There Is Something In The Air

Pre-start of T.I.v6 Image by A. Andonopoulos

Every year about this time I get these feelings. It is in the timing of when the Sun rises and sets. The greening up of plants and tress. The moist, Earth smells. It all triggers those things I felt when I was putting on Trans Iowa for those fourteen years I did the event. 

I often dream of those mornings when we'd gather on some darkened street. Cars pulling in with bikes on racks, or riders pulling up in twos and threes, torches blazing into the inky dark of a Saturday morning in Hawarden, Decorah, Williamsburg, or Grinnell, Iowa. 

The sounds of anxious, muffled conversations. The clack and grind of cleats on wet pavement. The fog and mist in the air. The tension building up until I tried to herd all the riders into place for my annual "Fatherly Advice" speech. Then the tense moments just before the clock hit 4:00am and the toot of the horn. 

Just before the start of T.I.v5. Image by Corey "Cornbread" Godfrey

The riders are off! The T.I.v10 start image by Craig Cooper

This was, for me, the line of demarcation. The start of any Trans Iowa meant I, or "we" if I had a companion, would be alone for a few hours until we hit the first checkpoint. Early on, in the first few Trans Iowas, I was alone for hours on end, doing final course check in front of the riders. 

Those times are an entirely different story. The start though, that was a very special time for me. The atmosphere was transcendent. From quiet, sleepy repose to an electricity that filled the air - sometimes quite literally - The start period was something which I found energizing. Maybe I was feeding off all the rider's nervous auras. I don't know. I just remember those times with fondness. 

A rare shot of myself leading out a Trans Iowa. This time it is T.I.v9 Image taker unknown

 

MG driving here on the start of T.I.v14. My last time doing this

Yes, there is something about this time of the year which probably will stick with me the rest of my life. Trans Iowa was a labor of love, and yes - I do miss it at times. I am glad it ended when it did and how it did. But that doesn't mean that there aren't things which I miss. I cherish all the memories and times had. 

Sometimes I think I'll get up on Saturday morning on the traditional day of a Trans Iowa start and walk outside at 4:00am and see if I can still see, hear, and smell all those things which I remember so well from those days. Then I think, "Nah! You'll just be disappointed the feelings are not real, or as good as they were once", and I do not get up. It's kind of like the second bite of a doughnut.  The first bite is always fantastic, and you want to replicate that taste again with a second bite, but it never is as good, and every time you try again, it gets worse. So, it is best to stop. Let that first bite be what it was. You'll never replicate those sensory inputs ever again. 

More about Trans Iowa will probably be shared later in the weekend.  

Choose Your Own Adventure: State Based Gravel Route Finders

Image courtesy of  Wisconsin Gravel.org

There is a somewhat popular saying which is used when someone wants to impart the listener can "do whatever they want". It is "Choose your own adventure". The recipient of this phrase is then thought to be someone who is going to go do something in their own free will, be that wise or unwise. Whatever the case may be. 

Nowadays, with so many gravel events flooding the calendar, and with entry fees, travel, and lodging getting more expensive, it seems to me that many riders are beginning to look for alternatives which fit their needs and lifestyles in a better way. I've noted the rise in participation in weekly gravel group rides. These hyper-local events with there ease of entry and friendly natures seem to have taken on a life of their own. 

Perhaps the "next big thing"in gravel riding is somewhat similar to the gravel group rides, but adds in an element of adventure, discovery, and fun. It is the state based gravel data bases where one can go to find predetermined routes. The first I was aware of in this vein was Gravel Kansas.

Gravel Kansas was set up in 2023 and at that time I was a big fan of this unique take on curated gravel routes. Later on, Pennsylvania got in on the act, and we learned about this on the Guitar Ted Podcast from Dave Pryor. The site https://ridepagravel.co/ leads you to their Route Finder. This opens up their Ride With GPS site where routes can be accessed. It's a bit different take on a similar idea to Gravel Kansas. 

Image courtesy of Ride PA Gravel

Now a third state data base is being developed for the state of Wisconsin and their gravel roads. Called Wisconsin Gravel, the site divides the state into regions where the rider can navigate to find out what each region has to offer and what routes are there. As of this writing, the site is still being filled out, so there is not a lot to glean from the promised 1,000 miles of routes for the unpaved rider to choose from. 

