Friday News And Views

Iowa Wrestles With E-Moto/E-Bike Regulation:

Another ban (effectively) on all bicycles on city streets was defeated for the short term recently as the city of Waukee. Iowa had a proposal in front of the city council to consider a new ordinance unfriendly to cyclists. 

It's just one example of many scenes in city government buildings across the nation which exemplify the issues with electrified bicycles and scooters which are proliferating in numbers and are popular with under age kids. 

While solutions remain in debate, and fairness to those who need assisted bicycles or are using bicycles from the "3 Class" system are considerations, my concern is how any of this will be enforced. 

Yes, putting laws on the books more clearly defining e-moto from assisted bikes is an admirable and actionable thing to do, my sense is there are no more means to enforce any ordinances or laws making effectiveness of such measures questionable. Resources for law enforcement, ways to monitor trails, and ways to enforce the uses of electric bicycles on streets is not being addressed. A law on the books means nothing without enforcement and real consequences. Do any of these municipalities have the appetite to budget more labor and resources for backing up such laws? No one seems to be thinking about these things. 

If the backing, resources, and consequences are not real, neither will be any bill or ordinance providing for clarity on e-moto/e-bike usage. Signs mean nothing. Social media promotion is hot air. These cities and towns need to consider reality when looking at this problem. 

Spanish component maker seeks investments to avoid bankruptcy

Industry Turmoil Continues Into 2026:

The woes of the cycling industry which were predicted to have been overcome by now are still hanging on. In some cases, brands are folding up shop. Lynskey, a titanium frame manufacturer based in Tennessee, recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy according to recent media reporting.  

Rotor, the Spanish component manufacturer, is seeking out investors to avoid bankruptcy. Giant and Shimano recently reported declines in sales over the first part of 2026. It seems as though the economic footing for many companies is still tenuous. 

It's been too many years now to blame this on the pandemic oversaturation in terms of inventory as most of the glut has been worked through by now. One has to wonder about what other things are holding consumers back from spending on cycling as more time goes by.  

Image courtesy of Assisting Force (Yes, that is really the name!)

China Cycle Show Promises Influx Of Gravel Frames/Forks/Components To USA:

Over the past several years I have started to pay more attention to shows like the China Cycle Show which has been going on this week. 

The trends in cycling are now being set, in part, by what is going on with China's cycling scene. There are many brands there, who have been making stuff you've ridden or heard about, under brand names you know. Now these companies are eyeing the foreign markets, (foreign to China) as places to make their own name directly. 

Take for instance the "Assisting Force" brand. The name may sound goofy, but the company is a serious one, having made frames, forks, and other components for other brands for 20 years now. Instead of selling to a company who slaps a brand name on the down tube and has to hike the price to make a profit (to support Western lifestyles and Pro teams, influencers, marketing, etc.), they now are seeking to sell direct. And since the profit necessary to make this work is only going through one set of hands, so to speak, the retail prices are lower. In some cases, alarmingly so. 

Frame sets, wheel, and even group sets are becoming better, more well known here, and are making inroads which the traditional brands are going to find hard to compete with. The future will be interesting to watch as consumers look at Chinese brands versus traditional brands. Which way this goes will determine a lot of people's futures.  

Image courtesy of Singular Cycles

Singular Offers New Drop Bar 32"er Pterodactyl Model:

At the recent Cycle Show in the UK, Sam Alison brought a new model which is now on offer in Singular Cycles range to show. It is a 32"er called the Pterodactyl which will slot alongside the already notable 32"er offering Singular has in the Albatross. 

The Pterodactyl is a drop bar design in titanium. Singular is offering it now on pre-order through this month only, for now. It features a Super Boost 157mm wide rear hub spacing for the best in wheel stability. A Columbus Futura full-carbon fork handles the front wheel holding job. The hubs spec'ed for now ar from Hope. The rims are a Willow branded aluminum tubeless ready design. Tires will be the Maxxis Ardent 32 X 2.4" although the claimed max clearance is rated at 2.5".  

Rolling chassis pre-orders are due by the end of May and are priced at $4,619.00USD. See more on the Pterodactyl HERE.  

