The Monkey Decade Plus Three Update: #2

Getting closer

Okay, so now this is starting to look like a bicycle again. Now things are getting down to brass tacks. Some tidbits and the brakes will be the finishing touches.

Brakes: I got the studs put in, but I am finding out that there are brake studs, and there are brake studs. The XT "V" brakes I wanted to use won't work because the studs I am finding have stand-offs that put the brake too far away from the spring retainer. So, I either have to search for different studs, or use different brakes. I have discovered that a set of "ceesy" linear pull brakes do work. So, there is hope that I will ave brakes, just not the ones I thought I'd have.

Tidbits: Then there are the odd ball pieces. Things like the right cog spacers for the single Boone Titanium cog that I am using. I need that to align the chain line just right. Then I am going to have to get a Surly Tuggnut for the quick release axle to keep it in place. I still may end up getting a set of long pull brake levers, which I see I have only one of at the moment. Gotta have a pair of those!

But beyond that, I am really close to putting the old Karate Monkey back on the gravel roads.

The Monkey Decade Plus Three Update: #2

Getting closer

Okay, so now this is starting to look like a bicycle again. Now things are getting down to brass tacks. Some tidbits and the brakes will be the finishing touches.

Brakes: I got the studs put in, but I am finding out that there are brake studs, and there are brake studs. The XT "V" brakes I wanted to use won't work because the studs I am finding have stand-offs that put the brake too far away from the spring retainer. So, I either have to search for different studs, or use different brakes. I have discovered that a set of "ceesy" linear pull brakes do work. So, there is hope that I will ave brakes, just not the ones I thought I'd have.

Tidbits: Then there are the odd ball pieces. Things like the right cog spacers for the single Boone Titanium cog that I am using. I need that to align the chain line just right. Then I am going to have to get a Surly Tuggnut for the quick release axle to keep it in place. I still may end up getting a set of long pull brake levers, which I see I have only one of at the moment. Gotta have a pair of those!

But beyond that, I am really close to putting the old Karate Monkey back on the gravel roads.

Dirty Metric #1

Starting out at 30°F with heavy frost on the ground. The temperature rose 34°F during my ride!

Maybe some of you know that I joined The Cup O Dirt Challenge this year. Well, I either have to get in 12 metric centuries or six "real" ones. I figured on starting out by trying the metric ones, but I got shut out in January, and February was about shot. In comes the good weather, and so I decided that Saturday was my day. Do or die, because I wasn't going to get a second chance in February. I got everything lined up Friday night, and I went to bed early, (for me 10:00 pm is early!), and the alarm was set for six in the morning.

I knew going into this that I was going to see a wide swing in temperatures. It was 30°F when I left at 7:00am and I was expecting that I might see 60°F before I got home. Dressing, or maybe more accurately, undressing, for this as the day went on was going to be interesting. I also had to balance being able to carry enough water and food with having a place to stash things as I peeled them off.

Here's a list of what I was wearing when I left the house:

• Bontrager sleeveless base layer.
• Louis Garneau bib shorts
• Pirate Cycling League "black" jersey from 2014
• "Frostbike" branded wool DeFeet arm warmers.
• Bontrager Thermal tights
• Bontrager wind shell 
• DeFeet wool socks
• "Mart bag" vapor barriers on the feet.
• Polypro beanie
• Wool glove liners with Bontrager heavy Lycra full finger Winter gloves. 
• Shimano three strap shoes. 
• Gargoyle sunglasses
• Bell helmet.

Headed South on Aker Road. It was darn chilly, but the Sun was bright and the winds were light.

I wanted to get an early start since the weather guys were predicting stronger winds as the day wore on. The wind was a breeze when I left, and little more than noticeable, but as I got down the road, you could feel it pick up a bit in intensity. The plan was to hit a spot about half way to Traer and take a tiny break. I had to relieve myself, so a little before I really wanted to stop, I found an abandoned barn. It was a perfect place to stop.

A brief stop to have a nature break and eat a bit of gel. Then it was back at it!

I figured on going through two water bottles by Traer at about 25 miles in. I had five with me- Two in the Chaff Bags, two in the cages, and one stashed inside of my Tangle Bag. I had about ten gel packets with me, two peanut butter and honey sandwiches, and five dollars. Traer would be my only resupply point where I figured on refilling the two water bottles and maybe finding something to nibble on that was "real food' besides my sandwiches which were for later. I tried to eat and drink at regular intervals, and I tried to throttle back a bit on the riding, since I was heading into the wind. I seemed to be successful on all accounts seemingly, that is until I got closer to Traer. It was then I felt the "hunger monster" and knew I'd better eat something soon.

See that little cardboard box on the ledge above my handle bars? It's a little cherry pie! It was really good too. 

The stop in Traer came at about 9:45am and that was a bit of a surprise to me as I only stopped once and I thought I was going faster than that. However; the wind was a factor. Inside the convenience store I found a Scotcheroo and a cute little cherry pie in a tin inside a cardboard box. All for $2.88, which was pretty nice. The gal at the counter took forever to get off the phone since she was taking a food order from a customer that couldn't make up their mind. Yes- small town convenience stores have become village cafeterias. Many small town convenience stores provide this service and pizza delivery, or take away. Anyway, I stood there for ten minutes so this stop took way longer than I wanted it to.

Hike-a-bike. It's good for the soul.

South of Traer I wanted to travel just South of Highway 63 Westward, so I could get over to J Avenue and see if the bridge was back in. However; I ran into a messy Level B road which made me decide to go down another mile to 200th and then West. Okay, so far, so good. Then I saw another Level B. Rats! I was going to end up either going way out of my way, backtracking, or just hike-a-biking straight on through. I chose the last, and it was a slow going slog.

