The Path To Discovering Gravel Grinding: Part 6

 This is Part 6 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 am going to explore things which, in my opinion, made early gravel events unique and more than just a competition. 

Image by Ari Andonopoulos

Early gravel races and rides had something which up until the start of the Modern Gravel era in 2005 were mostly unheard of anywhere else. This would be a side of gravel which drew many into the scene and gave rise to the term, "Gravel Family". A term co opted by a certain big-time gravel event now. 

What am I speaking of, you might ask? Well, it would be the social functions surrounding many of the different gravel events in those early days of gravel grinding. 

This was always a part of the gravel scene right from the jump. At the first two Trans Iowa events there was a pre-race meeting, but it was held at a Pizza Ranch restaurant with a full spaghetti meal for all in attendance. This served as a social meeting, as the riders were all in one place and could meet each other. Given the low-key nature of these early events, the front-runners mixed in with the back-of-the-packers and everyone got along famously. It was as if Pro racer perks were against the rules. And in a way, this was kind of an unspoken rule in gravel. No one was above anyone else. Snobbery, in even the slightest form, was looked down upon. 

From the beginnings, in the mid-2000's, this facet of gravel events was evolved by different event promoters. Some copied the Trans Iowa format, while others invented their own ways, and it even infiltrated the actual events in some cases. 

The first Gravel Worlds held their sign-in at Oso's restaurant in downtown Lincoln, Nebraska.

Trans Iowa held a "meat-up" where riders had to grill their own meals. Image by Wally Kilburg (R.I.P.)

Eating together is a basic human activity and is conducive to having people engage in discourse with each other. This helped bond the riders and created reasons to go to other events which had similar social gatherings to reconnect. 

Odin's Revenge sandwiched their event with a beginning social at the Walker's Steakhouse...

...and ended at a KOA Kampground with food, beer, and socializing.

Events branched out to do some different things then and each event director tended to have a bit of a different spin on the social activities. It was a fun time to go see how things would be done, and if the event was successful, word of mouth would spread and the event was sure to get even more attention in following years. 

Night Nonsense, an event held entirely at night, had a truck with volunteers handing out slices of pizza about 3/4's of the way through the course. 

The Moonshine Metric started and ended in the RD's garage and there was a potluck afterward. 

Not every event did things this way, and some still do, but I think early on this facet of the gravel scene was a huge draw for riders tired of going to an event, racing, packing up, and driving home. Now you had reasons to go besides the bicycle racing/riding. You went to see those folks you met at another gravel event, and you had time to talk, and maybe even enjoy something like a meal, a cold one, or some other activity with those folks. 

The Fargo Adventure Rides often had meet-ups the evening prior with food and drink with a social gathering afterward, (Image by Jason Boucher)

Gravel clinics, like this one for Trans Iowa held in 2014, were another excuse to gather together outside of competitive riding.

I truly believe that without a social component to these pioneering gravel events we would not have seen the rise of gravel as a sport such as we have now in the last ten years. All this talk about how "gravel has grown up" and become "serious" now is not possible without the bedrock foundation the Pro level sport stands upon now. People are making a living off gravel because of the way events were done back then, not despite the way they were done. (And in many cases, still are being run.)

So, when you see the malarkey being posted online concerning how Pro racing has legitimized gravel, you should call "BS", because that isn't what happened. The early gravel scene made what they are doing now to the sport possible, and without it, no one would be making bank off gravel. Not that I am concerned about the money, because I honestly don't care. But when the story gets twisted, I don't like the results the twisting of the actual background stories causes. Or the out-right ignorance of the way gravel history unfolded. Which, honestly, is more the case than not, unfortunately. 

Too bad there isn't some organization out there to gather up this history, preserve it, and tell the real stories behind gravel cycling. Hmm.... anyway. 

Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.  

Friday News And Views

Image courtesy of Ritchey Design

Ritchey Design Announces Comp El Camino Handlebar:

Ritchey Design makes a lot of cool handlebars and is one of the brands which keeps the "alt bar" flag flying high. Their latest design hearkens back to cruiser bike design and is called the Comp El Camino. 

Featuring a generous 35° degrees of backsweep, 50mm of rise and a 750mm width, the Comp El Camino could be a great addition to many types of bicycles. 

The handlebar is constructed from double butted 6061 aluminum alloy which gets the weight down to a nice 340 grams (claimed) and should result in a nice ride quality. The bar comes in "BB Black" and is priced at $59.95 USD. (€51.90 (inc. VAT), £45.90 (inc. VAT))

Comments: This is a cool handlebar. I cannot count how many times I've seen similar handlebars at the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective which were steel, chrome plated, with rust pits, and thought, "This would be such a great handlebar if it were modernized". Well, this El Camino design is about as close as you can get to that old shape but with modern appointments such as the 31.8mm clamp section, room to mount accessories, and in a decent width. 

