Cross Point Superlight Waterproof Socks : Review Update

 Note: Guitar Ted Productions was sent a pair of Cross Point Superlight Waterproof Socks for test and review at no charge. Guitar Ted was not paid nor bribed for this review and he will always strive to give his honest thoughts and opinions throughout.

At the very beginning of September I introduced this review of the Cross Point Superlight Waterproof Socks. Back then we were still experiencing "Summer" and those conditions persisted on a whole lot longer than expected. So, I really could not give an honest take on how the socks performed. That is, until now. Since November began we have had a LOT of rain, and while it is not really very typically cool, it is a lot cooler than it was for the last two months. 

Now that it has rained the waterproofness claims can be tested, and I have done that. I also will share my impressions of the Cross Point socks against a couple of pairs of Seal Skinz that I have tried in the past. 

Make sure you click that link above for all the pricing and technical aspects of the Superlight Waterproof Socks. Now, on with my latest findings.....

Waterproof Or....?: 

My biggest concern to start with was to find out if these socks would actually keep your feet dry in a "real world way", so I did not simply step in a tub, or what have you, to test that aspect of the socks. This recent dump of rain made for a lot of mud puddle opportunities, so I went out and targeted everyone I could find for about an hour.

The good news is that, yes, the waterproof claims seem to be holding up here. I got both feet soaked from mud puddle riding and I even stepped into one, because that is something you might actually do, and I found no issues at all with seepage or leaking. 

I should mention also this was after machine washing the socks and hang drying them, so they have gone through a wash cycle to be sure that the socks will do what they claim. 

My only concern from this point onward is how perspiration and cold weather riding might affect the outcome from wearing these Superlight socks. I know that has been something of a bugaboo with regard to the two other socks I will be comparing the Cross Point socks with. Once my feet got hot and sweaty in those Seal Skinz I was doomed to frozen feet. The weather has not been conducive for testing these socks in that manner yet, so until that happens I will hold off judgment on that point. 

Cross Point socks on the left, Seal Skinz in the middle and right.

Comparisons: 

Besides the comments above regarding perspiration and the Seal Skinz socks I will also say that the Seal Skinz socks I have are probably ten years old or older. Their product line may reflect a different user experience now, but this is what I have. Seal Skinz has a much wider array of choices as well, so there may be something there that is more directly applicable to my review here. I recommend checking them out. 

My Seal Skinz socks are much thicker, stiffer, and harder to get on than the Cross Point socks are. I like the thinner, almost "normal" sock feel of these Superlight socks. The Cross Point feels most like a thick wool sock but it does still have that feeling of a synthetic tube to a degree, which the Seal Skinz socks have in spades in comparison. Just from a feel standpoint, I think I'd opt for either companies thinner offerings before anything they sell that is thick and stiffer. Especially for cycling shoes, which tend to not allow for a big, thick sock. 

If anyone has any experience with any of Seal Skinz's latest, thinner offerings I would be interested to hear from you about your experience. 

So Far... 

I like these socks for commuting, shorter rides, and cooler weather. I did wear them for a short while on a pretty typical Summer day and while they were tolerable, it was not particularly pleasant after a few hours. So, in my opinion, these are for "shoulder-season" riding. 

I'll be interested to see how my feet hold up in these during cool, wetter rides, but that weather hasn't been happening here yet, so that take will have to wait until my final installment on these socks. 

I do like the feel of these compared to my older socks, and they seem to work well, keeping my feet dry. The thinner material is both more supple and easier to get into and wear with cycling shoes. So, if you have sworn off past efforts in waterproof sock items, these might change your mind, as they have changed mine. 

I'll have a final take on these socks once the weather allows for some proper test ride conditions.

Redshift Sports Top Shelf Handlebar Bag: Final Word

 Note: Redshift Sports sent over a Top Shelf Handlebar Bag for test and review to Guitar Ted Productions at no charge. Guitar Ted is not being paid, nor bribed for this review and all opinions are his own. 

