When The Answer Is "Yes"

Portrait of Ken Yokanovich by Ari Andonopoulos

 I was often about to say "To hell with it all!", when I was an event director of the gravel race known as Trans Iowa. Many times it was quite a frustrating labor of map reading, route finding, logistics planning, and dealing with people who were stretching my patience to the breaking point. I often wondered aloud why I was even putting myself through what it took to do the event in the manner which I believed it had to be done. 

To be perfectly fair, this was all mostly of my own doing. The frustrations, the road blocks, and the hurdles were mostly of my own making. I did not have to do it the way I did it. 

I chose to do it the way that I did it.  

Why? This is a question which would take a longer form to answer fully. I won't get into the weeds here on this but suffice it to say I did it the way I did it for the best possible experience for the participant I could devise. My goal? To ensure each rider would experience a soul-searching, mind bending, physically and mentally challenging experience. I also wanted to afford opportunities for human interactions which might lead to life-long impacts. 

The cost to myself and my family was not insignificant. Was it all worth the14 years I put myself and my family, volunteers, and friends through to see this event happen? 

Ken Yokanovich (L) and Ari Andonopoulos

In 2007 author Zach Dundas shadowed me during the Trans Iowa v3 event to gather material for a book he was going to write covering the underground sports scene in the USA in the mid-2000's. The book, "The Renegade Sportsman", (You can find used copies on Amazon), contains a full chapter on Trans Iowa and is well worth tracking down if you are a Trans Iowa fan or are curious about the event. It is, in my opinion, the most concise, entertaining, and thorough description of the event and its ethos I have come across. 

In the chapter on Trans Iowa Zach has this little bit concerning Ken Yokanovich, a veteran of three Trans Iowa events. Zach, along with other T.I. riders, were checking out some of the bicycles to be used in the event. Here is the bit from "The Renegade Sportsman", Chapter Three, "Ira vs Iowa":

"I particularly admired Minneapolis rider Ken Yokanovich's orange-Creamsicle-colered Quickbeam, outfitted with roomy, old-fashioned olive drab pannier bags and a custom cylindrical handlebar clip that held a tube of Blistex. Yokanovich would ride fixed gear. Other Trans Iowans tended to greet that decision with studied nods of approval, as if spurning one hundred years of bicycle evolution was indeed the most honorable course of action."

Ken finished that year, the first to do it on a fixed gear bike. One of only three who ever finished a Trans Iowa in the event's 14 years on a fixed gear bicycle. So, it is understandable why I might remember Ken with fondness, and why he is held in high regard by Trans Iowa veterans who know. 

But you never know if the feeling is mutual. Maybe this is not a big deal to people like Ken. Maybe he's moved on. This was nearly 20 years ago, so yeah..... I could see it. But people are sometimes amazing and surprising. Such was the case with Ken, who recently was motivated by a meet-up with fellow Trans Iowan, Ari Andonopoulos, to reach out to me via email last week. 

Ken wrote and told me the following: "Thank you for sharing your thoughts, bringing us together, and challenging us to be something we never knew we could be."

When I get messages like this, I sit back and I smile. Were all the days and years of toil and worry worth it? 

The answer is "Yes".

Breakdown

Happy Valentines Day. This post is about a breakdown, not a break-up. Just so we are clear. It also is not about the Tom Petty song by the same name. Although that is a great tune. Anyway.....

 I've been trying to do some local training rides on the fixed gear Twin Six Standard Rando v2. (From now on called the Fixed Gravel Bus, or FGB for short) I figure slower, steady fixed rides to help build a base of fitness is a good place to start on top of my walking and some other minor isometric type body weight things I do in the house, (when I'm not injured, that is!)

Anyway, this post isn't about training. This is about what happened to the FGB the other day while training. I was out on my usual graveyard loop which is nearly always carless and quiet when I felt something odd in the left crank or pedal. 

 I pulled over thinking maybe I had a pedal coming out only to find that my crank arm was loose! The little preload screw was missing too. Dang it! 

So, I grabbed my tool kit and tried to shove the crank arm on the spindle best I could, then I tightened the pinch bolts on the crank arm down, and hoped it would get me home. 

It did!

Now I had a problem to solve and I am thinking about this style of crank as well. First, I assumed the little preload screw, in this case a metal one I picked up from N.Y. Roll somewhere along the line, was gone. I didn't even bother trying to find it. I just went into my stash of parts and found one off an Ultegra crank set and tried it out on the 105 crank.