Maybe I should have packed snowshoes!

Thanks to Mike Johnson, who made this tool, I was back up and running in no time once I cleared the Level B road.

All along during the ride I could feel it getting a wee bit warmer, but it was still pretty chilly. That is until I finished hiking the Level B Road. It was like a switch had been flipped, and I ended up stashing my beanie, wind jacket, and both pairs of gloves. The walk on the muddy, snowy ditch ragged out my cheesy vapor barriers, so I removed them. I was fine without them afterward anyway.

The mud was dispatched from my bike and shoes by a simple little tool made from a shish-kabob skewer by Mike Johnson who showed it to me a couple of years ago. It works like a champ and is easily stowed in a bag. Thanks Mike! Once that task was done, my clothes stashed, and after a bit of water, I was off again. I decided to skip going to J Avenue when I ran into another muddy Level B. I just headed straight up K Avenue instead. I couldn't afford to spend the time hiking another B road on this day.

Ridge Road Northwest of Traer is an awesome piece of Iowa gravel. You should ride it too.

It wasn't long before I was going back North and East with the wind, which was getting darn right strong now out of the Southwest, and I was on my way back to Waterloo. I hit one of my favorite roads, Ridge Road, and had a guy on a motorcycle slow down to chat with me a bit. He was amazed when I told him I had ridden down from Waterloo where I live.

Rest stop on the corner of 155th and P.

I was getting really sore in my left shoulder on the way back. I bunged it up when I fell on the ice a month or so ago, and it really aches after getting jarred on gravel. I had some ibuprofen, fortunately, and that took the edge off, but it was a struggle until the medication took effect. I'll have to try lifting some mild weights and stretching to see if I can get that back into shape.

The wind really was pushing me hard, which was good. I was getting tired legs and I had 20 miles to go. I made the final rest stop at the corner of 115th and U Street to eat my last peanut butter and honey sandwich, then I flew back to Waterloo on the wings of the wind.

All in all it was a great day out on the bike, I felt really good, considering this was my longest ride since October, and everything went pretty much according to plan. I got back at 2:15pm, so it was a long day anyway. I have not fully accounted for the mileage yet, but I am pretty sure it was over 63 miles, (UPDATE- Total mileage was just at 70 miles), so I got my Cup O Dirt challenge started out right. Now I just need to keep it up.

Dirty Metric #1

Starting out at 30°F with heavy frost on the ground. The temperature rose 34°F during my ride!

Maybe some of you know that I joined The Cup O Dirt Challenge this year. Well, I either have to get in 12 metric centuries or six "real" ones. I figured on starting out by trying the metric ones, but I got shut out in January, and February was about shot. In comes the good weather, and so I decided that Saturday was my day. Do or die, because I wasn't going to get a second chance in February. I got everything lined up Friday night, and I went to bed early, (for me 10:00 pm is early!), and the alarm was set for six in the morning.

I knew going into this that I was going to see a wide swing in temperatures. It was 30°F when I left at 7:00am and I was expecting that I might see 60°F before I got home. Dressing, or maybe more accurately, undressing, for this as the day went on was going to be interesting. I also had to balance being able to carry enough water and food with having a place to stash things as I peeled them off.

Here's a list of what I was wearing when I left the house:

• Bontrager sleeveless base layer.
• Louis Garneau bib shorts
• Pirate Cycling League "black" jersey from 2014
• "Frostbike" branded wool DeFeet arm warmers.
• Bontrager Thermal tights
• Bontrager wind shell 
• DeFeet wool socks
• "Mart bag" vapor barriers on the feet.
• Polypro beanie
• Wool glove liners with Bontrager heavy Lycra full finger Winter gloves. 
• Shimano three strap shoes. 
• Gargoyle sunglasses
• Bell helmet.

Headed South on Aker Road. It was darn chilly, but the Sun was bright and the winds were light.

I wanted to get an early start since the weather guys were predicting stronger winds as the day wore on. The wind was a breeze when I left, and little more than noticeable, but as I got down the road, you could feel it pick up a bit in intensity. The plan was to hit a spot about half way to Traer and take a tiny break. I had to relieve myself, so a little before I really wanted to stop, I found an abandoned barn. It was a perfect place to stop.

A brief stop to have a nature break and eat a bit of gel. Then it was back at it!

I figured on going through two water bottles by Traer at about 25 miles in. I had five with me- Two in the Chaff Bags, two in the cages, and one stashed inside of my Tangle Bag. I had about ten gel packets with me, two peanut butter and honey sandwiches, and five dollars. Traer would be my only resupply point where I figured on refilling the two water bottles and maybe finding something to nibble on that was "real food' besides my sandwiches which were for later. I tried to eat and drink at regular intervals, and I tried to throttle back a bit on the riding, since I was heading into the wind. I seemed to be successful on all accounts seemingly, that is until I got closer to Traer. It was then I felt the "hunger monster" and knew I'd better eat something soon.

See that little cardboard box on the ledge above my handle bars? It's a little cherry pie! It was really good too. 

The stop in Traer came at about 9:45am and that was a bit of a surprise to me as I only stopped once and I thought I was going faster than that. However; the wind was a factor. Inside the convenience store I found a Scotcheroo and a cute little cherry pie in a tin inside a cardboard box. All for $2.88, which was pretty nice. The gal at the counter took forever to get off the phone since she was taking a food order from a customer that couldn't make up their mind. Yes- small town convenience stores have become village cafeterias. Many small town convenience stores provide this service and pizza delivery, or take away. Anyway, I stood there for ten minutes so this stop took way longer than I wanted it to.

Hike-a-bike. It's good for the soul.

