The Story Of Guitar Ted: A Backbone Overnighter

A Guitar Ted Productions series

Welcome to a brand new series on G-Ted Productions! This series will jump off from the time where the "Race Against Death Tour" ended and will take you up to the beginnings of Trans Iowa in late 2004. This is an eight year period where my life was transformed. You could say it was metamorphosed from the old to something quite new.

This won't have a lot of bicycle stuff in it at times, but it is all essential to the story of "Guitar Ted". This isn't about where the name came from. That's all here.  No, this is about the person.

As with previous historical series on the blog, images will be a rarity. Cell phones, social media, and digital images were not available to take advantage of in those last days of analog living.

This post will tell the story about the last fully loaded, self-supported bicycle tour I have done up to this point. A quick weekend get-away to a State Park called Backbone State Park. 
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As the Summer of 1996 waned, it came to the time when I had thought at one point we'd be heading off to New Orleans to do another big tour. After two years of doing these big rides, I was still stoked about trying to do another ride, but life at the shop pretty much commanded my every ounce of energy that Summer, so I never really pushed the "go" button on the plans. However; Ryan, who had done the "Race Against Death Tour", had said we should do something. Tim, another co-worker, had said he'd like to come along, but it couldn't be anything long. A weekend was chosen in August, and we made plans to leave early on a Saturday to head approximately 80 miles to the East of Waterloo, Iowa to a State Park called Backbone State Park. It featured good camping and scenery. So, early on a Saturday, we took off.

This ride didn't have the feeling of urgency we had with the past two tours. Of course, Troy was not along, as he was running Bike Tech by this time and was "the enemy", so to speak. So, we never asked him to go. Not that he could. I say "enemy", but I really didn't feel that way about it. Anyway, without Troy's pushing the pace we didn't feel the urge to bury ourselves in trying to maintain any certain speed. So, the day was sunny, hot, and humid. Typical weather for Iowa in August. We were loose, laughing, and having a pretty good time riding over there. I don't recall anything remarkable about the ride out other than it was fun.

Once we had arrived, it was so blasted hot, it felt like we were suffocating, and there wasn't an ounce of air moving. I recall that we three were laying down on our backs in the grass underneath the towering trees on the West side of the park. Looking at the tree tops, not one leaf was stirring. It was as still and quiet as it ever gets in Iowa. Hot, stifling air was no relief, even in the shade we were miserable. So, we planned on going down to the stream that cuts through the park's middle and we waded in the cool water. Washing ourselves of the sweat and grit of the road felt wonderful. Then it was time to eat something, set up camp, and go to sleep in the big, six man tent we had used the year before.

I recall that we all were putting off getting into that dome tent until the last minute. It was still so hot and humid, even hours after the Sun set. Mosquitoes pretty much made up my mind for me, and I crawled into the tent first, with Tim not far behind. Ryan had mosquito repellent, so he bathed in that, and planned his repose to be on the top of the picnic table there where we had some gear piled at one end. Things got quiet for about an hour. I think I was sweating a river, getting drowsy, and maybe about to fall asleep when such a commotion arose outside the tent that it made Tim and I sit straight up. Apparently Ryan awoke to a raccoon licking his face! Of course, he ended up getting into the tent with us after that. He was so pissed off and excited about the encounter we didn't get settled again for about another hour. Then sweet sleep finally overtook us.

The next morning I awoke to Tim's motions as he made his way out of the tent to use the restroom down the hill a ways away from us. Maybe ten minutes later, Ryan felt the urge and was going to leave. However; when Tim left, he inadvertently zipped the storm flap of the zipper under the zipper head, effectively locking Ryan and I in the tent. Ryan was frustrated, then frantic. He was getting desperate and was nearly having a conniption when Tim finally ambled back up to the tent. Once Tim figured out what was Ryan's issue, he chuckled and unzipped the tent. At once, Ryan burst out like a jack-in-the-box, cursing up a blue streak. I had followed him out and observed a trailer maybe 50 yards away from us which had a Boy Scout troop number emblazoned on its side. As soon as Ryan finished his tirade I pointed out that the Boy Scouts probably were well entertained by his fit, at which point Ryan hung his head in shame and quickly disappeared in the direction of the toilets!

