A Strange Fall

The weather has been odd

 It is mid-November and we broke a record for high temperature on Friday. What a weird Fall. It hasn't really ever felt like Fall here besides a few days here and there since September. Last weekend it was Winter-like, with brutal winds and low temperatures, but a week later and it was so hot I maybe could have worn a Summer kit there for about an hour or so. 

Of course, I had to go for a bit of a ride in the afternoon. No biggie, just a cruise over to what was once called the Mitchell Sandpits. It has been transformed into what is now called  the Riverview Recreation Area. There is an old sandpit dredged and filled with water to make Harold Getty Lake. It's not very big, but there is a dirt path around it for 3/4's of the way and paved bicycle path the remainder of the way. I like going over there to run the dirt and see what is going on in the lake. 

On this particular day, I wasn't the only one thinking this November weather is something to be taking advantage of. There were a few other cyclists, a fisherman or two, and several cars parked at teh boat landing. 

If you squint hard enough, you'll see the kayaker who scared all the Canadian geese away!

 

The path around the lake is mowed out pretty wide. 

When I reached the earthen dam on the Western side of the lake, my phone rang. It was N.Y. Roll and he wanted to chat. I stood on the beach and looked out over the now shallow lake. The drought conditions are creeping back in again. There was a lone kayak skimming across the water toward a flock of floating Canadian geese. The geese didn't cotton to having a human very close, so they burst forth with honking and took flight in a crash of wings on water. 

Yeah....I'm not sure what this person expected would happen. 

If I didn't know any better I'd say this looked like, and felt like, Spring.

Eventually I made my way back around the way I had come, exited the park, and went on my way to explore some alleys. I got home in one piece and then I sat on the porch, soaking up the last rays of Sun for the day. In fact, I did that Saturday as well. These days are gifts to be savored, I think. So, this is what I did. 

Now it has become much more Fall-like. I suspect this past week will be the last we see of the sort of warmth we had till next year. I'm happy I was able to get out there and enjoy it for a bit. 

Two Things

VTBR Update: 

I've been anxiously checking the long term forecast for Thanksgiving weekend about every day. I know.....it's not a very good thing to do. Forecasting this far out is always an exercise in futility. However; things should start to come into focus from here on out and my plans will as well.

Plans for my attempt at this year's VTBR, that is. My hope is I would get to bang out a metric century in one go and be done with it. However; I cannot be assured of anything at this point. 

We will have our own observance of Thanksgiving here at Guitar Ted Headquarters, of course. Perhaps on Friday due to my daughter's work schedule. I think Thursday looks like my most "open" day for the attempt. Here's hoping the weather is somewhat decent. 

If.....and it is a big 'if' now...I get to ride on Thanksgiving Day, my plan is to ride the "Ride for Jacob" route again. Maybe this time I'll get those roads I missed in! The route is a metric, plus some, so it would be perfect for the VTBR. 

Of course, I;ll need to choose a bicycle for this. Again, IF a big, one day ride is in the cards, I may go with the Fargo, Gryphon Mk4, or my Black Mountain Cycles MCD. But I am supposed to use a "forlorn" bike in the stable. This would point toward the Raleigh Tamland 2 or the Pofahl Signature single speed. Meh! 

First world problems.... 

GT giving his acceptance speech at the GCHoF in 2022.

A Project Begins:

In June of 2022 I was inducted into the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame. What I did not talk about back then was a bit of an interview I gave for a special project headed up by a couple of guys who have connections to both gravel events and independent film work. They are putting together a documentary film, and I have been asked to help out. 

Without giving too much away, I can say this is about gravel cycling and there is a lot of work for me to do on the project which I have already begun to do. Wading through all the material gathered so far is quite a monumental task, but I have a plan.  

I hope to get through everything and then give my feedback soon. Once my feedback has been given, I'm not sure where my part in this project will end. Perhaps this will be all I contribute, or....? Hard to say. All I know is the goal is to get the finished product out next year. So I better get crackin'! 

Planning For The VTBC Ride

The Veteran's Day Ride was a great training ride for the VTBC.

In less than two weeks I will be challenging myself to do at least a metric century ride. Maybe I'll have to spread it over three days, maybe not, but I am well into preparing myself to get it done again this year. 

If you are not understanding what I am talking about here, this is all about the Virtual Turkey Burn Challenge (VTBC) ride  It isn't too late to consider joining us, so if you are interested, see THIS LINK for all the details. Essentially this is an excuse to use your bicycle at this time of the year when most cycling events have shut down for the season. 

