Friday, December 07, 2012

Friday News And Views

The Guitar Ted Show
Who Are "The Gravel Grinders" And Trans Iowa Chit-Chat:

Last Tuesday I posted a question, "Just Who Are The Gravel Grinders?" It was a popular post and drew a lot of comments. By the way- thank you to all who took the time to file a comment. I appreciated all of your fine input. To those who just read it, thank you to you as well.

A couple of things I wanted to note: As I said in the post, I was not going to give my view on the subject. The main reason is that then the comments become a discussion of whether I am right or wrong instead of drawing opinions without my coloration up front. I think in that light, the post was successful. Second of all- On the latest "Guitar Ted Show" on Mountain Bike Radio this week, there was a big discussion on this same subject towards the end of the show. (Link to that show shown below)

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This is a live show, so you get the rough edges and all, but it is good stuff. Anyway- I wanted to make a point that was brought up concerning "what is a gravel grinder"? The thing I got out of the discussion is that- for the most part- gravel road riders are an all-inclusive community, or I should say communities- all across the nation. Low key, no attitude type groups exist all over. It's attractive to folks, and when they see that there are really no specific bikes, clothes, or equipment "necessary" to do this, it gets even better in many folks eyes. So that's the basic thing I think that gets folks jazzed on being "out there", and then the other thing would be just the available solitude and peace of mind of those sorts of roads.

The Main Subject:

Of course, the main subject of the show is Trans Iowa. Ben Welnak, the host, and I had the honor of having MG and Steve on board- both of whom have been in the event as riders and volunteers- and they are great at giving some insights to the event for you out there, if you are curious, or wondering what riders might be dealing with. The banter goes in all sorts of directions, so I'm sure someone will be disappointed we didn't get more into something we touched on, but it is a show chock full of little nuggets.

Hit the comments if you want to hear more about something or another, because we will be hitting the Trans Iowa subject again in about two weeks. In the meantime, here is the link to the Trans Iowa History site. There you can see who has been in the event, a results page for all the past Trans Iowa's, and a short recap of each event with links to rider reports, my longer reports, and more. Have fun with it!

So with that I will sign off for now. I hope everyone has a great weekend and gets to ride their bicycles, wherever you like to do that at.

6 comments:

steve said...

listened for about an hour to the radio show late last night then i had to hit the sack. i'd love to attempt ti someday but am not particularly fast so i may have trouble making time cutoffs. my question is why can't the time be a bit more relaxed. if i'm driving over 1k to get to grinnel from texas and i miss the first cutoff after 50 some odd miles, i'm sol. i understand logistics and all but for me to really consider doing such an epic event, the time limit would need to be extended. that said, reading the article in dirt rag magazine got me interested in this type riding to begin with. no its the preferred type of riding. thanks for all you do for this sport!

Guitar Ted said...

@steve: Great question! I have covered this in the past, but I'll answer that in detail on tomorrow's blog post. there are several reasons for the time limitations, so stay tuned for that post on here tomorrow.

Thanks for giving the radio show a listen , as well.

Ben Welnak said...

Steve, yeah, great question. Thanks for listening to the show. You can find all of archived show on the link GT posted on this one or you can go here to find all "The Guitar Ted Show" episodes, links, etc. http://www.mountainbikeradio.com/the-guitar-ted-show/

Have a great weekend everyone!

Unknown said...

Great show, I loved it! I wish I would have been able to call in. Maybe next time.

G.T. and Ben, you should know how much you are appreciated for all that you do for our sport...uh, I mean passion.

Thank you,

Eki

Guitar Ted said...

@Tim Ek: Hey man! Thanks for checking in. I hope all is well as can be.

We missed ya this time, but do call in on the show in a couple of weeks. We'll be hitting the T.I. subject again.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the support Tim. I hope people keep listening in and sharing with all of their mountain biking friends. I'll get the next show information posted soon enough!