I'll be doing the Homegrown Gravel 100-mile race (called "Border Wars" until 2024) in a few weeks and I'm looking for some tire advice, especially from people familiar with the terrain.
The race is 70/30 gravel/pavé. From what I can tell, there are some pretty non-trivial paved climbs:
At the moment, in Central PA, where most of the gravel is relatively well-behaved and there's always plenty of paved road to get to it, I'm running 44mm Tufo Thunderos, but I'm thinking that I might be better off with something even bigger — e.g., MTB tires such as the Conti Race King 2.2 — for Homegrown, especially after watching this recent video from Dylan Johnson.
I'd love to hear some thoughts, again especially from anyone familiar with this race!
by jasonper
2 Comments
Conti Terra Speeds – Black Sidewalls. Good puncture protection and some of the fastest tires rolling resistance wise
I just watched that video from Dylan today. For 70% gravel it does seem like the Race Kings would be the better option. On the other hand the pavement sections will really suck.
Tufo Thunderos rank slightly faster by bicyclerollingresistance.com than the Pirelli Gravel H in Dylan’s video. It seems like your current tires would be an excellent balance between the gravel and paved sections.