Comments: Obviously, these sorts of portals are only as good as the content placed on them. Without fleshing out the sites, it is hard to recommend something like this without caveats. Hopefully things progress along with these sites to make them worthwhile to point folks to. Gravel Kansas being the oldest of these sorts of sites, has 80+ routes on offer. That seems pretty good but obvious holes exist yet. For example, there are no routes for the Northeast part of the state as of this writing. 

The Pennsylvania route site seems like a fine idea because they leverage Ride With GPS as a data base and the routes are easily downloaded into a rider's GPS unit. (Unless you lose yours, like I have recently!)

The future could be pretty interesting if more states get onboard with ideas based around a user friendly "route library" based on a state or region of a state. I could see tourism departments getting involved in different states. Obviously, it would behoove states like Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska, arguably the cradle, along with Kansas, of the Modern Era of gravel riding, to get onboard with this idea. 

It may be a trend we see increasing in popularity due to the way some feel doing events is getting stale. I could totally see this making gravel riding even more popular in the future.  

The 32" Watch: What Have We Learned?

From Maxxis' social media

Sea Otter is over. All the news of big wheels has been spilled. What have we learned now the cats are out of their bags? 

The long known rumors were mostly proven to be true. There is a 32" Fargo. Maxxis did actually produce more tread patterns in 32". Other tires were introduced. (Teravail, Kenda) 

But there were disappointments. No one was racing a 32"er at Sea Otter in the gravel event. There were small brands/builders showing 32"ers, but no real hints of which second tier, or main brands, which might be toying with the idea of producing a 32"er. At least no rumors are being spread openly. I'm sure some folks came away from Sea Otter with hints and perhaps news, sworn to secrecy. 

Sun Tour openly showed its 32"er suspension fork. This would indicate we will see an entry level MTB bike, at least, with 32"er wheels. Ari Bikes, (Formerly known as Fezzari), showed an FS 32"er prototype with a prototype Fox 32"er fork. Probably to gauge interest, but this also could be a pointing to an OE order which would, in turn, point to a mid-tier MTB offering, at least. 

Image courtesy of Teravail

Comments: Salsa Cycles Fargo in 32 will come in a size small. This was a surprise as it is commonly held that a medium is about as small as one can reasonably get with 32" wheels. The geometry chart for the size small Fargo 32 shows this just may be correct, as the stack height on the small with 32" wheels is going to lead to very upright seated positions for small sized riders. Probably not ideal. So, besides potential toe overlap issues, I think size medium is the lower limit of sizing for 32" wheels. 

Things seem to be moving along at blazing speed when it comes to 32"ers, but remember, 29 inch came into being right at the end of the Analog Age, and 29"er development broke the ceiling of bicycle design which 32" wheels do not have to hinder their development. 

You can see this in the nearly instantaneous offering of several tires. We don't even have bikes available in mass quantities to put these tires on, not to mention rims, yet tire rolling resistance testing has already been done showing glowing results for 32"ers. 

29"ers grew in a grassroots, organic way. Slowly, and yet sooilidly forming a base to help manufacturers see there was a buying public for the wheel size. The 32"er smacks of a more "manufactured" story, with lots of rave results from tests, but with barely any kind of organic feel to these results. There is a very harsh blowback in comments sections regarding 32"ers, but maybe this won;t matter in the end. 

But maybe it will.

Image courtesy of Teravail

Bicycle shops, distributors, and some brands will be resistant to having another tire size to deal with. This resistance was felt with 29"ers, but the difference there was 29"ers used an existing rim size. Obviously, this is not the case for 32"ers. 

My feeling is that once all the folks who want 32"ers have 32"ers, we will see a marked decline in interest. I do not believe 32"ers will diappear as quickly as they arrived, and perhaps something of a small, niche element of the size will hang on for years, like 27" wheels and tires have. But I firmly believe the industry will, in the end, winnow out one of the current wheel sizes. 

My take is this will be the 32"ers. My belief is the market for the size is limited to taller folks while medium to smaller sized folk will be best served by 29"ers, despite all the recent testing results for 32"ers. The 32" diameter is just a bit too big for many things other than small to some medium sized folk. I think we'll be seeing this in the near future as well. 

