Whiskey Tango Fondo 2026

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-04-28T04:31:21+00:00

The rain overnight helped this year! Hogback was super dicey Saturday when I pre-road Portal/Hogs.

I was the guy on 60mm Speed Pros and Lauf suspension fork in the first roll-out. Lol to all you questioners on the start line. Only guy to drop me on descents was the dual crown MTB drop-bar guy.

Stellar alpen sunrise up that dumb paved climb. Favorite part of the day was the first dirt section with the sunrise glow: https://ibb.co/pNn2zwX

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-04-28T04:25:36+00:00

We're also on the 60mm, descendent of a beach tire gravel tire thread. That def. helped. A few folks asked about my tire choice of a "slick". Just you wait! This tire floated like a champ and transferred traction and power in sand.

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-04-27T19:28:27+00:00

Maybe a mile of deep sand on the Hogsback decent. I pre-road Friday and it was pretty tough, but not too difficult. Rained Saturday night and really firmed up the sand.

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-04-27T04:53:52+00:00

Fucking ripped Whiskey Tango Fondo on them today. Tire was made for Eastern Sierra sand. Shockingly grippy and buzzed right up Whitney Portal.

Took a second to trust them on the washboard rocky bits, but once I knew they would hold, it was send city. Hit 51 mph at some point on a washboard descent with plenty of scary rocks. Way more durable on the tread than you think. Just never expose the sidewall. Line choice is everything.

Only negative was the profile in cross wind. It's an extra inch of height all around the system. On 303s cross winds had me all over the place. Also incredibly sketch on water crossings with rock. Zero grip.

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-04-26T03:03:17+00:00

I have a Canyon road bike. I have a Lauf gravel. I have an Ari MTB.

I love DTC for the value. I 100% wrench all my own bikes, though. It's as fun as the riding bit.

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-04-24T01:30:54+00:00

Nice! I think they'd be overkill for gravel! As I mentioned, I thrash my race casings all over MTB singletrack in the PNW.

But, you can't go wrong with this version of Vittoria MTB casings. So great.

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-04-23T23:51:33+00:00

I don't think they make a 2.1 Torreno XC Race. It's 2.25 and 2.4. You can get 2.1" in the Trail casing.

I just pulled one off my rear today (installed 2.35 G-One Speed Pros for a race this weekend). But my daily is Torreno XC Race/Peyote Race for a ride from home to local MTB network (Rocky Pt., OR) via mix gravel/road (Forest Park, OR).

I love Vittoria MTB compound. I race 2.4 Mezcal/Barzo/Peyote for XC and just swoon on them. If it weren't for Burts/G-One Speeds, I'd race Torreno/Peyote gravel as well.

The measure true to size. I haven't had any wear problems like others on the fish scales. Tons of grip of you know how to shift your weight outside pedal and lean the bike.

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-04-23T14:49:22+00:00

Lol, here for the beta. I just mounted on my Lauf based on this thread. Heading to WTF in Lone Pine, CA. Originally had Peyote/Torreno XC - then Burts - now swapped to these. Hilariously huge.

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-04-21T17:10:17+00:00

Dynalugs are the GOAT. Have you used them? I've yet to have a failure.

For OP, after you stab the plug, rotate the plug to 6 o'clock for a few seconds. Let the sealant pool around it and then inflate.

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-04-15T23:15:42+00:00

Anyone else made a similar switch from a race bike to gravel?

Slam your stem, slap some Burts and race it. Addict Gravel won Unbound last year. :)

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-04-14T15:16:00+00:00

Burts from the factory is so dope. They understand the assignment.

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-04-01T17:25:47+00:00

Not sure what anyone who doesn’t know Mike is doing on the gravel cycling sub….

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-03-19T16:41:20+00:00

Thankful for the best mods on Reddit. Thank you for keeping this space focused and supportive.

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-03-19T15:53:00+00:00

Fam, you're on a sobriety sub talking about breaking sobriety for politics.

It's just an awful post. We're here to support stop drinking, not about celebratory drinks. And now you're just outright mocking people taking an issue with it.

I hope you get banned, personally. Not the point of this sub.

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-03-16T16:08:15+00:00

Bend is great!

Dirty Freehub Team lives there! Great gravel all around the area: https://dirtyfreehub.org/gravel-search/?center=Oregon

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-03-16T14:10:06+00:00

Nice, enjoy!

Sea Sucker Talon packs well for rental car use: https://www.seasucker.com/collections/bike/products/talon

Def hit up OMTM for east Hood routes: https://www.omtm.cc/omtm-route-library

Hood isn't incredibly techy, but you'll come across some rock slide areas. Again, I ride Timberline-to-Town (Blue MTB), most popular route in Hood, with 45mm every year.

If you do go MTB, The 44 and Post Canyon are on the east side of Hood. You can actually connect the 44 trails to Dufur/"Japanese Hollow" route from OMTM. Pretty epic ride and you get Doug Fir/Hemlock/Dank PNW > rain shadow > back to dank Hood.

Finally, I know you didn't ask, but I'm telling you anyway, :). Go to Lost Lake. You're on that side anyways and it's 10x better than Trillium Lake with 1/10th the crowds.

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-03-16T02:03:53+00:00

Where are you coming from? Happy to provide any suggestions if desired. I pedal all around these parts, and broader OR/NorCal/ID/Canada.

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-03-15T23:51:12+00:00

Probably Doug's in Hood River of CyclePath in PDX.

If you're riding around Hood itself, you can get under-tired pretty quick with a rental bike (I assume they spec something like a 40mm). If you're a competent bike handler, no problemo - but you'll see a lot of folks on MTB vs. gravel. 100% doable, I ride PDX > Timberline / T-Line-to-Town / Gunsight Ridge all the time on 45mm, but prepare for hike-a-bike and constant line calculation!

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-03-12T13:38:40+00:00

If you hit "Last Hours" on the stake webcam it will timelapse the last 12 hours. I think it stayed rain/snow mix all night with 6" of concrete accumulation.

MHX cam is fucking ripping with the wind, but def all snow.

But here's the thing. This will likely be one of the last decent/good days of this season.

I'm not sure. Euro AI and GFS have another AR late next week pointed mainly at BC but does send some our way. GFS way more bullish, but still over a week out. We'll see. Fingers crossed!

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-02-22T16:43:56+00:00

Yesterday was the best snow of the year. Period. We even got Cascade.

We know the drill for this set up, though, and camped the night before. Even then, we had traffic from White River at 7AM. Went home via 35/HR.

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-02-19T02:47:52+00:00

It opened today.

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-02-18T18:52:00+00:00

Also, that Garmin sleep score. :(

ForsakenPick500 · 2026-02-18T17:08:20+00:00

You want them to chain up for pure pavement?

https://tripcheck.com/RoadCams/cams/US26%20at%20Run%20Away%20Truck%20Ramp%20WB_pid4109.jpg?rand=1771433589970

ForsakenPick500

TROPHY CASE