South of Traer I wanted to travel just South of Highway 63 Westward, so I could get over to J Avenue and see if the bridge was back in. However; I ran into a messy Level B road which made me decide to go down another mile to 200th and then West. Okay, so far, so good. Then I saw another Level B. Rats! I was going to end up either going way out of my way, backtracking, or just hike-a-biking straight on through. I chose the last, and it was a slow going slog.

Maybe I should have packed snowshoes!

Thanks to Mike Johnson, who made this tool, I was back up and running in no time once I cleared the Level B road.

All along during the ride I could feel it getting a wee bit warmer, but it was still pretty chilly. That is until I finished hiking the Level B Road. It was like a switch had been flipped, and I ended up stashing my beanie, wind jacket, and both pairs of gloves. The walk on the muddy, snowy ditch ragged out my cheesy vapor barriers, so I removed them. I was fine without them afterward anyway.

The mud was dispatched from my bike and shoes by a simple little tool made from a shish-kabob skewer by Mike Johnson who showed it to me a couple of years ago. It works like a champ and is easily stowed in a bag. Thanks Mike! Once that task was done, my clothes stashed, and after a bit of water, I was off again. I decided to skip going to J Avenue when I ran into another muddy Level B. I just headed straight up K Avenue instead. I couldn't afford to spend the time hiking another B road on this day.

Ridge Road Northwest of Traer is an awesome piece of Iowa gravel. You should ride it too.

It wasn't long before I was going back North and East with the wind, which was getting darn right strong now out of the Southwest, and I was on my way back to Waterloo. I hit one of my favorite roads, Ridge Road, and had a guy on a motorcycle slow down to chat with me a bit. He was amazed when I told him I had ridden down from Waterloo where I live.

Rest stop on the corner of 155th and P.

I was getting really sore in my left shoulder on the way back. I bunged it up when I fell on the ice a month or so ago, and it really aches after getting jarred on gravel. I had some ibuprofen, fortunately, and that took the edge off, but it was a struggle until the medication took effect. I'll have to try lifting some mild weights and stretching to see if I can get that back into shape.

The wind really was pushing me hard, which was good. I was getting tired legs and I had 20 miles to go. I made the final rest stop at the corner of 115th and U Street to eat my last peanut butter and honey sandwich, then I flew back to Waterloo on the wings of the wind.

All in all it was a great day out on the bike, I felt really good, considering this was my longest ride since October, and everything went pretty much according to plan. I got back at 2:15pm, so it was a long day anyway. I have not fully accounted for the mileage yet, but I am pretty sure it was over 63 miles, (UPDATE- Total mileage was just at 70 miles), so I got my Cup O Dirt challenge started out right. Now I just need to keep it up.

Minus Ten Review- 8

The Fisher Bikes Super Cal 29 FS which never made it to production

On the blog ten years ago I went back into a swing of talking about 29"er stuff. Single speeds, why no one else other than Fisher Bikes was pushing the envelope, and also I was probing the peculiar "69"er", or as John Castellano said of them at the time, "50-50 Bikes". They were said to be the "best of both worlds", (26" and 29"), but obviously, in the end they were neither.

The "best of both worlds" angle was trotted again a year later when 27.5 bikes were introduced. Well, as we have also found out, the 27.5" wheel ended up being a way to make 26 inch bikes obsolete and forcing a re-upping by those who liked smaller wheels to buy new bikes. Now we're seeing another thing that is going to do a similar thing to both 29"ers and 27.5"ers- No, not another wheel size, although you could blame this on the "plus" sized rubber that's abundant these days. The new nemesis of old bikes will be Boost technology, which is going to widen out the wheel spacing, and that will put all older bikes out to pasture within the next few years. Progress, or conspiracy. You choose.

I also featured a "sneak peek" of a new 29"er that was in development by Fisher Bikes. Remember, there were two 29"er sites at the time that barely anyone knew about, so bloggers like me got a few bones thrown their way back in the day. The Supercal 29 FS never made it to production, however, and we had to wait a year or so longer to see the HiFi line introduced, which actually looks similar to this proto, come to think of it.

Speaking of cycling sites, at the end of February 2006 I announced that I would be a contributing writer to "The Biking Hub" site, out of Canada, and a site that was quite well respected in down hill/gravity mtb scenes. It went defunct about a year later, but it was the catalyst that pushed me into becoming the writer and cycling persona I have become today, if I can be so bold as to suggest that I have any notoriety.

Minus Ten Review- 8

The Fisher Bikes Super Cal 29 FS which never made it to production

On the blog ten years ago I went back into a swing of talking about 29"er stuff. Single speeds, why no one else other than Fisher Bikes was pushing the envelope, and also I was probing the peculiar "69"er", or as John Castellano said of them at the time, "50-50 Bikes". They were said to be the "best of both worlds", (26" and 29"), but obviously, in the end they were neither.

The "best of both worlds" angle was trotted again a year later when 27.5 bikes were introduced. Well, as we have also found out, the 27.5" wheel ended up being a way to make 26 inch bikes obsolete and forcing a re-upping by those who liked smaller wheels to buy new bikes. Now we're seeing another thing that is going to do a similar thing to both 29"ers and 27.5"ers- No, not another wheel size, although you could blame this on the "plus" sized rubber that's abundant these days. The new nemesis of old bikes will be Boost technology, which is going to widen out the wheel spacing, and that will put all older bikes out to pasture within the next few years. Progress, or conspiracy. You choose.

I also featured a "sneak peek" of a new 29"er that was in development by Fisher Bikes. Remember, there were two 29"er sites at the time that barely anyone knew about, so bloggers like me got a few bones thrown their way back in the day. The Supercal 29 FS never made it to production, however, and we had to wait a year or so longer to see the HiFi line introduced, which actually looks similar to this proto, come to think of it.

