So.....What's Next?

Okay, June is shot, so what's next? Plenty! That's what! Here are some things that I will be focusing on in the immediate future.....

Getting Torqued Off: I have recently received a "D-Torq" wrench from Topeak to check out for The Cyclist  and Twenty Nine Inches. With the high tech gizmos and ultra-lightweight bits and pieces we are playing with on our bicycles these days, it is becoming more and more imperative that we pay attention to proper torque on fasteners. I've been reading about stem/steer tube failures, and other cracked bits and snapped parts. Maybe some of this could have been prevented by applying proper torque protocol, maybe not, but we really should be doing our part where we can. I'll be writing up some posts which I'll link to later. These posts will focus on proper torque wrench use and the D-Torq in particular.

The Tale Of The Tape: I also have a proper Velocity approved rim tape and valve stem kit for the P-35 rims I have on test at Twenty Nine Inches. Once I get this kit installed and ridden, I'll be doing a write up on the strips, stems, and a final review on the wheels/rims.

DynaSys XT 10 speed: I also have a DynaSys 10 speed group that is starting to show up at the shop. It will be put on a test sled and flogged within an inch of its life and then I will put up the results here and on the sites.

10 speed mtb stuff has a lot of folks questioning things, bemoaning another standard, and drooling, depending upon who you are and your point of view. I am not a fan going in, but I have talked to the principals involved in the testing of this group and I have delved into the Shimano marketing pool to see what is up with this stuff. We'll see. So far, the group shows some very meticulous engineering and manufacturing prowess, so I am expecting a lot from this move to 10 speed. 

When The Scout Comes In: Hopefully soon I will be swapping over some single speed parts onto one of these Origin 8 Scout 29 frames. I've reserved one to get in and check out which I will also be doing a review on for Twenty Nine Inches. This frame features revised clearances from the original steel Scout 29"er and still retains the super-short chain stays. I'll have to see how those short chain stays work out on our trails here.

Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational: My annual, stupid-long, crazy hilly, in the hottest time of the year, gravel grinder is coming up soon. Check out the details here.  I have to double check the course out, but we'll be doing the same loop as last year which will be 118 miles of loopy, crazy gravel roads with a total elevation gain just six feet shy of 10,000 feet. If you add in the climb back into the campground, it easily goes over that figure! We'll be camping out afterwards too, so plan on staying late. Unfortunately, this falls on the same date as the Ponca 155 in Nebraska, so I doubt we'll be seeing any of the Lincoln crew, but I'm sure they'll have a great ride over there. One of these days I'd like to do that one!

And I am sure I am missing some other details of the summer which have slipped my mind. This is going to make summer feel very short!

So.....What's Next?

Okay, June is shot, so what's next? Plenty! That's what! Here are some things that I will be focusing on in the immediate future.....

Getting Torqued Off: I have recently received a "D-Torq" wrench from Topeak to check out for The Cyclist  and Twenty Nine Inches. With the high tech gizmos and ultra-lightweight bits and pieces we are playing with on our bicycles these days, it is becoming more and more imperative that we pay attention to proper torque on fasteners. I've been reading about stem/steer tube failures, and other cracked bits and snapped parts. Maybe some of this could have been prevented by applying proper torque protocol, maybe not, but we really should be doing our part where we can. I'll be writing up some posts which I'll link to later. These posts will focus on proper torque wrench use and the D-Torq in particular.

The Tale Of The Tape: I also have a proper Velocity approved rim tape and valve stem kit for the P-35 rims I have on test at Twenty Nine Inches. Once I get this kit installed and ridden, I'll be doing a write up on the strips, stems, and a final review on the wheels/rims.

DynaSys XT 10 speed: I also have a DynaSys 10 speed group that is starting to show up at the shop. It will be put on a test sled and flogged within an inch of its life and then I will put up the results here and on the sites.

10 speed mtb stuff has a lot of folks questioning things, bemoaning another standard, and drooling, depending upon who you are and your point of view. I am not a fan going in, but I have talked to the principals involved in the testing of this group and I have delved into the Shimano marketing pool to see what is up with this stuff. We'll see. So far, the group shows some very meticulous engineering and manufacturing prowess, so I am expecting a lot from this move to 10 speed. 

When The Scout Comes In: Hopefully soon I will be swapping over some single speed parts onto one of these Origin 8 Scout 29 frames. I've reserved one to get in and check out which I will also be doing a review on for Twenty Nine Inches. This frame features revised clearances from the original steel Scout 29"er and still retains the super-short chain stays. I'll have to see how those short chain stays work out on our trails here.

Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational: My annual, stupid-long, crazy hilly, in the hottest time of the year, gravel grinder is coming up soon. Check out the details here.  I have to double check the course out, but we'll be doing the same loop as last year which will be 118 miles of loopy, crazy gravel roads with a total elevation gain just six feet shy of 10,000 feet. If you add in the climb back into the campground, it easily goes over that figure! We'll be camping out afterwards too, so plan on staying late. Unfortunately, this falls on the same date as the Ponca 155 in Nebraska, so I doubt we'll be seeing any of the Lincoln crew, but I'm sure they'll have a great ride over there. One of these days I'd like to do that one!

And I am sure I am missing some other details of the summer which have slipped my mind. This is going to make summer feel very short!

Bike Shop Tales: Blowing Off Steam

Welcome back to "Bike Shop Tales". I received a lot of positive comments last week encouraging me to continue the series. Today, I would like to dedicate this post to my friend, "Ears", who got this ball rolling again.

Back in the mid-nineties we had quite the "crew" hanging around at Advantage Cyclery. I suppose the big, open area we had for repairs was partly to blame. Folks could gather in there and not be in the way of normal everyday activity. It also didn't hurt that this area was somewhat closed off from the main selling area. The conversations didn't need to be "edited" for public consumption due to that arrangement. I suppose us shop rats were also somewhat to blame too! We certainly didn't chase anyone out of there!

Well, it wasn't long into my tenure at Advantage when I saw two high school aged kids coming in on a fairly regular basis.  They were from a nearby town called Shell Rock and were asking about all sorts of high end mtb parts. Obviously, they were very well read (Mountain Bike Action) younginz. At first I figured that they were just pulling our chains, but then one of them actually popped for a new, gold colored Rock Shox Judy fork. We hadn't even seen one in the shop yet when this dude bought it. So, instant "cred" was afforded this guy and his friend. Turns out that I would become rather familiar with both of them in time. But at that time I knew them only as two punk kids from Shell Rock named Matt and the other one with the curious name of "Ears".