I've stuffed the Redshift Sports Top Shelf Bag full and ridden it enough now that I can come back with a final word on this roomy handlebar bag. If you missed the previous part of this review you can check that out HERE. 

In this 'final word' post I wanted to address a couple of things and then we will get to my take on this handlebar bag at the end. First let's take a look at my experiences with a fully loaded bag. 

In the previous post on this bag I showed an image with the bag fully loaded with the exception of the central area. I ended up utilizing that left over space to carry a light wind vest. It barely  rolled up small enough to fit, and I did not feel 100% secure about the magnetic top keeping everything inside on its own. Fortunately those two side zippers will securely hold the top down and my slightly overstuffed bag was safe and did not cause me any worries. 

I even utilized the mesh outer pocket to hold my gloves, and they did that well. These were Summer weight, Hand-Up brand gloves, for reference. I did not carry the GPS device on my last rides before this update, and you can see in the image above how the bag wasn't "level", which I found slightly annoying. However; Erik at Redshift suggested that I could level the bag by using some "bag shims". Essentially these are foam blocks with a slot in the middle. The strap, which would attach the lower part of the bag to the Top Shelf Bar where it passes through the stem, is where this foam shim would go. It would sit between the bag and the handle bar with the strap passing though the shim, then around the handlebar. 

I did not have access to these shims and I did not have time to make anything, but I agree that this would be a great solution. I hope to try that out when I have more time to fiddle with things like this during the Winter. 

The bag rode really well, even fully loaded. The straps held the bag against the Top Shelf Bar with no wiggling or any sort of shifting around despite traversing some rugged dirt road and chunky, fresh gravel roads. 

I did have to stop and fetch a multi-tool for a repair. With all the organizing pockets in the Top Shelf Bag, finding and retrieving the tool was easy. So, that was another plus for this bag that I found. 

Overall I think this handlebar bag has provided me with  a great experience even though I don't think I've plumbed all the benefits that the Top Shelf Bag has to offer. 

Final Word: Besides the tilt of the bag overall in my situation, this bag gave me no problems and I enjoyed using it on casual rides and longer gravel rides where self-support requires that I carry a bit more than usual. The Top Shelf Bag has great capacity overall and excellent pockets with which you can organize your things. 

The construction, fit and finish, and looks overall are very good. The bag is a perfect fit for the Top Shelf Bar, as you would expect, which is a nice benefit of staying in the Redshift family of products. I did not try the bag on other handlebars, but I don't think the experience would be a good with other handlebars which don't have the Top Shelf's design. In my opinion, the Top Shelf bar design is a key factor in why the bag works better than most handlebar bags I have tried.

I would like to see Redshift provide the foam shims for leveling the bag in the future, but otherwise I would highly recommend this bag to any Top Shelf Bar owner.

And The Rains Came

 Sunday I awoke to a rainy day, just as it had been when I went to sleep on Saturday evening. This was not very conducive to getting any cycling done. 

I heard some faint music and stepped outside to see who might be playing music loud enough on a Sunday morning that I could hear it inside my own home. I went out and caught the sultry sounds of Albert King's "I'll Play The Blues For You". 

Well, it was kinda early for music that loud, but hey! Good taste and a great selection for the dreary, cold, rainy day. I went back inside and watched it rain through the window with a hot cup of coffee in hand. 

Then I got a text that was from our pastor at the church I attend. They had need for a guitar player on short notice, so I decided I'd go and play. And it continued to rain.... 

It didn't stop until late in the afternoon and by then I had other plans in play. I spent time with my family, and with the time change, it was soon to be dark anyway. So, I had a great deal of gratitude that I had gone out and rode on Friday, because Saturday's are pretty much work, then family time, and well, it started raining Saturday anyway. 

Death of an Apple Watch

I've caught myself taking a quick glance at my bare left wrist a lot lately. That's due to my Apple Watch failure last week. You can see the results of a slight blow to the top here.

I'm not the roughest guy on watches, and this thing outlasted those old FitBits I used to get by a long, long time. Oh yeah, time......

