Being a Californian, I have never owned a pair of xc spikes because they would be useless with all the pavement we run on. This year we are going to nxn, and I ordered a pair of spikes. I was wondering if I could use spike blanks in place of the spikes on pavement, or if that will screw me over.
Just take them out altogether. Temporarily fill the holes with shoe goo to keep pebbles out.
I would use racing flats on the Cali courses and keep the spikes for NXN etc.
Does California lack grass? I know you're in a terrible drought but are there no trails anywhere?
pancake1234 wrote:
Being a Californian, I have never owned a pair of xc spikes because they would be useless with all the pavement we run on.
well we do run on grass and trails, but most courses have at least 100 yards of pavement on them, so its very rare to find an all dirt or grass course. Most of the hills etc. are dirt, but sometimes leading into the finishing kick there will be a stretch of pavement, or we have to run through a parking lot or something.
Whenever I used blanks, they always scuffed on the pavement (maybe it was just the spikes, idk). So I usuallly just took them out completely and had no problems. If the sockets get plugged with dirt, easiest way to fix them is to dunk them in a bucket of water and let the dirt loosen up.
SonOfRitz wrote:
Whenever I used blanks, they always scuffed on the pavement (maybe it was just the spikes, idk). So I usuallly just took them out completely and had no problems. If the sockets get plugged with dirt, easiest way to fix them is to dunk them in a bucket of water and let the dirt loosen up.
I recommended plugging them with shoe goo because I've had pebbles of just the right size get jammed in and destroy the threads.
The shoe goo idea seems pretty good, except how would you get the shoe goo out when you want to put spikes in again?
pancake1234 wrote:
Being a Californian, I have never owned a pair of xc spikes because they would be useless with all the pavement we run on. This year we are going to nxn, and I ordered a pair of spikes. I was wondering if I could use spike blanks in place of the spikes on pavement, or if that will screw me over.
Wear spikes at nxn. It's spike friendly. Wear your normal stuff at Woodward. There are too many paved spots and you would lose traction, especially the last 600 of the race which is mostly paved.
Have any of you California guys raced at Golden Gate Park in San Fransisco? Club xc nats is there in December and I'm trying to figure out what will work best to race in.
Course Map:
pancake1234 wrote:
The shoe goo idea seems pretty good, except how would you get the shoe goo out when you want to put spikes in again?
You can just dig it out. It won't stick to metal very well. Any extra bits will just get displaced by the spike after you thread it back in.
club xc nats wrote:
Have any of you California guys raced at Golden Gate Park in San Fransisco? Club xc nats is there in December and I'm trying to figure out what will work best to race in.
It is all on grass, woodchips, or a dirt track. No sidewalk or cement. The track is OK. I would recommend spikes.
Thanks everybody, the spikes I ordered turned out to be the wrong size in the packaging, so they canceled the order. I had to get a backup pair which are gold and black and pretty cool.