Image courtesy of Otso Cycles

Otso Cycles' Fenrir Now In Steel:

Otso Cycles' entry in the "Fargo-eque" bikepacking range is the Fenrir. This bike was traditionally only available in titanium or stainless steel. Both materials which are nice, but on the pricey side. 

Otso has helped this situation out a little by making the Fenrir available in steel now. The Fenrir Steel is available as a frame set for $1,950.00 or in a few complete build configurations. 

The Fenrir Steel can handle both 650B and 29"er wheels with 650B X 2.8" or 29" x 2.6" tires being the maximum allowable. You can check out all the builds and finer details on Otso Cycles' website for the Fenrir Steel HERE. 

That will be a warp for this week. Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions! Now get out there and ride those bicycles!

Country Views: Headwinds - Three Kinds

Escape Route: Bike Trail to NW Passage Route

Sunday May 3rd. The weather was just about perfect. Very little wind, abundant Sunshine, little humidity. No one was waiting on me to do anything. Mrs. Guitar Ted was going to a movie, then to do some minor shopping. My daughter was at work. I had all afternoon to myself. Even Mrs. Guitar Ted said I should go out and ride. 

But I didn't. 

Monday was a busy morning with afternoon work and so I did not get out to ride until Tuesday. It looked perfect out, but it was only in the 50's and there was a breeze from the Northwest. I didn't let the wind stop me. I decided on doing the "Northwest Passage" route to minimize having to deal with the headwind. 

I took out the pink Black Mountain Cycles MCD. It was cool enough I could wear my long sleeved wool jersey, Twin Six wind vest, and wool socks. No gloves! My hands stay pretty warm. I had a bandana on the noggin underneath the Bontrager Circuit helmet. 

South Riverside Trail

The Cedar River at Downtown Cedar Falls

While the Northwest Passage route keeps me out of dealing with the physical headwinds, for the most part, there are other headwinds I'm dealing with. Headwinds which have been with me since last Summer. 

It is why I did not ride on the perfect day on Sunday. It is why I don't ride on other days. It is why I cannot get out of my chair sometimes. Or maybe it is why I have no motivation some days. Those headwinds, the mental and spiritual ones, have been pretty hard on me. There Is no "Northwest Passage" around that. 

 

These two dogs wanted to come out and play, if it weren't for that dratted invisible fence!

The mental headwinds are a bit easier to handle. The thoughts which I'd rather not think about raise their ugly little heads every day. I pray. I find distraction. It doesn't always work, but most of the time, it is okay. 

"I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then"

"Against The Wind" Bob Seger

  

The spiritual headwinds, now those are devastating. When you feel empty. When that big hole looms larger and larger. 

I had an echo-cardiogram done recently at the request of my family practice doctor. He thought he heard something odd last time I saw him several months ago. The tests didn't show any abnormalities. I guess modern technology still can't detect a broken heart. 

A farmer and his rig appear as a smudge of dirt in the middle of this field.

The Northwest wind wasn't too bad on this ride. Maybe it was more West than North. I seemed to have an easy time going East on this ride. I had to put a little more pressure on the right side of the handle bar going South, so I'd say the wind was more West. 

The other headwinds don't respond to pressure. You cannot "pedal harder". You cannot handle it better by doing this or that all the time. Sometimes you just have to ask Jesus to hold your hand while you go right through the center of the windstorm. It isn't easy or fun. 

Sunday I went for a walk. It was good. It wasn't easy, but it was good. I didn't worry about missing a "perfect day"on my bicycle, because my day was far from "perfect"

  I rode a little over two hours on Tuesday. I had a moment or two during the ride which was tough. Different winds were dealt with. It'll be a long time before I have any sort of tailwinds, if ever. I understand this. 

I'll just keep moving forward..... 

An Interesting Thought Examined

Cues for the 2009 Good Life Gravel Adventure

So many good topics for discussion come out of the comments section here on the blog and this was the case again last week. So, first of all, thanks for making comments here, if you do, and if you do not, then maybe consider it sometime. You never know when something you post in the comments might become another article here. 

Today's post comes out of a comment made last week on my "New Finds After All This Time" post. A comment there made by "Brett" stated the following: "I keep thinking they should go back to using just cue sheets for the Unbound 200 and XL. That would really tick off those pro riders!"

You can go back and read my response to Brett, and I will not go over that specifically here. However; what I do want to cover is why the way events were done then, including the cue sheet navigation, wouldn't fly with almost anyone today. Much less the Pros! 