The recent Veteran's Day Ride I did with N.Y. Roll was a great opening up on preparations for this challenge. We were out in "not very ideal conditions", I would say. Conditions which might just reflect what it will be like for the VTBC. It was quite windy, with consistent winds in the 20mph range with higher gusts. It was cold, with a starting temperature in the mid-30's and rising into the 40's as we went along. Thankfully it was mostly Sunny, but this is rare in November. So, I'm not banking on this to happen again. 

Last year I did the VTBC over four days on my fat bike due to the cold temperatures.

Last year was brutal here. It was very windy, and VERY cold. I ended up riding every day, on Thanksgiving through the following Sunday, to get a metric century in. I did this all within the confines of the local soft trails and bike paths, so it was definitely a big challenge to get all the miles in! 

My bicycle choice was pretty much forced upon me by the weather last year. This year I haven't seen enough evidence to make a definitive choice. I could easily end up on the Ti Muk 2 again, or a gravel bike! Some weather prognosticators are calling for a big storm to hit around Thanksgiving. So, no decisions on the bike just yet. 

I am getting out now though and pedaling as much as I can before Thanksgiving. It is difficult to prepare for a situation which remains fluid. Late November here can be tranquil, or very stormy. It can be warm, or very windy and cold, like last year. You just cannot predict it easily. Nothing like say, June, where you know you most likely can ride barring lightning being present or for some other severe weather which is pretty easy to predict ahead of time. (Relative to Winter forecasting)

So, I have ideas, but making any solid choices will have to wait for about a week.  

Friday News And Views

Image courtesy of Wilde Bicycle Co. 

Wilde Bicycle Co. Announces Heighliner Titanium Adventure Bike:

Due to a leak of information, Wilde Bicycle Co has decided to release the information and pre-orders on its newest model dubbed the Heighliner. 

Featuring clearance for 29" 2.25" tires, fully internal cable housing, and UDH compatibility, this new model is Wilde Bicycle Co. head Jeffrey Frane's favorite bike currently. In fact, he designed the geometry himself. 

The frame has double-butted titanium tubing with a T-47 bottom bracket. There are two water bottle mounts in the front triangle, one Three-Pack mount under the down tube, and a top tube bag accessory mount on the top tube. 

The frame is made at the ORA factory in Taiwan. Pre-orders for a June 2026 delivery are open now. Price for the frame and fork is $3,300.00. The details can be reviewed on the webpage for the Heighliner HERE. 

Image courtesy of Moots

Moots Announces Scrambler Adventure Bike:

Moots released information yesterday on a new model called the Scrambler. This drop-bar, wide tired bicycle is designed around a 100mm travel suspension fork.  

Available as a frame only or with a Rock Shox SID fork and Shimano GRX/XT build, the bike will only be available for  -according to the press release - "a limited time".  (End of January 2026, to be exact)

Tire clearance is stated at 20" x 2.4" maximum. The frame is a Boost spaced frame. Completes will ship with Chris King MTN30 AL29" wheels. Tires will be the WTB MACRO 29" X 2.4".  

For details see Moots page for this model HERE.  

A Gen 2 Fargo pictured in 2015.

The "OG" Would Like To Have A Word:

This trend to 29"er MTB sized rubber, drop bars, and a penchant for telescopic front forks in the realm of "Gravel™" these days reminds me of something....

I cannot quite put my finger on it now. Was it some bike back in 2008 or 2009 with a marketing tagline which went something like "Adventure by Bike"?

Anyway, you get my point by now, I am sure. It was inevitable we'd see all things garvel eventually reach a point where the lines were blurred and what we were looking at now became what we already have seen for sixteen years now.  

You'll note I did not write any "Comments" for the first two entries. This is the comment section on those two entries. Welcome to "Adventure by Bike" Moots and Wilde. There's plenty of room on the couch here and for the rest of you brands who think they have discovered something here.  

I'm not criticizing here, but unless you remind people of the past, they will make up their own stories. So, check the history and be informed.  

Image courtesy of Vittoria Tire

Vittoria Announces Future Availability Of Eco-Friendly Brown Hued Tires:

On the heels of my recent post concerning these tires (HERE), it has come to light recently that Vittoria Tire is indeed going to sell the eco-friendly, brown gravel tires. Tires which have been claimed to be faster than their carbon black infused siblings. 