Speaking of cycling sites, at the end of February 2006 I announced that I would be a contributing writer to "The Biking Hub" site, out of Canada, and a site that was quite well respected in down hill/gravity mtb scenes. It went defunct about a year later, but it was the catalyst that pushed me into becoming the writer and cycling persona I have become today, if I can be so bold as to suggest that I have any notoriety.

Friday News And Views

WTB says it is "Plus Road". Others say "Welcome to the party". (Image courtesy of WTB)

Road Plus?!!

Fat, 650B tires and steel frames have been a "thing" since the 1940's or so. In certain times, the style and availability of parts was almost non-existent, but it never went away, and builders and small, niche companies kept the flame going for years up until now. Compass Tires, Velo Orange, Kogswell, and Rawland, amongst others, have spurred on an inetrest in 650B road-ish rigs with fat, 42mm-50mm tires all these years, and now some upstart mtb company has the chutzpah to come around with a similar tire and say it is a new thing.

You can read all about that here, but I find that some of the reactions to the news are very predictable. On the one hand, we have all the rando freaks, bike nerds, and traditionalists saying that this isn't any big deal, but have a variation on "this isn't as cool as "X" brand", or on the other hand say, "welcome to the freak show". I also wonder about some of the reactions since it is a company like WTB and that there is a new marketing twist on the old theme now. It's almost as if some are feeling put out that their niche is now being "exploited" and revealed to the masses. I remember seeing similar reactions when Specialized and finally when Giant came out with 29"ers. Well, whatever the deal there is, I will say I was a bit surprised that WTB did this.

Will it catch on? Look.....WTB introduced the 27.5+ tire to the market and everyone laughed. WTB also introduced 29"er tires first back in 2009 and everybody laughed. Hmm......

Heller Bikes "Shagamaw" 27.5+ bike (Image pinched from Fitzgerald Bikes Facebook page)

The Bike The Teens Will Be Noted For

I had to work on a Diamondback Ascent the other day at the shop. I was explaining to a young co-worker, just out of college, that this was the bike style that defined mountain bikes in the 90's: A steel hard tail, 26" wheels, of course, rigid fork, low head tube, long seat post extension, and a relatively long, flat rise stem with really narrow "broom stick" handle bars. You could argue that the "oughts" were defined by the hard tail 29"er with everything new that the format brought. Now we're solidly into the "teens", and fast ending this decade. I feel that the defining bike of this decade is something like the new Heller Bikes Shagamaw. (Is that a city in Michigan that made sub-par 4 speed manual transmissions? Hmm....) Anyway, this bike features a slack head angle, long front/center dimension, a stubby stem, really wide bars, "plus" sized 27.5 wheels, and a Chinese "catalog" carbon fiber frame.

NOT a carbon Stache. (Pinched from Lamere's Facebook page)

27.5+ sized wheels are really taking off now, and the geometry the hard tails use these days is anything but XC racing. Nope- it's all about enduro/all mountain now, so the geo reflects that- Slack, long, stubby stemmed. The frame reflects the growing trend of "consumer direct purchase" type frames, which has spawned a cottage industry of small brands who have stepped in to broker deals on batches of frames and sell with prices that maybe are not as good as the direct from factory to consumer buys, but not too much higher, plus there is a company Stateside to deal with any issues. Heck, even industry giant QBP sat up and took notice, creating their own Heller Brand to basically do the same thing as the smaller brands have been doing.

So, where will the "standard" mountain bike end up growing next? Hard to say, but I never would have predicted we'd be looking at a bike like the Lamere or Heller back ten years ago. By the way, the Heller bike is brand new, and if you are going to Frostbike, you'll get to see it. I won't, as I am not going to be there, as I said yesterday. I'll be out riding my gravel bike since it will be the best day yet all year to do that.

Okay, so, if you are like me, and are itching to ride in decent weather, by all means, do so! CIRREM riding this weekend? Good luck! Going to NAHBS? Geek out! See ya later and keep the rubber side down!

Friday News And Views

WTB says it is "Plus Road". Others say "Welcome to the party". (Image courtesy of WTB)

Road Plus?!!

Fat, 650B tires and steel frames have been a "thing" since the 1940's or so. In certain times, the style and availability of parts was almost non-existent, but it never went away, and builders and small, niche companies kept the flame going for years up until now. Compass Tires, Velo Orange, Kogswell, and Rawland, amongst others, have spurred on an inetrest in 650B road-ish rigs with fat, 42mm-50mm tires all these years, and now some upstart mtb company has the chutzpah to come around with a similar tire and say it is a new thing.

You can read all about that here, but I find that some of the reactions to the news are very predictable. On the one hand, we have all the rando freaks, bike nerds, and traditionalists saying that this isn't any big deal, but have a variation on "this isn't as cool as "X" brand", or on the other hand say, "welcome to the freak show". I also wonder about some of the reactions since it is a company like WTB and that there is a new marketing twist on the old theme now. It's almost as if some are feeling put out that their niche is now being "exploited" and revealed to the masses. I remember seeing similar reactions when Specialized and finally when Giant came out with 29"ers. Well, whatever the deal there is, I will say I was a bit surprised that WTB did this.

Will it catch on? Look.....WTB introduced the 27.5+ tire to the market and everyone laughed. WTB also introduced 29"er tires first back in 2009 and everybody laughed. Hmm......