I have to tap my phone to see what time it is now. So annoying! I guess I'll have to dig out one of my old analog watches and see if I can't get one going. That or I have to start looking for another electronic device to slap onto my wrist so I can be Dick Tracy again. (Hit the link if you are too young to know about Mr. Tracy)

Maybe I should get a Garmin watch, or a Coros watch. Not sure. Mrs  Guitar Ted is a huge Apple fan, so the most likely thing that will happen is that I end up with another Apple Watch. We will see. In the meantime, I will be caught taking a glance at my bare left wrist several times in the future. 

Old habits and all.....

Brown Season: Crossing Paths

Escape Route: Cedar River Bike Path with new 11th St. Bridge in background

 We went through a BIG weather change this past week. It was 80°F on Monday and Tuesday and Friday it was in the 40's. In between it was massively windy. It also rained a lot, for the first time in a long time, so all those days were not really conducive to getting out into the country. But Friday......oh my!

The winds were mere whispers and the Sun was out. So, I waited until it warmed up a bit, dressed head to toe in Twin Six gear, and hit the bike paths and streets to get over to Foulk Road and hit up those short Level B sections and then do my "Southern Black Hawk County" route off of that. 

The Cedar River at Evansdale

The Cedar Valley Nature Trail is getting repaved.

Of course, with all the winds we had the leaves are mostly off the trees now. Only some random trees here and there are showing colors. And the oaks, which hold their leaves most of the Winter here, they still show off their rusty-brown hue. 

McKellar Road

The Level B section of Weiden Road

So, I wasn't very sure how I'd find things on the dirt roads. We had a LOT of rainfall on Wednesday evening into Thursday morning. Would it be too muddy? I was betting that it would not, since this was the first significant rain we've had since August. I was right in my guess, as only a few big puddles remained. 

But one of those puddles spanned the original tread of the roadway at one point. Vehicular traffic had made a wider spot in the roadway to get around this, but I decided to try and see if I could wade through on the bike. And........I failed!

I didn't fall over, thankfully, but I went in way over my ankles when I dabbed with both feet so I had soaked shoes for the remainder of the ride. Oh well!  But that wasn't the only thing that went haywire at that point. 

I was riding the good ol' Tamland Two. (Shot pre-mud  puddle here)

There were scraping noises big time and I immediately thought it was the brakes, because this was some pretty silty water and I had gone in hub deep. But after trying all my tricks to clear the calipers I was still hearing a random, rotational squawk and I decided to stop at the end of the road to check the Tamland over. 

I found that it was coming from the crank set, which was alarming because it was new. But upon further inspection I found that the Third Eye chain watcher gizmo was the culprit. It must have moved ever so slightly and was juuuuust kissing the inner part of the big chain ring in spots. A few minutes with a multi-tool later and I had that sussed out. I will say that a rubbing chain watcher can make a horrendous noise! I wasn't aware that was possible until Friday!

Foulk Road

After a swing through Washburn, Iowa, I hit Foulk Road just West of there and turned Left. Then I ran into dog trouble. First was at that old lonely house on a hill just South of Washburn Road and on the West side of Foulk. That house was a shambles for years but has recently been renovated and someone is living there now. They have some terrier breed, possibly a Yorkie by the looks of it, that was tenacious! It came at me three separate times. Little ankle-biter! 

The next dog I have had a run-in with before. It's a Labradoodle and it lives on an acreage on the West side of Foulk Road just South of Schrock Road after the farm on the same side. It won't let you by until its owner comes out and drags it away. I'll tell ya, if your dog won't heel when you yell at it, that pretty much tells me you do not have control over it. Not the dog's fault, by any means. 

Looking North up Hess Road

Somehow these trees managed to hold on to their leaves this past week.

The roads were freshly graveled if traveling North/South. The East/West roads seemed to have a finer gauge gravel, and they were mostly covered, but easier to handle. Of course, I don't have a Redshift Sports ShockStop stem on the Tamland out of vanity because it would ruin my red/white/blue color scheme. Silly me.....