 Hmm.... No go. Seems as though there are different lengths to these screws/preload bits. I think the one from the Ultegra crank is too long. I need to find a shorter one. I dug around in my crank stash to see if I could find this screw. (Or is it a bolt? Whatever....) I did find one which was shorter but it had a smaller diameter for the threaded portion. Oh..... So there are three different preload bolt types. Nice! (Part ordered and on the way)

But perhaps more importantly, I wonder if a two piece pinch-bolt style crank even a good idea on a fixed gear bike? I'm beginning to have doubts about the ability of this design to hold up to the rigors of fixed gear riding. This might require a move to a threaded, square taper crank/bottom bracket set up which I have full confidence in as far as holding up to this sort of fixed gear set up.  

Stay tuned... 

Friday News And Views

From a 32"er thread on mtbr.com

The 32" Watch: Vittoria Peyote 32" :

I've had a few folks keeping me abreast of what is going on with 32"ers and I have been pointed to a thread on MTBR.com concerning these big wagon wheels. I also was tipped off to the existence of this Peyote 32"er tire, as shown here. (Thanks! You know who you are!)

This is interesting as N.Y. Roll has fallen in love with this tire and so has another local rider, (in 29"er size). It\s a popular tire, seemingly. It's also a new design. So, it is a tire on the cutting edge of tread design and compound makeup. They wouldn't use such a tire and technology unless they had some serious intentions in mind. This is telling us this 32"er thing is serious stuff. 

As if the other things we've already seen aren't enough to convince us. It seems as though all the things we've heard will be coming true. 

Only a few bicycle brands are committed so far to the 32"er along with some custom frame makers. Dirty Sixer, being the long time proponent of bigger than 29"er wheels, of course, and then you have Vassago, Singular, Lenz Sport, Genesis and perhaps a couple others here and there. 

For a look at what a gravel 32'er would maybe look like, see this report from the UK based iceBike Show by Bike Radar showing a Genesis prototype. HERE.  

My feeling is Sea Otter will be when the lid will come off this thing and we will see who of the major brands will be stepping into the 32"er scene. My guess is all of those bikes will be either MTB XC, gravel, or road bikes, in that order of prevalence. I am sure a few will get raced at Sea Otter in XC MTB and during the gravel event. 

Suspension fork prototypes will be shown, and perhaps demoed. Rigid forks will be coming as well, with Enve rumored to be developing one. It's going to be wild. 

New Podcast Episodes

The Guitar Ted Podcast has been churning out episodes at a pretty good clip of late. The latest went up on Wednesday of this week and we posted another the week before. 

This latest episode is about the proposed legislation regarding bicycles in Iowa, motivated by what is going on with e-scooters and e-bikes. The episode we posted last week was all about the latest class to be inducted into the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame. 

So, check those two episodes out in case you missed those. We typically don't do so many episodes in such a short period of time, so apologies if we caught you off guard! There is a reason for this though.

N.Y. Roll is on a "vacation" and we thought it best to get the last three episodes out before he went out on this short trip. A result of this will be that we have a bit of a mini-break and I would not expect our next episode to land until the end of this month. 

 One more thing- If you find our podcast on Spotify, please follow us there. New podcast episode drops will prompt an alert to your inbox, so you won't miss anything. If you find is on other platforms please subscribe, like, and review the show if possible. It helps us out a ton. 

Thanks for listening to the show! 

Gravel Racing For 2026 About To Begin:

February was always the month which kicked off gravel racing since the beginning of CIRREM back in the late 2000's. This year CIRREM is on the last day of February, the 28th. 

Now the international series, Gravel Earth, has its first event this weekend. The event, Santa Vall by the Traka, is located in Spain. So, a full two weeks ahead of CIRREM. 

There are probably some other gravel events in the South, in particular Florida, which are also happening in February. But traditionally speaking, February is the kick-off month for gravel activities in the competitive sense. 

Have you signed up for any races this year? Let me know in the comments section.  

Image provided by Ergon

Canyon-DT Swiss "Alt-Terrain" Team Announced:

Taking part in the season opener for the Gravel Earth Series will be a new team sponsored by DT Swiss, Canyon Biccyles, and Ergon called "Alt-Terrain Racing". 

 The press release says the 13 member team will be competing at the Santa Valla event under the name "The Wildcards". The team will be outfitted with Ergon saddles and handle bar tapes from their Allroad ranges. 

The team will serve as "rolling R&D platforms" for future Ergon products, according to the release. Ergon sees the team as an "unprecedented opportunity" to advance their drop bar product line. 

The team will compete in gravel, ultra-endurance, cyclo cross, and marathon MTB events throughout 2026. From the press release: “We are very much looking forward to working with this new professional team,” says Ergon’s athlete liaison manager Markus Zingen. “The team’s holistic new concept will significantly professionalize gravel racing and create a wide range of opportunities for both the athletes and us as a partner to drive targeted development forward.”

