I'm in the eastern panhandle of the state. Have a couple people that I ride with but only one with any frequency. Always up for meeting new cyclists or even just knowing there's some in the general area out and about. Sadly the area I live in, Romney/Hampshire County...there's very very little in way of a cycling community. Just nothing to attract folks to ride the area even though we have some really decent road/gravel riding. Bad sadly not a single foot of mountain biking trails or anything anyone would come to ride or enough to motivate someone to start riding.
WVU grad and NoVA resident - ride a Jamis Renegade. Mostly an MTB'er but take gravel when I can get it (also lots of light duty single track on the Renegade) or over the winter/rainy days. Have the stock 35's on there, but want to move towards 40's tubeless - having difficulty finding a tire that lands in the upper 38s and or 39s so there's a little clearance to let the mud through (comes with Alex 470 rims). I would think that there would or could be some epic gravel/forest roads on the Mon or GWNF but I haven't had time to ask around or plot it out....
Very cool. I'm on a Renegade as well. I haven't gotten a chance to ride NOVA yet but my buddy works in that area and rides there after work often and says there's some really nice gravel to ride. I've done a little mountain biking down there but not much. I don't mountain bike as much as I like since I have to drive at least an hour to get to any trails...so I mostly road/gravel ride from the house.
I'm looking to move to as large a tire as possible on there, probably a fat 38 or a skinny 40 - I'm still on the stock 35's (non tubeless); want to move Tubeless. Whatre you running yourself?
Stock X'Plor 35's but I just picked up my new wheels today from the shop that are 23mm ID and I ordered some WTB Nano 40c's that I'm going to run tubeless. Hoping they will be here this coming week for a ride I have next weekend. If not...I'll roll the 35's on the new wheels. Friend of mine also on a Renegade is running Cannonballs that I believe are 38's and he likes them a lot.
I hope...lol...tracking says they won't be here until Friday next week. Hoping they will be here a day or two early so I can get them mounted and a shake down ride or two before my event. If they fit.
If you wouldnt mind I'd love to know if the 40s you're gettin fit on the 17's and clear the rear triangle. If not, no big deal but just trying to see how large I can go without unreasonably tight tolerances. Haven't really found a while lot about tire selection on the Renegades across the internet.
I'll definitely post up my results and take pictures. Only thing is...my bike came stock with American Classic rims that are 19mm wide so there will be a slight difference in fit compared to your 17mm rims.
Everything in. Rims taped. Tires on. Wheels installed. Front is good. Plenty of room. Rear is a little tight. Plenty of room if conditions are good. If you roll in some nasty muddy conditions...I'd be maybe slightly concerned...but maybe not. I did ride them yesterday in a gravel race...53 miles and about 4500 feet. They did fantastic. Tires a little sluggish on the little pavement they saw but had tons of grip in the gravel and dirt and rolled great. I'll get some pics of the clearances later today.
Not during the ride. 52 miles and they were great. Completely flat two days later though but as long as they hold up during a ride...I'm ok with that. I haven't ridden it since last Saturday so I haven't maintained air in the tires. I've developed a renewed love affair with my single speed...but I'll probably air up and knock the dust of the Renegade this weekend for a 30-40 miler.
Nah...I'm using it more as a training tool so I can ride the Renegade harder...lol...but single speeding is a lot of fun. Been doing it mostly on the road though. I'd like to get a beater CX frame to single speed someday. That would be pretty fun.
Nubster, I am new to gravel ridding and live in Jefferson county. Do you have any good routes in the panhandle that you could share? or a website with routes in the Charles town area?
