I like Kenda Karmas, but I don't think they're quite tough enough for really rocky trails. I've flatted the same way multiple times now: a pinch flat on a tubeless tire. Sounds hard to do but I guess it really isn't. I'll get a 2 mm or so cut right where the sidewall of my tire meets the hook bead / sidewall of my rim. Because that area is so stressed by sideloads, the Stans doesn't want to seal it. Anyone have tire suggestions for me?
On a more positive note. I felt pretty good. The trial was nice and muddy. Heavy as all get-out. You'd stop pedaling and come to a halt in about 5 seconds, so it was a good setup for me. I stayed on the gas the whole time, and scared the crap out of myself constantly on every downhill as I two wheel slid everything.
Besides that it was business as usual. The trail got super foggy on the backside of the mountain, which added a cool Mordor feel to it. I saw about 6 unattended dogs walking around, probably out hunting with someone, but I thought I was hallucinating for a second. I was winning the battle of attrition until my flat.
It took me about 10 minutes to get the flat fixed, and I only had 5ish rocky miles to go, so it killed my time. I rolled in at 3:30, which wasn't as fast as my February time.
When all was said and done, I was 4th fastest time in the Men Under 30 open class, and 2nd in the Trifecta, which combines your time for all three races. Could have done better in both, but this was a training race series so I'm not beating myself up too much.
Barry Roubaix in two weeks, and Cohutta in a little over a month. Whoop!