Image courtesy of Life Time

Sea Otter Soon:

This time in two weeks we will be in the thick of Sea Otter craziness. Before this I would expect several press releases will go live. In fact, I know this because I am sitting on several. (Embargoed, don't cha know!)

Without giving anything away, what can we expect? 

Well, we all are waiting to see what gets shown in the way of 32"ers. I can say there will be news. It definitely will spark debate and attention. 

Besides 32"ers? Well......not a lot to be excited about, really. There is some component news, but nothing earth-shattering. I do suspect Shimano will drop something 13 speed, probably Dura Ace, I don't know, but Shimano typically announces stuff at Sea Otter and the road side is up for change after Shimano overhauled their MTB groups recently. 

SRAM typically has a big deal announcement at Sea Otter as well, so I'd expect something there, but again, we'd probably not be too surprised by anything they would announce either. At this point with electronically controlled shifting the only big surprise I could see would be wireless braking, which SRAM has worked on, and something I'd have ZERO interest in even looking at. Maybe I'm the odd man out. 

At any rate, stay tuned.... Things are going to be busy for a bit on the news front. 

Image courtesy of Vittoria Tires

Vittoria Offers Really Wide Road Tires:

Vittoria Tires says, " Road tires are getting bigger. Much bigger."

Several weeks ago I talked a bit on this site about the move many companies are making to include wider tire clearances on their "endurance" road bike models. 

Vittoria's introduction of a 700 x 38mm and 700 x 42mm Corsa Pro Control road tire points to this being a solid trend. Although it should be mentioned that Vittoria also sees these tires as being replacements for gravel treads where riders are focused more on pavement. 

I'll also mention a comment left on my February 19th post, (link above) mentioned the 42mm Corsa Pro was on a Cervelo as stock, but the person commenting did not know if the tire was available separately. It would appear that this is now the case. 

On their Facebook page, Vittoria posted about the Corsa Pro tires by saying the following: "Developed to bring race-level road performance to the new generation of crossover bikes, these slick tires are built to handle asphalt, pavé, cobbles, and compact gravel while preserving the speed and ride feel of the Corsa PRO family."

Comments: This also lines up with my thoughts of how the "road bikes for the people" will be wider tired, less racy bikes with a LOT more capability when it comes to terrain use. Honestly, a bicycle with 42mm tires like the Corsa Pro tires is right up my alley. There are a lot of times when a tire like this with a wide-range drive train makes tons of sense here, especially a bike that has fender mounts. 

In my opinion, most tread is useless on crushed rock roads. I've ridden a Donnelly tire which was very similar to this Vittoria tire on gravel here and it was fine. You can run the pressures down and on a wider rim something like this, with its lighter weight and nicer ride quality would be awesome. 

Image courtesy of Aeron TPU Tubes

Review Announcement: Aeron TPU Tubes:

 Today I should be receiving some Aeron TPU tubes in the post which I plan on reviewing here for GTP. 

You may have seen my Rene Herse TPU tube review from last year.  I've also looked at WTB TPU tubes, (With an update on those HERE) and the original TPU tube, Tubolito. 

As you might notice from looking at all those reviews and updates, if you do, you will mark a slow evolution in TPU tubes and performance. Most notably around the valve stem part of the TPU tube. 

Manufacturers are still dialing in and fine tuning TPU tubes to be reliable, easy to use, and have better features. My attention has been brought to bear on what Aeron is offering and I thought it would be good to see how this product stacks up against others in this field. 

The Aeron valve stem is partially threaded for grip when using friction interface pumps and screw-on pump heads.  The valve core is removable as well. Aeron claims their tube is a multi-layer construction and this allows the tube to fit anywhere from a 32mm tire to a 52mm tire. Quite a difference from previous TPU tubes I've tried. 

This and the price is just under 30 bucks a pop. So, there is a lot of promise there and the expectations are high. Stay tuned for this review to be started next week.  

That is a wrap for this week. Get out there and ride those bicycles! 

Rack Me: A Decision Has Been Made

My first car rack. A Thule T2. Circa 2007

The decision on which car rack to purchase has been made. First off, I want to thank each and every reader here who took the time to post in the comments and share their rack thoughts. Many of you went to great lengths and  detail in those comments and all of those comments were dear to me. 