The full range of Vittoria's PRO gravel catalog will eventually be available in this compound and casing made with 92% renewable, recyclable materials. 

Vittoria claims this brown-hued compound is 5% faster, has 19% more grip, and has 18% better puncture resistance than its current gravel tire range. 

All this performance and earth-friendliness comes at a price though.  Tires in the range are well over $100.00 each at $112.99. This compares to Vittoria's current range which runs at $81.99 for each tire. 

Comments: Wooo! That's a big jump in performance at a big jump in price. Would you be willing to slap on nearly $225.00 of tires, (before shipping and taxes), and have your bike seen with brown rubber? Yeah..... That's a big ask, but I'm willing to bet a lot of people are going to give this a go on their gravel bike. 

A comment left indicating the Luxy Bar redux is a possibility. 

Do You Really Want It? Then Say So!

Thursday (yesterday) an long ago memory was stirred when I saw "Brant Richards" pop up in my email.  

Brant Richards was heavily involved in UK MTB as a writer and parts designer up until about seven years ago when he and a partner opened up a boutique clothing business called HebTroCo. But before the trousers came into Brant's life, he designed a lot of cool stuff like the On One Inbred, some nice forks, steel frames for trail MTB, and this odd flared drop bar called the Luxy Bar. 

Now Brant seems as though he's back into bicycles, at least for a bit. He hit me up yesterday asking what I thought about a reissue Luxy Bar. So lokk, if you ever wanted one, wanted another one, or are "Luxy-Curious", give a shout. Hit the comments and say something. 

If you don't ask, you won't receive anything.  

That's it for this week! Get out and ride those bicycles! 

Veteran's Day Ride

Escape Route: An invitation from N.Y. Roll

Last weekend N.Y. Roll reached out to me and asked if I would want to join him on a 40-ish mile ride North toward Waverly and back again. I accepted his offer, so the plans were put into place to ride on Tuesday morning at 9:00am. 

I decided I'd ride the Peregrine MK4, of course, and since I was finished with the Schwalbe tires I went and did a wheel swap to get the SOMA Cazadero 700 X 50mm tires on the bike. This entailed swapping cassettes and rotors as well, since I wanted to keep the drive train and brakes the same. 

I got this finished up in time, so the evening before I laid out some gear and got to bed early so I would be as rested as possible. The temperatures were to start out in the mid-30's, but with a stiff Southwesterly breeze, it was feeling chillier than that. 

I ended up wearing the Twin Six Thermal Cargo Bibs with the T-6 base layer and a Smart Wool short-sleeved jersey gifted to me by a Trans Iowa rider. Over this I wore my Voler-made Pirate Cycling League thermal jacket. On my feet I had my 12" Sock Guy wool socks, Northwave winter boots, and that was it. On the noggin I wore a buff from another Trans Iowa rider who lives in Germany and gave me this Berlin Cycling Club branded buff to wear. Then my Circuit Wave Cell helmet went over this. On my hands I wore HandUp Winter gloves. 

As it turned out the only thing I would have done differently would be to have an extra pair of gloves to put on at halfway, and I could have used a plastic shopping bag vapor barrier for the feet. I sweat a lot more than I thought I would on this ride! 

The Veteran's Memorial in Downtown Waterloo

I waited outside for N.Y. Roll and he arrived right at 9:00am. So, the plan, as stated, was to ride North, and as we chatted at the beginning of this ride, N.Y. Roll was realizing we'd be heading straight into a headwind if we used his original route. So, not a half a mile in, he "called an audible", and we decided to roll out towards Evansdale, along the Cedar River, hit the CVNT for a bit, and then see what we felt like. 

It was no big deal to me to change up the route on the fly, and I kind of liked the spontaneity of this decision. Plus, we hadn't gone much over a mile and we rode right by the Waterloo Veteran's Memorial display, replete with someones remote PA set up and microphone just sitting there. We did not see anyone around, which I thought was strange because Waterloo folks have "sticky fingers" and anything left out and about without oversight or strong tethers, well...... Let's just say it would be gone. 

We figured it was too cold for ne're-do-wells and we rolled onward.  

And for the record, we rode past three veteran's memorials on this ride. It was meant to be! 

Trail on the North side of the Cedar River going to Evansdale. 

Approach to the CVNT and another crossing of the Cedar River. 

