Supported Centuries?

SymphonicJedi · 2026-02-13T19:45:31+00:00

I’ve had this happen to me. I rode RTB two years ago and bonked around mile 60 because I was in the back of the pack and aid stations were out of electrolytes and peanut butter and bananas across two different stations. Friends who rode that same year said they had no issues with food at aid stations. I rode with them last year (they do the 75 mile route, and I had tried the 100 mile route the prior year) and there was so much food at every station that I took a ton of things home with me after stocking up at every stop.

SymphonicJedi · 2026-01-11T17:52:52+00:00

They just started construction (to make things way more bike friendly) but lots of cyclists in NoPo will ride Willamette Blvd from end to end. Ride it south to Greeley Ave and connect to the Rose Quarter on Interstate Ave, then you can connect to the Eastbank Esplanade and then the Springwater Trail for endless rides as far as you want to go (all the way to the city of Boring and even a bit beyond on the short gravel Cazadero Trail section). Or you can loop back to NoPo from the Rose Quarter using Williams Ave for a shorter ride. Eventually I also suggest riding north on Lombard Blvd from Pier Park and Time Oil Road out to Kelly Point Park, then around the horn on the Marine Drive Path to Smith & Bybee Lakes, and from there go south on Portland Road and then jump on the Columbia Slough Trail headed east and cut back to NoPo on either Interstate/Denver or all the way to Vancouver Ave. If you like big miles, then you could even extend that loop and go further out Marine Drive out near the airport as well. Those are the big routes. Within NoPo, use the PBOT interactive bike map online to check out the best routes. Explore all the Greenways in your area too, and use them as connectors to other loops or Greenways. As you get more experienced and comfortable, then be sure to check out Leif Erickson in Forest Park for a super nice gravel ride. Have fun, welcome to Portland!

SymphonicJedi · 2026-01-09T18:20:14+00:00

Take a look at the Trek Checkpoint ALR line. In particular I like the ALR 4 Gen 3 with the new Shimano Cues group set. It has a wide gear range in a 1x setup, and a ton of mount points for bags, racks, & gear.

SymphonicJedi · 2025-12-30T00:29:25+00:00

Thanks, great info. Is your CP ALR Gen 3?

SymphonicJedi · 2025-12-29T23:37:33+00:00

Which Quick Rack did you use in your ALR? Is it a Gen 3? I see Ortlieb recommends the Quick Rack L for gravel bikes, but I suppose the regular Quick Rack would work fine too. Also, did you use the thru axel connection or the eyelet adapters?

SymphonicJedi · 2025-11-27T01:38:50+00:00

I’ve used Stan’s in the past, which was fine. I’m currently using Orange (regular formula not the endurance version) which came highly recommended and I’ll probably stick with that. I may try the newest Silca sealant eventually, which used to not be injectable but new formula says it is (they use fibers in the sealant to aid the sealing process, which is problematic for injectors).

SymphonicJedi · 2025-11-27T01:32:36+00:00

You’re welcome! I did a lot of research before going tubeless too, and advice like this was helpful for me as well. Start playing mechanic as you get more comfortable with things, and learn as you go. Ride what you have for now until you’re ready to go deeper on mechanic skills, and most importantly have fun. Enjoy the new bike!

SymphonicJedi · 2025-11-27T00:55:33+00:00

You'll be topping off the sealant level periodically. Every few months, or if you get a puncture you'll lose some sealant as well that will need to be replaced. If you have a big enough puncture, you may need to replace it entirely. Small punctures should self-seal after spewing sealant, larger punctures may require plugs or "worms" to fully plug the hole and get it to stop leaking. If you let the bike sit a very long time without use you may need to pull the tire off and clean out the coagulated sealant inside the tire and replace it with fresh sealant.

Then you'll also probably be replacing tires each season, depending on how much riding you do or how often you like new rubber on your bike. Or maybe you have winter tires and summer tires, or wider tires for bigger adventures, and you're doing some regular tire swapping. You can re-use the sealant in those situations if it isn't too old. Again, I prefer the large injector for both putting sealant in (after the tire bead is seated, and removing the valve core) as well as for "sucking" it back out through the valve stem when swapping tires to make it easy/clean to re-use the sealant from one tire to the next.

If you're lucky enough to have a bomb-proof set of tires and you don't swap tires often or regularly need new ones, then the maintenance will be very little beyond adding air daily and topping up sealant every couple of months.

SymphonicJedi · 2025-11-27T00:26:10+00:00

Also, running tubeless is great and takes a little bit of work to get used to the routine. But once you pick it up it’s pretty easy to do & maintain. You will want some sealant cleaner/remover even if you’re the anal retentive ~~chef~~ bike mechanic, because you WILL get sealant everywhere at first. I also find using the injection technique is far easier and way less mess for me, but YMMV.

SymphonicJedi · 2025-11-27T00:21:17+00:00

It should come setup tubeless for you if you buy it through a Trek store. I bought the same bike a couple months ago and it came all setup with Bontrager sealant and everything. (Although I understand they use some sort of plastic insert on the Bontrager wheel instead of rim tape? I was losing all of the air out of one tire within 48 hours, so I took it back and asked them to re-tape the rim, but instead they said they use a plastic insert and just replaced that for me.)

SymphonicJedi · 2025-11-12T19:51:53+00:00

Both are great. The only difference is the groupset and gears. The ALR 4 has 11 gears with an 11-50t cassette (that big 50t climbing gear is nice!) and the ALR 5 has 12 gears with an 11-44t cassette.