That is a wrap on this edition of the FN&V. Thank you for reading Guitar Ted Productions! Get out and ride a bicycle this weekend! 

Two Things

A collection of oddball things from 1994

When I Die, So Will This Knowledge:

My mechanic friend, Ari, and I were discussing the techniques, tricks, and wisdom gained in the trade all the years we've been at this. Ari said to me, "(Do) you realize how much crap we know?!!!"

Things like which parts go with certain set ups. Take for instance the image here. A 1" steer tube, a cable hangar, and a threadless head set. What does this tell you? 

It tells me this is a super-rare set up. You see, 1" threadless steer tubes lasted about two years in the industry because threadless (1994) came in just as 1 1/8th was on the rise. Also, cantilever brakes were on the outs in 1996, as linear pull took over, so cable hangars for any sort of threadless steer tube were hard to find ten years on. This means that Ritchey cable hangar is a super-rare part. The stem isn't far off either. 

And check out those "lugs". It was a Bianchi thing. They claimed an ability to make any lug with any angle, a thing unheard of with investment cast lugs. Bianchi could do this because they TIG welded the lugs first to either the head tube or the bottom bracket shell. Then the lug was brass brazed to a frame tube, like a traditional lug, which Bianchi claimed gave the frame better vibration damping qualities. They had a name for this - "Super Lug". Yeah.....I know some pretty oddball factoids. 

I was trying to teach my assistant at the Collective how to set up a traditional cantilever brake with the straddle wire and cable carrier. He's well versed in linear pull brake set up but this was giving him fits. I told him, "Yeah, it's a pain in the ass but you have to just take your time to learn it." 

Today, we look for an app, a way to electronically adjust our, whatever, and if this isn't working right we throw a fit. We are helpless and stuck with no options. Well, it wasn't like this always. Mechanics could find a way. But as we make everything a device, we take away the ability to field service, or even service an item at all. 

And who knows how to fix that old stuff anyway. Answer: When I die, there will be one less person who does know how. 

I Used To Do That?!

Related to the bike above, which was donated to the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective late last year, is this bike sticker which was on it. I removed it for a reason. 

See, I designed the biker in the logo. 

I had forgotten I had done that. Long ago, before I even worked at Advantage Cyclery, I was a jeweler and where I worked we did all of our own design work. Not just jewelry, but advertising, logos, and we occasionally did work for other clients. Tom, who ran and owned Advantage Cyclery, found out I did this sort of work and suggested I give this idea he had for a logo a try. What you see on the sticker is what I drew up for him. 

It's no big deal. Just a logo for a long-forgotten Cedar Valley bicycle shop. But when I saw it, I was reminded of the days when I was spending time doing tons of design work. It was fun. Challenging, but fun. It is nice to be reminded that I did something cool one time. 

Ha!  

Searching For The "Magic" Alloy: Part 2

Cannondale Topstone 2 CUES (Image courtesy of Cannondale)

Earlier this week I posted about trying to find an aluminum alloy gravel frame which would meet my criteria and not be overly expensive to boot. I asked you dear readers to chime in with suggestions. Many of you did and I was able to check out a lot of great ideas for this post.

One no one mentioned was the alloy Cannondale Topstone models. Maybe because you cannot get a frame, maybe because Cannondale says it limits tires out to 45mm, or maybe because of the price, but if you look at the geometry chart for the Topstone alloy bikes, it shows numbers which fall right into what I'd want for a gravel bike. 

With a head tube angle of 71°, a bottom bracket drop of 75mm, and a seat tube length in my size (large) which isn't too short or too long, it cuts right down the middle of what I'd like in a gravel bike. 

Concerning the tire clearance, I know Cannondale says 45mm, because they have to. Given what I know about regulations, it wouldn't be crazy to assume you could run 47mm tires easily enough, and maybe squeeze in a 50mm tire, depending upon rim width and tire model. 

Concerning the price, I can get a size Large Topstone with 1 x 10 MicroShift Sword on sale for just over 1K. So, for a complete bike, it would be okay, I think at this price.  

The Topstone also comes with all the right accessory mounts for water bottles and bags. A plus from my point of view. The fork is carbon fiber, naturally, and the highly formed frame tubes speak to more current tech in alloy frame building than some of the less expensive choices on the market.. 

I'd be curious to try the CUES 11 speed stuff on the Topstone 2 CUES, just so I had a handle on how it works, (or doesn't), so I can have an informed opinion on the group. The bike lists for $2,200.00, which is pricey, but I really cannot say anything about the CUES stuff, so it could be fine. The other choice in MicroShift Sword is less interesting to me, but would hit my price point more closely. 