Fast forward a bit to when we were regularly riding with and seeing Ears and Matt in the shop. One of the features of Advantage was that there usually was an industrial trike or two sitting around with various busted up wheels and parts laying around for them. Now- You have to understand that an industrial trike is one of the crudest wheeled vehicles you'll ever see. Really ancient technology rendered in heavy mild steel. The wheels weigh a ton, are chromed, and very poorly made. A local industry made use of these trikes as a way to get around their manufacturing plant. Well, they routinely were getting mangled by fork trucks and we ended up picking up the pieces afterward.

So- What does this have to do with two high school dudes into mountain biking? Plenty! Ears and Matt would often come in with the usual "teenage angst" and we had a way for them to blow off some steam. We would hand them wheels from these busted up trikes and tell them to "have at it". Matt wasn't to into it, but Ears........oh yeah! He would go totally bonkers on those wheels until they were folded up into pretzels. It was a beautiful thing to watch!

Ears ended up having to go out back into the alley to do this most of the time, because the rage was so intense, you never knew what might get destroyed in the ensuing melee'. I remember one particular time when a trike wheel was seen bouncing up off the pavement about ten feet into the air, narrowly missing a parked car. I looked out, but couldn't see Ears. Where the heck was that maniac?

Turns out that he had scaled an outdoor stairway on the side of an adjacent building for a better effect. Throwing from a height increased the level of damage he could inflict upon a wheel, but it also vastly increased the danger factor! I had to go out and put a stop to that! A 25lb wheel launched from a second story landing, and ricocheting off in whatever direction, helter-skelter, was not cool!

Dang kids!

Next Week: More Bike Shop Tales on Tuesday! Look for it!

Bike Shop Tales: Blowing Off Steam

Welcome back to "Bike Shop Tales". I received a lot of positive comments last week encouraging me to continue the series. Today, I would like to dedicate this post to my friend, "Ears", who got this ball rolling again.

Back in the mid-nineties we had quite the "crew" hanging around at Advantage Cyclery. I suppose the big, open area we had for repairs was partly to blame. Folks could gather in there and not be in the way of normal everyday activity. It also didn't hurt that this area was somewhat closed off from the main selling area. The conversations didn't need to be "edited" for public consumption due to that arrangement. I suppose us shop rats were also somewhat to blame too! We certainly didn't chase anyone out of there!

Well, it wasn't long into my tenure at Advantage when I saw two high school aged kids coming in on a fairly regular basis.  They were from a nearby town called Shell Rock and were asking about all sorts of high end mtb parts. Obviously, they were very well read (Mountain Bike Action) younginz. At first I figured that they were just pulling our chains, but then one of them actually popped for a new, gold colored Rock Shox Judy fork. We hadn't even seen one in the shop yet when this dude bought it. So, instant "cred" was afforded this guy and his friend. Turns out that I would become rather familiar with both of them in time. But at that time I knew them only as two punk kids from Shell Rock named Matt and the other one with the curious name of "Ears".

Fast forward a bit to when we were regularly riding with and seeing Ears and Matt in the shop. One of the features of Advantage was that there usually was an industrial trike or two sitting around with various busted up wheels and parts laying around for them. Now- You have to understand that an industrial trike is one of the crudest wheeled vehicles you'll ever see. Really ancient technology rendered in heavy mild steel. The wheels weigh a ton, are chromed, and very poorly made. A local industry made use of these trikes as a way to get around their manufacturing plant. Well, they routinely were getting mangled by fork trucks and we ended up picking up the pieces afterward.

So- What does this have to do with two high school dudes into mountain biking? Plenty! Ears and Matt would often come in with the usual "teenage angst" and we had a way for them to blow off some steam. We would hand them wheels from these busted up trikes and tell them to "have at it". Matt wasn't to into it, but Ears........oh yeah! He would go totally bonkers on those wheels until they were folded up into pretzels. It was a beautiful thing to watch!

Ears ended up having to go out back into the alley to do this most of the time, because the rage was so intense, you never knew what might get destroyed in the ensuing melee'. I remember one particular time when a trike wheel was seen bouncing up off the pavement about ten feet into the air, narrowly missing a parked car. I looked out, but couldn't see Ears. Where the heck was that maniac?

Turns out that he had scaled an outdoor stairway on the side of an adjacent building for a better effect. Throwing from a height increased the level of damage he could inflict upon a wheel, but it also vastly increased the danger factor! I had to go out and put a stop to that! A 25lb wheel launched from a second story landing, and ricocheting off in whatever direction, helter-skelter, was not cool!

Dang kids!

Next Week: More Bike Shop Tales on Tuesday! Look for it!

Inspiration To Ride "Something"

Wow! Is it like wet out there, or what?!! Two nights in a row and we got pounded by inches of rain. Now it is flooding. And yep!........almost all the single track is too wet, or under water!

Well, Saturday I figured that I would wait until later in the day to ride, figuring that Cedar Bend might be good to go by then. I threw the Lynskey in the truck and went up about 4:30pm to find that it was very humid, hot, and the air was still in the woods up there. It was a real cooker!

I had put a full charge of water into the Osprey Raptor 10 and I was prepared to try and do at least two laps of the trails. Unfortunately, the Cedar River truncated a lot of my choices that were lower in elevation! I still managed to put together a decent loop including the service road, and two big, steep climbs. I stopped to take the photo here, and was being swarmed by insects. I didn't stick around in one place too long!

What a pressure cooker out there! I was drenched in sweat after the first loop, and I did another, faster loop the second time through. I was starting to feel the heat in a bad way. Maybe I should bail outta here? But after a bit of service road, I dove back into the woods for lap #3. I figured I would back off a bit to settle down and just have fun. Ya know what? I ended up going faster! Should I do a lap #4 Nah! I bagged it and went back home before I did any damage. Probably a wise thing, seeing how profusely I was sweating! It was just running off me!

Saturday Night/Sunday Morning: Big, big thunderstorms roll through again, dumping inches more rain down. Crap! No way that Cedar Bend gets better after this, and that was all I had for anything off road around here. I stuck around the house, took the kids on a hike, and then................I got inspired!

 <===A "Fendered" Karate Monkey

 I remembered an e-mail from Mike Curiak where he admonished me to "just go for a ride". I thought about that, and how he had all these really cool places to ride, some right out of his back door. I didn't have that cool stuff to ride, but I had something to ride, or better said, "somewhere". I had also been perusing a site by mountain bike pioneer Charlie Kelley. He often just rides in blue jeans and a t-shirt. I figured that not only did I have somewhere to ride, but I didn't have to make a big fuss and change my duds out just to ride it.

