Originally Posted by Carbonfiberboy

After maybe 20 miles, when one brakes here, it sounds like one is braking with grinding paste, which is in fact the case. Might have something to do with the fact that it's unusual for a road or street to be swept between October and May, and they sand the streets here. Then we'll go for another 30 miles of urban and suburban hills. Everything is hills here. Seattle and surrounding cities are built on a series of hills. We ride some flat here and there, but mostly hills. We seldom wear tires out. They become unusable from cuts. Tires that don't cut, don't hold in the wet. Rather fix flats than go down.