Pitbull - 1, Intense tubeless tire - 0

I got out Saturday AM with Kev29'er and Charlie for a long gravel road grinder. I suppose 8 days before the Shen 100 really won't build any more fitness, but mentally I wanted to get back to riding a big loop through the mountains instead of many small race course loops like we do so much. That much was a success - 80 miles later, I made it home in an appropriately whooped mindset. But not before Charlie and I had a run-in with a pitbull over near Batesville.

To preface this, let's flashback to the Twisted Tire spring cup. It rained. Miles of mucky, rain drenched singletrack, a destroyed public trail system, and many broken bike parts later, Bike Factory racing emerged victorious and won!.....a tire. An itense 2bliss 2.0 to be specific. Now granted, we run pretty much all bontrager stuff, but what the hell, it's a free tire and there's got to be some luck in the thing since it was, in fact, THE twisted tire. So I superjuiced the thing up and popped it on my front race lite, and I've been racing it for much of the summer. Not a bad tire - very much in the same genre as a bontrager XDX. And no flats all summer. Until...

On pounding creek rd on saturday, a dirt gravel track connecting Miller School rd over to Dick Woods, I saw a dog run out in front of us. Now, I'm a dog lover. I've got two of my own that I adore like my children. And every now and then they get out in the road and cause some mayhem. So I'm a sympathizer more than a bottle thrower...I hit the brakes, scoot way right, and give this one the good doggie hello. Then I saw it was a pitbull, and it was seriously pissed off. She came right for us, barking, fangs barred, looking for trouble. And I was already too slow at this point to make a move, so I jumped off the bike and kept it between her and me as I tried to inch down the road. Undeterred, she layed into THE twisted tire, ripping a big hole in the sidewall. Superjuice sprays all over for a couple seconds, but it seals the hole right up. Success! I think, but this only seemed to piss her off, and she chomped down on the tire again, this time giving it one of those jack-russell-style violent shakes, and she tore the thing apart. No more twisted tire. Nowhere to go. Finally, the owner comes running from up the driveway, wrestles the dog into submission, and apologizes profusely. We shook it off, tubed the thing back up, and rolled for home with a wonky front wobble. The lady's mailing me $30 for the tire, which is halfway cool I guess.

And I guess here's my point: I ride these gravel roads all the time. I'm pretty used to the hazards: loose gravel, feral jack russell terriers, road hunters, fast guys like Charlie tearing my legs off on the way up jarmins. All that stuff I'm fine with. The risks of gravel roads are far outweighed by what happens to guys out riding pavement.

But I need a new twisted tire. And there's only one way: http://twistedtirefall.racesonline.com/

Bring your floatie wings and rubber duckies - I've never actually seen poor far dry, and we're due for a whole bunch of rain.