About a year ago, when getting ready for the Detroit Invitational CX Race (DICX), my friend Joe lent me a worn pair of Clement Crusade PDX tires that he wasn’t using. I used them a few times over the year, for a couple of single track rides and some cyclocross (CX) races, but last week he asked for them back.
I’m not much of a racer and only have a need for the tires a dozen or so times a year, but I wanted want to have something other than my usual set of gravel road / pavement tires for these times. Particularly as the CX races that I do tend to be some of the more fun events I went ahead and ordered my own set.
These are generally considered quite knobby when it comes to CX tires, something that the more serious people would reserve for muddy conditions, but I found them to be sufficient for my amateur needs on all off road surfaces. During a test ride at River Bends last year I was shocked with just how well they cornered, and at DICX and Barnyard CX (a friend’s private race on Labor Day) they did a great job of grabbing into grass and the soft surfaces usually associated to more-casual races.
The tires have now been fitted to the Jamis Nova, my CX/trainer bike, and if things work out as I hope tomorrow I’ll get to use them during some sunset-time race practice at Bloomer Park and a couple of races this autumn.