Why Do This? Okay, you long-term readers know I have a lot of bikes and I really do not need to get anything for gravel riding. However; I would be retiring one, maybe two bikes I have currently if I get this in. One for sure would be the Raleigh Tamland. It would get stripped down and the frame and fork would go up on the wall, as it represents what it does to me. (IYKYK) The other possible retiree is the Noble GX5. I wouldn't get rid of it right away, but I know I wouldn't leave the Topstone alone for long if I decided to keep it. So, the running gear from the Noble would likely get transferred over to the Topstone. The CUES or MicroShift  stuff would go on the Noble, and I'd sell it that way. 

Just playing around with ideas here, and if something else were to come up which was a frame/fork only, and I could go direct to swapping out parts on the Noble, I would maybe do that instead. So, a lot to think about, and this isn't a slam dunk in any way......yet. 

Stay tuned.

Chicago Bike Swap: Photo Report

Today I wanted to share with you a photo report filed by Ari Andonopoulos. He attended the recent Chicago bicycle swap meet which saw great attendance. I've got several images from Ari here and a bit of a report from him as well. I will also add comments at the end of the images. 

Bike swap meets are an interesting niche in our cycling world which is as much about reconnecting with fellow cyclists as it is about getting a good deal on something. Part "rummage sale" and part reunion, these gatherings are a great distraction from the gray, cold Winters here in the Northern hemisphere. 

With that, here is a line or two from Ari and his images. 

 From Ari:

Here are some photos from the bike swap. It was 8 dollars to get in. Some vintage stuff was high,(priced) but a lot of insane deals. I was thinking that bike swaps are a good way to break up winter and see old friends and make new ones. I loved seeing old friends there.

It appeared the swap was well attended

That's a wrap on this report. Thanks again to Ari Andonopoulos for sharing these images with us! Bike swaps are a great illustration of "one man's junk is another man's treasure" and I think you can get a good feeling for this from Ari's imagery. 

Got any good bike swap finds or stories? Please share them in the comments! And thanks again for reading Guitar Ted Productions! 

Not An Ideal Start

The season of gravel riding for 2026 is very close to starting. March will be here before we know it and with that comes the longer days and warmer weather. I've been itching to get out again now that the cold weather snap which ended January and began February is over.

Trouble is, I got off on the wrong foot, as far as my strategy to get fitness tuned up goes. I had decided a week ago today things were warm enough I'd ride into work. There was a lot of snow around yet from recent light snowfalls we had experienced. And Waterloo doesn't clear the streets at all, or if they do, it isn't done very well, at least in my neighborhood. So riding can be a little treacherous when snow gets compacted into what amounts to a sheet of ice. 

I had removed the studded tires from the Twin Six Standard Rando v2 in anticipation of getting clearer roads soon. So, I rode the Ti Mukluk into work instead, which went well. However; coming home I hit the only patch of black ice around. In between Doughy Joey's and Carpenter's Restaurant there is an alley. I tried steering into this and there it was. There I went down. Quickly. 

I went down so fast I didn't even get my hand out of the pogie to break my fall. My left arm was pinched between pavement and my rib cage. It was then I felt something very unusual. It was a s if a large band under my left side moved upward, then snapped back into place. My whole abdomen shuddered, it was so violent a movement back where whatever it was belonged. And it hurt like the devil, as we say here in the Mid-West. 

Now, I smashed my kneecap on my left leg hard into the pavement as well, but this was a trifle compared to my rib cage. I was stunned for a few moments but able to string together curse words like a sailor. So, I could breathe, and I could stand up. Barely, hut not because of any injury. Because of the ice!

I remounted after walking away from the scene. I was able to pull on the bars, push the pedals, and both with no pain. It felt harder to breathe a bit, but not really significantly. Tuesday was better, Wednesday was okay, and so was Thursday. A steady diet of ibuprofen and Mrs. Guitar Ted's CBD roll-on pain medication worked nicely. My ribs were painful where they joined at the sternum in a couple of places. Then Friday came and I was feeling more pain than before. 

I did a quick ride on the fixed gear Gravel Bus. It made me feel a whole lot better, but this obviously has slowed me down a bit. No sharp pains, nothing like that, just dull, achey pain and stiffness. I just have to take it easy and work back into it. 

Not an ideal start to the effort to get in shape for the Legends of Gravel ride in April. Men my age are not supposed to be slamming themselves into pavement. Well, if they do, it usually breaks things. I am very fortunate I did not break anything. 

Ari, my friend from Chicago, says I need studded fat bike tires. He said, "We need you in one piece!" 

Looks like I'll be getting some new fat bike tires for the next Winter season