"Rack Me" - A Follow-Up

Kuat Piston Pro (Image courtesy of Kuat)

Last weekend in my running series, "Two Things", I asked about hitch racks for an upcoming trip, and occasional usage afterward, and you readers sure came through with answers!

And I am getting really tired of watching reviews on car racks! My goodness! Some people should not be on camera. But I slogged through several of them, considered the advise I received on the comments from the post over the weekend, and I have arrived at some thoughts so far.

It's coming down to a few things which I think are important, and a few things I just have opinions about which are maybe no big deal to some of you readers here. 

First, I am getting away from as much plastic bits as I can. This maybe isn't a big deal, but plastic generally doesn't hold up great and well.....I just don't want it on my rack. This steered me away from more traditional rack brands like Thule, Yakima, and some of the Saris stuff out there. 

Secondly, I think the One-Up style rack is superior, and every good rack company has their take on this iconic design out now. In my opinion, One-Up's more "ala carte" way of selling isn't really easy to navigate, for me at any rate. I do appreciate their videos on the site explaining every detail of their product line. But other companies have caught up and have easier ways to understand buying their product than One-Up does. Again....my opinion. 

Saris MK2 (Image courtesy of Saris)

My price point is a little shy of what I see for features and what is available. Sheesh! These things are spendy! So, it is important to me that this rack lasts a while, is supported by a company with good customer service, and that will be around a while. I know there are no guarantees for any of those wishes, but this eliminated a couple of companies which are either too new or not well known. 

Details matter. There were a few things I hadn't thought about going in. Things like bike placement on the rack, ground clearance, and locks. I used to own a Thule T2 Pro, and it had a few things I would have missed had I not been reminded I liked those thing. Locks being one of those. 

Where I Am At With This So Far:

Okay, so what is tripping my trigger so far? Well, right now I am really leaning toward a Kuat Piston Pro. The reason why mainly has to do with a few things. One- It is easy to use. This really comes down to being functional for Mrs. Guitar Ted. If she can get along with how it works, and I feel this model from Kuat is super-easy to use, than that is a passing grade from me. 

One Up rack (Image courtesy of One Up)

Ease of use also kind of goes along with function. I like how the Kuat functions versus something like One Up. And again, while a One Up can be configured to match a Kuat pretty closely, there are so many extras you have to buy to get there with One Up it becomes a hassle and ends up being more expensive. That's my take on it. The shopping experience online is just more streamlined with Kuat. 

Saris is close, but lacks the ground clearance and has more plastic bits than I would like to see. So while their modular system is cool, it isn't what I need or would ever use, and so I'm out on this company. 

That's where I am at so far. If I get any other advice or see something which sways my opinion, I'll let y'all know, but for now the Kuat Piston Pro is looking like a front runner. 

Stay tuned. 

The Definition Of "Gravel"

Okay, so this whole "Gravel™" thing. What the heck? What does the term even mean anymore? It seems "gravel" can be darn near mountain biking or it could mean riding on paved back roads. It could be a full-suspension XC-MTB-ish bike or a bike packing/touring bike, or maybe an endurance road bike with clearance for 40mm tires. Does anyone have a handle on the definition for "gravel"? 

Even events are all over the place with this. So, I thought I'd dive into this mess and see if maybe there could be some sense made of it all. It doesn't help that the term "gravel" is the wrong term, but it is what we got stuck with early on. So, it is what I have to work with here. 

For the record, I would have preferred "all-road" for these bikes and riding style. I just wanted to get that out there up front. 

So, as with any good research project, it is good to know what the word means you are working on. I headed over to the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary for the definition of "gravel" and this is what I found..... 

Cut from the webpage for "gravel" on Merriam Webster's site

 So, now it all makes sense. All these variations have gravelled me into a state of confusion. Who knew "gravel" could be a verb? Do not let it be said that Guitar Ted Productions is not educational. Ha!

Obviously, we're most interested in the "loose rounded fragments of rock", and "a stratum or deposit of gravel - a surface covered with gravel, ie: a gravel road". 

I know, it makes so much sense when you see the definition. It also points out how far off the rails "Gravel™" has gone. It has made the original term defined here meaningless, or maybe a different definition is now required. I don't know...... I think words should be attached to specific meanings, and in terms of cycling, words seem to be pretty fluid. At least in this case it seems that way. 

Extreme gravel. Maybe even epic. 

 I know this might offend many people, but most cyclists who think they are riding gravel are not really riding gravel. This is not their fault. The term should never have been used. Because look - most people don't have crushed rock roads near them. And even if they did, they probably wouldn't want to ride a bicycle down them. Especially if the road looked like the image above! Which, I should point out, is a rare size of rock in Iowa. 