We planned on getting something to eat for breakfast at the convenience store up the road on our way back, so we packed up and rode on out Westward. It was cloudy, but stifling hot and humid when we left. The clouds parted ways eventually after we got going. It was another cooker of a day, and Ryan was riding no-handed as he searched for his Oakley sun glasses. Then he set off to cursing again. Those damn raccoons had licked his sunglasses and he couldn't see a thing. Tim and I burst out laughing so hard we almost crashed. The disgusted look on Ryan's face was priceless.

Well, it was the last fun thing that happened, as it turned out. We eventually found ourselves in a torrential down pour. Maybe ten miles out of town until we got back to Waterloo, it was just survival mode, and we were not having anymore fun. And that was pretty much our goodbyes. We each just headed our own way back once we got back to town as quickly as we could to get out of the weather.

That was the last of my efforts to tour self-supported. Not that I didn't want to do that, but I was working way too much to consider it then, and for years afterward.

Next: The Estate Wagon

Minus Ten Review 2009-14

A look out the back at a road grader from within the "Dirty Blue Box"

Ten years ago on the blog I was recounting a late recon for parts of the Trans Iowa v5 course. This was the first course we were able to run outside of the Northern tier of Iowa counties as we were starting the event in Williamsburg, Iowa that Spring.

The proposed route had a checkpoint in LeGrand, Iowa with the route to leave Northward and a bit Eastward with a hopeful crossing of the Iowa River somewhere.

The year before, in the Fall, David Pals, then co-director of Trans Iowa, and I had no luck forging through this area. I ended up having to stare at maps all Winter trying to figure the puzzle out, and then it hit me. It was a bit convoluted, and it included about two miles of pavement, but it was a solution. I had to wait until the roads straightened out in March that year to get out and get the deed done.

My little 1990 Honda Civic Wagon was on its last legs. I had pretty much used that old thing up running gravel and Level B Maintenance Roads, which it was not made for, as you know. The poor shocks were done for, and whatever rubber bits that held the hatchback in place were beaten down to the point that the hatch rattled something fierce when I went down a gravel road. In fact, it was deafening. Oh, and dust infiltrated the cabin rather easily. Yeah.....I didn't call it the "Dirty Blue Box" for nuthin'!

Road "furniture", Trans Iowa style.

That old car served me well though. It had been around for T.I.v3 and v4, and after this one it finally croaked when the distributor crapped out and a brand new one cost more than the car was worth. Anyway......

So, running recon and then doing cues was stressful for sure. We barely got things done in time for the event, but we did. This was before I ever did final recon checks or anything like that. We flew by the seat of our pants back then and it showed! There were things "not quite right" with cues and mileage, but for the most part it was passable back then. I'll mention a story about this come late April or May in the "Minus Ten Review", so look for that. It's a famous story that maybe you've never heard before. Definitely one of my chief T.I. memories.

But for the most part, recon was good and T.I.v5 was set to go. It was another stressful time though. I gotta say I don't miss that part of my life. This Spring has been a welcomed change!

Friday News And Views

Bontrager's new "WaveCell" technology claims it is a dramatically safer helmet.

Over-Hyped Or Deserved Accolades?

A couple weeks ago Trek rolled out a mysterious social media campaign claiming that it was about to unleash a new technology that was going to be the best thing in 30 years in its category. Immediately the media pundits, keyboard jockeys, and forum crazies were yakking about what it might be. Things from wildly unreasonable fantasies to more down to earth ideas like a new carbon fiber frame technology, or more American manufacturing were thought up.

Then I saw about a week ago what it really was. Boy! Were most people waaaaay off! My reaction was a laugh, because I knew that when the word came out that many people were going to slag Trek for over-hyping a helmet, while others were just going to groan and turn their heads. I figured it would definitely be one of the most talked about marketing ploys in many a year. I wasn't wrong.