There are certain things which fall under the category of "Expectations" when one signs up for an event today. These items change over the course of time as new things enter into the lexicon of how events are produced and younger people enter into attending those events. Furthermore; technology, culture, and current social trends affect how events are going to look and feel as well. 

There was a time when you signed up to do an event by mailing in a flyer, or signing on at a bicycle shop. Now? There is no way anyone is doing things that way. How many folks are buying wired computers these days? We used to sell those by the dozen on a daily basis at the bike shops I worked at. How about Power Bars? Anyone still trying to chew one so they can swallow it out there? (IYKYK)

Yeah, so doing things like cue sheet navigation isn't 100% gone, (Hello Ragnorok 105!), but it is functionally extinct now in terms of events. 

People expect a gpx route file now. People expect "aid stations", (you unfortunate folks will never know the joy of a slice of Casey's pizza when your world is undone), and of course, if you are in the Pro category, expectations are even more demanding. 

Could we strip it back to the way things were done back almost 20 years ago? Possibly. How many would even be interested in that? Not enough to support a person putting on the event, which by the way, is another expectation these days. Hardly anyone is willing to put themselves out there at no charge, like many did back when Gravel got started.  Heck, hardly anyone puts on a free gravel event anymore. 

So, while it may seem fun to think about cue sheet navigation and a thousand folks out on course trying to figure it all out on their own with an analog computer, this is all just fanciful mind games now. It's unrealistic.But yeah.......those were great days. Make no mistake. 

And think about this: In twenty years, nothing will be like it is now either. So, "The Good Ol' Days" are the days you are taking for granted today. Trust me......I know all about that.   

UPDATE: I did not know this "Cyclingnews.com" article was going to hit on the same day as this article, but it clearly illustrates the issues with an event "getting big".  

Note the salient points which have been talking points for a decade or more as gravel events became more popular.

• Events growing numbers of participants, accepting sponsorship money, and inviting Pro categories = MORE RESPONSIBILITIES.
• Events inviting more participants see folks from "other disciplines" (read road riders, for the most part), which causes issues in the event.
• Mixed fields, mostly involving the "age groups" vs Pros, and how this causes conflicts.

All this is also part and parcel to the reasons why we cannot go back, unless..... Promoters curate their events to stay small, not be revenue generators for themselves and professional/semi-Pro athletes, and keep a focus on adventure and challenge. IF promoters see "success" defined as the rider's experience over sheer numbers, media attention, Pro racer attendance, and how races are defined by the media? Then they could possibly retain the flavor of older events.  

And We're Back!

Sorry about the lack of a real post for earlier today. I'll have a regular post up for tomorrow and hopefully going forward. Apparently some critter decided fiber optic cable was good for snacking. 

Anyway... Here are some things which will be upcoming on the blog here for y'all to look forward to.

• Stan's Products: I'll probably update the lubricant with a new post in the Guitar Ted Lube-Off Series. Fun fact: The Lube-Off has been ongoing here since the blog has been around, so pert-near 21 years! 
•  That TPU tube thing keeps garnering interest and I have a new update on the Aeron TPU tubes coming this week. 
• New Country Views: Hoping to add more of these this Summer.
• Fargo Wheels: Still looking for rims, but when I decide, there will be some posts on this.
• Maybe a surprise ride announcement for June......maybe not. Things are still up in the air with regard to something I cannot talk about just yet. 
• Ride For Jacob: A date will be announced soon. Details coming.... 
• The Regular Stuff. You know if you hang out here.....

Okay, that should do it for this delayed "regular post", which wasn't what I had in mind, but I did not predict an internet outage due to unforeseen, (and unseen) reasons.  

As always..... Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

Technical Difficulties

 Sorry for the inconvenience to my regular blog readers. Our internet has gone out and will be out until later today (hopefully that’s all)

Look for a regular blog post on Wednesday. 

Country Views: Cool May Day

Escape Route: Riverside bicycle trails East.

This Spring has been wet, April was super warm, but now May has entered the chat. And it has cooled down a lot. We've got frost warnings, low 50's, and gray skies. Yeah, you get the weather you get. Just ride, right? 