And ya know what? I went out for a ride. On my Salsa Cycles Fargo, in my jeans and t-shirt, on gravel. Yup! That stuff Mike Curiak once described as something he couldn't figure out why anyone would want to ride miles and miles of. (I think he was just trying to get a rise outta me when he said that) Well, I rode about twenty miles of it, and it was great.

I saw deer, I saw rabbits, I saw a baby bird learning to fly, and whose very concerned mama gave me a quarter mile escort out of the area! I saw the sun setting on waves of green topped with "green caps" of trees waving in the wind. And by the way, the corn is fixin' to tassle already!

So what if I didn't have primo single track that was easily accessed. I had something to ride,  and I rode it.

I hope you got your ride on this past weekend too.

Inspiration To Ride "Something"

Wow! Is it like wet out there, or what?!! Two nights in a row and we got pounded by inches of rain. Now it is flooding. And yep!........almost all the single track is too wet, or under water!

Well, Saturday I figured that I would wait until later in the day to ride, figuring that Cedar Bend might be good to go by then. I threw the Lynskey in the truck and went up about 4:30pm to find that it was very humid, hot, and the air was still in the woods up there. It was a real cooker!

I had put a full charge of water into the Osprey Raptor 10 and I was prepared to try and do at least two laps of the trails. Unfortunately, the Cedar River truncated a lot of my choices that were lower in elevation! I still managed to put together a decent loop including the service road, and two big, steep climbs. I stopped to take the photo here, and was being swarmed by insects. I didn't stick around in one place too long!

What a pressure cooker out there! I was drenched in sweat after the first loop, and I did another, faster loop the second time through. I was starting to feel the heat in a bad way. Maybe I should bail outta here? But after a bit of service road, I dove back into the woods for lap #3. I figured I would back off a bit to settle down and just have fun. Ya know what? I ended up going faster! Should I do a lap #4 Nah! I bagged it and went back home before I did any damage. Probably a wise thing, seeing how profusely I was sweating! It was just running off me!

Saturday Night/Sunday Morning: Big, big thunderstorms roll through again, dumping inches more rain down. Crap! No way that Cedar Bend gets better after this, and that was all I had for anything off road around here. I stuck around the house, took the kids on a hike, and then................I got inspired!

 <===A "Fendered" Karate Monkey

 I remembered an e-mail from Mike Curiak where he admonished me to "just go for a ride". I thought about that, and how he had all these really cool places to ride, some right out of his back door. I didn't have that cool stuff to ride, but I had something to ride, or better said, "somewhere". I had also been perusing a site by mountain bike pioneer Charlie Kelley. He often just rides in blue jeans and a t-shirt. I figured that not only did I have somewhere to ride, but I didn't have to make a big fuss and change my duds out just to ride it.

And ya know what? I went out for a ride. On my Salsa Cycles Fargo, in my jeans and t-shirt, on gravel. Yup! That stuff Mike Curiak once described as something he couldn't figure out why anyone would want to ride miles and miles of. (I think he was just trying to get a rise outta me when he said that) Well, I rode about twenty miles of it, and it was great.

I saw deer, I saw rabbits, I saw a baby bird learning to fly, and whose very concerned mama gave me a quarter mile escort out of the area! I saw the sun setting on waves of green topped with "green caps" of trees waving in the wind. And by the way, the corn is fixin' to tassle already!

So what if I didn't have primo single track that was easily accessed. I had something to ride,  and I rode it.

I hope you got your ride on this past weekend too.

Fork Flip Friday

Maybe you don't pay attention to these sorts of things, but I do. Fork lengths on 29"er hard tails are getting longer. Used to be you went with the ol' original Reba at 80mm travel and you were all good. Then Fox got into the game with an 80mm travel fork. Okay, yippee! Manitou was there with an 80mm fork, life was good.

100mm forks were for FS rigs. Nice! Works well there. But guess what? Now all the new hard tails have 100mm forks. Ever see a 2010 with an 80mm front end? Not too many are set up that way anymore.

So it was that when Lynskey sent over this bike, it had a 100mm Fox fork up front. Nice fork and all, but the front end of the bike was so tall, that the handle bars were higher than the tops of my Fargo drop bars! Umm............'scuse me, but that's tooooo upright folks! Not only that, but the longer lever arm the 100mm fork presented was playing havoc with the front triangle of the bike. I wasn't really digging it, ya know?

So I figured that I'd try a suspension corrected for 80mm travel rigid fork, like the Salsa CroMoto Grande' Ahhhh! It is just the right spicy additive to this titanium stew! Man, the bike is just really a whole heckuva lot better than it was. Better steering, better stiffness in the front end, better seated position, better weight distribution on the front wheel, and oh yeah.................it is lighter too. 

But what about that rigid, stiff steel fork? Ya know what? Funny thing is that it rides just about as smoothly as it did before. Oh sure, big hits will rattle yer eyeballs a bit, but the frame is working now like it hasn't before because of the rigid fork. The little stuff I'm hitting feels about the same as it did before. Titanium. Nice. Smooth. I wasn't getting that so much from the front suspendedness I had going on before.

Front end lowered to a reasonable height, lighter, better steering, nice titanium feel. It's like I have a different bike to test now. Too bad I didn't swap it out earlier! It's a Twenty Nine Inches test rig, so it won't be here much longer. I just know that now I'll need to stock an 80mm travel suspension fork for these longer legged hard tails that the industry is foisting on us now. Ya know, sometimes "more" isn't really "better".

Have a great weekend and ride yer bicycles!

Fork Flip Friday

Maybe you don't pay attention to these sorts of things, but I do. Fork lengths on 29"er hard tails are getting longer. Used to be you went with the ol' original Reba at 80mm travel and you were all good. Then Fox got into the game with an 80mm travel fork. Okay, yippee! Manitou was there with an 80mm fork, life was good.

100mm forks were for FS rigs. Nice! Works well there. But guess what? Now all the new hard tails have 100mm forks. Ever see a 2010 with an 80mm front end? Not too many are set up that way anymore.

So it was that when Lynskey sent over this bike, it had a 100mm Fox fork up front. Nice fork and all, but the front end of the bike was so tall, that the handle bars were higher than the tops of my Fargo drop bars! Umm............'scuse me, but that's tooooo upright folks! Not only that, but the longer lever arm the 100mm fork presented was playing havoc with the front triangle of the bike. I wasn't really digging it, ya know?