To their credit, Trek social media folks were on point the day of the launch and for the following days. They watched for every positive reaction and regurgitated it on their feeds so as to minimize the collective groans and comments of disappointment from the innergoogles. Talk about stamping out fires! They may have a bigger fire to stamp out now though.

We actually got one in at the shop where I work and I have to say that I wasn't all that impressed. First of all, (and referring to my comments about big-headed cyclists earlier this week), the size Large WaveCell roadie helmet hit my head like a medium sized helmet. No way could I use that! Others tried it on and said it was really a rounder shaped helmet and it seemed pretty wide. Hrrumph! Not that I'd get one anyway. I am not a believer in that design as far as keeping your head cool. It looks like a recipe for a sweaty, hot lid. Time will tell if that proves right. I guess in the meantime I'll just be 40 something percent more likely to have a concussion. Thanks Bontrager!

Teravail Rutland variants.

Teravail Introduces New Gravel Tire: 

The Quality Bicycles tire brand, Teravail, has announced a new tire, the Rutland, in three sizes. The Rutland will come in 700 X 38, 700 X 42, and 650B X 47mm. All are tubeless ready, and both "Light and Supple" and "Durable" casings will be offered. There are skinwall options as well.

Whoo! Another "gravel" tire. The marketplace is pretty crowded now. Amazing to think this when ten years ago there weren't any "gravel specific" tires except the Bruce Gordon "Rock & Road" (which is still available, by the way) I am grateful for all of the choices. That said, I feel that this one is highly derivative.

To my eyes, the Rutland looks a lot like a WTB Resolute with a touch of Riddler thrown in for good measure. Those are fine gravel tires to mimic if you are going to mimic a tire, I guess. It will be interesting to see if they ride as well as the WTB offerings do. I would guess that the Light and Supple variant will be the one that rides the best. By the way, that's the only casing offered in skin wall.

Interestingly, I've noted many tire brands are now recommending inner rim widths in either a range, or a specific dimension, for their tires. The Rutland is best on a 23mm inner width rim, apparently. That's a "wide" rim in terms of what was the norm only a few years ago. In fact, I am testing wheels which are narrower than that and the marketing copy reads as thought these narrower widths are "wider for gravel tires". To be sure, it wasn't all that long ago that a Salsa Delgado rim was considered a "wide" rim and that looks narrow by today's standards. Ten years ago most "road" rims were sub-20mm inner rim width. Things sure have changed.

The Women's Single Speed Champ jersey.

C.O.G.100 Jerseys Are In:

The championship jerseys for the inaugural C.O.G. 100 Iowa Single Speed Gravel Championships are in! They look fantastic too. The Bike Rags company knocked it outta the park with these jerseys and N.Y. Roll and I are stoked about the quality job that Bike Rags provided. The jerseys have a soft, in the hand feel, are full zip, and the colors pop really well. (My image here notwithstanding) The design was rendered just as I wanted it and I am happy that everyone I have shown these to has had nothing but positive reactions to them.

The Men's jersey is pink, the Women's is powder blue. The "C.O.G. 100" pre-order jerseys are lavender and will not say "Iowa SS Champ" on them, but will say "Iowa C.O.G. 100" instead. Those are not quite here yet, but they are promised by the event. If that doesn't happen I will ship jerseys to all the pre-order folks on the list, whether you chose that option during your payment or not. Hopefully they show up.....

In other C.O.G. 100 news, I have the number plates ready, and cues will be stuffed into baggies this weekend. I have to make a check in sheet and a roster sheet and then we are good to roll. Remember, N.Y. Roll and I will be hanging out at the Peace Tree Grinnell taproom from 6:00pm -10:00pm next Friday. If you are in the event, you can come down and get waivers signed, and pick up your schwag if you'd like. Cues will not be distributed until the morning of the event. Right now it looks like the weather will be cool, but clear and with no chances for rain.

That's it for this week. Have a great weekend and get some riding in!

How I Clean My Bicycles- Answering Questions

Back in late January I posted this about how I clean my bicycles. If you missed that, please go back and read it (or re-read it if you need a refresher) before you ask further questions. I may have already answered them there. Drivetrain specific questions were answered the next day in this post. Again- go hit that link and read up before asking me anything else here. Anyway, I have a few new questions to answer since that post, so I thought I'd take the time to answer those now.