Heller Bikes "Shagamaw" 27.5+ bike (Image pinched from Fitzgerald Bikes Facebook page)

The Bike The Teens Will Be Noted For

I had to work on a Diamondback Ascent the other day at the shop. I was explaining to a young co-worker, just out of college, that this was the bike style that defined mountain bikes in the 90's: A steel hard tail, 26" wheels, of course, rigid fork, low head tube, long seat post extension, and a relatively long, flat rise stem with really narrow "broom stick" handle bars. You could argue that the "oughts" were defined by the hard tail 29"er with everything new that the format brought. Now we're solidly into the "teens", and fast ending this decade. I feel that the defining bike of this decade is something like the new Heller Bikes Shagamaw. (Is that a city in Michigan that made sub-par 4 speed manual transmissions? Hmm....) Anyway, this bike features a slack head angle, long front/center dimension, a stubby stem, really wide bars, "plus" sized 27.5 wheels, and a Chinese "catalog" carbon fiber frame.

NOT a carbon Stache. (Pinched from Lamere's Facebook page)

27.5+ sized wheels are really taking off now, and the geometry the hard tails use these days is anything but XC racing. Nope- it's all about enduro/all mountain now, so the geo reflects that- Slack, long, stubby stemmed. The frame reflects the growing trend of "consumer direct purchase" type frames, which has spawned a cottage industry of small brands who have stepped in to broker deals on batches of frames and sell with prices that maybe are not as good as the direct from factory to consumer buys, but not too much higher, plus there is a company Stateside to deal with any issues. Heck, even industry giant QBP sat up and took notice, creating their own Heller Brand to basically do the same thing as the smaller brands have been doing.

So, where will the "standard" mountain bike end up growing next? Hard to say, but I never would have predicted we'd be looking at a bike like the Lamere or Heller back ten years ago. By the way, the Heller bike is brand new, and if you are going to Frostbike, you'll get to see it. I won't, as I am not going to be there, as I said yesterday. I'll be out riding my gravel bike since it will be the best day yet all year to do that.

Okay, so, if you are like me, and are itching to ride in decent weather, by all means, do so! CIRREM riding this weekend? Good luck! Going to NAHBS? Geek out! See ya later and keep the rubber side down!

Back To The Country

The worst of the Sergent Road Bike Trail. It's 95% clear

"Yep, I think it is time!" That's what I thought to myself when the City Inspector came early and left the house by 9:30am after inspecting our new boiler. I had plenty of time before my next scheduled task at 2:00pm to sneak in a gravel road ride, the first of the year for me.

I probably would have gone out on the gravel back when it was colder if the fat biking had not been so good for the past two months or so. I know that it isn't usually that good, so I just rode the packed in trails here as much as I possibly could to get my share in now. Next Winter may not be so kind. Besides, I probably needed a good respite from a high dosage of gravel for the better part of 10 months spanning right up to the end of 2015.

The recent warmer weather has killed off any thoughts of Winter time fat biking, and in fact, I have declared it to be Spring, no matter what the calendar says. The weather has turned, and I just feel like it is here to stay now. I wanted to get out on the gravel last weekend, but that just never worked itself out, so Wednesday was the day. I saddled up on the ol' BMC "Orange Crush" rig and set out Southward, since I figured the roads South of town would be in better condition than North.

The Sun made a brief but welcomed appearance. The wind never left!

The wind was whistling through the wires in many spots. Especially so right here.

I made my way down the Sergent Road bike path, which was mostly clear, but for a short stretch I ran into which was easily navigated. Then I hit the gravel on Aker Road South. It was fresh, but of a gauge that the County rarely uses. It was finer and dustier than usual down this way, which made the BMC loose and lateral traction wasn't very good. Still, it was navigable and I was making great headway despite the gravel.

Of course, I come to realize that I had a stiff wind at my back the entire time. No wonder it was so easy! I turned Eastward and the cross wind slowed me up by quite a lot. Okay......okay! Lower gear.....higher cadence. Grind! Riding the dingle speed fat bike in low range for a few weeks paid dividends on the ride. I was spinning like a champ. Better than usual for this time of year. Spin to win!

Riding in the cross wind was tough. Then after this road I turned North. Yeah.......that was harder.

Yeah.....spin to win. The North wind was at about 20-ish mph according to the weather, but I think it was higher out in the country. My spin was reduced to a semi-slow grind up the rollers coming back to town, but you know what? I was super happy just to be riding. The wind wasn't taking anything away from that at all.

I got back with a good bit of time to spare and as it turned out, the ride was a highlight of the day. The afternoon I could have done without, but that's why riding is important to me. It makes the not so great things in life not such a big deal anymore, and my mental state was far better off for having been out battling the wind than it would have been otherwise.

That was a start. Now I'm looking for more. Hopefully real soon here!

Back To The Country

The worst of the Sergent Road Bike Trail. It's 95% clear

"Yep, I think it is time!" That's what I thought to myself when the City Inspector came early and left the house by 9:30am after inspecting our new boiler. I had plenty of time before my next scheduled task at 2:00pm to sneak in a gravel road ride, the first of the year for me.

I probably would have gone out on the gravel back when it was colder if the fat biking had not been so good for the past two months or so. I know that it isn't usually that good, so I just rode the packed in trails here as much as I possibly could to get my share in now. Next Winter may not be so kind. Besides, I probably needed a good respite from a high dosage of gravel for the better part of 10 months spanning right up to the end of 2015.

The recent warmer weather has killed off any thoughts of Winter time fat biking, and in fact, I have declared it to be Spring, no matter what the calendar says. The weather has turned, and I just feel like it is here to stay now. I wanted to get out on the gravel last weekend, but that just never worked itself out, so Wednesday was the day. I saddled up on the ol' BMC "Orange Crush" rig and set out Southward, since I figured the roads South of town would be in better condition than North.

The Sun made a brief but welcomed appearance. The wind never left!

The wind was whistling through the wires in many spots. Especially so right here.

