Friday News And Views

Salsa's Beargrease goes to 27.5"ers on the current style frame.

Saddledrive 17:

The annual Saddledrive show is going on now. It is the show where QBP shows select dealers the newest rigs that will be, maybe, on dealers showroom floors this Fall and in to 2018.

Only you don't get to see any of it until September 8th. Thus saith the Q.

Apparently QBP wants to control the message more so than in the past, where dealers were pumping out images on social media and talking up stuff that wasn't quite cooked up enough for the Q to have out there quite yet. In fact, dealers were sworn to secrecy by the Q with an embargo agreement. All the 2018 line was shown in a special room sequestered away from prying eyes. This isn't entirely new for QBP, by the way. They did something similar when they announced privately to dealers the DW Split Pivot bikes.

So, all you are going to get now is a peek at Mukluk colors for 2018 and the Beargrease with 27.5" fat bike wheels. Same frame, by the way, just different wheels. Surly has the ECR in 27.5+ wheels in size medium on down and 29+ in size medium on up. The Straggler gets a new, blue sparkly colorway. That's about it for now.

So,stay tuned until September 8th when the wraps are lifted off and Salsa (and I assume Surly as well) is free to disseminate the new 2018 stuff.

Cyclo cross is hard, so e-bike it!

 First They Said You Can't- Then They Say You Should:

Remember all that ballyhoo about the Belgian cyclo crosser that had an electric motor in her seat tube and got banned from CX for it? The UCI got real serious about all of this and they even went so far as to develop testing machines that officials could employ at future events to detect any "e-doping" that may be occurring. To date, I have not heard that anyone has been busted.

So, e-biking in UCI cyclo cross events is a no-no, yes?

Well, maybe not! 

Apparently there is going to be a cyclo cross event at the next UCI sanctioned Cross Vegas, dubbed a "fun event", where e-biking will not only be allowed, but encouraged. Check the following quote out from the press release for this event: "The event is open to men and women riding any style of e-bike. It is a "bring your own bike" event; however, 15 lucky entrants will ride a Focus e-whip for the race."

So, any e-bike? Like, even modified, no speed limited e-bikes?

Wow!

I know cyclo cross is hard, so ya know......let 'em use motors, I guess. I'm just waiting for the basketball hoops to be lowered so even I can dunk. "When everyone is special......no one will be."

Sheesh! Giving us a break, I see.

GTDRI Is Tomorrow:

At 6:00am tomorrow, the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational will head out from Reinbeck, Iowa to ride 102+ miles and 25 miles of that dirt. The ride will have four people on it, as far as I know, plus myself.

The weather is weird for this event this year. Usually it is in the 70's at the onset of riding and gets into the 90's with high humidity by the afternoon. This, combined with some of the stupid-difficult courses I have come up with, have conspired to make the ride a real "death ride", or as close to real death as you'd want to get.

This isn't a totally unprecedented situation though. I do recall the first attempt at the Egin-Elkader-Garber-Strawberry Point area course where the temperatures were mild with low humidity. That was nearly ten years ago. The second GTDRI was cut short by a thunderstorm, which we were caught out in. That one wasn't too bad either.

But typically it was almost always hot, humid, and really hard to ride. This year it seems we have caught another break as the heat and humidity have been tempered by a cold front with cooler, drier air, that blew through here yesterday. Hey, I ain't complainin', I just think it is odd.

So, I think many of you might be surprised to find out what rig I am taking on this adventure. You'll have to wait until Monday to find out what it was. I am pretty stoked to give this a whirl, that's for sure.

That's all I have. Look for a recap of the GTDRI to start on Monday. Have a great weekend and keep the rubber side down, y'all!