So, Friday afternoon on May 1st I had a chance to go for a quick ride. I was thwarted in my attempt to go down near Washburn, Iowa last time and I just felt like I needed to get that done. So, I departed the HQ here and headed down along the river toward Evansdale. Once again, I found the bike trail closed. 

So, I did some urban scrambling and came into Evansdale on the main drag, which hasn't changed at all since the 1950's, I would bet. The last bit of road between Waterloo and Evansdale is so narrow. Fortunately there is a fairly wide dirt shoulder, but the cars and trucks passing by are so close you feel like you could reach out and touch them and they are on two lanes so narrow they cannot move an inch to the side without possibly running into an oncoming vehicle. 

Maybe someday that will be addressed and we can have a real separated bicycle path like Evansdale has on the Southeast side going to Elk Run heights. 

Maybe.... 

The trees are almost all leafed out. The river is full again. This looks normal for once. 

The chip seal part of Foulk Road just past its dead end to the CVNT.

I finally got on the Cedar Valley Nature Trail (CVNT), and then a short while later I turned Right onto Foulk Road. My plan was to go up and see if I could ride McKellar Road and the dirt part of Weiden Road. I didn't know if these dirt roads would be passable after all the rains we had in April. 

Stopped by a train of empty flat bed cars? Weird!

McKellar Road was fine. It looks weird with no crops though!

The dirt was fine on McKellar, which made me hopeful I'd be okay on Weiden Road. Every field along the way had just been worked up and planted. Maybe this season this area will be all soybeans. It was all corn last year. 

My Dad used to call these a "honey wagon" IYKYK

Later on the Sun tried to come out, but it just wasn't quite there.

Weiden was full of water pits, but all had work-a-rounds, so I made it through. Then it was just time to loop it back around to get going home. I didn't have time to get a big loop in on this day. I did make it home after a couple of hours of riding though. 

Stacking days....... 

New Finds After All This Time

Trans Iowa v14, the last start. Image by Dori Jaansma

 Last week was filled with Trans Iowa memories on my Facebook timeline. It happens every year, right? Anyone who uses that social media platform can probably nod their head in agreement with how this "memories" thing works. 

My surprise is that even after eight years I am still finding new stuff on Trans Iowa I'd never seen before, or knew about. To me, this is remarkable. 

Images are the most common thing, obviously, but I have found a story about Trans Iowa v14 written by Nick Legan, a fellow Gravel Cycling Hall of Famer, by the way. It is a story about his efforts to finish the last Trans Iowa. I found it fascinating since Nick tabulates some numbers which I had no access to from athletes or from my own research. Things I had guessed at, but now I have some hard numbers to point to. The story, on "Rambleur" can be read HERE.  

Mark Lowe (L), and Nick Legan on the course of Trans Iowa v14. Image by Jon Duke

 As an example, I knew it got really cold the night of v14 going into the Sunday finish. Matt Gersib and I were freezing standing on a Level B Road just East of Grinnell, trying to toast to the end of an era. It wasn't to be as Matt said it was "too damn cold" and he was bailing out. A moment dashed. A moment I was hoping would be an intimate, final farewell to Trans Iowa with him. No hard feelings, Matt. I was 100% with you. I just was wishing it wasn't so cold right at that moment. 

And I never really knew just how cold it had gotten. Now I have a number, thanks to Nick. 23°F! In late April! No wonder we couldn't enjoy that moment! It all just makes so much sense and now, eight years later, I have found some solace as to why this moment did not work out for me. 

My image of the full moon, standing on a gravel road near midnight during T.I.v14

 I used to get asked all the time what the elevation gain was for any Trans Iowa. Frankly, I had no way of knowing this for certain. Especially in the earlier years of the event when GPS tracking was nearly non-existent or so poor it could only be taken as a guidepost. 

Of course, things have changed. Even by 2018, which was the year of the last Trans Iowa, GPS data was much more reliable.  Nick had a Wahoo Elemnt onboard his ride of Trans Iowa v14 and shared this data in the story linked above. His device read out 19,291ft in 350 miles. (Nick admittedly did some "bonus miles" due to a navigational error or two)

While this number may not be all that impressive, consider the fact that Nick accomplished that elevation gain and mileage in under 33 hours overall with no sleep. Plus, he had to do his own navigation by cue sheets. No gpx files. No simply following audible prompts for where to turn. 