I made my way down the Sergent Road bike path, which was mostly clear, but for a short stretch I ran into which was easily navigated. Then I hit the gravel on Aker Road South. It was fresh, but of a gauge that the County rarely uses. It was finer and dustier than usual down this way, which made the BMC loose and lateral traction wasn't very good. Still, it was navigable and I was making great headway despite the gravel.

Of course, I come to realize that I had a stiff wind at my back the entire time. No wonder it was so easy! I turned Eastward and the cross wind slowed me up by quite a lot. Okay......okay! Lower gear.....higher cadence. Grind! Riding the dingle speed fat bike in low range for a few weeks paid dividends on the ride. I was spinning like a champ. Better than usual for this time of year. Spin to win!

Riding in the cross wind was tough. Then after this road I turned North. Yeah.......that was harder.

Yeah.....spin to win. The North wind was at about 20-ish mph according to the weather, but I think it was higher out in the country. My spin was reduced to a semi-slow grind up the rollers coming back to town, but you know what? I was super happy just to be riding. The wind wasn't taking anything away from that at all.

I got back with a good bit of time to spare and as it turned out, the ride was a highlight of the day. The afternoon I could have done without, but that's why riding is important to me. It makes the not so great things in life not such a big deal anymore, and my mental state was far better off for having been out battling the wind than it would have been otherwise.

That was a start. Now I'm looking for more. Hopefully real soon here!

Apologies

There will be no epic walks through Minneapolis this time

My apologies friends and colleagues. This is to inform you that for the first time in 14 years I will not be attending Frostbike in Bloomington, Minnesota.

A late Winter tradition for me, and a great run of attending and being crazy on several occasions. I'll have to break the string this year. The invitation on the media side wasn't there, and the shop just dropped the ball on getting us registered, so the event filled up, and there is no room at the inn for Guitar Ted this year.

Now probably 90% of you or more out there could probably give a rip, but I actually do have a few friends that I only get to see at Frostbike, thus the apology in advance, should they be wondering what the heck happened to me this year.

Last year, apparently, from what I heard anyway, there were a few folks wondering why I wasn't there while I was cashed out in a motel room because of my epic all night walk through a snowy Minneapolis. Well, there will be no epic walks this year that keep me from attending. No..... I wish that was the case, but it isn't and I won't be showing up even for one day, like I did last year.

So, in case you were wondering, you shouldn't be looking for me at Frostbike. I'll be out riding my bicycle instead......

Have fun if you are going, folks.

Apologies

There will be no epic walks through Minneapolis this time

My apologies friends and colleagues. This is to inform you that for the first time in 14 years I will not be attending Frostbike in Bloomington, Minnesota.

A late Winter tradition for me, and a great run of attending and being crazy on several occasions. I'll have to break the string this year. The invitation on the media side wasn't there, and the shop just dropped the ball on getting us registered, so the event filled up, and there is no room at the inn for Guitar Ted this year.

Now probably 90% of you or more out there could probably give a rip, but I actually do have a few friends that I only get to see at Frostbike, thus the apology in advance, should they be wondering what the heck happened to me this year.

Last year, apparently, from what I heard anyway, there were a few folks wondering why I wasn't there while I was cashed out in a motel room because of my epic all night walk through a snowy Minneapolis. Well, there will be no epic walks this year that keep me from attending. No..... I wish that was the case, but it isn't and I won't be showing up even for one day, like I did last year.

So, in case you were wondering, you shouldn't be looking for me at Frostbike. I'll be out riding my bicycle instead......

Have fun if you are going, folks.

Project Wide Gravel Wheels

Well.......look at that, would ya?

Okay.......White Industries came through. I have the hubs in hand and now, as I am wont to do, I have instigated another "project". This one will be a wheel build to test my theory on wide rims for gravel.

Before I get into my hypothesis, let's take a look at these gorgeous black anodized goodies here, shall we? Of course, they are from White Industries and are their new disc hubs dubbed "XMR". What does that stand for? Who knows! I would say, "good looking", sleek", and light weight, but none of those terms start with "X" "M" or "R". White Industries says the hubs have a 6-4 titanium free hub body, a six bolt disc rotor interface, available swappable end caps for through axle compatibility, or as in my case, the standard traditional quick release caps which are included, and an 11 speed compatibility with backwards compatibility to 10 speed and 9 speed cassettes via an included spacer. Pretty swank looks, if I say so myself, with laser etched graphics, and an availability in a few different anodized hues to boot. I chose black so I can swap these wheels, when they are built, between multiple bikes if I so choose and they will look great in all of them. I must say that I was sorely tempted by the option of getting White Industries XMR hubs in luscious purple ano though!

These hubs came highly recommended to me, but of course, there are more things to a wheel than hubs. I also chose WTB's KOM i25 rims for this build, and here's where it gets interesting, as far as my theory goes here. First, you need to know that WTB KOM i25 rims are 25mm inside width, so they are pretty wide rims! Keep in mind that most road-ish, cyclo-cross rims run in the 17mm-19mm inner rim width territory. Yeah......these are wide rims!! Well, for 35-40mm tires, they are wide rims. And see......that's the thing, everybody is going wide and wider off road, so why not for gravel? I mean, a 30mm wide rim is considered XC-ish these days and 35-40mm inner rim widths are commonplace on trail bikes. Every road rim that is introduced gets wider as well. So, it only follows that gravel riders might be benefiting from the same ideas, right? Well, we will see......

KOM rims come in several widths and diameters, but I chose the biggest and widest!