There are a lot of dirt roads all over the world. Some may even have some small gravel in them, on them, or near them. This is not gravel, as in crushed rock road, but it gets lumped into the whole "Gravel™" thing anyway. Besides, mountain bikers had the lock on "dirt", along with maybe BMX'ers, long before this whole thing with "Gravel™" came along. It would have been hard to make a catchy name using dirt anyway, so those roads were just co-opted into gravel riding and you know what? Nobody blinked an eye! We seem to have gotten away with adopting those roads into this scene. 

Then you have this situation in most areas where dirt, maybe crushed rock roads too, are not capable of being strung together into a continuous course. You have this pesky surface which we call "pavement". You sometimes will see courses which utilize this surface to string together the "good stuff". 

Besides, you sometimes will be going through towns and villages. It seems most civilized places in the USA want pavement. Not always, but generally - yes. So, pavement is on the menu in small doses, hopefully just small doses. Too much and we'd have to go by the name "roadie", don't cha know? Can't have that, now can we? . 

Look, this article is an exercise in futility,I understand this, but I also think you might get the point here. "Gravel™" is just the wrong name. I was going to use a stronger wording here and say the name we ended up with is "stupid", but back in 2010 or so most of the folks running roads unpaved were doing so on actual crushed rock. So I can forgive those folks who saddled this style of riding with the term gravel. However; I was also saying at that time we shouldn't use the term "gravel" and I really wish we wouldn't have landed on that term. 

But like I said, it is futile to think we would ditch "gravel" for what we do and use something much more sensible and easily defined like "all-road". So, I just hope everyone who reads this comes to the understanding of what the shortcomings are when we say gravel-this, or gravel-that, and see how vague and open-ended the results are for using this terminology. It is why you shouldn't be surprised to see a full-suspension MTB with drop bars called a "gravel bike" and why you also see road bikes doing gravel bike things at the other extreme, (but those are "endurance road bikes") 

As always, thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions. 

Brown Season: Riding Into Spring

Escape Route: South Riverside Trail

 A little more than a week ago we were staring down a blizzard. High winds and snow battered us Sunday evening through until Monday evening. Then it got brutally cold with negative wind chills and air temperatures in the single digits on Tuesday. 

By Friday it was shirt-sleeve weather! 

What a crazy Winter, and I sure hope it is all over with. We were on a roller coaster of freezing, thawing, snow cover, no snow cover, all Winter long. But hopefully it is all done with, and this Spring can be a bit less up and down. 

Friday I took advantage of the nice weather and got out on my Honeman Flyer since it has all the Ergon stuff on it I am reviewing. It was 65°F and so I put on a wind vest, a short-sleeved jersey, my Twin Six bib knickers, and I wore normal cycling shoes. A bandana and Bontrager Circuit helmet rounded out the kit for the day. 

There were a lot of people enjoying Big Woods Lake on Friday

 

First gravel on Mt. Vernon Road. 

I saw the breeze was out of the Northwest before I left the house so I decided to use my "Northwest Passage" route out of town. It essentially follows the Cedar River along quiet city streets and bike paths, stays out of the wind, and allows me to get out of town without expending a lot of energy.Once I get away from Big Woods Lake I only have about two miles worth of headwind. 

The roads are nice! No fresh gravel......yet!

Not much snow in the ditches anymore here. Probably none now!

It's amazing how quickly the snow disappeared. Tuesday the ditches were full last week. Now on Friday, during my ride, snow was hard to come by, and most of it was stained black from dirt blowing into it during the storm. The winds scoured the snow off  during the blizzard and picked up the black dirt afterward. 

Angles in the Sky and angles on the ground. 

 

It felt like a Summer ride. I almost took the wind vest off a few times to stuff it into my jersey pocket, but I never did. I stuck it out. Because the heat was so unfamiliar to me at this point of the year for around these parts, I decided not to take a longer route. Later on, after I was at home for a while, I was happy I made that decision. 

 

One example of the rolling hills North of Waterloo.

Now we are back to what feels like Spring. This past weekend, well Friday and Saturday, at any rate, were straight out of Summer. It's too early for Summer! Hopefully Spring will be good. I need to get some miles in. 

Stay tuned.... 

Two Things

Image courtesy of Inno Racks

Rack Me:

Okay readers, I am in the market for a two bike hitch rack. I thought I knew what I wanted, then I started looking online. 

Whooo-boy! Are there a lot of zealous One Up rack users! 

