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| Will it be too muddy at Odin's Revenge for this? |
Well, this is it! I have left, most likely by the time you've read this, for Odin's Revenge taking place near Gothenburg, Nebraska. There is still a question as to exactly what the course will be depending upon rain events. If they happen, word is we'll be doing two laps of a shortened course. As of Thursday, the course was still dry and rideable. What happened overnight last night and what may happen tonight will have a big effect on what course we end up doing.
I'm okay either way. I am looking forward to riding anything we can out there and completing whatever course they decide upon. The rig is dialed in, the clothes were packed yesterday, and travel is happening now with good people.
Odin's is going to be tough, for sure, but I feel as good as I have ever felt going into any event. I've done some work and now it is time to see if it will pay off. I'll admit that I did some silly stuff last year that I am not going to plan on doing this time. The temperatures look to be reasonable this year, so with a good pre-race regimen I should have my best chance of a finish I can get barring something beyond my control.
There will be a report on the goings on, as I always write up, starting next week on Monday.
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| Trans Iowa Masters Program course. |
This day marks the start of Steve Fuller's TIMP ITT attempt. This one is a solo, "time trial" type attempt at the route to set the fastest unsupported through-ride of the 377 mile route.
Steve is a two-time Trans Iowa finisher and has finished other gravel events as well. He's got his work cut out for him this time though, since the course has been rained on and it is "front loaded" with most of the routes B Level Maintenance roads. (Read: Dirt- no gravel, lots of mud.) Rain is covering some parts of the Western end of the route and more may occur before Steve gets all the way out of that area.
Follow Steve's progress on his SPOT Tracker. It updates every 10 minutes and Steve started this trek at 5am this morning.
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| Whiskey No. 9 Carbon Fat Bike Rim |
As mentioned yesterday, the fat biking world finally, after 10 years or so, got caught up with the times in terms of tubeless tire technology. A true "system" now exists and will be available from 45NRTH/Whiskey this Fall. But they aren't going to be the only ones.....
Bontrager will also have tires and rims meant to go tubeless together. I cannot believe that Specialized won't do the same thing. I look for a Roval branded rim from them soon.
Then you have the Sun-Ringle' Mulefut, Stan's should be coming out with a wider Hugo type rim, and I am pretty sure Velocity is trying to figure out a "triple-dually" type rim as well. (I made that Velocity name up! I like that though. Just think, a 45 X 3 or a 135mm rim!)
Of course, there are tires coming down the pike as well for all of this stuff. Fat bikers will rejoice for sure. Interestingly, I mused about what effect this may all have on Surly/45NRTH and I saw someone that runs a shop remark on this same thing on a public forum yesterday. The word was that QBP lowered their fat bike tire prices across the board on Surly tires "since the molds had been paid for now". Uh-huh. Conveniently so, on purpose or not, I think. But either way, that's a refreshing change to see happen these days and bodes well for fans of Surly's tires.
But the whole point is that things are shaking out now which we were only dreaming of two years ago. Fat bikes are finally catching up and becoming "mainstream" in terms of the technology, and this will only be a good thing going forward for fans of the fattest tires.
Okay, that's a wrap. Go for a ride. ya'all! Summer doesn't last forever!
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