Post T.I.v14 scraps. Image by Ryan Simon

Of course, none of this probably hits anyone quite like it does me. I understand this to be true. Eight years later not many folks even think about Trans Iowa anymore. Maybe the riders do. Some of the volunteers might. I don't know. 

It seems to me that the whole thing should have blown away like Fall leaves down a chip sealed street. Tumbling away until there are only remnants of what was once a green, living thing. 

Then those memories posts show up and the old feelings are reignited. Especially when images and words I hadn't see before are popping up all these years later. These new finds make me think about why this all may still matter to some people. Why it still matters to me. 

Jason Boucher, a good friend and supporter of myself and Trans Iowa when it was an event, once wrote to me and encouraged me to keep the event going because "..you give people a chance to change their lives".I know he was right about that. I've heard from people who have said as much to me. I know it changed me too.

And in the end, when it comes to this old stuff concerning Trans Iowa, we can find new things as a result inside our lives because of those times. What those things are may be different for each person who was touched by the event. 

And that is what matters. 

Two Things

Image courtesy of Salsa Cycles

The Cycling Industry Is Not Out To "Get You".  

With the advent of the 32" wheel diameter the oft heard cries of "foul" aimed at marketers and the cycling industry at large are being brought back to the fore. 

I read comments, (I know......you aren't supposed to read the comments!), on threads concerning the new 32" wheels and I see the same old complaints I've seen over the years. Complaints concerning internal cable routing, disc brakes, 27.5"ers, "Plus sized tires". and 29"ers, not to mention bottom brackets, head sets, and more component changes. 

"It's just another thing they've done to make us spend more money!"

This one is one of my favorite old saws concerning the bicycle industry. It is as if anything new comes along with a gun held to your head "making you buy it". This is such a ridiculous complaint and it deserves the utmost derision in return. It is just a stupid, knee-jerk, thoughtless comment. No one is making you spend your money. The consumer can vote by NOT spending any money on new tech, and often they do. Quit complaining in this manner and keep your credit card hidden, go out and touch grass. It'll be okay. 

I know I could go on because I've seen so much negativity lambasted at products people thought no one needed and were a waste of time over the years. Guess what? More often than not, those things become the hill someone else is going to die on concerning something that shouldn't be changed in the future. See 29"ers vs 26"ers, and now what people say about 29"ers vs 32"ers. I wouldn't be at all surprised if some of those who are against the idea of a 32"er were against the idea of a 29"er twenty years ago. They probably have forgotten all about this though. 

And the whole "standards" thing is a farce. There haven't been standards, in a strict sense of the word, EVER in cycling. There is the standard you came into cycling with, and which you think shouldn't ever change, yes. But in reality, cycling is in a state of constant change. Just ask any bicycle mechanic who has to buy hundreds of dollars worth of tools every year just to keep up with those changes. 

In one sense, this is the problem with cycling. Not that any company is out to get you by changing things, but that these companies keep inventing "new" things which we don't really need. Once in a while actual innovation to the betterment of all is achieved. (Threadless head sets, cartridge bottom brackets, 29"ers), and at other times it is change for no real benefit to anyone (internally routed cables, various bottom bracket types, XD drivers). So, this foments the idea that cycling is just trying to make it so you have to buy the latest thing. You do not "have to" buy anything. 

You just think you do..... 

Gravel Porn: Ben Witt on the Heywood 390 course

Doing It Right

Wednesday I saw some Instagram stories from the guys at the Heywood Ride.  They were out  for a long day of course-checking for their upcoming event on May 16th. 

This was for their longest route option. A 390 mile beast of a loop running through the Driftless Area. (IYKYK) 

There are shorter distances which, I imagine, most people will rather do, but these ultra-distance gravel routes always tug at my heart. No surprise there, I suppose. 

I was most chuffed to know that Marty Larson and Ben Witt "get it". They understand that you just do not simply throw a route out with a GPS track and expect it to work. It will not work. These guys know it won't work that way. This is why they drove the course to check everything out. And they found a problem they had to account for with a re-route. 

This level of care and attention to detail is worthy of your attending this event. If you have a hankering for a good time on a bike, I cannot recommend this ride strongly enough. Check it out. There is still time to get onboard at any distance or commitment level you want to.