Anyway, I gotta admit I am suffering a bit of sticker-shock regarding what these things cost. I get it now though. The prices are the prices. I think I'm settling in on spending something either side of 1K. Preferably under. 

Here are my parameters for purchase:

• Two bike carrier, 2" receiver hitch compatible.
• Lightweight construction. Mrs. Guitar Ted has to be able to wrestle this thing. 
•  I prefer a no-touch rack like a One-Up, or like system. 
• Integrated locking system for security
• It'd be nice if I could put my fat bike on it, but this is not a deal-breaker.  

What I do not care about:

• Ramps
• Heavy duty for e-Bikes ratings
•  Lights
• Add-ons for more than two bikes.
• Made In USA. (Nice but not necessary)
• Where I buy it from

 I've looked at Kuat, One-Up, Quick-R, Inno, Yakima, Thule, and some other brand I cannot recall right now, but they weren't too great anyway! In my looking at online reviews and sites for racks too many focus on stuff I don't care about like hauling e-Bikes, modular benefits, add-ons, and what not. I just need a two-bike rack, and I will buy one before mid-April because I am going on a trip to Kansas, if everything works out. And that will lead me to......

The Guitar Ted Podcast Episode #100:

Oh yeah! We made it to 100 episodes in just over 4 years. My last podcast I was involved with took like a decade to reach that milestone, so I feel pretty good about our work on the GTP show. 

The new episode features Ryan "Uncle Dudley" Dudley. We talked about a lot of stuff, but the main point was his producing an event called The Legends Of Gravel. 

this is a casual gathering planned to be a celebration of some of us old geezers who have been at the forefront of the gravel scene back when this Modern Era of gravel got going in the mid-2000's. 

The show can be accessed on several podcast platforms, but here is the Spotify Link in case you want to give this a listen. 

We also got around to some other stuff after Uncle Dudley signed off. There was some 32"er news, and a few other tidbits. Please check out the episode, and keep in mind we can really use 5 star ratings, and subs to the podcast, or sharing it on your socials. These are the best ways to support N.Y. Roll and I in our efforts. 

Plus, we are asking for listener questions. Just email any questions you may have to g.ted.productions@gmail.com. We'll do our best to answer those in the next episode. 

The Path To Discovering Gravel: Part 4

Unidentified rider skirting a muddy road during Trans Iowa v2 2006

 This is Part 4 of a mini-series of posts telling the story of what it was like to attend events in the early days of the Modern Gravel Era. In today's post I wanted to continue with a view to how the events were looked at by riders and what was important from a rider perspective. I think you will find things were very different 20 years ago!

When gravel events started to show up in 2005 and afterward for several years, it was a niche of cycling competition which drew heavily from endurance mountain biking culture. In the early to mid-2000's, the heyday of 24hr MTB events, certain ways things were done were taken for granted by the riders. Some of this culture was transferred over to gravel, certainly, and was done so in an unspoken way. However; the real emphasis philosophically was for gravel was drawn from the unsanctioned, off the grid ultra-mountain biking events. 

Self-sufficiency in those events was paramount. Not only was a rider expected to be able to do repairs in the field, but riders were also tasked with something else which caused no end of debate in the endurance community at the time. This debate also was a large part of early gravel events. The debate? It was centered around when a rider should abandon an event and how not to be a burden on the event. 

From T.I.v8 Image by Steve Fuller

Riders wanted to go as far as possible, at least this was the thought before an attempt at an event. Race directors did not like the idea of having half-dead, dazed and confused riders wandering around out in the wilds. What was the middle ground? 

I recall during the first Trans Iowa in 2005 reports coming in to me concerning a cyclists wandering far off course. It wasn't 100% known for certain if the rider was in Trans Iowa or not, but in all likelihood, the rider was probably in the event. I mean, who else goes wandering about in Iowa on gravel in late April in 40mph gusty Northwest winds? 

Obviously I was shocked and very concerned, but being I was the only functional person running the event, it was not possible for me to do much about this. Eventually the rider was corralled and brought back to safety by his support people, but I am not 100% sure how it happened at all, even now. The thing is, there was responsibility on both sides. Mine, because I wasn't able to keep track of every single rider, and on the rider, because they pushed too hard into a heavy wind, got dehydrated, disoriented, and lost. 

This was the debate. When to say when. Not to burden the event. This meant every rider was on their honor to "pull the plug", get themselves extracted from the course, either self-sufficiently, or by support people called in, and report their status to the event director. This was the operational rule in many early gravel events. It is echoed in the oft still used "You Are Responsible For You!" tagline you may have seen before on certain registration pages or event sites. 

