Tires for Hell of the North

Posted April 1st, 2010 by djerek
I've never done this race before and was wondering what sort of tires would be a good choice. I own a pair of Michelin Jets and was planning on using those, but does anyone run a 25mm road tire for this?
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I used 28mm Ritchey Speedmax

On April 1st, 2010 bigmikemandel says:
I used 28mm Ritchey Speedmax last year but just tried out a set of 25mmm Specialized Armadillo tires on the rail trail section (approx 14 kms) and they were fine. It was only soft in some sections. The Michelin Jets would do fine but I might want something with better puncture resistance. There are more "road" sections in the Hell of the North so the 25mm tires might be an even better choice. You just have to work a bit harder to keep your momentum going in the offroad sections. Mike

I pre-rode the course today

On April 4th, 2010 djerek says:
I pre-rode the course today and I think 25mm tires would be a very bad idea.

Cool. Why? Mike

On April 5th, 2010 bigmikemandel says:
Cool. Why? Mike

Section 1 has a lot of water

On April 6th, 2010 djerek says:
Section 1 has a lot of water and mud. And it's been pretty dry lately, conditions are only sure to get worse with the rain this week. I don't think you would be able to ride through there with 25s. Maybe it's manageable, but I'm sure it would mean getting dropped. The rail trail is probably rideable on road tires, but there are tons of large stones and I would be worried about pinch flats with skinny tires. The last 2 offroad sections are even worse, they are really rough and have deep ruts. I'm definitely no authority on this race, but I think that whatever advantage skinny tires would give on the road would probably be negated on the off-road sections. Anyone else have any opinions?