The wind wasn't fun, so we took this into our calculations as we rode to Evansdale, through the city, and onward to the CVNT. We decided to head up Foulk Road, and yes, into the wind, but then turning left onto McKellar Road, we'd get two Level B Roads in series, and then end up in Washburn, Iowa. From there we'd make another decision. 

The Eastern end of McKellar Road

Weiden Road's Level B Section looking toward Washburn, Iowa. 

There were several wet spots we had to pay attention to on both Level B Roads. It was a tiny bit sketchy, but we made it through just fine. The dirt was a nice change of pace from pavement. However; we'd be getting a big dose of pavement yet coming up. 

We decided to head over to the CVNT from where we popped out at in Washburn. This right turn would take us to LaPorte City, then we'd leave town to the Northeast, cross the Cedar River (again!) and head towards some remote Black Hawk County gravel. 

I like N.Y. Roll, but sometimes he's a little bossy!

 

A remote gravel called Miller Creek Road, which doesn't get a lot of riders on it. 

We were heading into flood plain territory. Very flat, so it was very windy! Heading South on Girsch Road was a chore. Turning East on Miller Creek Road was a big relief. This territory is not common for cyclists as it sits in a pocket between Highway 218 and the Cedar River. It isn't easy to access, and there are better through-routes for recreationalists like the CVNT. But we had stuck our little dirt road sections in, and going "out of our way" through Gilbertville on the CVNT was not what we wanted to do. So, here we were. 

I had not been out on these roads since 2020 when I did "The Quest" to ride all the gravel and dirt roads in Black Hawk County, which I ended up getting done. As I stated back then, there were roads I'd likely never ride again, and these roads were some of them! Guess I was wrong!

We returned to the CVNT, stopped briefly for a "nature break", and rolled on through LaPorte City and exited on the Northeast side. This is a hardtop road called Brandon Road, and it is usually very busy. It wasn't bad on Tuesday, but it wasn't slow in terms of traffic. 

(Looking back the way we came here) Crossing the Cedar.....again!

Another criminally under-ridden road. Ashley Road here looking Northwest

We went North on South Canfield Road, (another busy County hardtop road) and skipped Bryan Road for the diagonally placed Ashley Road. This is a remnant of an ancient footpath of the Native Americans and was an original pioneer trail which became part of the Red Ball Route. Parts of the Red Ball Route are still Highway 218 to this day. Ashley Road is an old segment of the Red Ball Route. 

Barns For Jason

 

More Ashley Road

We ended up essentially following the Cedar River and older paths which reflected how Native Americans, and then the pioneers after them, used the land to traverse from one area to another. It was said that the paths the Native Americans took were so often used the grasses wouldn't grow where they walked and these pathways were easily seen by the later Europeans who came and settled the lands around here. 

Coffee stop. Mile 30

Leaving Gilbertville on old Highway 218

Eventually, after a real estate inspection by N.Y. Roll, we made our way into Gilbertville. We decided we would either stop at a Casey's Convenience store, or at a cafe if we came across one. N.Y. Roll actually found the 1854 Cafe in Gilbertville and we stopped and had a cup of coffee. 

This stop was kind of funny. Here we were, all geared up in our cold weather cycling garb, tromping in with our cycling shoes on, making a scene. It was almost as if it really were 1854 and some rogue band of ruffians had walked in amongst some decent citizens. We were getting side-eyed and look-aways like crazy. Too funny. 

The oak trees were spectacular this Fall. More red than usual. 

N.Y. Roll looking for an open restroom. Did not find anything!

We left Gilbertville on old Highway 218 which is really pretty scenic any time of the year. But it was especially so this Fall since this road has a lot of oak trees around it.The oaks were especially red this year. Usually they are a more rusty-brown color. So, that was a good distraction as I was riding along.

Apparently coffee runs right through N.Y. Roll because by the time we reached Elk Run Heights he needed to find a place to relieve himself. Nothing we went by had any open doors. All the recreational sites had locked up for the season. So, he ended up finding a secluded spot in the woods of a local park to, you know...... take a nature break. 

Then it was just slogging into a quartering headwind to get all the way home again. We did 40 plus miles in less than four hours time, including stops, so this was pretty good, I thought. Especially considering the wind factor. All in all, it was a good training day for the upcoming Virtual Turkey Burn Ride Challenge.  