I figure we can look at gravel road tires as "plus sized road tires", so wider rims make sense to me in that vein. My hope is that the wider KOM i25 will do for the 38mm-40mm tires I intend to use on them what the wider mtb rims and 27.5+ tires did for my "Fat Fargo". Those corpulent wheels transformed the Fat Fargo into a rough terrain eating machine. Maybe wider rims will help stabilize gravel tires and help them roll over loose, deep gravel at lowered pressures better than they do on more traditional width cyclo-cross or road rims, the likes of which I have been using. Maybe that will translate into a more comfortable, less fatiguing ride quality which will help me out on longer rides. That's the hope and what I intend on finding out.

So, stay tuned for a detailed wheel build post, then I'll pop on some bigger gravel going rubber and then these will be featured first on my Twin Six Standard Rando, but I fully expect to also use them on my Raleigh Tamland Two and my Gen I Fargo.

Project Wide Gravel Wheels

Well.......look at that, would ya?

Okay.......White Industries came through. I have the hubs in hand and now, as I am wont to do, I have instigated another "project". This one will be a wheel build to test my theory on wide rims for gravel.

Before I get into my hypothesis, let's take a look at these gorgeous black anodized goodies here, shall we? Of course, they are from White Industries and are their new disc hubs dubbed "XMR". What does that stand for? Who knows! I would say, "good looking", sleek", and light weight, but none of those terms start with "X" "M" or "R". White Industries says the hubs have a 6-4 titanium free hub body, a six bolt disc rotor interface, available swappable end caps for through axle compatibility, or as in my case, the standard traditional quick release caps which are included, and an 11 speed compatibility with backwards compatibility to 10 speed and 9 speed cassettes via an included spacer. Pretty swank looks, if I say so myself, with laser etched graphics, and an availability in a few different anodized hues to boot. I chose black so I can swap these wheels, when they are built, between multiple bikes if I so choose and they will look great in all of them. I must say that I was sorely tempted by the option of getting White Industries XMR hubs in luscious purple ano though!

These hubs came highly recommended to me, but of course, there are more things to a wheel than hubs. I also chose WTB's KOM i25 rims for this build, and here's where it gets interesting, as far as my theory goes here. First, you need to know that WTB KOM i25 rims are 25mm inside width, so they are pretty wide rims! Keep in mind that most road-ish, cyclo-cross rims run in the 17mm-19mm inner rim width territory. Yeah......these are wide rims!! Well, for 35-40mm tires, they are wide rims. And see......that's the thing, everybody is going wide and wider off road, so why not for gravel? I mean, a 30mm wide rim is considered XC-ish these days and 35-40mm inner rim widths are commonplace on trail bikes. Every road rim that is introduced gets wider as well. So, it only follows that gravel riders might be benefiting from the same ideas, right? Well, we will see......

KOM rims come in several widths and diameters, but I chose the biggest and widest!

I figure we can look at gravel road tires as "plus sized road tires", so wider rims make sense to me in that vein. My hope is that the wider KOM i25 will do for the 38mm-40mm tires I intend to use on them what the wider mtb rims and 27.5+ tires did for my "Fat Fargo". Those corpulent wheels transformed the Fat Fargo into a rough terrain eating machine. Maybe wider rims will help stabilize gravel tires and help them roll over loose, deep gravel at lowered pressures better than they do on more traditional width cyclo-cross or road rims, the likes of which I have been using. Maybe that will translate into a more comfortable, less fatiguing ride quality which will help me out on longer rides. That's the hope and what I intend on finding out.

So, stay tuned for a detailed wheel build post, then I'll pop on some bigger gravel going rubber and then these will be featured first on my Twin Six Standard Rando, but I fully expect to also use them on my Raleigh Tamland Two and my Gen I Fargo.

Small Parts Are Important

This was what happened a couple weeks ago.

You may remember a couple weeks ago how when I was running my Ti Muk home from work and the crank fell off because that little, seemingly insignificant pre-load cap fell off. Such a catastrophic issue due to such a small, cheap part.

Fortunately for me, I only had about a mile to go, and I didn't roach the splines on that crank arm, because I quit pedaling the instant I felt something weird. Many people don't do this and they pay the price. I see it on a semi-consistent basis at work. People "pedaling through" chain issues, derailleur issues, wheel issues, bottom bracket issues, and so on and so forth. All causing much more damage and financial distress than need be had they just stopped and observed what was going on. Trust me folks, if you have something going on with your bike- noises, weird feelings, or non-functioning components- pedaling more will not make it magically go away. Yep. I'm pretty sure I am right about this.

So, I am really glad I stopped pedaling when I did, because I saved myself from crashing, bodily injury, and probably from toasting the left crank arm splines which would have rendered the crank useless. But then again, I am a bicycle mechanic and I have a sensitivity to these issues that, perhaps, the ordinary human does not. Maybe.....but maybe not. Maybe many folks are just not paying attention. Whatever the reason.......

$6.99 of cure. 

Now that looks much, much better!

It was an easy fix, of course, but I really didn't want to ride the bike without that tiny, seemingly unimportant bit of threaded aluminum. I was missing that bike last week too, since it was really the best thing I had to ride for my commutes course. There still are some bad spots it will be good for out there yet. One particular nasty rut I created with the 1X1 will get "steamrolled" back into shape once I get the Ti Muk on that bit of grassy crossing. I can think of one other spot similarly rutted, but not as deep that this bike needs to help "smooth over".

In the end, the commute route will be fine, but the big fat tires will enhance and speed up the recovery process. I'm not really sure there is too much frost driven into the ground this season, since it seems to be boiling out in some places pretty quickly already. Maybe "slop season" won't last too very long this year. I know I will be happy if things straighten out and get on with being "Spring" sooner than later. My drive train bits on the Ti Muk are already on the sketchy side of worn, and replacement parts should be obtained and installed before I get on too much further with riding this beast.

