What about Vegemite?
Being European, my preference would be for a spoonful (or few) of Nutella 
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Marmite>Vegemite
Blasphemy!
I’ll be there Friday. Just looked through the race bible and the only thing that got my attention was the multiple uses of the word “mud” and “Muddy”. Let us know what you see (maybe here and in the EFT FB page?) please!
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Seems smart. I rarely regret having more tire. I’m planning 38 slicks. Last year, I ran 38 knobs (and was less experienced off road) and was glad to have them on the Pamo section, but didn’t feel they were necessary most other places other than maybe pedaling up raptor ridge—but everyone in front of me had to walk anyway, so it didn’t matter much. I ran 48s at BWR AZ on 650bs and it was fast. Panaracer SS. I have some panaracer SS 38s (which measure 40ish), but my 38 slicks are much faster on all the non technical stuff, even if it’s dirt or rocks.
I’ll post Friday my thoughts afternoon. Mud is the real reason I’m bringing a spare set of 35s. 40s just don’t have the clearance on my crux, so if they get caked up it really holds me up!
For what it’s worth, Niki Terpstra is riding Schwalbe G-One RS 40mm which has some tread and sidewall knobs. Vermuelen won on 40mm Kenda slicks. Easter got 3rd on same Kenda slicks but in 35mm. Good enough for pros, good enough for me.
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FYI, here’s an excellent comment from last year’s thread regarding tire choice: BWR California - Bike/Tire Choice - #10 by jfranci3
On the weather forecast point, I suspect Black Canyon is going to be blisteringly hot on Sunday by the time the average rider reaches it
Is black canyon in the wafer ride? Also it’s a high of 65f. Can’t imagine it’s going to be too bad?
No, I think it’s only on the Waffle.
Hopefully I’m wrong. Looks like it’ll be about 22C (sorry, still can’t work out F) in Ramona on Sunday. I feel like every time I’ve been in Black Canyon the heat has been magnified
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Only on full waffle, Wafer does not go into Ramona. Wafer turns around at Bandy. Temps look reasonable in Ramona, but they looked “reasonable” last year too until they weren’t. According to my Garmin, it was 26C when I entered Ramona at 10:30. It hit 35C on the Pamo climb after the canyon around noon. It was back to 28C around Bandy on the way back. I remember seeing people on the sand in Ramon after I had come out of the canyon area and thinking “They’re absolutely f’d”. Because that’s exactly how I felt at that stage
Then again, the weather locally hadn’t cracked 0C until this weekend, so anything over 20C is a heat wave to me.
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Good luck everyone. Looks to be a good one.
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not to be the bearer of bad news but we had more rain in san diego last night… it wasn’t super heavy but a pretty steady drizzle for 12+ hours. i’m in the city, so not the north/east county where the race is but typically if we get rain at the coast, it only gets heavier as you head east.
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This is slightly off topic - but would love to know how you liked running the 650b wheelset over your 700 and if you noticed any major feel of being ‘slower’. I want a 650 set for my bike for some courses or just general riding.
A little bit of rain sounds like a good thing. Makes that dirt a little stickier.
yes, the amount of rain we got in the last 24hrs would produce “hero dirt” on most trails for the next day or two but i suspect there’s still quite a bit of standing water in areas without good drainage from all the rain we’ve had recently
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Quick recon this evening. Questhaven descent is going to take some casualties. Lots of rutted washed out spots and a couple really deep and soft sand sections. I suspect a few excited riders will see their front dig in and go OTB.
Twistedweg is in decent shape. A couple washed out sections and a couple extra sandy and loose areas, but overall not bad compared to last year.
Will be going for a longer recon tomorrow and will post another update. Definitely will not be switching to a smaller tire! The 40 terra speeds will be good on looser stuff and can absolutely fly downhill (hit 79kmh today without any power or super tuck, would definitely say they roll fast!)
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I averaged a very good speed compared to my normal rode speeds. I didn’t feel any penalty for wheel size.
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