It was immediately apparent in those comments that you all had very passionate feelings about your car racks. There was some advice, but mainly a sharing of those feelings and experiences. I learned a lot and went back and looked at a few things after reading some of your feedback. 

Let me also say that I don't think there would have been any "wrong" decision to be made between the One Up, Saris, or the Kuat racks. It seemed apparent that there were enough positive experiences to recommend any of those brands. However; it did come down to a few important details, to me at any rate, and I made a decision.

I decided on a Kuat Piston Pro.

Now, based upon a few comments, and on some outside research, here is what made me go in this direction, just for the record:

• There were some customer service concerns from some of you regarding One Up.
• There were some wear related concerns with One Up racks, which wouldn't have been too big a deal, except none of the other choices did not seem to bring up any wear related concerns at all. 
• Saris isn't well represented here in my area, and their design (of the rack I was most interested in) lacked ground clearance when going up driveway inclines, and the like. It was mostly the ground clearance issue which finally made me look at Kuat instead. 
• Kuat seemed to get high recommendations in terms of customer service.  

Kuat Piston Pro

While the Piston Pro model was a bit more than I was wanting to spend, it has features which I found to be attractive, and its ease of use seems to be at least on par with One Up and maybe even better. 

And let's be honest, while one Up did their design which caught on and was/is successful, now every rack manufacturer has a version of this design out. Some have improved on this design, and I think Kuat has made some advancements which make using their version of this design a little more user friendly. 

Plus, the shopping experience online was much easier and more pleasant in the case of Kuat, which helped me navigate my options. One Up's site - at least for me - was not fun to get through to a point where I understood what I needed with regard to options to satisfy me. That and the price was no better, apples to apples, with Kuat. 

One more thing: I don't have any chance to see a One Up rack locally, but my friend N.Y. Roll has a Kuat rack, so this was influential, I will admit. 

Okay, that's it, really. Now for the actual rack to appear and then I'll get into my thoughts and impressions of it. Again - thank you all  that commented in the previous "Rack Me" posts. You did make a difference. 

The 32" Watch: Maxxis Speaks, The Industry Hedges

Singular Albatross 32'er. (Image courtesy of Singular Cycles)

 Note: I know it is "April Fools Day", but this is a serious take on 32"ers. In fact, I despise April Fools posts. I hope you enjoy today's article. Hit me up in the comments section with any thoughts you may have on 32 inch wheels. 

Last week the Taipei Cycle Show took place in Taiwan, global home to several cycling industry brands and manufacturers. Many watching from the sidelines were curious as to what would be new, especially in terms of 32" wheels. 

While there was some new product shown and teased there, it was mostly underwhelming from a consumer viewpoint. Mid-tier frames and suspension forks were shown, but this only reinforces the idea that perhaps 32" bikes are going to be relegated to only being entry level hard tail MTB's. There were rumors of tires, but nothing beyond the already ubiquitous Maxxis Aspen and a few other tires were shown. Promised new treads were spoken about, but nothing showed up in reality. 

As seen on social media

This week a story was posted on the "Bicycle Retailer and Industry News" site which was reported from the Taipei show. The BRAIN report quotes Maxxis employees in the article and some of what was revealed is interesting. 

It seems there are new tread patterns coming from Maxxis and even a gravel tire is in the works, according to the article. Maxxis has been rumored heavily in recent months as having several tread patterns in the works for 32" wheels. The article says April 16th is the date when the covers will come off Maxxis' offerings, which kicks off Sea Otter, so look for all the news to be blasted across the internet then. 

A Maxxis employee interviewed for the report seemed to indicate gravel as a sector where 32"ers will be focused as far as development in bicycles. Of course, further MTB development is also forecast as well. 

Comments: 

That gravel is a sector where 32" wheels will make somewhat of an impact is fairly noteworthy. It makes sense in many ways, but there is always the specter of limited fit options and weight which may hinder enthusiasm for the wheel size. There will definitely be something for gravel aficionados to get excited about at Sea Otter, but how the market actually responds to any of this is still a big unknown. 

I noted industry wonks in a couple of Taipei Cycle Show videos I watched being sort of lukewarm about the impact of 32"ers. Industry issues in MTB are still being felt as inventory gluts in certain segments are still being worked through. Consumer enthusiasm for buying new stuff is still not very good. One online publication even puts forth the notion that 32" wheels have come at "the wrong time" and should be put on pause.  

