Gear guide
Everything is on this one page, so once it is open it works with no signal.
Your pressure range
Helen Wyman's rule, from her road.cc interview (2017). Take your weight in pounds (lb) and divide it by 10.
| Tire | Minimum | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Tubular | lb ÷ 10 | lb ÷ 10 + 10 |
| Tubeless | lb ÷ 10 + 5 | lb ÷ 10 + 15 |
| Clincher with a tube | lb ÷ 10 + 10 | lb ÷ 10 + 20 |
The +5 stops a tubeless tire burping; the +10 stops a tube pinching. Not sure what your tires are? Use the tube line. Most riders run the rear about 2 psi higher than the front.
Your range by weight
| Weight | Tubular | Tubeless | Tube |
|---|---|---|---|
| 70 lb (32 kg) | 7–17 | 12–22 | 17–27 |
| 80 lb (36 kg) | 8–18 | 13–23 | 18–28 |
| 90 lb (41 kg) | 9–19 | 14–24 | 19–29 |
| 100 lb (45 kg) | 10–20 | 15–25 | 20–30 |
| 110 lb (50 kg) | 11–21 | 16–26 | 21–31 |
| 120 lb (54 kg) | 12–22 | 17–27 | 22–32 |
| 130 lb (59 kg) | 13–23 | 18–28 | 23–33 |
| 140 lb (64 kg) | 14–24 | 19–29 | 24–34 |
| 150 lb (68 kg) | 15–25 | 20–30 | 25–35 |
| 160 lb (73 kg) | 16–26 | 21–31 | 26–36 |
| 170 lb (77 kg) | 17–27 | 22–32 | 27–37 |
| 180 lb (82 kg) | 18–28 | 23–33 | 28–38 |
Minimum to maximum, in psi. Weight in lb is kg × 2.2.
Where in your range, by course
Muddier courses want the low end of your range; hard, fast and rough ones want more. Tubeless riders sit lower in their range than tubular riders on the same course: in rider reports the two end up at about the same psi.
Bottom is your minimum to +2 psi, low +2 to +4, middle +4 to +7, high +7 to your maximum.
| Course | Tubeless or tube | Tubular |
|---|---|---|
| Deep, sticky mud | Bottom | Bottom |
| Soft mud, wet grass, greasy | Bottom | Low |
| Sand or snow | Bottom | Low |
| Tacky or dry grass | Bottom to low | Middle |
| Hardpack, fast | Low | High |
| Roots, rocks, frozen ruts | Middle | High |
For example, 110 lb on tubeless (16–26): wet grass 16–18, dry grass 16–20, roots and rocks 20–23.
Roots or rocks under the mud: go by the roots, not the mud, and stay off the bottom. A short sand section on a firm course: don't change pressure for it. On tubulars, the bottom of the range needs a good glue job; a poorly glued tubular can roll off the rim in a hard corner.
From Helen Wyman's own course-by-course notes (2025), and from pro and rider reports set against her range.
Tread: pick the band, not a single tire
| Conditions | What to run |
|---|---|
| File tread dry, hardpack, baked grass |
Lowest rolling resistance of the four. Use it whenever the ground isn't actually soft — it gives up nothing to a knobbier tire here and rolls noticeably faster. |
| Intermediate / all-round tacky, greasy, mixed |
The widest-usable band and the safe default when the forecast is mixed or you haven't walked the course. Handles a greasy, part-wet course far better than a mud tire does. |
| Mud deep, claggy |
Wide-spaced knobs that need real depth to bite into and to clear themselves of the mud they just bit into — build-up matters more here than outright tread pattern. |
| Low-profile fast sand, frozen hardpack |
Preserves momentum over outright grip — the priority when the surface is firm or loose-but-not-soft and every bit of speed you carry matters more than bite. |
Greasy is not a mud day: a mud tire's widely-spaced knobs are built to bite into depth, so on a thin greasy skin they skate across the top of it instead of gripping — the intermediate tire bites better there.
The pre-ride field test
On your pre-ride lap, find the one spot where you ALMOST hit the rim. That pressure is close to your floor for this course — not zero close calls, and not one every lap. Adjust from there, once per pre-ride lap.
Floor-pump gauges drift with use. Re-check with your own gauge right before staging, not just at the pre-ride.
Tread and the sand-section rule: Skills, Drills and Bellyaches: A Cyclocross Primer — Schieken & Tille.