I sure could have used that stem though and I was regretting being so fashion conscious a few times on the ride. Especially going the one mile North on Hammond that I rode. That was brutal! 

North on Hammond's super-fresh chunky goodness.

Ansborough looking North.

I almost never meet other gravel riders as I ride around Black Hawk County. Last time I can remember running across someone was back in 2020 when I came across Tom on this same route, coincidentally. But Friday I did see another rider, and it was someone I did not ever expect to see on a gravel ride alone by themselves. It was Cindy, a long-time road rider and a former customer back in my bike shop days. 

She stopped and we chatted for a bit. She was heading out and I was coming back toward town. She did not much like my report on the roads! But she  was determined to ride every gravel road in Black Hawk County, much like what I did in 2020. Looks like I was not the only crazy person running around trying to bag every gravel road in the county! I hope she completes her quest. 

Three hours and twenty minutes time for the loop today including stops. Not bad. I'll take it.

Fully Loaded - Fully Self-Supported

  In celebration of the twentieth year of this blog, I have a few tales to tell. This post is one of them. This series will occur off and on throughout this anniversary year, I hope to illuminate some behind-the-scenes stories and highlights from the blog during this time. Enjoy!

One of the earliest pages I ever set up on this blog, besides the one you are now reading, was the page I set up for "The Touring Series". This page is a compilation of the stories from two, fully loaded, fully self-supported bicycle tours I was on back in the mid-1990's. 

A rare image from my 1996 tour to the Black Hills. Troy Meyermann (L) is next to me. Image by Ryan Stibal.

I was reminded of these tours when a customer came into the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective, where I work, and mentioned Troy Meyermann's name. Troy, Ryan Stibal, and Steve Thune were the three guys I did these tours with.  It isn't often that I think about those days anymore, so it was a pleasant reminder of a difficult time in my life. (Read the series if you are curious)

The blog served as a host to these tales of these tours in a weekly series dubbed "Touring Tuesdays". The series actually ran twice here as I decided that some newly discovered materials and commentary might enhance the series so I just reran it again on Tuesdays. I figured that at the time I was doing run 2, which would have been about six years ago, I had more readers than I had the first time I ran it, so it was that I posted on the series until 2019 in March when I ran the last post. 

What is also pertinent to this blog is that some of those tales from the touring days were written down immediately afterward or during the touring. That points to my desire to write stories even back then. I'm very glad I did write that stuff down because at that point in time cameras that took a lot of pictures were not an option. Oh.....not digital cameras, film cameras. Digital was some years off at the time we did these tours. 

Ryan Stibal taking a shot of me trudging up a long grade in South Dakota somewhere. Image by Troy Meyermann

 And yeah, no cell phones either. We had to find a land-line if we wanted to call home, and otherwise no one knew where we were! Can you even imagine this in 2024? No GPS, no tracking, nothing. And we didn't think twice about this. It was all we knew. 

I'm not going to get all into what era was "better" or not, but I will say I am really, really grateful I took the chances I did in 1994 and 1995 to do these rides. I am super-grateful I had the desire to write stories about these rides back then. But also, these were really different times. Looking back on these days, it was as if we were from another planet. So much has changed since then. 

And so much is still the same. I love riding bicycles and writing stories. I'm hopeful I get to do that for a long time yet.

Friday News And Views

Welcome To November's First FN&V!

Norpine Valley Fat Bike Classic:

The fat biking season is just around the corner and fat bike racing is right on its heels. The Norpine Fat Bike Classic is an event happening up in Lutsen, Minnesota at the Cascade Lodge. The event will take place on January 10th and 11th, 2025. 

Two course options exist with the "Short Pine Course" being 14 miles and the "Long Pine Course" being 25 miles in length. Registration is open now and cost $110.00 until November 24th when the registration fee will jump to $150.00 until the day of the event. The field is limited to 150 riders, so make sure you hop on this sooner than later if you are interested. Stick around on Sunday after the race and hit up a group ride for more casual fat biking on groomed trails. 

It's all put on by the Superior Cycling Organization. Check it out if you need some real fat bike conditions to race on this Winter.