So I figured that I'd try a suspension corrected for 80mm travel rigid fork, like the Salsa CroMoto Grande' Ahhhh! It is just the right spicy additive to this titanium stew! Man, the bike is just really a whole heckuva lot better than it was. Better steering, better stiffness in the front end, better seated position, better weight distribution on the front wheel, and oh yeah.................it is lighter too. 

But what about that rigid, stiff steel fork? Ya know what? Funny thing is that it rides just about as smoothly as it did before. Oh sure, big hits will rattle yer eyeballs a bit, but the frame is working now like it hasn't before because of the rigid fork. The little stuff I'm hitting feels about the same as it did before. Titanium. Nice. Smooth. I wasn't getting that so much from the front suspendedness I had going on before.

Front end lowered to a reasonable height, lighter, better steering, nice titanium feel. It's like I have a different bike to test now. Too bad I didn't swap it out earlier! It's a Twenty Nine Inches test rig, so it won't be here much longer. I just know that now I'll need to stock an 80mm travel suspension fork for these longer legged hard tails that the industry is foisting on us now. Ya know, sometimes "more" isn't really "better".

Have a great weekend and ride yer bicycles!

Opportunity Knocked And I Downloaded!

One of the biggest nits I have about my work area is that it is so cramped and cluttered. Being in an old basement in an old house, well.........I shouldn't expect much! The thing was that I had collected so much bicycle stuff since the mid 90's that it was beyond ridiculous down there. It made it so that I dreaded having to even set foot in the place, actually.

There were a lot of reasons for that mess. One was that during my time as a car mechanic I had felt the need to grab on to all the spurned bike parts I could because that helped me in my fixing up of other peoples bikes on the side. I had no inside hook up for cheap parts, but I could make do with lightly used ones and still do a tune up or two for some extra pocket change back in the day. 

Then I got back into a shop job and things just went crazy. Well, by 2010 I am sitting in a veritable bicycle rats nest. I was of the mind to download a lot of it, but to whom? Most of the stuff I wouldn't want was, well.......pretty much junk.

Then I heard about the plan someone in Parkersburg, Iowa had to make a "bicycle tornado" sculpture to decorate the town for the arrival of RAGBRAI next month. Opportunity was a knocking! So today I downloaded a whole pickup load of stuff and I even drove it all the way to Parkersburg myself, (approximately 30 miles from my house), just to see it off. Man!  What a difference!

I now have some "breathing room" in The Lab, and I am excited to do some sprucing up down there now so I can actually move around without smacking my head on something or knocking a bicycle over. Really! You folks have no idea how crazy it is down there. (Well, actually, Captain Bob does, but not many other folks do!)

 Okay folks. This is for those that were on the Fargo Adventure Ride. Last weekend we were reported to have 9 riders. Okay, something about the math isn't adding up for me, and I need help here. (I admit not being good at math, but just entertain me here for a minute)

Here's our pile of Fargos at the end of the day. I count six bikes: Three across the far side, two in the middle, and one in the foreground, right?

Okay, besides these Fargos, there was one Vaya, a Redline 29"er, a Kona cross bike, and a Surly CrossCheck. That equals four bikes, right? Okay, who was the "ghost rider" if there were only nine of us?

I'm not being sarcastic, I'm just confused. Help a brother out here Fargo Adventurers!

Have a great Thursday!

Opportunity Knocked And I Downloaded!

One of the biggest nits I have about my work area is that it is so cramped and cluttered. Being in an old basement in an old house, well.........I shouldn't expect much! The thing was that I had collected so much bicycle stuff since the mid 90's that it was beyond ridiculous down there. It made it so that I dreaded having to even set foot in the place, actually.

There were a lot of reasons for that mess. One was that during my time as a car mechanic I had felt the need to grab on to all the spurned bike parts I could because that helped me in my fixing up of other peoples bikes on the side. I had no inside hook up for cheap parts, but I could make do with lightly used ones and still do a tune up or two for some extra pocket change back in the day. 

Then I got back into a shop job and things just went crazy. Well, by 2010 I am sitting in a veritable bicycle rats nest. I was of the mind to download a lot of it, but to whom? Most of the stuff I wouldn't want was, well.......pretty much junk.

Then I heard about the plan someone in Parkersburg, Iowa had to make a "bicycle tornado" sculpture to decorate the town for the arrival of RAGBRAI next month. Opportunity was a knocking! So today I downloaded a whole pickup load of stuff and I even drove it all the way to Parkersburg myself, (approximately 30 miles from my house), just to see it off. Man!  What a difference!

I now have some "breathing room" in The Lab, and I am excited to do some sprucing up down there now so I can actually move around without smacking my head on something or knocking a bicycle over. Really! You folks have no idea how crazy it is down there. (Well, actually, Captain Bob does, but not many other folks do!)

 Okay folks. This is for those that were on the Fargo Adventure Ride. Last weekend we were reported to have 9 riders. Okay, something about the math isn't adding up for me, and I need help here. (I admit not being good at math, but just entertain me here for a minute)

Here's our pile of Fargos at the end of the day. I count six bikes: Three across the far side, two in the middle, and one in the foreground, right?

Okay, besides these Fargos, there was one Vaya, a Redline 29"er, a Kona cross bike, and a Surly CrossCheck. That equals four bikes, right? Okay, who was the "ghost rider" if there were only nine of us?

I'm not being sarcastic, I'm just confused. Help a brother out here Fargo Adventurers!

Have a great Thursday!

When It Becomes "Just Another Bike"

<===Breezer's 2011 Jetstream Comp

Seems like everybody is coming out of the woodwork this year and saying that they will, or are introducing a 29"er. Kind of reminds me of 2007 again! The thing is, this time it is different.

In 2006 there only were a handful of companies doing 29"ers. Surly was still selling a lot of Karate Monkeys, custom builders were still making a lot of Karate Monkey knock-offs, and everyone was waiting to see when single speed, do-it-all bikes would stop being introduced in favor of some full suspension and hard tail specific bikes. Then during 2006 and on into 2007 a lot of companies started selling 29"ers that hadn't before. It was a welcomed thing, and helped elevate the "niche" to a full on "sub-category" of mountain biking. 29"ers were not going to fade away!

Now in 2010 we have seen companies that swore they would never, ever do a 29"er introduce one, (Yeti), and companies we thought would never, ever do one make some, (Canfield), to seeing more and more companies expanding their lines and introducing their first 29"ers in some other cases. So what's up? Why all the fuss?

