Sand is fkn hard to ride in. No two ways about it. I’ve tried dropping the tyre pressure in my 2.1 Kenda Nevegals to between 17 and 20 psi and even with the increase tyre bag it’s still fkn hard work peddling over sand. Frustration set in after my last training ride and I decided to come home and do some research on the net.. The Surly 1×1 has massive tyre clearance which got me to thinking ‘how big a tyre could I run?’… A quick hunt about on Google presented the above image ^^^ a Surly 1×1 Minnesota ‘Snow Bike’. The Minnesota locals have to suffer snow for months and months on end and have adapted their bikes to suit the local conditions. These fellas use the Surly ‘large marge’ rim (65mm wide) with Nokian 3.0 tyres to ‘float’ over the snow. To fit these huge wheels they cut off the v-brake lugs to improve clearance in the fork arch and rear stays. This might be a tad more extreme solution than I was looking for but I’m thinking about trying a wider rim and maybe using my old DH tyres, the 2.7 Maxxis Minions to see if I can get anymore float. Might also experiment with Sammies 650b wheelset..
And nothing improves training like adding 6kg of tyre to your bike! Unleash the beast, bring back the bag, if it ain’t fat take it back, etc, etc.