End Of Year Schedule For Guitar Ted Productions:

As is my tradition on this blog, November will be the month that I close down all my reviewing activities. December will bring on the end of year reviews which I traditionally do here and which take up most of the dates in that month.

I may even start doing some of the end of year stuff after Thanksgiving. That is yet to be determined. But I also want to point out, speaking of Thanksgiving, that I will be asking you readers to join me on the "Virtual Turkey Burn Ride Challenge". This will be the fourth year for the VTBRC and I will be posting a full reminder later in the month. 

If you are interested and want to start making plans now, see this link.  There you will find all the parameters and requirements for this challenge. (Dates will be adjusted to reflect 2024 Thanksgiving) Check it out! 

Finally, N.Y. Roll and I will be recording our final episode of the Guitar Ted Podcast for season 2 soon. If you have any final requests, or anything you'd like to hear us rant about, now is the time to let us know! We will resume podcasting in January to start season number 3. Thanks for checking it out, if you choose to. 

Image courtesy of Shimano

Shimano CUES Q-Shift Auto-shifting Set For 2025 Debut:

Several reports have been floated during this Fall with news that Shimano is going to have an auto-shifting drive train which will be available on several OE bike offerings in 2025. 

Called "Q-Shift", this technology will store data on users performance traits and use this information to allow its self-energized servos to shift a derailleur based drive train up and down an 11 speed cassette. 

I rode an early version of this technology in 2007 when Gary Fisher pulled me aside to try out a bike outfitted with a 27 speed drive train that shifted automatically according to cadence and speed. Another version of this technology was actually produced for consumers in the late 2000's when Shimano introduced the short lived Coaster group. That was an internal 3 speed hub with a front hub generator that energized a servo mounted on the seat tube when the bike was in motion. The servo would switch gears in the hub as you rode based upon speed. 

Shimano hopes that auto-shifting will enable riders to use bicycles without concern for learning how to shift and when to shift, as the automated technology inside the system will do all that for you. This, Shimano hopes, will be a less expensive alternative to eBikes with mid-drive motors, and it should prove to be lighter weight as well. 

Comments: Neat. It will work as advertised, I have no doubt. However; if what I am observing in the average populace here is any indicator of mass appeal, it won't be all that successful as a pedal-platform only offering. Most folks I see want to pedal less, if at all. Just the other day I was passed on the bike path by what amounts to a full-suspension motorcycle powered by a battery and it had no pedals. E-scooters are al the rage amongst the youth here. Pedaling? Really? I don't see it as being something that will attract anyone to cycling with all the alternatives that only require the body to be able to sit or stand upright. 

2025 Trek FX Sport 6 (Image courtesy of Trek Bicycles)

Did Trek Just Release A Flat Bar Gravel Bike?:

Trek is starting to roll out 2025 models this Fall. (They are also using "Generation" numbers in an attempt to leave the model year scheme, but...) Is this Trek FX Sport 6 a flat bar gravel bike? Trek is marketing it as one of this model's uses. 

Of course, you can ride any bicycle on gravel and call it a "gravel bike". Take for instance the Trek 830 steel 1990's era MTB I saw on Facebook Marketplace recently that had gravel tires, a drop bar fitted, and an upgraded drive train with an asking price of 1K. Listed as a "gravel bike", of course. 

So, take the following with a grain of salt. 

My take? Sure! This could be a great flat bar gravel bike, but..... Why did Trek spec it with quick release wheels and their goofy 5mm through bolts? The frame is carbon. It could easily have the now standard through axle sizes of 100 X 12mm and 142mm X 12mm, but noooooo! Then there is the geometry. 

This is a bike aimed at the fitness geek that wants the best fitness bike out there. Why on Earth spec this bike with a 65mm bottom bracket drop? That's insane. The bike would have made so much more sense with a lower bottom bracket which would support stability and ease of getting on/off versus a cyclo cross high bottom bracket. 

But what do I know? By the way, this carbon fiber fitness rocket sells for $2,999.00. That's a lot of cabbage. 

