Yesterday I rode on Continental Tour Rides for the last time. I think I’ve put maybe 1000 to 1200 miles on them, although during the early part of the year I kept no accurate record of mileage. On the ride, I again tried out the Magellan Cyclo 505’s “Surprise Me!” feature, which again failed, telling me I’d arrived at my destination only 1.88 miles into a 37 mile ride. I reset navigation and then just went for a ride using the Magellan to record data. I’ll post another entry later on about the Magellan.
My ride took me through some of Stepford’s hillier neighborhoods. I explored a long, dead-end lane I’d never previously traveled; I rode down into a hollow where whiskey is made; I didn’t drink from the stream where a couple of years back, I got giardia; I rode back up a graded but largely unpaved road I descended last Friday, er, Sunday. I kept my stops short and few, but did take some pictures.
Regarding the Continental Tour Ride tires – they only failed me once, in the silty bottom of a rain-swollen stream. Never a flat, never a failure to hold the road in slick conditions, never a problem powering through ruts, gravel, dirt, grass, stone, or mud. My only reason for replacing them is that I’d like something that rolls a little faster. That’s why, when I got a good deal (using bonus points, two for the price of one) at Bike Tires Direct, I bought a set of Clement X’Plor USH “adventure tires.”
The Clements were more of a hassle to mount than were the Continentals, although tire levers were not necessary for either set of tires. When mounting tires, I try to position the tires’ logo at the valve stem; makes it easier to find the stem when airing the tires. On Continental tires (at least Gatorskins and Tour Rides) the tire logo/name is emblazoned in the same place on either side of the tire. On the Clements, however, they are not so positioned and therefore when the stem is correctly positioned when the tire is seen from one side, it is off-kilter seen from the other side. I thought I’d messed up the back tire, cussed, remounted it, then cussed again before understanding dawned. Then, I felt foolish for having given voice to profanity. Here are some pictures – as with most of the photos on this blog, if you click on the image your browser will load an enlarged version of the image:
Christov_Tenn 
Been using Conti Ride Tour tires for the past couple on a 1980s touring bike. I originally bought two pairs for my son and I to use on the weeklong, 400-mile Ride The Rockies tour in Colorado, which included about 50 miles of gravel roads. Both of us had road bikes, so I figured the Ride Tours would be a cheap (<$60 from BikeInn for four tires!) way to add some gravel capability. The tires performed flawlessly during RTR, so I left them on my bike for another year of commuting and general use. You’d never mistake them for GP5000s, but the Ride Tours are bomb-proof – no flats, no cuts, no problems. Anyone who’s wasting money on road tubeless to avoid punctures should just buy these instead. Sure, they’re heavy, but I don’t race anymore; reliability is more important to me than speed. BTW, I just finished a self-supported 450-mile tour of Northern California with full panniers, using one of those Ride Tour sets that I bought over a year ago. While I rode all seven days without a single tire issue, my son’s nearly new WTB Riddlers sustained four punctures. Needless to say, I’ve already ordered a pair of 700×35 Ride Tours for his gravel bike.
Hey Dan, Sorry to take so long to approve your comment & reply. I’ve gone back to the Tour Rides since my aging Clement Xplor USH tires dumped me on fine gravel in June of ’21. My shoulder and hip still ache from that crash. I envy your commitment to riding and the time you’re able to devote to probably the greatest of escapes available to most people everywhere. Cheers and best regards, Chris