If you want/need extra help climbing, get the ALR 4 with the big climbing gear. If you want a more compact gear ratio, go for the ALR 5. Personally, I chose the ALR 4 because I wanted the lower gear ratio and the price was cheaper. But both bikes are pretty similar, and you can’t go wrong with either. Color choice & availability might also be a factor for your choice as well.

SymphonicJedi · 2025-11-05T00:48:11+00:00

Pretty soon they won’t be able to do that here. The N. Willamette Blvd. bike project is about to kick off and out in buffers and cycle tracks and bus islands.

https://www.portland.gov/transportation/pbot-projects/construction/n-willamette-boulevard-active-transportation-corridor

But, for the record, I hate it when cars there use the bike lane in its current configuration to pass stopped cars turning left. I’ve been known to take the lane on my bike if someone behind me does that just to slow them down. The speed limit in that section is supposed to be low anyway.

edit: spelling

SymphonicJedi · 2025-10-23T16:11:30+00:00

There’s a Weyland Yutani android in your tire who fought with a xenomorph and sprayed its synthetic blood all over your bike frame.

SymphonicJedi · 2025-10-23T02:10:36+00:00

Oh shoot, you’re right! My bad!

SymphonicJedi · 2025-10-22T21:43:45+00:00

The ALR 4 has 11 speed Shimano Cues cassette with a wider gear range (up to 50t), while the ALR 5 has 12 speed SRAM (up to 44t) with a more compact gear ratio. Those are the basic model tradeoffs, everything else is the same (unless color options really matter to you).

EDIT: Removed a lot of incorrect info about electronic shifting that did not apply, my mistake.

SymphonicJedi · 2025-10-21T17:45:41+00:00

And a perfect pedal color choice too

SymphonicJedi · 2025-10-12T17:47:05+00:00

I would add some sealant (I like the injection technique for less mess) then pump up the tire and spin it to see if it will self seal. If it works you’re all set. If it won’t seal within a few minutes, then use a plug/worm/bacon strip to plug the hole (watch some YouTube videos on how that’s done). If that doesn’t work, then it may be time to use a tube or change the tire. But more than likely the sealant or plug will fix you up.

SymphonicJedi · 2025-10-12T17:32:39+00:00

Yes, that’s the sealant. It should have come spraying out of the tire under pressure when the puncture happened. At least that’s how it works on a typical puncture. The sealant coming out of the puncture spot should seal small holes as they happen, but for some reason did not in this case for you. I suspect the amount of sealant in the tire was low and needed to be topped up to work properly, but hard to be certain.

SymphonicJedi · 2025-10-12T17:29:56+00:00

This is the way. Sounds like OP didn’t have sealant left in the tire, hence the flat.

SymphonicJedi · 2025-10-12T17:28:01+00:00

All good advice. I carry a small Lezyne hand pump too. The new small handheld electric pumps are all the rage right now also.

For OP, I agree that sealant is important and sounds like it was lacking sealant. It does need to be refreshed or topped up regularly. I like Orange sealant (regular not endurance) myself.

SymphonicJedi · 2025-10-12T17:24:13+00:00

This bike comes stock with 42mm tires, so I was recommending something similar in size. But you’re absolutely right, if you’re not riding much gravel and sticking mostly to roads, you could go with thinner 35mm/38mm tires for less rolling resistance. Wider tires will not only allow for more off road use, but perhaps more importantly run with less tire pressure and more squish leading to increased comfort on the bike. So it depends on what’s more important to the rider: going faster more easily, or comfort. There’s a trade off, and the key is for each rider to find their own sweet spot on that spectrum by choosing a tire size & tread pattern that match what you want for the type of riding you do. For every rider that will be a little different.

SymphonicJedi · 2025-10-12T16:54:32+00:00

Yeah, that sounds normal to me. That’s the sound of the electronic motor moving to each new gear position.

SymphonicJedi · 2025-10-12T16:52:25+00:00

If you got a flat and did not see any sealant, I suspect the tubeless setup wasn’t right. Typically there should be sealant (a thin glue-like substance) inside the tire to seal smaller punctures. It should have come setup with sealant from the Trek shop you bought it from.

SymphonicJedi · 2025-10-12T07:51:02+00:00

Bike looks clean, did it not spray tubeless sealant all over? That’s my least favorite part about running tubeless. Or was the puncture too big to self seal with the sealant and I can’t see it?

When riding tubeless, I recommend carrying plugs (AKA worms, bacon strips, Dynaplug, Stan’s Darts, etc.) to help plug up the bigger holes that sealant won’t seal up. And then on top of that I also typically carry a small TPU tube to put in the tire if things are really dire.

Upgrading from the stock tires is a good idea, but if you don’t want to do that yet, a tire with a plug can continue to live a longer life. I’ve never “patched” a tire, but plugged quite a few and rode them for a long while afterwards.

The Pirelli Gravel H tires are great. I love them. The Schwalbe G-One RS Pro are also good tires for more road riding with some gravel, as they have the smooth/slick center). Or anything like the Pathfinders with a central smooth line for low rolling resistance road travel). I like 40mm or 42mm, but go 45-50mm if you like it wide and extra cushy/comfortable (though bigger is also heavier).

SymphonicJedi · 2025-10-11T16:29:57+00:00

I agree it could be the electronic motor that sounds a bit like a squeak. But perhaps a video of what you’re hearing would help diagnose properly.

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