Once I get past the slop season and begin to fund the upgrade on drive train bits, I am going to make a decision to do something with the 29"er wheels I have for this bike. Those wheels are laced with Stan's Flow rims, and to be perfectly honest, I am not a huge fan of those rims, as I have plenty of good tubeless ready rubber to choose from, and many of my tires are not compatible with Stan's bead seat diameter, which is optimized for folding bead, non-tubeless ready tires. So, I believe I am going to start looking into a wider, tubeless compatible rim to re-lace those wheels with. Then I may think long and hard about using the Ti Muk on a rougher gravel event like Odin's where the magic of titanium and the Body Float seat post will be most beneficial for my purposes. I know I had 29+ wheels for this bike once, and I wasn't very stoked on that set up, but 29"er wheels on this bike work really well.

Small Parts Are Important

This was what happened a couple weeks ago.

You may remember a couple weeks ago how when I was running my Ti Muk home from work and the crank fell off because that little, seemingly insignificant pre-load cap fell off. Such a catastrophic issue due to such a small, cheap part.

Fortunately for me, I only had about a mile to go, and I didn't roach the splines on that crank arm, because I quit pedaling the instant I felt something weird. Many people don't do this and they pay the price. I see it on a semi-consistent basis at work. People "pedaling through" chain issues, derailleur issues, wheel issues, bottom bracket issues, and so on and so forth. All causing much more damage and financial distress than need be had they just stopped and observed what was going on. Trust me folks, if you have something going on with your bike- noises, weird feelings, or non-functioning components- pedaling more will not make it magically go away. Yep. I'm pretty sure I am right about this.

So, I am really glad I stopped pedaling when I did, because I saved myself from crashing, bodily injury, and probably from toasting the left crank arm splines which would have rendered the crank useless. But then again, I am a bicycle mechanic and I have a sensitivity to these issues that, perhaps, the ordinary human does not. Maybe.....but maybe not. Maybe many folks are just not paying attention. Whatever the reason.......

$6.99 of cure. 

Now that looks much, much better!

It was an easy fix, of course, but I really didn't want to ride the bike without that tiny, seemingly unimportant bit of threaded aluminum. I was missing that bike last week too, since it was really the best thing I had to ride for my commutes course. There still are some bad spots it will be good for out there yet. One particular nasty rut I created with the 1X1 will get "steamrolled" back into shape once I get the Ti Muk on that bit of grassy crossing. I can think of one other spot similarly rutted, but not as deep that this bike needs to help "smooth over".

In the end, the commute route will be fine, but the big fat tires will enhance and speed up the recovery process. I'm not really sure there is too much frost driven into the ground this season, since it seems to be boiling out in some places pretty quickly already. Maybe "slop season" won't last too very long this year. I know I will be happy if things straighten out and get on with being "Spring" sooner than later. My drive train bits on the Ti Muk are already on the sketchy side of worn, and replacement parts should be obtained and installed before I get on too much further with riding this beast.

Once I get past the slop season and begin to fund the upgrade on drive train bits, I am going to make a decision to do something with the 29"er wheels I have for this bike. Those wheels are laced with Stan's Flow rims, and to be perfectly honest, I am not a huge fan of those rims, as I have plenty of good tubeless ready rubber to choose from, and many of my tires are not compatible with Stan's bead seat diameter, which is optimized for folding bead, non-tubeless ready tires. So, I believe I am going to start looking into a wider, tubeless compatible rim to re-lace those wheels with. Then I may think long and hard about using the Ti Muk on a rougher gravel event like Odin's where the magic of titanium and the Body Float seat post will be most beneficial for my purposes. I know I had 29+ wheels for this bike once, and I wasn't very stoked on that set up, but 29"er wheels on this bike work really well.

The Monkey Decade Plus Three: Update

It's not an Ogre! Just a really old Karate Monkey.

Here's an update on the 2003 Karate Monkey. Obviously, after the bottom bracket had been removed, I could get on with "going the other way" with it. Oh, by the way, that term- going the other way- that's a term I picked up from back when I worked on cars. My boss would ask me where I was on the job I might be working on at the time. If I was putting things back together, it was termed "going the other way". So......now you know.

Anyway.....back to the story!

I decided to go with cantilever brakes. one problem though. I removed the original brake studs back in 2003 for a cleaner look, since I went disc brake at the time. That meant that the first order of business was finding some brake bosses. I grabbed two from an old mart bike frame I have sitting around. That left two more to get. Hmm......I think I have some at work. So, I got as far as getting the front end squared away with brakes, but the back is yet to be done.

Then I moved on to finding a crank set and bottom bracket for the KM. I didn't have to go far, as I had a TruVativ single speed specific crank set and an old GXP bottom bracket to go with that. The old bottom bracket was from a Raleigh XXIX+G rig I had back in about '07, I believe it was. Anyway, I had that bike going for a while but I ended up breaking it down and I think I gave the frame away in the end.  The point is, the bottom bracket survives, and that went into the Karate Monkey with no issues.

I need to come up with a good seat collar, which I am pretty sure I have at work. Then I grabbed a seat post that was originally in my Ti Mukluk and the Velo Orange saddle that I can't seem to find a home for. I guess I'll try that on this bike, since it is red, and the bar tape is red, and I have a few red themed stickers on the old bike. I figured it would match and all.

Different bottom bracket and crank set. Ready to roll there. Yes- it really is this dim in my shop!

So, that's it so far. I should get everything up and running real soon. When I do and get to riding it again, I'm sure that I'll end up tweaking things, so this all may not end up being the final build. However; it should be close, and I'll have that old Monkey back in the stable in running order for the first time in several years.