The first two are regarding chains. Here's one of them: "Do you strip the packing grease from new chains before using them?"

Answer: Yes. Longer Answer: (Because the follow-up question will be "How?") New chains are coated with......something. In the case of Shimano it seems to be some foul smelling light oil and with SRAM it seems to be a very tacky grease. Some folks will tell you to run the chain with whatever is on it from the package because, "It's the best lube the chain will ever have", or some such nonsense. Being a mechanic, I get to see the results of the "just leave it on" technique all the time. It doesn't work very well. Period.

So, strip the new chain with WD-40 bath, or parts washer fluid that is clean, or an ultra sonic cleaner if'n ya gots one. Then follow that up with a good scrubbing of water and Dawn dish soap with a brush. Make sure you scrub it so clean you'd put it in your mouth with no reservations. I mean clean! Shake the chain dry, blow dry it with a hair dryer, (if you don't have compressed air), and then immediately after drying lubricate the chain with whatever lube you choose according to label directions.

I drip one drop of DuMonde Tech on each chain roller, then I wet a rag with DuMonde Tech and wipe the chain, getting all the outer plates of the chain wet. Then I let it sit for 12 hours before installing it. Your lube choice will dictate what you do. Read the instructions.

Sound like too much work? Then pay someone to do it for you, or accept that your chain won't be the best it could be. Your choices there.

The next question was in reference to how I clean a chain when it is still on the bike. I did answer this to some degree in my first post (link above), but I will address this once again here.

Cleaning a chain is made far easier if you use a chain lube correctly. If you don't, you get a huge mess. If you don't clean your chain often enough, (you will have to use yer noggin' to determine frequency of maintenance for your bikes/riding style/conditions), you will have a mess. With that said......

First check your chain for wear. There is no reason to clean a worn out chain. Just replace it. (Check your cassette too while yer at it, and you very well may need to replace it also) Don't know how to check your chain for wear? Get a chain checker, or Google "how to measure for wear on a bicycle chain".

Now, refer to the image of the drive train here. See the run of chain that comes off the lower jockey wheel of the rear derailleur and which goes to the lower part of the crank? That's the "lower chain run". Now, shift your bike into a combination which leaves the chain as straight as possible. (Single speeders are already there) This will allow you to pedal the drive train backward without derailling the chain. Now, hold a crappy rag in one hand, cup it around the lower run of the chain, and spray on some degreaser, keeping the over-spray controlled with the rag so it doesn't get all over the place. (You maybe should put on some Nitrile gloves first before doing this. Sorry!) Spray downward through the chain allowing gravity to work for you. Backpedal the chain as you work through the cleaning procedure until you've shot the entire chain with degreaser. (Use whatever you are a believer in. I use WD-40 most often) Now set the degreaser down, clamp that rag around the lower section of chain with a light grip, but firmly, (if that makes sense), and carefully backpedal the chain through the rag. Be careful not to allow a loose end of the rag to get entangled in the chain/cassette!

Do the above a few times, then maybe work a brush through the chain links. An old toothbrush is brilliant for this job. Then I follow up with another blast of degreaser and wipe down with the rag. Wipe down the chain several times with a clean rag then lubricate with your favorite lube.

Dirtier than that? Need a cassette and crank cleaned? Stay tuned.............

Let's Get This Ball Rolling Already! Part 2

The Noble GX5

So the weather is improving day by day. I've been readying the test fleet and items for review and have started using a few of these items already. To make matters worse, (better?), I got another piece of kit to review yesterday. Plus, I have something I purchased for personal use that I very well could review, but that will have to wait until I get this backlog of stuff ahead of it in line done and out of the way.

Anyway, I wanted to share this rig here, the Noble GX5 gravel bike. It is an evolution of the Tamland, which you long time readers here know I had some influence on when that bike was developed. However; for those who haven't heard the tale, I think it bears repeating here, so please indulge me the chance to briefly bring those who don't know about this up to speed......

