Friday, January 17, 2014

Friday New And Views

A whole weekend of fat bikes, fun, and snow
Triple D

Well, if you've been paying attention around here of late, you know that this weekend is the big Triple D event in Dubuque. I am taking along the entire family this time around so they will be getting a bit of a break from the same old, same old around these parts.

There is an indoor swimming pool, outdoor activities, like an Bald Eagle watch on the Mississippi River, and more. The family should have no problems finding things to do while I am off playing around on my bicycle.

I'll have plenty of "friends" to play with myself. It sounds as if there will be about 150 fat bikers in attendance, or thereabouts. It should be a scene. Last year I believe there were about 90+ riders, so this will certainly surpass that figure if all show up that have signed on to do so. I know I'll be there, and my good buddy, MG- he will be coming up, and I know that several good cycling friends will be there, so I am excited to have this time to share with everyone.

The big event is Sunday, so look for a preliminary report, if I am not dead tired, on Monday.

T.I.v10:

I have been told that the Trans Iowa t-shirts and hats are being printed/screened up now and should be available for viewing really soon. I'm pretty stoked to get these out into the real world, but that will have to wait until this coming April!

Other news on the event includes the finalization of the cue sheet process. I have had them proof read, and there were some corrections to be made. Now all that is left there is to verify the roads come Spring, and then we'll be printing them up. I also have all the race numbers here and I will be personalizing each by hand as I have the past two years.

Finally- If for any reason you are signed up for Trans Iowa and can not attend, please let me know! All this upcoming work to get the cues sets done and race bags organized could be easier if I know you are not showing up. Thanks!

How did I miss this? I need to get out more...
Skinwall Tires:

Okay, I may be showing my age with the following comment, but I miss skinwall tires. And just by my writing that, I find a huge amount of irony in the statement. Why? Because when  I did ride 26"ers back in the day, I wanted to get away from skinwall tires because that wasn't "cool" anymore!

However; once in awhile we get an older, decent mountain bike in that is sporting its original skinwalls and I get all nostalgic and wish for a set of tires like that for my 29"er. I knew of a few European brands that were doing this, Halo, Onza, and maybe another, but I couldn't manage to get anything Stateside.

So, I am at the shop the other day when our buyer asks for my opinions on what replacement 29"er tires we should be bringing in. I pointed to the Ardent skew numbers and suggested we get a 2.25" set in for a "higher end" replacement option. I didn't think anymore than that and went back to my business.

When the order came in, much to my surprise, another co-worker of mine pulls these skinwall 2.4" Ardents outta the box. What the...?!! I had no idea these were even available, nor did I see that on the web order screen on our buyer's computer. But there they were! Bigger than life!

So, now I have something in mind for these tires and I should have that done up in the coming weeks. It's going to be a classic set up. I also have another bike that needs these. Fortunately, Ardents hook up rather well around here!

Okay, so that's a wrap. Look for more "Trans Iowa Tales" Saturday and Sunday, then I should be back next week with a Triple D report. Get out and ride yer bikes!

1 comment:

MG said...

Thanks Brother... We are going to have a heck of a lot if fun! Safe travels and I'll see you soon.