate the most users. Just don’t realize how. How how that works and i think if you know what what i’ve learned over the years is i finally acquired the right equipment to deal with With sealant tires set up his. You know once you have that valve core remover once you have a you a bottle with the appropriate applicator on it like you’ve described with the with the orange seal product. It can be really easy to just pop. The core out top it off and beyond your way doesn’t have to be a real long involved maintenance session. No i mean. I was really mad at myself because i spent an hour sitting on the side of the road and i could of just. If i just checked my feeling this morning it would have taken me ten minutes literally. And i would have saved an hour sitting on the side of the road waiting for someone to bring me some Ceiling or tube or a ride home at that point because he we i mean muscles are done after sitting for an hour. Hopefully this conversation’s just gonna be a reminder for everybody to go in the garage and find a bottle seal and make sure they’re topped off most definitely and i do want to go back just a little bit so i know there’s a big push in today’s market for to bliss But there are some users that just are. Don’t want to make that switch yet or don’t have the wheel set. They have the tires whatever. You can run tubes and you can run our sealant in tubes. If you have a removable while court now.
00:35:02 – 00:40:09
It’s not going to give you the same level of protection but it’s going to be better than not having any sealant ’cause we have sealed up. Numerous punctures inside of a tube on a on a on inside of tire. Yeah that makes sense. I know for me. Like i’ve got an electric cargo bike. That just is not set up for to us. But i don’t care about any extra weighed might as well have as much protection inside that inner tube as possible. Exactly i mean if you’re running the e bike or cargo bike. I definitely would have removable of course because those are so heavy in their kinda just miserable to change a tire on anyway. You definitely want to remove that valve coron inject Some sealant in there are ceiling. Absolutely before i let you go today jonah. I want to acknowledge. Orange seals commitment to the sport and supporting racers. It’s it goes. It should go. I should. I wanted to mention it. Because i think it not. Every company invest so heavily in the sport. Is you guys. Do you support too. Big gravel athletes pace in and hannah that have had a great year despite being in the pandemic. they’ve done some great things. Why why do you invest so heavily in these athletes. Yeah it’s a great question you know. It took us Five years to really understand why we wanted to create a team and look into sponsorship. And it’s really just about why we went into the ceiling business. It’s about creating a problem. Free ride as far as the tubes and the flats go and we just love. Investing in and pacing are phenomenal people first and foremost and we have so many other ambassadors That use our sealant and we just appreciate the fact that they are human and just enjoy having a good ride with people and not worry about changing flaps and they can hand it out with Confidence that when they give it to somebody and recommend it that it’s going to perform where it needs to be great. It’s great seeing the team out there at the gravel events. When they’re when they’re going on. I was really excited watching them. Both in the mid south pulling off victories. It was just a great battle across the day. It was really fun to see It was so much fun. I’m still pulling mud out of the jeep A year almost a year later But i mean that was. Hannah’s i Gravel race and she was when she came across the line. She was so empty. Cashew is running on empty for the last two hours and pacing To good thing he’d practice is cross skills in the offseason carrying his bike and running through mud. I mean it was just that event and all gravel events just so It’s about community. It’s about the experience it’s about having fun it’s about helping each other and Hannah i mean when she first came to us Wanted to only focus on mountain biking we talked about compromising and what we explained the perils of gravel racing and the gravel community and. She said. I definitely want to be part of that. And so she is Definitely putting gravel into her agenda even though she’s focused on world cups which is two different spectrums for an athlete and She absolutely loves the gravel. Seen as well as pace and We’ve got big plans for next year. And hopefully you know i mean. That’s what’s nice about hannah and patient as they can go out and compete at the elite level. But they’re also hanging out in the booth and having fun chat with others about the perils and fun of highs and lows of gravel racing and the community and the gravel is just so. It’s about community and bobby he’s A like his his title. He’s the master of stoke out there. It’s kinda funny. Yeah that’s the attitude. I want from race organizer for sure. It’s been fascinating to me to see as gravel evolves how certain events are gonna favor athletes that have more of a mountain bike background and i remember watching the coverage for mid south and seeing when pace and was battling peter stat. Nah seeing caissons differing techniques in writing. And how he spent a little time in the creek rinsing his bike out now he sort of was gingerly shifting because he had that memory of we’ve all been in that sloppy mountain bike mud.
00:40:09 – 00:44:49
And knowing that you can’t treat your bike like it just came off the the mechanics at that point. You really gotta be a little bit more gingerly with it and you know. The results spoke to that fact when he crossed the finish line. I yeah i mean I remember catching some of the highlights of the race organizer Team and they were talking about how by how clean their bikes were during the race and we had really put a lot of thought into tire. Preparation tire choice Wait tire pressure. Tire pressure makes a world of difference when you’re whether you’re on mud or dry roads And we played with all that the day before and then we had A pit crew. That did a phenomenal job. At the halfway point where we clean the bikes and lewd the chains and and we know from past experiences You wanna shift minimally in heavy mud but i mean to schramm’s a testament of the access system When patients duncan is completely battery operated electronic system in a creek and it runs flawlessly. And he’s still riding that that same component trie everything and it worked flawlessly after dunking it in that muddy water and it was it was so caked up with mud and he didn’t rip a derail her off so it’s we have phenomenal Sponsors and we could not do it without their support. So it’s really a it’s a team. Effort that goes into it and pacing was cheered on just by all the other riders and and the people out there. It’s that’s what gravel is about. It’s about community and it’s about everyone being there supporting everyone and you can have your elite racers you can have your Weaken warrior racers. You have everybody comes out. Just has a blast. That’s so much fun about global so trio and i. I really hope as i’m sure you do that. Twenty twenty one. We can have a safe and racing packed year You know it’s been sad with the cova pandemic this year that so many races had to be canceled or postponed. But i’m optimistic and speaking to race organizers. About some of the covid safety protocols they’re putting into place and different ways in which we could make sure that we can congregate together. But we can do it safely and consciously most definitely were definitely praying and hoping for You know things to come under control with the cova condemning and race promoters definitely get a covid plan in place. ’cause we definitely want to get out there. We missed the people. I mean just not from a race perspective but just hanging out and just having users come by and hang out in the booth and talk about whatever. I mean why they’re there and how much fun it is what they’re looking forward to and hanging out talking with pace and absolutely much john. Thanks for all the great information about orange seal and seal it. In general. I think the listeners can gain a lot from this conversation well It was my pleasure and thank you for having me on what you do as well Love listening to your podcast. You have a lot of great information. A lot of Great insight. From other people. So anytime door’s always open. We appreciate it big. Thanks john for all the insights into tire sealant. I know i learned a thing or two. And the next thing i’m gonna do is check my tire sealant levels. Because i guarantee i’m bone-dry after this conversation and a big thanks to you for spending a little bit of your time with me. This week if you’re able to support the podcast. I’m about thirty percent through my own. Fundraising goal at by me. A coffee dot com slash the growl. Ride your membership dollars. Really help offset all the costs in producing this podcast and are going to allow us to expand to new topics new territories etc. And if you’re unable to make a financial contribution ratings and reviews are hugely helpful in the podcast. Industry are discover ability to go on over to your favorite podcast app and leave us a review. And finally if you’re interested in connecting with other gravel an adventure cyclist. Please send me a note for an invite to the ridership our new global resource for gravel and adventure cyclists. So that’s it for this week until next time. Here’s the finding some dirt under your wheels.
Craig
The Gravel Ride Podcast