Hot & Cold

Wally Kilburg will be doing imagery for T.I.V10 this year

It was a weekend of contrasting weather and activity. Saturday was the big day out taking care of the final cue sheet checking before we go to print. You can read all about that in the previous post to this one.

It was supposed to be warm Saturday, but the 80's? It was ridiculous. The wind was also bad, coming up to full gale by about 1:00pm and not relenting for several hours. Then on the way home that night the most spectacular lightning show I've witnessed in a while happened with strikes going off so often it was as if I was driving with a huge strobe light outside.

Saturday was great though. Without the warmer, drier weather we have had leading up to Saturday, it would have been difficult to drive all the B Maintenance roads that we did. In the end, we drove every single mile of the course but the last three, (since we already know all about that part), and all of it was in primo shape.......on Saturday. Of course, had we tried to do that on Sunday it would have been a complete disaster. So, we had that one thing go our way so far this year coming into this big event. Every time I've been out on the course, it has been like that. Hopefully that trend continues!

Trying out a few things for grins.

Sunday was a complete washout. It was windy, colder, and a lot wetter! It was in the 40's most of the day and the weather pretty much dictated I would stay inside all day like most sane individuals. However; a few Trans Iowa nutcases were out training in that mess. I  did get out on a few, very brief excursions. One of those was to snap off a couple images of the results of my  experimentation with the Tamland.

I first mounted the Bruce Gordon Rock & Road tires to the stock wheels. Plenty of room to spare for clearances with that set up, so I was pleased to find that out. The tan sidewalls definitely give the Raleigh a more retro feel. Then I mounted up an old rack and pannier to check on the fit. It was great. Finally I tried my Revelate Tangle Bag. Everything worked well together and it is nice to know that someone could use bags or frame bags as a way to extend the versatility of this bike. I probably will take the rack and pannier off, but the rest will stay for a bit.

I also have a plan for a light weight wheel option on the Tamland, which I should have almost everything for here already. When I get that sorted I am going to check into a 46T Ultegra 11 chain ring to replace the 52T outer, and I should be good to go on this rig for a long time.

What else does a guy do on a wet, cold, damp Sunday but dink around with bicycle parts!