In 2012, I was working at the bike shop, wrenching on repairs, when I got a call. It was the brand manager at that time for Raleigh Bikes, Brian Fornes. He had a room of people listening on speaker phone and he wanted to know what I would do if I spec'ed out a gravel bike under the Raleigh banner. Now keep in mind, I had no idea this call was coming and the information I gave Raleigh was right off the top of my head.

To be sure, I had been exploring here on the blog concerning the "ideal gravel bike for me", so the information was fresh. Still, that I was able to convey anything that made any sense to the product engineers sitting there thousands of miles away is pretty incredible. Apparently, it made sense because they used every single suggestion I made in the development of the Tamland, which debuted in 2014.

Fast forward: Mark Landsaat, one of those engineers in that room that day in 2012, started his own brand, Noble Bikes, and he took the "DNA", so to speak, of the Tamland and infused a bit of modernity and his own take on things to come up with the GX5. I know some folks will say that this bike is "just a Roker with a different name", but it isn't at all. It's VERY different from that bike.

I am pretty stoked to get out on the GX5 to see how it stacks up against the Tamland and other bikes I've tried. It is 1X........ahhh, yeah, about that.......This wouldn't be my gig of choice, but it is Force 1 and it does shift great straight out of the box. So, we'll see.........

Bell z20 Aero helmet.

The thing I bought was a helmet. A Bell helmet, to be exact. I'll let you in on a secret- no manufacturers helmets fit my head really well. Bell's come the closest. My hat size is 7 7/8ths, or if you are metric, that's about 63cm around the noggin. Not the biggest head in the world, but to compound matters, my head is long and narrow. Not round. Many helmets, if they even go on my head at all, hit me right in the front and the back with gaping gaps on the sides. Giro helmets do that. They actually hurt me to wear. Lazer, same thing, and on and on.

In fact, if I get a new Bell helmet in size Large, which almost fits me, but not quite, I have to remove all the padding and those pesky Velcro strips, and then and only then does it begin to work. I tried a Bontrager helmet, but it wasn't better than a Bell and it sat up on my head leaving the lower parts exposed and it looked weird. So, I went back to a Bell this time. An aero helmet too. We will see how it goes, but a friend who wears an older Bell aero helmet swears by them and so I figured I'd give one a try. I will say that it doesn't look as odd as the older, super spiky roadie helmets I used to get.

One more confession before I go. If it weren't for friends and my wife, I wouldn't wear a helmet. It feels so much better to not wear one, but I know. Save the "who will take care of you when you are brain injured and drooling in a cup" admonishments. I'm going to be wearing a helmet! I just wish that there were good choices in a helmet that actually fit my head, and not a compromised fit, which honestly, it may not be a whole lot better than not wearing one. Who knows...... (Don't get on me! I'm going to wear a helmet!)

More coming in the weeks ahead......Stay tuned!

Head East In October

Over a year ago I heard about a brand new event that was going to be getting put on in Pennsylvania dubbed "unPAved of the Susquehanna River Valley". It sounded ambitious, because the organizers were saying that they were aiming, eventually, to be the premier gravel event on the East side of the US. On the order of the Dirty Kanza, or Rebecca's Private Idaho, as examples of what they wanted to aim for.

I was skeptical at first, but after dealing with one of the organizers, Dave Pryor, it became immediately apparent that his heart was in the right place and that he respected the gravel community's feel and vibe to a high degree. Of course, coming from a background of bandit cyclo cross event promotion, it made sense, but at the time, I was none the wiser.

Anyway, fast forward to last year's Dirty Kanza. Dave was going to be there volunteering to get an inside look at how the DK200 was organized and produced. I met him as he shadowed Jim Cummings, who I have known for years. Come to find out as we spoke to one another, I had already met Dave once before. At a cyclo cross race in Las Vegas. He was the guy in the full-on bacon printed suit. I remember him being pretty cool and interesting at the time, but as it was pure mayhem at that point, I did not get a lot of time with him then. I just knew him as "Bacon Suit Guy". Now I had a name for the suit......er face! 