An exploded rear derailleur on the course of Trans Iowa v4. Image by Rob Walters

The philosophical tenets of early gravel events were far different than today's events. Now event directors cater to their "customers" in ways which were never dreamt of as Modern Era Gravel got going. Aid stations, support for hire, course sweepers, media vehicles, and more leave little room for danger and self-reliance in the field. 

Some may see this as an 'improvement' over the old ways and think early gravel events were not 'real racing'. On the other hand, it was challenging, a thrill, and a different sort of 'fun' to ride in an event which placed the burden on you, the rider, to make it out the other side safely. You can still find some semblance of the old philosophy in events like the Arrowhead 135 and the IDITAROD Trail Invitational fat bike events., But in gravel, it is very hard to find this style of event in 2026. 

Things have certainly been changed to where the burden lays at the feet of race directors when it comes to rider well-being and success.  

Friday News And Views

Image courtesy of Xfusion

Xfusion G.E.T. 30 Gravel Bike Suspension Fork:

A new choice in front suspension for a gravel bike is now offered by Xfusion, a company known maybe more for its value oriented MTB suspension fork offerings. The new fork, dubbed the G.E.T. 30, (Grand Epic Trail) is based on a 30mm diameter stanchion platform and is available in the aforementioned 30mm of travel but can be converted to have 40mm or 50mm of travel. 

The fork also features external rebound adjustment and a lock-out function. There is a "Qflip" lever, designed for drop bars, which can lock out the fork or be used as a dropper post lever which is available separately. 

The damper unit is based on an air spring design for lightweight. It also is adjustable. The damper is Xfusion's Finecut RL2 sealed cartridge design damper which offeres improved oil flow for better small bump sensitivity, according to Xfusion. 

Offsets are available in 45mm or 51mm. The fork with an uncut steer tube weighs a claimed 2.9lbs. Designed for 700c wheels and gravel tires in Matte Black or Gloss Sand.. The G.E.T. 30 starts at $659.00 USD.  

Comments: You all probably know I am not a fan of telescopic, short-travel forks for gravel riding. That aside, this seems like a good alternative to Fox and SRAM/Rock Shox if someone is convinced this is a good idea. (Having a gravel suspension fork.)  

Image courtesy of Stoll Bikes

The 32" Watch: Big Wheels Win, Are Faster:

In the new world in which we live now where 32"er bikes roll on this planet, we now can say one of these monster wheeled bikes has won something. 

The Cape Epic, a multi-stage MTB XC event saw rider Felix Stehli win Stage three with his partner rider. Stehli was riding a production Stoll Bikes 32"er FS bike. 

In other 32"er news, Trans Iowa veteran (v8) rider John Karrasch has an article up on "The Escape Collective" in which he shows his recent testing on the Maxxis Aspen 32"er versus the same model in 29".  

John does a lot of rolling resistance testing on MTB and gravel tires,. He also has a bike fitting business so check out his work  

English Cycles prototype 32'er. Image courtesy of English Cycles

English Cycles, a custom bike builder from Eugene , Oregon, has a new prototype 32"er built as a bike packing rig. 

When I interviewed Sam Alison for the Guitar Ted Podcast recently he mentioned bike packing as being one of the ways 32"ers would likely be used. 

Seems Rob English would agree. His proto is for his testing purposes. In a blog post on the English Cycles site, Rob said he tried to maintain the fit and proportions of his 29"er as much as possible. He goes into great detail about certain aspects of building around this wheel size which is interesting.  

Check out this bike in further detail on the English Cycles' site HERE. 

Heard From Mid-South: Teravail has two 32" tires coming out. They will be based on the Cannonball and Camrock models. 

Rumors: Salsa Cycles Fargo 32"er? Seems to be a rampant rumor and was heard on the Shiftless podcast a week ago. Also: Mavic is rumored to be looking into 32"ers. Stay tuned.... 

 Finally another small builder, BTCHN Bikes, has an Alpina 32"er hardtail available now which looks interesting. Available in Med, L, XL sizes only. Check out the details on their sire HERE.  

The USA Trail Coast to Coast News:

The Spinistry folks are letting their TUBA Trail supporters know that the recon of the route, mostly gravel and dirt, across the USA has been completed. 

We interviewed Kevin Lee of the Spinistry who is the main developer of this trail on our Guitar Ted Podcast earlier this year. (Listen to the episode HERE) Kevin was still in the final stages of the trail's development then, but you get a great idea from the talk we had as to what this trail will be like. 