It seems that the market is feeling that 29"er mountain bikes are primed for expansion, and are the "hottest category" in mountain bikes right now. Expansion seems imminent- In Europe, where 29"ers are just starting to crawl out from under the rocks there, to marketing numbers that point to big wheel mountain bike sales that are increasing, while others stay stagnant, or are in decline, it seems that now it is time to......well, to excrete or get off the crapper, to put it bluntly.

What is going to start happening is that with all the choices coming down the pike, the average aficionado of  big wheeled-ness is going to start glazing over while the younginz just coming up are not going to differentiate between the two sizes of wheels so much. It will all combine to make 29"ers "just mountain bikes" as we move forward from this point. Some will have big wheels and do this and that well while others will have smaller wheels and do that and this well. It'll be just like the choices between 100mm of travel or 120mm of travel. Big, fat tires, or faster skinnier ones. Jumping in the air bikes, or XC race weapons. Big wheels or small ones. See what I mean?

It always has been "just another bike", and I've always said so, but it really will be down the line as time goes by.

Note:In regards to the "Bike Shop Tales" it looks as though I will pick that back up due to the few, but very encouraging comments from yesterday. Thanks to all who took the time and effort to replay. I appreciate it very much! Look for a new "Bike Shop Tales" next Tuesday.

When It Becomes "Just Another Bike"

<===Breezer's 2011 Jetstream Comp

Seems like everybody is coming out of the woodwork this year and saying that they will, or are introducing a 29"er. Kind of reminds me of 2007 again! The thing is, this time it is different.

In 2006 there only were a handful of companies doing 29"ers. Surly was still selling a lot of Karate Monkeys, custom builders were still making a lot of Karate Monkey knock-offs, and everyone was waiting to see when single speed, do-it-all bikes would stop being introduced in favor of some full suspension and hard tail specific bikes. Then during 2006 and on into 2007 a lot of companies started selling 29"ers that hadn't before. It was a welcomed thing, and helped elevate the "niche" to a full on "sub-category" of mountain biking. 29"ers were not going to fade away!

Now in 2010 we have seen companies that swore they would never, ever do a 29"er introduce one, (Yeti), and companies we thought would never, ever do one make some, (Canfield), to seeing more and more companies expanding their lines and introducing their first 29"ers in some other cases. So what's up? Why all the fuss?

It seems that the market is feeling that 29"er mountain bikes are primed for expansion, and are the "hottest category" in mountain bikes right now. Expansion seems imminent- In Europe, where 29"ers are just starting to crawl out from under the rocks there, to marketing numbers that point to big wheel mountain bike sales that are increasing, while others stay stagnant, or are in decline, it seems that now it is time to......well, to excrete or get off the crapper, to put it bluntly.

What is going to start happening is that with all the choices coming down the pike, the average aficionado of  big wheeled-ness is going to start glazing over while the younginz just coming up are not going to differentiate between the two sizes of wheels so much. It will all combine to make 29"ers "just mountain bikes" as we move forward from this point. Some will have big wheels and do this and that well while others will have smaller wheels and do that and this well. It'll be just like the choices between 100mm of travel or 120mm of travel. Big, fat tires, or faster skinnier ones. Jumping in the air bikes, or XC race weapons. Big wheels or small ones. See what I mean?

It always has been "just another bike", and I've always said so, but it really will be down the line as time goes by.

Note:In regards to the "Bike Shop Tales" it looks as though I will pick that back up due to the few, but very encouraging comments from yesterday. Thanks to all who took the time and effort to replay. I appreciate it very much! Look for a new "Bike Shop Tales" next Tuesday.

Bike Shop Tales: Where Have You Been?

Hey! it's Tuesday and this is the day I usually post "Bike Shop Tales" posts. If you are a regular reader, you've noticed that I haven't been doing any of those stories since May. Things got off track, and actually, I completely forgot about "Bike Shop Tales" altogether!

I was reminded of all of this by my old friend, "Ears", who called me up yesterday and actually asked me about starting this all up again. (Yes Dude! I mentioned you on the blog. Chill out! It'll be okay!) I contemplated all of that he said, which was very complementary and encouraging. (Thanks, bro!)

But I need to hear from more of you. Is this something that anyone else out there actually finds interesting? Let me know by posting a comment in the comment section. I will gauge the interest I see from the comments that are generated here and let ya'all know my verdict on Wednesday. (Yes! One day to vote!)

Here's my personal feelings on the matter, if anyone needs something to go on here: First of all, there is a wealth of awesome material that I could comment on, tell stories from, and describe to all of you from my past work at "Advantage Cyclery" The only thing is, a lot of it would embarrass, offend, or otherwise tweak off a lot of local folks that I still see and that read this blog. (You know who you all are, I'm betting!) That makes telling stories here about those days difficult, and in some cases, impossible.

Some things are better left unsaid, in other words! (Maybe a lot of things!)

So, it wouldn't break my heart to let it go, but if there are enough votes in favor of doing this again, I'll continue. Make sense?

 Okay, so let me have your feedback, please. Thanks!

Bike Shop Tales: Where Have You Been?

Hey! it's Tuesday and this is the day I usually post "Bike Shop Tales" posts. If you are a regular reader, you've noticed that I haven't been doing any of those stories since May. Things got off track, and actually, I completely forgot about "Bike Shop Tales" altogether!

I was reminded of all of this by my old friend, "Ears", who called me up yesterday and actually asked me about starting this all up again. (Yes Dude! I mentioned you on the blog. Chill out! It'll be okay!) I contemplated all of that he said, which was very complementary and encouraging. (Thanks, bro!)

But I need to hear from more of you. Is this something that anyone else out there actually finds interesting? Let me know by posting a comment in the comment section. I will gauge the interest I see from the comments that are generated here and let ya'all know my verdict on Wednesday. (Yes! One day to vote!)

Here's my personal feelings on the matter, if anyone needs something to go on here: First of all, there is a wealth of awesome material that I could comment on, tell stories from, and describe to all of you from my past work at "Advantage Cyclery" The only thing is, a lot of it would embarrass, offend, or otherwise tweak off a lot of local folks that I still see and that read this blog. (You know who you all are, I'm betting!) That makes telling stories here about those days difficult, and in some cases, impossible.

Some things are better left unsaid, in other words! (Maybe a lot of things!)

So, it wouldn't break my heart to let it go, but if there are enough votes in favor of doing this again, I'll continue. Make sense?

 Okay, so let me have your feedback, please. Thanks!

Fargo Adventure Ride 2010: Part III

This will conclude my report on the Fargo Adventure Ride 2010. Once again, these will be photo highlights of the ride with a concluding commentary at the end.