Perhaps Sea Otter will boost enthusiasm on the consumer side and industry folks who are hesitant to mark this as "The Next Big Thing" will suddenly change their attitudes. In my opinion, shops are hurting across the country. Many won't want to stock something as unknown a quantity and which represents a big risk financially. There will be questions about the sustainability of such a wheel size. Maybe it will be like fat bikes - People ran out and bought them like crazy for a few years, and then the bottom fell out of that market. Or perhaps it will be like 650B/27.5"ers which were touted as the "Next Big Thing" in 2011 but are nowhere near the popularity today which was promised by purveyors of the wheel size fifteen years ago now. 

We will see. But one thing is for sure - 32 is creating a buzz unlike anything seen in this decade so far. Will it hang on? Will consumers float this wheel size into the future? It'll be an uphill battle, in my opinion, but we shall see. 

Image courtesy of Scwalbe social media

Bonus Material:

One of my dear blog readers sent me a link to a test/review of the bicycle you see here in the image from Schwalbe's social media. 

It is a great comprehensive look at 32"ers and in particular, from a drop bar perspective. Now.....they call this gravel riding in Germany, but it sure looks like average MTB trail riding terrain in my eyes. Your mileage may vary, but "gravel" ain't "gravel" unless it is crushed rock road. 

At any rate, give this link a shot. It's in German, so you have to hit your translation function in your browser, which even then will make the read a bit challenging, because German to English is not a smooth transition! 

But the gist of it will come through. Most interesting to me was the last bit concerning the UCI gravel series and 32"ers. Looks like they are banned from competition for now. This may seriously affect things in Europe. But seeing as how the UCI has little to no influence on the US market it shouldn't be an issue for events here unless there are further developments which would make 32"ers illegal. 
 

Gravel Grinder News: Shand Cycles Stramish Gravel Bike

The new Stramish by Strand Cycles

Note: All images and information used in this article were provided by Shand Cycles. Comments are Guitar Ted's. 

Today Shand Cycles from the United kingdom unveils its all-new version of the Stramish gravel bike. This steel frame, carbon forked bike has several new features which  should pique the interest of the adventurous cyclist. 

This bike is hand fabricated and painted in the UK and is available by order with a delivery of six to eight weeks. 

Shand says that "stramish" means a racket, or disturbance, in Scottish, and fits the intentions of this adventure/gravel bike perfectly. The Stramish uses a Columbus steel tubing for the main frame and has 50mm tire clearance. There are two sets of water bottle bosses in the main triangle, a set under the down tube, and top tube "bento-box" accessory mounts as well as the "Three-pack" style mounts on the carbon fork. Of course, it wouldn't be a UK bike without mudguard mounts and rack mounts.    

Shand is now making their own stainless steel rear drop outs and with this model the addition of a UDH hanger is also adopted. Note the split in the frame which allows the rider to choose a belt driven drive train, if so desired. 

Furthermore, the T-47 type bottom bracket shell allows for the use of a standard threaded bottom bracket or an eccentric insert, so the bike is compatible with geared drive trains, single speed, or internally geared hubs as well. This provides for a multitude of set ups using the Stramish as a platform. 

The geometry of the Stramish is ready for adventure, but not too far removed from standard gravel geometry that it looses its identity trying to be a drop bar mountain bike. The frame comes in four sizes: Small, Medium, Large, and Xtra Large.  

The Stramish is available now and starts at  £5,495/$7,245.00 USD See this bike and other Shand Cycles models at their website HERE. 

Comments: I'm fairly picky about what I choose to post here for press releases. So much of what gets slid across my inbox represents sameness or is of little relevance to gravel or adventure cycling, so it gets passed on from me. However; this bike has something unique and fits right into the adventure/ultra-distance/gravel grinder type thing which I personally find intriguing. I hope that you do as well.  

The Stramish isn't what I would term as "racy", although one could race on it. The geometry is very good, in my opinion, and stack height is neither too slammed or too upright. While I realize there are some elements of gravel riders who are not going to look at anything new without mahoosive tire clearances, I find this 50mm maximum to be quite adequate for all-around - all-road uses. If you ride on single track, mountain trails, or the like, then maybe I can see your point but there are plenty of drop bar mountain bikes now for those pursuits.  

The price is steep. Especially to get one here in the USA. However; what isn't really expensive now and what other steel bikes have the versatility the Stramish has? Stateside we have the Co-Motion Divide, a similar steel bike, and when configured to do what the Stramish could do it costs about the same. So, I think the value is certainly there with this Shand Cycles model.  

Do You Really Want To Know?

What's on the other side?

 We asked for listener questions the other day on the latest Guitar Ted Podcast, and one came in this past weekend which had me thinking quite a bit. The question will get addressed soon enough, but one part of the consideration I had for the question landed on something which is close to my heart. 

Do we really need to know? 