Gravel Grinder News

USAC Announces Junior's Series of Grave Events:

Well, it had to happen at some point, and maybe this is the way USAC gets its mitts on the pulse of the elite racing side of the gravel scene. It was announced recently that USAC has a five gravel event series for junior aged racers which includes SBT GRVL and Unbound Gravel. 

The ultimate goal for USAC is encapsulated in this statement about the series from their website:

"Top-ranked riders from the series will be invited to a USA Cycling Junior Talent Identification Camp in October 2025. This new, invitation-only camp provides young athletes with a dedicated pathway into elite-level road racing and an Olympic discipline. "

Sounds pretty "inclusive" and just what the original organizers of gravel events were thinking of when they started this whole thing in motion. (Sarcasm Alert)

Thankfully there are a ton of gravel events that are not focused on the few. But guess what cycling media wants to tell you? You know the answer to that.....

Meanwhile, in other gravel series news: Gravel Worlds has aligned itself with the Gravel Earth Series, a world-wide gravel series which now will have a "world championship" event in direct competition with the UCI's. This should prove interesting.... Especially since the UCI has no currently announced US based events and this series includes the Grasshopper Adventure Series, Gravel Worlds, The Oregon Trail Gravel event, and CORE 4 in Iowa.  It's a bit confusing, as I'm not sure in what way the Gravel Earth Series is aligned with all these events, but stay tuned as I learn more. 

Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame Noms Open Today: Wednesday the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame announced that nominations for the fourth class of nominees to be inducted into the GCHoF will open today. The format to nominate someone worthy of the hall has been tweaked slightly. Now the GCHoF will require two well written paragraphs on the person being nominated. Anyone submitting a nomination without two paragraphs, (or with lists or what have you) will be thrown out. 

Nominations will close November 30th.

Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions. Get out there and ride this weekend!

They Come In Threes: An Update

About a week or so ago now I wrote about three problems I had that came up all about the same time. Now all three problems have been addressed with at least temporary solutions. I thought I would share this update with you all to bring you up to speed here at Guitar Ted Headquarters.

First up is the State Bicycle Co. Monster Fork v2. If you read the latest review update on this you already know that I was able to determine that a flipped brake mount solved the issue. So, that's been ridden and a review update/final word will be forthcoming. 

Just a quick note in case you missed it: I am still having an issue with the I-9 hub coming out of this fork, but a HED wheel goes in and out like a champ. I'll test more wheels I have here to see if anything else hangs up like the I-9 hub does.

The Shogun's bell is back on. I managed to get it on the stem and keep the bell working. It took a bit of a shim to keep the edge of the brass bell off the lock nut for the head set. A short piece of rubber strip did the trick and I was able to get the bell's edge to clear by a few millimeters or so. 

Speaking of shims - I had to shim the brake lever as well. Turns out that is how Velo Orange wants you to do things. There were aluminum shims of two different thicknesses in the box. Thankfully I had not thrown away the box!

 Now the Tamland Two got a different fix than I was thinking it would. The DT Swiss hub/Roval rim rear wheel had been coming apart. So, I had intended on going back to the Irwin Cycles Carbon Aon 35 wheels but somewhere along the line I had misplaced one of the quick release end caps. So, after trying to contact Irwin and getting no reply, I decided to try another avenue. 

I had a wheel set I had built quite some time ago now that I had never used. Actually, it was a different wheel set before I rebuilt it. Here's the long story...

I had gotten payment for an advertisement on my old 29"er site, I think it was, in the form of a wheelset for a tubular tire set up. The thought being that there might be a tubular gravel tire coming out. The tire never materialized, so instead of having a brand new wheel set I'd never use, I blew it apart and rebuilt the wheels using a set of Bontrager RXL Scandium aluminum rims. While the rims were lightweight, and tubeless ready, they were rim brake rims. But at least now I had a wheel set I could use for......something. 

Well, that something is the Tamland. I only have the rear set up now, but at least the bike is rideable. 

More soon.....Oh! And have a safe Halloween, if you observe that tonight.