After leaving the U-More area and doing some more traditional gravel sections, we pulled into Farmington, Minnesota for a re-supply and rest at about 30 miles. We invaded the convenience store, and the, (for me), usual stares from the locals started in earnest. Women hurriedly shuffled children by us before they could ask questions. Grown men stared at our "outlandish" dress. Had we ridden up in leathers on Harleys we would have garnered little attention, but you'd have thought that Marlon Brando was staging a ghostly reprise of "The Wild One" by the looks on the faces of the townspeople.

Actually, I find this sort of reaction almost anywhere I end up with a bunch of cyclists in a rural convenience store setting. I find it rather humorous, and I'll admit, it appeals to a certain facet of my weird personality. It may not be for everyone!

After the lengthy stop in Farmington, and a nice roll out into the countryside, Jason led us down some two track leading to a turn into this farm field and what amounted to an access road. Grass overgrown and barely recognizable as two track in many places, this path wound up, down, around, and over the contours of the Minnesota farmland in a serpentine fashion. I was losing my sense of direction in this twisty, turny track, and getting my kidneys punched out by the unseen potholes, horse hoof tracks, and general bumpiness of this section. What I wouldn't have given for a dually about right then!

By now it was hot and humid. I was getting cooked down in the valley where there was no breeze and our speeds were pretty low due to the bumpy track and, by now, the sandy traps that started showing up. It was pretty obvious that these hills were sand dunes at one time or another back in history.

Jason told us that these hills and vales were XC ski territory during the winter months and horse trails during the rest of the year, for the most part. He said he'd never seen another cyclist out there since he had discovered the place. Hey, maybe we were the first group of cyclists to ever have ridden those hills. Who knows for sure? It was certainly beautiful out there, and definitely very brutal! I suffered the worst during this portion of the ride, that's for certain.

 Immediately after leaving that sector, one of the riders with us named Josh had recollected that there was a big rock outcropping not far off the other side called "Lone Rock". He said it would be fun to check it out, but we'd be obliged to hike to the exact spot, if his memory served correct. I think we were still too whacked from the previous beat down we'd all just survived to say yes or no, and before I knew it, here we were parking our bikes in the remote woods and hiking up some steep, sandy trail towards what, I had no idea.

Hey, they don't call it "adventure" for nothing! So I figured it fit into the game plan alright. We probably hiked in about a half a mile at most, and then we found what Josh was looking for. I climbed up to almost the summit, but being a person that doesn't take kindly to exposed high places, I went down and around the base for.......

.........the shot from the bottom!

It was a pretty tall feature out in the middle of nowhere. I suppose at one time, before the trees got so tall, it was much easier to spot this landmark. Given about another 15-20 years though, with no fires to threaten them, the trees will have pretty much taken over this spot and finding this rock will be even more challenging!

One of the benefits of this side track was finding wild raspberries growing all over the place. They were just shy of primo, and in a couple of weeks, these all will be ripe for the taking, but we still managed to find plenty of tasty, sweet treats.

Someone mentioned that there had been a bear sighting just south of here around Northfield, Minnesota. I can't imagine a more "bear friendly" place than this one, and if that bear finds it, I bet it won't be moving anytime soon from it!

After getting back on track, two track, that is, we were heading north with a tail wind. The road here we had ridden in on, but since we had been on it, the moisture content had gone way down, and the sandy, loose nature of the road was giving us fits. It was making riding much more difficult!

We then went by these installations which were connected with the abandoned munitions plant. They were shelters where shells were filled with gunpowder and armed. If something went wrong, the concrete walls prevented the blast from causing any further damage outside of the barriers. Funny thing was that all of these installations were never put into production or used at all. Now they stand as silent reminders of a World At War.

Not long after this, we hit some grass covered two track that was shoulder high to us on our bikes! You couldn't see the ruts or holes, so a couple guys went down in this section, albeit softly! We also had some fun trashing our bikes in some big mud puddles here and there as well.

The wind sort of shifted around from the Southwest, which ended up being right in our faces most of the way back in, but still, we persevered to our appointed finishing spot, the Lebanon Hills Campground. Approximately 60 miles, and many a laugh and good times were had by all.

We had six Fargos on the ride and they showed why they are the perfect all terrain adventure rig. We had everything from pavement, gravel, grass, dirt, a wee bit of mud, and water thrown at us and we made mincemeat of all of it aboard the Fargos we had. Kudos to Salsa Cycles once again for making the Fargo and opening up a whole new way to explore the world by bicycles.

A big shout of thanks to Jason Boucher also for taking the time to scout out a really challenging, fun, interesting, and flexible course. Thanks for setting up the structure for all of the Fargo Adventure Ride and your efforts were appreciated by all in attendance. Super job of hosting!

I was supposed to travel up to the Chequamegon area that evening, but I had forgotten about Father's day, and I was beat by the Fargo Adventure Ride, so I decided to be with my family instead. Good thing too, because Saturday I was in a zombie-like state from the effort on Saturday.

The Fargo Adventure Ride never fails to disappoint. If you ever get a chance to join one, make time for it! Thanks to everyone on the ride for making it a great time. See ya down the trail!

Fargo Adventure Ride 2010: Part III

This will conclude my report on the Fargo Adventure Ride 2010. Once again, these will be photo highlights of the ride with a concluding commentary at the end.

After leaving the U-More area and doing some more traditional gravel sections, we pulled into Farmington, Minnesota for a re-supply and rest at about 30 miles. We invaded the convenience store, and the, (for me), usual stares from the locals started in earnest. Women hurriedly shuffled children by us before they could ask questions. Grown men stared at our "outlandish" dress. Had we ridden up in leathers on Harleys we would have garnered little attention, but you'd have thought that Marlon Brando was staging a ghostly reprise of "The Wild One" by the looks on the faces of the townspeople.

Actually, I find this sort of reaction almost anywhere I end up with a bunch of cyclists in a rural convenience store setting. I find it rather humorous, and I'll admit, it appeals to a certain facet of my weird personality. It may not be for everyone!

After the lengthy stop in Farmington, and a nice roll out into the countryside, Jason led us down some two track leading to a turn into this farm field and what amounted to an access road. Grass overgrown and barely recognizable as two track in many places, this path wound up, down, around, and over the contours of the Minnesota farmland in a serpentine fashion. I was losing my sense of direction in this twisty, turny track, and getting my kidneys punched out by the unseen potholes, horse hoof tracks, and general bumpiness of this section. What I wouldn't have given for a dually about right then!