So, anyway, Dave twisted my arm pretty hard to come out to the inaugural unPAved, but I had already committed to too much at that point and I couldn't make it work. That seemed to change this time. I have N.Y. Roll to blame. He found out about this event separately from me and he told me this past Saturday he intended to register when registration opened Sunday. I told him that if he got in to let me know, because Dave was twisting my arm again already via an e-mail sent last week. Well, N.Y. Roll got in.

This will be me either being thankful or cursing. Come this Fall we'll find out which it is. Image courtesy unPAved

So, some strings were pulled and now I'm in the event too. So, come mid-October I will likely find myself in N.Y. Roll's Subie headed East to Pennsylvania. Never been there before, so this could be interesting. I do know that with a promised near 10,000 feet of climb over 120 miles that it should be a challenge to finish it out. But, I hope that having a bit more temperate conditions to ride in will be to my advantage. These hot, humid rides are not in my wheelhouse. That said, I'm not going to not do GTDRI and Gravel Worlds. I know.......stubborn old coot! 

Now is the time to start getting ready though. I hope to be piling on miles starting now. The weather has turned and only the roads need to catch up so I can start getting fitter and more importantly, get these test/review items that have back logged on me going forward again. That should make riding a priority, then after the glut gets cleared up I can get on with things like the C.O.G. 100 and the Renegade Gent's Race. After that my April is wide open.

First time for that since 2005!

Adventure Ride: Frozen Version

The streets of Waterloo were quiet Saturday morning.

N.Y. Roll had proposed a ride to recon a "dive bar" ride he was planning and asked if I was interested in coming along. Now it was forecast to be in the 20's Saturday morning when we were to leave, but there was supposed to be little wind. I agreed to go, hoping against hope we would be warm enough to make the jaunt enjoyable. That added with the snow melt, which was sure to be hardened ice Saturday, made bike choice critical.

I thought about throwing on the 45NRTH Gravdal studded tires, or maybe taking the Fargo with a wider mtb tire mounted, but then I remembered that I had to get to riding those WTB Venture 650B X 47mm tires I am reviewing. That would probably work, so I looked over the Black Mountain Cycles MCD- otherwise known here as The Bubblegum Princess- and went to sleep Friday with the alarm set to be ready to ride by 8:00am.

Of course, I was up and ready roll by 7:00am! I was fiddling around and thought I should text N.Y. Roll when I heard my phone ping. Wow! Telepathy is a thing, apparently! Anyway, I told him I was ready anytime he was, so he moved up the start time to 7:30am and when he arrived at the house here, we took off.

Early navigational issues. Apparently GPS units don't like the cold.

As we slow rolled through downtown Waterloo, I felt the bite of the crisp air on my ears and cheeks. Good thing I decided to swap out to Winter gloves! It was 27° and when we were moving, it was chilly! At least the downtown streets were clear of run-off ice, so we had no problems moving along.

N.Y. Roll's route connected several "dive bars" in the area. Basically these are run down buildings which house neighborhood bars that have been in existence for years. The first was near a famous restaurant in Waterloo called the DK Hickory House. It is a rib joint, but if you ever saw the exterior, you'd not believe it was a restaurant, first off, and you'd likely have a harder time believing it was once a famous place where many celebrities of the past would come to eat. Anyway, the "Park Road Inn" was right across the street from this joint and once we got un-turned around with directions, we found it and we were off to find the next "dive bar".

The next section of riding basically was taking us East through the Northern edge of Waterloo. Apparently the next bar was in Raymond and it would be several miles before we got there on paved roads. These residential streets N.Y. Roll chose to get us there were sometimes a bit sketchy with run-off ice, especially in the corners, so I was taking great care so as not to go down hard and screw myself up.

Looking back at Waterloo, we saw this flooded field with hundreds of Canadian geese. 

Anywhere near the Cedar River was flooded. Recent run-off has swollen many Mid-West creeks and rivers beyond capacity.

