I've gone back to buying and riding my tubes tubed. Tubulars. Tubes inside tubes. And back to the old ride - totally tubular (in the sense of the kids' "tubular" of a few years back). The magic carpets. Hand made by artisans in some distant corner of the planet. (They are getting more modern. The hand stitching is still there but they no longer recruit silkworms for the casings.)

The Paris-Roubaix race just happened this morning. As usual flats were a deciding factor. And one chilling note early in the race. I was following on the written commentary of Cycing News. They mentioned a rider having his tubeless tire come off entirely. Did not say more about the outcome. But I had an old clincher tire come off a few years back and that was one of my top 5 crashes. Rear. First I was riding on "ice". Then the tire (rear) jammed in the seatstays; pitching me over the bars. At just over 20 mph. Tires coming off has been a nightmare for me since - preventing me from enjoying high speed descents and literally; waking me up more than a few times. The #1 driving force in my return to tubulars which I rode for 20 years. Last September, I loved the fast descents at Cycle Oregon with those tubulars. Down rough chip seal with cracks. Down roads I knew nothing about. On tires I could trust completely.