The trail changed names from TUBA Trail, (Transcontinental Unpaved Bicycle Adventure) to the USA Trail Coast To Coast . The name change reflects this trails status as being the first coast to coast, mainly unpaved trail for bicycle travel/touring. Kevin Lee is quoted in a recent email to TUBA Trail founders which I was able to see as follows: "While there is plenty of room for unpaved riding, we need a name that eliminates confusion and immediately tells the world what we’ve built."

The next stage in this trail's development is a Fall 2026 "dress rehearsal" riding of the route to work out any bugs and then the trail will be formerly opened, barring any issues, afterward.  

For more details see the TUBA Trail Founders page HERE.  

Image courtesy of SRAM

Hammerhead Karoo Share: 

Now Hammerhead Karoo users can share ride routes between devices. SRAM announced the update to the Karoo yesterday in a press release. 

SRAM claims routes and profiles can now be shared "immediately" between Karoo devices. Last minute adds at start lines are now totally possible with Karoo. 

You can learn more about this update and Karoo devices at Hammerhead's site HERE. 

Comments: I tried a Hammerhead Karoo 2 several years ago now and was really disappointed in it. Hopefully SRAM's purchase of Hammerhead has upped the experience quality for users. If you have a Hammerhead, how has it been for you? Let me know in the comments. 

Iowa Wind and Rock Announces Virtual Challenge Opportunity: 

The annual Iowa Wind and Rock event had to be cancelled due to health concerns for the event director. (Fortunately we are expecting a full recovery) 

Instead of the actual event, IWAR is putting out the #NotIWAR challenge. where riders are asked to do a long ride on the weekend of April 17th -  19th. From their Facebook post:

"Although we had to cancel this year's event, there's no reason for your training and fitness to go unused. We'd like to see you, and some friends, challenge yourself with a long ride sometime during the weekend of April 17 - 19. Ideally 100 miles or more, but if the conditions are right, a shorter distance will do. Gravel, bikepacking, singletrack, or mixed surface - it's all good. Just get out and push your limits for a few, or many, hours.

While we're not able to get our community together this year, we think it would be great to have everyone share photos and be able to read stories about their rides! Email works, or better post to IG or FB and use the hashtag #NotIWAR. No promises, but we might try and send something for each one that's submitted as well as gather the submissions and post them on the website as a bit of race history."

So, if you are reading this and think it is a great excuse for a bicycle ride, please consider supporting this idea. Ride a long ride, submit some images and words with the #NotIWAR hashtag, and show some support for this longstanding ultra-gravel ride, and more so for the RD who is recovering from medical procedures which prevented this year's event from happening. 
 

That's a wrap on this week. Happy Spring! get out and ride those bicycles!

Work Update

 The part time job gig was a bit interesting the other day. Some of our board members were at the Iowa Bicycle Expo last January and met a fellow from a town about 40 minutes North of Waterloo who has a bicycle shop. First of all, this was news to me when I heard about this shop last week. Secondly, a newer bicycle shop is a pretty cool thing these days in Iowa. Cool and rare. So check out Pedal and Play Sports in New Hampton if you ever get the chance. It's at 45 Main Street. Odd weekday hours. 4pm - 8pm, if I recall correctly because this is the proprietor's second job. 

Anyway....

This fellow had some bicycles gathering too much space which he had collected from the community and after he heard we did recycling and reclamation of old bicycles and parts he invited us up to take a load of those bikes off his hands. So, on Tuesday of this week I and a couple of our Board members went up in a truck and picked up 35 bicycles. 

Nick is not a thief. Trust me!

I hadn't planned on standing in a narrow, ice and snow filled alley in New Hampton, Iowa in the early afternoon, but there I was. Helping load the truck and chatting with the shop owner a bit before we headed back to Waterloo. 

So, a little explanation here. We keep what we can use, but a lot of this bicycle stuff is not going to get used. Ever again. So, we try to get as much of the unwanted stuff into the recycler's hands that we can. If we do not, it usually goes into landfills and this isn't our best end game for bicycles. 

With that in mind we ended up going to our local recycler to unload the bikes we knew we did not want to tear apart or refurbish. If you've never been to a recycling business, it is a wild trip of a place. 

There is a HUGE shredding machine, for one thing. Those machines are fascinating. Then you have the cranes with the monster magnets on them. Add in some huge heavy equipment and big trucks and it brings the boy out in a man. It's kind of fun for a little bit, anyway. 

So, a successful trip was had and now we have another shop connection we can help out with regarding the disposal of unwanted bicycles. It was fun to see another shop operation and talk with another passionate bicycle person. 

Now we're in waiting mode until Spring sets in, probably this weekend, actually, and then we should get busier. I'm really done with Winter, I'll tell ya that much.