Once we broke free from the city proper we were greeted with the rising Sun in our faces and warming air. Well.......slight warming of air, really. It was still pretty chill and my sock choice was not on point. My tootsies were frozen by this time into the ride, but I pedaled onward despite that. The road was lined with frozen flood waters from the run-off of snow melt. These are typical areas to see flooding happen, so we weren't getting the disastrous floods like they are in Nebraska. Still, it was impressive to see just how much water was covering the flood plains.

N.Y. Roll enjoys the morning Sun as we ride the frozen shoulder coming into Raymond.

Eventually we were obliged to turn onto a fairly well used County road. Fortunately the pea graveled shoulder was smooth and frozen. It was as easy to ride as pavement. This took us into Raymond eventually and our next "dive bar" location was identified. Then it was straight on to the South to Gilbertville and the next bar location.

We stayed on the shoulder, only here it was on a strip about a foot, maybe slightly wider, of paved road on the right side of the "white line". Cars were giving us a full lane as they passed and we did not experience any close calls except for one where three cars met going opposite directions right as they passed by us. So we were all within close proximity of each other there, but no harm- no foul.

The Cedar River bridge at Gilbertville.

The first stretch of the Cedar Valley Nature Trail we tried wasn't too bad.

We made it through Gilbertville okay, but then N.Y. Roll wanted to go "off-route" and recon the CVNT (Cedar Valley Nature Trail). I figured it would be a complete waste of our time, but hey! This was an adventure ride, so...... The trail didn't look awful after we passed the depot, where it was mostly iced up due to pedestrians. We started out and N.Y. Roll promised me that if it got too bad we'd bail out at a gravel road intersection ahead.

Out on gravel! (Well......mostly dirt!) The frozen ruts were......interesting.

The trail conditions quickly deteriorated into a hard coat of frozen snow and glare ice from snowmobile traffic. I hen-pecked my way along while N.Y. Roll walked away from me with his wider, more voluminous mtb tire set up. We finally reached the promised gravel road turn off and made our way Northwestward, more or less, keeping to the CVNT as much as possible. After a few miles of gravel we were obliged to hop back on the CVNT and it was wild! The snow was much deeper here and frozen with soaked in rain which we had fall on the area earlier in the week.

If you look closely you can make out the herd of deer we saw.

Hike-a-bike for me, but N.Y. Roll cleaned most of this on his 2.25"ers.

The snow was rideable at times for me. I was amazed at how I could claw my way through at times. But there just wasn't enough "float" with 47mm of tire and N.Y. Roll walked away from me on his 29 X 2.25"s. At one point my front tire punched through a drift up to the hub! That was funny. I ended up walking a fair amount of this section.

A guy then rolled up on me riding an ancient Honda three wheeled ATV. He was amiable, and smiled at me as he started up a conversation with me. Apparently he had tried to keep this part of the trail clear with a truck and plow, but the blizzard a few weeks ago was just too much for him and his truck. He also stated that he had been busy fighting flood waters on his property and was out this morning to check on the angry Cedar River, to see if there were any ice jams.

Eventually we ended up on the bridge over the Cedar. All three of us peered at the turbulent waters rushing by. Finally the nice man bid us farewell and we turned our eyes toward Evansdale and the next "dive bar". We didn't have far to go, and once we found it, the next came fairly soon after. That was our cue to hit the recreational trail out of Evansdale toward Waterloo.

It may look peaceful, but it was anything but. The Cedar was forcast to crest later in the day Saturday.

Headed out of Evansdale on the recreational bike trail to Waterloo.

N.Y. Roll made a suggestion to stop at Rockets Bakery in downtown Waterloo for coffee. I was excited to do that, and when we got there we were greeted by a young lady behind the counter that thought it was funny that I was riding a pink bike while N.Y. Roll was wearing a pink helmet. I suppose that did look odd. Anyway, the coffee was excellent, and my stool, which had been sitting in the Sunshine, felt like a heated car seat after all that chilly riding. That made me think- are there any heated bicycle saddles? 

Coffee slurped, we remounted and headed back home. An excellent morning on the bike! I hit pavement, gravel, dirt, snow, and ice, all on the same ride. That's what I call "multi-terrain" riding, right there!