Tubeless Tire Repair...anyone?

During my visit to Nashville few weeks ago, I visited an outdoor shop called cumberland transit. It's located toward south west of the city, just nearby from two other great bike shops: Nashville Bike Co & Bike Pedlar. It also sells outdoor equipment such as camping gears, hiking, running etc. As for the bikes, they carry schwinn brands.
In there I picked up an interesting small thing: a Tubeless Tire Repair kit for MTB. The concept is no different from a common tubeless repair kit you'd find off the street here in Indonesia. But it's so small, designed for MTB tubeless tires. Furthermore, it only cost me $4 plus tax.

Frankly I didn't know what to do with it until last saturday ride at puncak got me a nearly-flat rear tire. I thought it was a bent rim or something like that. BTW, I was using Mavic Crossmax XL with Kenda Nevegal UST - a bent rim will cost me dearly. I tried to pump it using the minuscule crankbros handpump. But the tire just kept loosing its pressure.

After I got home and cleaned the bike, I pumped the tire using a floor pump. Suddenly a faint hissing sound appears. Phew! it's punctured. Not a defective rim. Now what to do? Then I remember the Tire Repair Kit. I opened it, followed the simple instruction, and VOILA!...my tire was fixed!...great stuff!!

lets sing an anthem

Don't get me wrong! I'm not gonna sing anything for you. I'm only referring to the new Giant Anthem. For you that hesitantly following bike trends, Giant Anthem is supposed to be the replacement of the popular Giant NRS. It only has 3.5" of rear travel, pure XC racing machine. It utilized Giant's owned & designed (this is MBA lines) Maestro design. Giant's Craig David...ooops...I mean Adam Craig won short track XC race on a carbon fiber Anthem at Sea Otter Classic.

It will never replace my previous Blur LT with 5.5" of travel. But it sure climbs very very well. I finished third during last month's Puncak rides (gimme a break, I'm not a strong climber.....so third place is good enough for me).
However I had to negotiate a lot more during the long rocky downhill section. It's rear end just bouncing like it were a hard tail. I did had some difficulties getting the correct shock setting. If I put less pressure, it'll bob too much. But if I crank in high pressure, it behaves like a hardtail. After a while, I was able to find the most comfortable setting. It still bob a bit, but I managed to get maximum travel of the shock without bottoming out.

It's indeed a true XC bike. I would definitely choose it for tracks with plenty of uphills and not-so-technical downhill.