And 27.5", while diminished in popularity, will be great for youth and "smaller" small adults. So, I do not believe 27.5" is the size the industry will ax out of existence either. I could be wrong, but looking at what has come out of Sea Otter, and from my observations in the cycling world over a long period of time, I would say my vision of how the 32"er will go forward is closer to the mark than not. 

Wheels For Gen I: Hubs Here!

Saturday was the day I received the Chris King hubs back I used to own. Kind of an odd feeling while turning those axles and thinking about all the rides I have done on these hubs. 

They feel great, by the way, and they look fine as well. A nick here or there, but what should one expect from a set of hubs that has been kicking around since 2008 or so?

With this set of hubs now in hand, I can start thinking about some rims. There is one big fork in the road to consider. Which way I go will determine price and wheel overall weight in the end. 

I could go carbon or aluminum. If I go aluminum I'll likely roll with some Velocity Blunt SS rims. I like them. They are sturdy, look good,are a nice width, and there are options for colors, polished, or custom anodized rims. But honestly, I'll probably get black anodized ones if I go aluminum. 

Carbon rims are a different story. Most well known name brands are waaaaaaaay expensive. Then you have the carbon rims from China like Nextie or ICAN which have good reputations and perhaps are better known for the rims they make with other brand names on them. 

Like I said, I have to decide which fork in the road to take. Then I will have to buy two rims, probably some spokes, and get busy. 

Stay tuned....

Thwarted

This flooded out grassy two-tracfk wasn't my first check.

The one day I could get out and ride this past week was on Friday. It was going to be a weird day because it was starting out a bit on the chilly/windy side, but it was supposed to get warmer, then storm severely, then get cold. The weather people were in a lather about it all saying things were going to be nigh unto apocalyptic and that we all should be "weather aware", or we might....

I dunno.....what would the weather people say?  You might suffer the consequences of ignoring the weather? And this is different than the past in what way, exactly? 

I'm telling you this whole society is based upon fear. 

Anyway, Yes, I get it. Weather can kill you. I survived an F5 tornado and other near-misses with tornadoes over the years. So I decided to run out to ride in the morning. My plan was to head over to Evansdale via the bike paths and get out on a little gravel. Get home around noon. Then ride the storm out, if any storms should come, at home. 

Well, it didn't take long and I ran up on a barricade where a City worker was messing with some equipment. He looked at me and explained that there was some maintenance work being done and the bridge was impassable by pedestrians and cyclists. I had to backtrack and go across a different bridge. So I did this.

But then I was turned back again by more barricades. So, taking this as a sign, I turned back the opposite way and headed toward the park on the North side of the Cedar River and to a different bridge to cross back to a point closer to home.  

One simply does not just ride by the cement elephant!

I cannot ever remember seeing bluebells bloom this early

I ended up on the Sans Souci Bridge and had a sudden thought. "Ya know, I've never been back in there. Maybe I'll check it out." Sans Souci Island in Waterloo has been the site of the Sans Souci Hotel, cottages, and eventually permanent residences were constructed here. Originally named Merwin Island in the mid-1800's, this 100 acre island, once covered in timber, provided wood for the first bridges across the Cedar River in Waterloo. 

In 2008, a catastrophic flood event wiped out all the homes on the island. The homes were never rebuilt, and now it is an obscure park with a shelter, some hiking trails, and lots of woods. I found a cleared, fairly wide path back into the woods a ways but was turned back by the recent flooding. N.Y. Roll later told me he has been thinking about how this area could stand a short single track loop. 

I ended up leaving, but before I got out of the gate, I met two young, what looked to me to be teenage girls walking into the park dressed in attire more akin to the late 19th Century than the 21st Century. I waved, they waved back, and I wondered if I had seen an apparition, but yeah.... I'm pretty sure that was real.  

Weird. 

And then I rode through the cemetery and headed home. The original plans were thwarted, but this ride had it's highlights. And I didn't get sucked up by a tornado. In fact, we escaped any severe weather Friday. The temperature went down a full 47 degrees in twelve hours though. 

All the best to those who did suffer damage Friday. I think we all could do with nicer weather for a while.  