You might say in answer, "What do you mean?  What is it we might need to know?" 

And it could go a lot of ways from this point.  But keeping things cycling related, I was thinking that, speaking for myself here, I tend to get a lot more excited about going on a ride where there are elements to the ride I do not know about. Unfamiliarity with a course, or roads, is an obvious one there.  

It could be as simple as taking a road I haven't been on, ever, or for a while. Or it could be meeting new people. Whatever it is, not knowing things is exciting. Taken a bit further, getting lost is even more exciting. Okay, you may not like feeling lost, but sometimes I do like this feeling. As long as the end comes out on the positive side, I think getting a little lost is fun. 

I know.....I'm a bit odd that way. 

So, I saw this new bit from some route-finding app which promises AI analytics for any given gravel course. You plot in the route, say from a GPS file you were sent by an event, and this program tells you all about the road surfaces, elevation gradients, and more. Now......maybe it actually works, I do not know. I don't care either. But what got me was that people want to spoil their experience. To me, this takes all the excitement right out of going to an event. 

Image by Wally Kilburg (R.I.P.)

 Maybe if you "know all the stuff" ahead of time it makes you feel safer. Perhaps this is the motivation? Or perhaps you "have an advantage" of some sort? I don't know. I think you've just sucked the life out of your possible cool experience. But you do you....

The world is a dangerous place. Knowing everything" you can know ahead of time does not take the danger away. It is a sick illusion. It just takes your focus off the thing that could be giving you "life". That "oh shit!" moment when your heart rate spikes and you somehow pull out of there with most of your skin intact and a great story to tell. I don't know, but I'd rather have that than a saran wrapped, safe ride with zero surprises and nothing exciting. 

Image by Jason Boucher

Kind of like the day we did the Tree In The Road Ride. Nothing turned out like we expected it to. There was a split in the group, we got sort of lost, our GPS units were being weird, and it was hot as Hades, but ya know what? 

It was damn fun. That's what. 

Had I known what lay ahead that day? Had I known it wasn't going to work the way we had intended it to? Yeah.... I probably would have totally short-circuited one of the funnest rides I've been on in a long time. 

Sometimes it is better not to know. 

Choosing For The L.O.G.

The current state of the Gen I Fargo

 In a little less than three weeks from now I hopefully will be in Kansas for the Legends of Gravel ride. I have ridden quite a bit in Kansas, so I do have somewhat of an idea of what I am getting myself into there. But bicycle choice for an event is always something I end up tripping myself over anyway. It seems inevitable. 

The obvious choice would be to go with my Gen I Fargo. I've ridden this bike down there before and I know it would do quite well. My only concern is for the tires. 

While you do not hear about all the flat tires you used to hear about down there, the chance for tire failure is much higher than anywhere else I might be riding near me. Yes....goat heads, sharp rocks, and thorns reside waiting to assail your tires in other parts of the USA, but around here flat tires are rare. So, it doesn't take much of an increase in risk factor to raise my level of concern, and the Flint Hill demand respect. 

N.Y. Roll has offered me his pair of Vittoria Mezcals to put on this bike. I could do that. I have those Schwalbe G-One AllRoads. I also have a pair of Cannonball tires from Teravail I could use. Actually, the Cannonballs were on this Fargo at one time. Back when my Maxxis Ikons failed just before the DK20 and I had to buy the Cannonballs which were, at that time, the Official Tire of the DK200. (Now Continental is the Official Tires of Unbound) 

Anyway... I'm changing tires, because the ones on there now are not going to be up to the task. 

The Noble GX5

The other bike under consideration is my Noble GX5. The reasoning behind taking this bike would be the lighter weight of this bike. 

Generally I haven't taken this bike anywhere I would be on a remote, longer ride because it only has three bottle mounts. The original fork had no accessory mounts. So, with limited water carrying capabilities, I would end up using another bike instead. 

However; now that it has the State Bicycle Co Monster Fork on there, I have bottle mounts and this alleviates the water carrying issue. A bonus to this fork is that it will clear a 29"er X 2.1" tire. So, that would maybe be handy in the Flint Hills. 

My only concern is this bike does not have a Redshift Sports ShockStop stem on it. I could snatch one off another bike though. If I decide to go with the Noble I'd make the switch. It would be a lot nicer on the body if I did!

The third choice would be the Singular Gryphon. It's got big tires and a ShockStop stem already. It also has one of my favorite drop bars in the Ragley Luxy Bar. It's heavy though, and I'm not in the greatest shape right at the moment due to all the wonky weather we've had since the beginning of the year. 

Gotta make up my mind soon. Stay tuned....