A Good, Solid Bicycle

A 1999 Surly 1X1 Frame & Fork

 Those Facebook memories posts you see when you first open that social media platform up can be jarring. "Was it THAT long ago already!" Ha ha! Sometimes it is a good thing which pops up. Sometimes not so much. Well, on Monday, the 10th of November, this image here popped up. 

I came into work at Europa Cycle and Ski, just like any other Monday, and saw this as you see it in the image. There was a note which told me the frame and fork was now under my care. The former owner, Brian Bottke, used to work for Europa. In fact, everyone who has ever owned this worked there at one time or another. (See THIS post for the story.) 

I could go on about the string of seven guys who have owned the bike, and maybe this would make for an interesting post. However; I also wanted to go to the point of this bicycle being such a practical, versatile piece that seven different people found a reason to make it their bicycle. 

I think this is pretty remarkable when you stop to consider how most bicycles are so niche and specific the string of one or two, maybe three owners a bicycle may have in its lifespan use the bike in the way it was intended to be used. The bike doesn't see a lot of variance from the main idea. However; in the case of the 1X1, it saw use cases which were vastly different during the times it was passed on from one person to another. 

Consider this: The bicycle you see above was a "grown man's BMX bike, a single speed gravel grinder training device, a commuter bike, a cargo bike with the addition of an Xtra-Cycle attachment, a fixed gear bike, and back to a commuter bicycle again.  Of course, 1X1's have been used as MTB's, "plus" bikes, and even fat bikes. Just this one singular model. 

This is amazing to me. 

Surly used to be known for this sort of thing. Many of their early models were bicycles you could bend to your own "use-will", so to speak. This has kind of disappeared in their line of late. I like a good, solid bicycle which can be purposed in several ways. I think the world needs more of just that. Not 50 variations of a 'thing' which can only do one thing. 

If you know of any bicycles which would be like the old Surlys, let me, and the rest of the readers, know in the comments.  

Schwalbe G-One Overland Tires 700 x 50mm: Final Verdict

 Note: Guitar Ted was gifted these tires by a friend for his Singular Peregrine Mk4 bicycle build. Guitar Ted is not being paid, nor bribed for this review. Schwalbe is unaware of this review and have no input in the content here. All opinions are Guitar Ted's. The introductory post can be seen by clicking HERE. A follow-up to the introductory post can be read HERE. 

I've been riding these Schwalbe G-One Overland tires on tons of shorter rides on all sorts of surfaces. Most of my previous impressions still stand. I will take this final look at the G-One Overland as an opportunity to add just a couple of notes to my impressions previous to this post.

First. the G-One Overland tires have not stretched one little bit since I measured them after mounting. These tires stubbornly have stuck at just a hair under the claimed 50mm width. I'm not saying this is a negative, but I am saying this is surprising. Most tires stretch a bit for a week or two before settling into what they will be for width. Not so with the G-One Overlands.

 The noted stiff casings of the G-One Overland tires worked better at lowered air pressures for me, but they never "broke in". I was a bit disappointed in the ride quality toward the end of this review because of this. The Hutchinson Touaregs did break in after several rides, a tire very similar to the G-One Overland. 

This was most notable when sharper hits from chunkier gravel were encountered. Also when cracks or broken pavement was encountered. The damping just was too harsh. It hasn't improved, and lowering the air pressure didn't help with this either. So, I went back up a few psi for speed, so at least there was this benefit. 

The wet weather I was hoping to test in? It never materialized at an opportune time, and now this area where I live is headed back to a moderate drought status. So, it is dry. The G-One Overland really does well when it is dry, so this was good. 

Final Verdict: This is a "good" tire overall. It is a great tire if all you care about is going very fast in the dry. I'm not crazy about the ride quality overall, and having all this volume and weight seems a waste if the tire doesn't damp out everything well. The G-One damps out some of the higher frequency stuff, but those sharper hits? No. 

I do appreciate the ability the G-One Overland tires have for air retention, their toughness, and their grip on dry dirt and gravel. These tires are remarkable on pavement as well.  

In the end, I don't think the value is there in the G-One Overland. Sure, it's a fast tire, but in most every other sense it is merely average on gravel. The 50mm WTB Resolutes ride better than these tires do, and the WTB tires have SG2 puncture protection belts in there, so it is more apples to apples than not.  

I'll probably swap my SOMA Cazadero 700 x 50mm tires with TPU tubes into this bike and park the Schwalbe G-One tires for now. If this says anything to you, you might understand what my final verdict on the G-One Overlands means to me.