Friday News And Views

It's A Great Big Gravelly World! I was out riding the other day and thinking about how much I miss just being able to take off for the day and ride endless miles of gravel. Hard to justify that now with test riding obligations and the web site management, and everything that goes with that.

It might be nice just to shut that all down and go ride for a whole day, no responsibilities to the other stuff. But then again, I know that stuff helps out an awful lot of people, and really, my desires to go off into a gravelly sunset are just selfish ambitions.

Still, ya gotta give in once in awhile and just go for a winger. I feel one coming on and I'll have to save it, because the Gravel World Championships are coming soon, and I will get 150 miles of the limestone goodness that day. Just a wee bit between now and then couldn't hurt though, could it?

 Summer Is Almost Over: The trees down the street are all orange already, leaves are falling, and the "Iowa Jungle" is showing signs of fading away. (Please let the insects know they can die already, okay!) The Cielo rig shown here will soon be going back to Oregon too. It's been a fun ride, and I like the bike a lot, but it is a different kind of 29"er for sure. More suited to wide open trails than our tight, twisty, turny Mid-Western style single track. Still, she is a beauty and a "gentleman's ride".

Speaking of summer being almost over, I better eat some more sweet corn before it's all gone. Grilled some up tonight too. If ya haven't grilled sweet corn, you don't know what yer missing!.

S

Steel Steamroller: The Origin 8 single speed build is almost done. I have to tweak out a few things, but this bike just feels like one you could run right over a small car with. I suppose the 120mm Reba Team fork just might have something to do with that feeling though! Big Specialized 2.4" Purgatory tires don't hurt either.

I'll be setting this up in various ways, so I won't be doing the "monster single speed" set up for long, but it'll be fun while that phase lasts.

Get out and savor the awesome weather whilst ya can. Soon we will be wishing it was 80 degrees and humid again! Ride yer bikes! Take some pics!