By now it was hot and humid. I was getting cooked down in the valley where there was no breeze and our speeds were pretty low due to the bumpy track and, by now, the sandy traps that started showing up. It was pretty obvious that these hills were sand dunes at one time or another back in history.

Jason told us that these hills and vales were XC ski territory during the winter months and horse trails during the rest of the year, for the most part. He said he'd never seen another cyclist out there since he had discovered the place. Hey, maybe we were the first group of cyclists to ever have ridden those hills. Who knows for sure? It was certainly beautiful out there, and definitely very brutal! I suffered the worst during this portion of the ride, that's for certain.

 Immediately after leaving that sector, one of the riders with us named Josh had recollected that there was a big rock outcropping not far off the other side called "Lone Rock". He said it would be fun to check it out, but we'd be obliged to hike to the exact spot, if his memory served correct. I think we were still too whacked from the previous beat down we'd all just survived to say yes or no, and before I knew it, here we were parking our bikes in the remote woods and hiking up some steep, sandy trail towards what, I had no idea.

Hey, they don't call it "adventure" for nothing! So I figured it fit into the game plan alright. We probably hiked in about a half a mile at most, and then we found what Josh was looking for. I climbed up to almost the summit, but being a person that doesn't take kindly to exposed high places, I went down and around the base for.......

.........the shot from the bottom!

It was a pretty tall feature out in the middle of nowhere. I suppose at one time, before the trees got so tall, it was much easier to spot this landmark. Given about another 15-20 years though, with no fires to threaten them, the trees will have pretty much taken over this spot and finding this rock will be even more challenging!

One of the benefits of this side track was finding wild raspberries growing all over the place. They were just shy of primo, and in a couple of weeks, these all will be ripe for the taking, but we still managed to find plenty of tasty, sweet treats.

Someone mentioned that there had been a bear sighting just south of here around Northfield, Minnesota. I can't imagine a more "bear friendly" place than this one, and if that bear finds it, I bet it won't be moving anytime soon from it!

After getting back on track, two track, that is, we were heading north with a tail wind. The road here we had ridden in on, but since we had been on it, the moisture content had gone way down, and the sandy, loose nature of the road was giving us fits. It was making riding much more difficult!

We then went by these installations which were connected with the abandoned munitions plant. They were shelters where shells were filled with gunpowder and armed. If something went wrong, the concrete walls prevented the blast from causing any further damage outside of the barriers. Funny thing was that all of these installations were never put into production or used at all. Now they stand as silent reminders of a World At War.

Not long after this, we hit some grass covered two track that was shoulder high to us on our bikes! You couldn't see the ruts or holes, so a couple guys went down in this section, albeit softly! We also had some fun trashing our bikes in some big mud puddles here and there as well.

The wind sort of shifted around from the Southwest, which ended up being right in our faces most of the way back in, but still, we persevered to our appointed finishing spot, the Lebanon Hills Campground. Approximately 60 miles, and many a laugh and good times were had by all.

We had six Fargos on the ride and they showed why they are the perfect all terrain adventure rig. We had everything from pavement, gravel, grass, dirt, a wee bit of mud, and water thrown at us and we made mincemeat of all of it aboard the Fargos we had. Kudos to Salsa Cycles once again for making the Fargo and opening up a whole new way to explore the world by bicycles.

A big shout of thanks to Jason Boucher also for taking the time to scout out a really challenging, fun, interesting, and flexible course. Thanks for setting up the structure for all of the Fargo Adventure Ride and your efforts were appreciated by all in attendance. Super job of hosting!

I was supposed to travel up to the Chequamegon area that evening, but I had forgotten about Father's day, and I was beat by the Fargo Adventure Ride, so I decided to be with my family instead. Good thing too, because Saturday I was in a zombie-like state from the effort on Saturday.

The Fargo Adventure Ride never fails to disappoint. If you ever get a chance to join one, make time for it! Thanks to everyone on the ride for making it a great time. See ya down the trail!

Fargo Adventure Ride 2010: Part II

When I awoke at something like 4:30am to the sounds of robins, cardinals, and other various song birds going nuts, I knew it was still too early to get rolling. But.........try as I might, I couldn't fall back asleep. So I kitted up, rode down to the bathrooms, charged my cell phone up, and just hung out for a bit. The other two lazy bones, (read: Jason and MG) were sound asleep until about 7am. Lucky dawgs!

Another rider or two showed up right about 8am, and Jason headed out to the Lebanon Hills parking lot to check on others who may have shown up. We ended up having 10 riders total. A nice sized group for a ride like this one. Jason led the way out of town on a combination of pavement and bike path, but it wasn't long at all before we got into the gravely goodness.

The rest of this post will be highlights from the first part of the ride which mainly featured the munitions plant, U-More Park, and some sweet double track "b road".

The opening stretches of gravel were in and around Rosemount,  Minnesota. These were fast, smooth sections that were packed down perfectly by the previous nights rain.

There were a few turns here and there and each section was short-ish, flat, but fun, as we got a chance to chat with each other and get to know one another.

So here it is. This is the old, abandoned munitions plant that you see often on Gnat Likes... This is what it looks like as you approach from the north.

Jason was a great ride leader, giving us the history and background behind the installation and the land surrounding it. Very cool stuff. Thanks Jason!

During one of Jason's informational stops, the chatter turned to what to eat on rides. MG brought up his list of packed goodies which included Dum-Dums. Someone guffawed and called his bluff, MG proffered the goods, and promptly spilled all the contents of his zip-loc bag of candy on the road. It was like a 4th of July parade! We scrambled to grab a few of the confectionery goods to consume for ourselves. Sorry MG! One of you "secret weapons is "out of the bag" now. (<====Ha!)

During the time we were in the vicinity of the munitions plant, we were serenaded by repetitious spurts of gun fire. The staccato rat-a-tat-tat could be heard consistently, seemingly without end. Someone mentioned it and another rider said there was a firing range in the area. Well, we saw this sign, and then it all made sense. Your "gubmint dah-lahs" hard at work here!

Salsa Cycles engineer, Pete Koski, said the "FBI" part stood for "Fargo Bike Invitational" We liked that!

The road through U-More is a B-road-ish double track punctuated by a few gates which we were obliged to dismount and hop over.

Somewhere along the way here someone noted clouds of gnats along the ditches and in the woods which marched alongside the roadway. They were definitely thick!

After leaving the U-More area we were back onto more traditional gravel again. Coming up to an intersection with a paved area, a rider along with us had a flat. So we all lounged around, chatted, and ate food we had brought along as we waited.