Two Things

Flint Hills 2017

Change of Plan

This was the week I was planning on doing the Legends of Gravel ride. Unfortunately, this did not happen. 

I know I am a bit disappointed in this, as were a couple of fellows from up here who were planing on going. Trouble was there wasn't enough interest to carry the effort and expense the promoter was putting into holding this event. 

There are a lot of complications to the reason why this event was cancelled. I will not speculate or share anything detailed here concerning this. I will just point out that this was not "my event", and since I wasn't in charge of anything, I have nothing to add to or take away from the cancellation decision. That part was out of my hands, as was anything having to do with the event besides my willingness to attend it. 

I love the Flint Hills. I love riding there. It is a really awesome, challenging area to ride gravel. Maybe I'll get back there someday. The thing is, this is a big trip for us now. It's hard due to our current circumstances to get away and leave two cats behind. Not to mention our daughter who doesn't drive. I won't even get into work schedules. So, I'm not holding my breath concerning any big trips in the near future. 

Hail immediately after the storm on 4/14/26

Severe Stretch:

 April is acting like May now, or at least for the past week it has been. This brought daily thunderstorms, lightning, hail, and high winds. 

Not a good time to be out in the country on long rides on gravel. Thursday we got a reprieve, so I ventured out. Otherwise on Tuesday I spent two hours on the Big Dummy running a couple of errands before the big storm hit in the afternoon. 

 Several friends and acquaintances had windshields blown out by golf ball sized hail and larger. Cars were dented beyond belief in some cases as well. We escaped with a few dings to the 4Runner, which has to sit outdoors. 

It looks like we are in for a more seasonal stretch here which I hope will allow for more country rides. But for now, this nonsense has me on edge a bit.  

Friday News And Views

Image courtesy of Panaracer

 Panaracer Announces New ZX Gravel King Tires:

Panaracer's Gravel King range of tires has an addition now with the latest racing focused Gravel King ZX.  

The ZX features a slick center section for speed. The shoulders have elongated tread blocks for cornering and braking traction. The Gravel King ZX also has a rounded casing which should promote riding on the center section for straight line speed and then as the rider leans into corners those side lugs come into play for stability in corners. 

The ZX version of the Gravel King will have Panaracer's proprietary ZSG Gravel compound developed specifically for gravel. This single compound will lend great ride characteristics and promote long-term durability. The Gravel King ZX tires also will have other Panaracer technologies utilized such as BeadLock and TufTex. 

Coming soon in sizes from 700 x 35mm,  700 x 40mm, 700 x 45mm, 700 x 50mm, and 700 x 55mm with the 45mm tire weighing a claimed 510 grams and the 50mm weighing 600 grams each. Price for each Gravel King ZX tire is set at $84.99 USD. Availability on the 45mm and 50mm tires is May 2026 with the 40mm scheduled for July, the 50mm scheduled for August, and the 35mm tire slated to be available in October 2026. 

Comments: The profile of this tire, with a flattened top section where the slicker part of the tread is, reminds me a lot of the old, original WTB Vulpine. The air pressure settings you used on that old Vulpine really were critical to the performance of the tire. Too much and the tire felt odd when leaned over in a turn. Too little and you started dragging those shoulder knobs into contact with the ground on straight sections, which kind of defeats the intentions of the design, I would be wary of the Gravel King ZX being similar in this vein.  

Confluence CUES 11 (Image courtesy of Salsa Cycles)

Salsa Cycles Announces Confluence CUES 11

Salsa Cycles has released a new version of the Confluence e-gravel bike. This Sea Foam Green bike features Shimano CUES 11 speed and a Mahle hub motor for an extra boost which Salsa claims can last up to 45 miles. 

Check out this bike at Salsa Cycles site HERE.  

A Viral Post:

I know most of you have heard the term "it's gone viral" or some form of this term. One thing I never thought I'd see is one of my social media posts going viral. I mean, most of what I post is either very cycling specific or just downright goofy. The latter was what my April 1st Instagram post could be defined as being. 

Here's the text I posted with the accompanying image. "When a steel bicycle frame reaches maturity it splits open and releases its reproductive spores into the atmosphere. These spores the settle in frame building shops where they bond with other frame spores to become new bicycles again."

I misspelled "then" by omitting the "n", but I did not care at the time because I figured hardly anyone would see this off the cuff April Fools post. But I was wrong.

So wrong!  

24,260 views and counting! It's kind of crazy. I cannot say why this took off, but "The Algorithm" must have thought it was funny, I guess.  

From Shimano social media

Shimano Offers Larger GRX 1X Chainrings, Shorter GRX Cranks, & New CUES 11's Rear Mech:

Shimano offered a few tweaks to GRX, its gravel going component group, recently. The trend toward shorter cranks and larger drive rings were addressed with the addition of a 44T and 46T 1X GRX rings coupled with a couple of shorter crank arm choices in GRX. 

Nothing crazy there, but a nice option for those who have a desire to follow this trend with their gravel set ups. 

The CUES thing is a bit more interesting, in my opinion. CUES has been out for a while now and while it was ballyhooed as a versatile, lifestyle group for the average cyclist, enthusiasts have largely ignored it. This is because CUES was designed in its own ecosystem which rendered it incompatible with other Shimano products past and present. 

CUES RD U6030 (Image courtesy of Shimano

Recently Shimano upgraded its lower tier Tiagra group from ten speed to eleven speed and in this upgrade they introduced an 11-36T cassette. Interestingly, CUES, which previous to this new CUES derailleur was designed for LinkGlide technology, has this new derailleur working with HyperGlide, which is what the Tiagra cassette technology is based upon. 

This raises some questions. Is CUES switching over to HypeGlide? What is the hierarchy placement for this new CUES versus Tiagra? Reports say the new CUES rear mech is actually lighter than other CUES derailleurs and the new Tiagra 11 speed rear mech. 

According to reporting online, Shimano has said this new CUES introduction is more about gravel bikes and Tiagra is for sport road riding, citing slight differences in chain line and Q factor between the two groups. 

So, this then leaves us with a question about CUES and Shimano's GRX groups. Shimano, at GRX's introduction, made the top tier GRX 800 an eleven speed group and the lower tiered GRX 400 was ten speed. Is this new CUES derailleur a precursor to a lower tiered GRX eleven or twelve speed group because GRX is going to 13 speeds at the top of the range?  

Maxxis 32" range. (Image poached off social media)

The 32" Watch: Maxxis Delivers On Rumors:

Yesterday at Sea Otter Maxxis showed a full range of MTB tires in 32" size. This was a rumor for months and now it has become a reality. 

This points to OEM acceptance of 32" wheels as a viable retail product. I will be very surprised if most top-tier brands do not have 32"ers in their ranges by 2027, (this Fall). 

In other 32"er news, there was the Fargo and Teravail tire intros yesterday. (See yesterday's post on these things for more details) Velo Orange showed a 32" rim in silver. Also, a couple of prototype bicycles were shown. One was from Esker Cycles and was based on the Lorax. The other was from Revel Bikes and was a 32"er titanium hardtail. Revel also had a "mullet 29"/32" bike in titanium as well.  

In perhaps the biggest news and sign that 32"ers are here to stay, at least for a while, was the spotting of a prototype 32" Fox fork on an Ari Bikes 32"er FS model. You know what this means? It means Fox has an OEM on the hook for production, or thinks it will soon. My bet is XC MTB bikes from one of the bigger brands will be the model type this shows up on.  

Image courtesy of Open Cycles

Open WI.DE 2.0 Announced:

Open Cycles sent a press release showing off its upcoming OPEN WI.DE 2.0 carbon adventure drop bar frame and fork.  

Claiming an amazing tire clearance of  29" x 2.6" (700 x 66mm)! To get this to work OPEN had to use a double-dropped chain stay design. OPEN claims that going from a 50mm to the 66mm tire doubles air volume. This will allow the rider to tackle even rougher terrain. 

To get this all to work, OPEN had quite a challenge on their hands. The result was still lighter, by only a little bit, than the outgoing model. Additionally only 1X drive trains are supported while retaining gravel group set compatibility.  

The OPEN WI.DE frame and fork is going into production now with a promised late Summer 2026 delivery.  

That's a wrap for this week. Get out there and ride a bicycle this weekend!