The day so far had been warm with mostly overcast skies and light breezes. Perfect for riding bicycles!

The spot where we stopped was adjacent to a pasture with sheep grazing in it. Pete Koski was "talking to the animals", and his "sheep whisperings" enticed one of the male sheep to come over and check us out. Here MG gives the critter a little attention, which the sheep seemed to enjoy.



That's a wrap on Part II. Look for the final installment of my report on the Fargo Adventure Ride tomorrow.

Fargo Adventure Ride 2010: Part II

When I awoke at something like 4:30am to the sounds of robins, cardinals, and other various song birds going nuts, I knew it was still too early to get rolling. But.........try as I might, I couldn't fall back asleep. So I kitted up, rode down to the bathrooms, charged my cell phone up, and just hung out for a bit. The other two lazy bones, (read: Jason and MG) were sound asleep until about 7am. Lucky dawgs!

Another rider or two showed up right about 8am, and Jason headed out to the Lebanon Hills parking lot to check on others who may have shown up. We ended up having 10 riders total. A nice sized group for a ride like this one. Jason led the way out of town on a combination of pavement and bike path, but it wasn't long at all before we got into the gravely goodness.

The rest of this post will be highlights from the first part of the ride which mainly featured the munitions plant, U-More Park, and some sweet double track "b road".

The opening stretches of gravel were in and around Rosemount,  Minnesota. These were fast, smooth sections that were packed down perfectly by the previous nights rain.

There were a few turns here and there and each section was short-ish, flat, but fun, as we got a chance to chat with each other and get to know one another.

So here it is. This is the old, abandoned munitions plant that you see often on Gnat Likes... This is what it looks like as you approach from the north.

Jason was a great ride leader, giving us the history and background behind the installation and the land surrounding it. Very cool stuff. Thanks Jason!

During one of Jason's informational stops, the chatter turned to what to eat on rides. MG brought up his list of packed goodies which included Dum-Dums. Someone guffawed and called his bluff, MG proffered the goods, and promptly spilled all the contents of his zip-loc bag of candy on the road. It was like a 4th of July parade! We scrambled to grab a few of the confectionery goods to consume for ourselves. Sorry MG! One of you "secret weapons is "out of the bag" now. (<====Ha!)

During the time we were in the vicinity of the munitions plant, we were serenaded by repetitious spurts of gun fire. The staccato rat-a-tat-tat could be heard consistently, seemingly without end. Someone mentioned it and another rider said there was a firing range in the area. Well, we saw this sign, and then it all made sense. Your "gubmint dah-lahs" hard at work here!

Salsa Cycles engineer, Pete Koski, said the "FBI" part stood for "Fargo Bike Invitational" We liked that!

The road through U-More is a B-road-ish double track punctuated by a few gates which we were obliged to dismount and hop over.

Somewhere along the way here someone noted clouds of gnats along the ditches and in the woods which marched alongside the roadway. They were definitely thick!

After leaving the U-More area we were back onto more traditional gravel again. Coming up to an intersection with a paved area, a rider along with us had a flat. So we all lounged around, chatted, and ate food we had brought along as we waited.

The day so far had been warm with mostly overcast skies and light breezes. Perfect for riding bicycles!

The spot where we stopped was adjacent to a pasture with sheep grazing in it. Pete Koski was "talking to the animals", and his "sheep whisperings" enticed one of the male sheep to come over and check us out. Here MG gives the critter a little attention, which the sheep seemed to enjoy.



That's a wrap on Part II. Look for the final installment of my report on the Fargo Adventure Ride tomorrow.

Fargo Adventure Ride 2010: Part I

This year's Fargo Adventure Ride was based out of the same campground as last year, the Lebanon Hills Campground, which is a really great camping area right in the heart of the Twins Cities suburban sprawl. It would be even better if not for the constant drone of traffic and the occasional roar and whine of jets coming into and out of the airport, but hey! It works and you do get a feel for nature in this beautiful setting. My favorite oddity about the campground is that it is located just off a street called "Johnny Cake Ridge Road". Sounds like something out of a fantasy novel to me.

So I left for this destination on Thursday, taking my time and not in too much of a hurry, since I didn't want to arrive too soon before anyone else. I had reserved a camping space, but I didn't know where I would end up in relation to the others, so that was going to be a mystery until I got there. 

When I arrived Jason and Matt were already there and curiously, they hadn't set up any tents or anything. They were just hanging out talking with the bikes leaning up against a picnic table. I found my spot just up the path from them, so I was pretty close to their spot after all.

Jason informed me that it probably would be a good idea to not set up camp just yet. He said that a strong line of thunderstorms were bearing in on the Twin Cities from the Southwest. It was then decided that if Jason could swing it, we would retire to a local brew pub and wait out the impending doom. Jason's situation was resolved, and with darkening skies threatening rain, we hopped into the cars and hit up the brew pub for eats and beers.

Watching the television with the closed captioning, we could see that tornadoes, large hail, and high winds were going to be a very real possibility for us. Video from storm chasers showed a couple big tornadoes and some images of large, softball sized hail stones. Great! Maybe we would be having a different kind of adventure!

Well, by some miracle we were spared because the storm line broke up and went around the Twin Cities to the north and the south. After we felt all was clear, we went back to the campground where we met up with Ben Witt from Milltown Cycles.

While we walked up to get Ben his visitor pass, we noted the strange clouds in the skies around us. There was distant lightning, weird colors, and odd shapes. We all sat around and watched the "show" unfold while Jason was taking a bunch of pictures of the bizarre spectacle. (Look for something on his blog later on that).  After the sun started to fade in the West, we went back to the camping spot in awe of what had just happened. It was pretty cool, and I had never seen such clouds in the sky before. I know you all will think I'd been smoking something when you read this, but we actually saw clouds that were sky blue in color. Really!

Then we built a fire with the skills of Matt Gersib and Ben Witt, which we enjoyed far into the night. Oddly enough, we noted that we were the only cyclists there. Jason was puzzled a bit because he knew that the camping area was totally booked up and that there were several empty spots that night. Perhaps the reports of severe weather had scared away potential Fargo riders?

Whatever it was, we were having fun and enjoying some great conversation.

Unfortunately, Ben wouldn't be joining us either, as he had just come off a very bad bout with food poisoning  and he was still in a pretty weak state yet as he hadn't fully recovered. It was great to hang out with Ben though, and I am really glad he made the effort to come out to hang with us Fargo Adventurers.

We all then hit our tents with a plan to roll out by 8am the next morning. Who would show up? Would we be a threesome? Check out my next post to find out the answers.