Friday News And Views

It Wasn't Always On Friday:

This post, "Friday News And Views", has become one of the most popular posts on my site. Week after week the numbers for Friday are way bigger than any other day on average. It's interesting to me that these posts tend to get a lot of attention.

Since this is the last "FN&V" post for the year, I thought it might be fun to note that this regular weekly post didn't always land on a Friday. I used to publish bits as soon as I got them, so the "News And Views" posts have hit on just about every day of the week at some time or another. Since placing the newsy bits and my pithy commentary on those bits on Fridays, I have only done a few, non-Friday newsy bits. Usually it has to be a pretty big deal for me not to hold off till Friday anymore.

I don't plan on changing anything with regard to this blog in the near term, so if you are one of those folks that only comes here on Fridays, don't worry about this going away anytime soon. I'll be continuing on right into 2018.

I met Craig at Odin's Revenge in 2013. That's him up ahead grinding out his single gear.

Kind Words:

Trans Iowa has had the unique situation of having had not to call out for volunteers. I may have asked once or twice, so sue me if I have forgotten, but typically, no- I never have to ask for help and I generally end up turning people away.

I know that is very unusual for any event. I get it. I am super-blessed and I don't take it lightly. So, when I get a shout out from someone even before they have volunteered, well, that's some unprecedented territory right there! But that's just what happened when Craig Groseth figured out he could get the time off from work and family to come out and be a volunteer for Trans Iowa. He even was so stoked he wrote about it here.

I am blown away by Craig's kind words on his blog. I know he isn't the only one that feels like being a Trans Iowa volunteer is special, because others have said as much, but the way Craig has put it is very eloquent. So, a public "thank you" goes out to Craig here and I certainly hope his experience in Iowa doing Trans Iowa volunteering lives up to his lofty expectations! I have some work to do to make sure I have my end as good as it can get. That's for sure!

A mysterious package arrived the other day with this bag inside of it.

Lezyne XL Caddy Rear Seat Pack:

So the day after Christmas I got a package with this bag inside of it from Lezyne. Apparently the seat pack deal is all the rage these days. These kind of things happen like they do because of popularity and the ease of getting bags made. "Bikepacking" is all the rage now so companies that are not known for bags are jumping in "just so they have a foothold in the market". Kind of like when every rock band made a disco record in the 70's because.........well, disco! So, this isn't anything new.

Anyway, the Lezyne XL Seat Caddy is something relatively new in form, but not in name. Lezyne had a similarly named product that was nothing like this in the past. It seems pretty well built with thick fabrics, P.U. coated underneath for weather protection, and it also has some structural side panels to give it some form. The back end is a roll top type closure with a nice rubbery strip of material that has lots of horizontally placed slits for the attachment of a rear light at about any angle you want.

I'll give it a whirl on my bikes and I should have a word or two to say more about this seat pack later on in Winter.

Happy New Year! If you are bugging out for the weekend to go someplace to see in the New Year, I just wanted to say "Happy New Year" to you and thank you for your continued stopping by to check out the "Guitar Ted Productions" blog during 2017. I really appreciate all of you and hope that you all will continue to check in next year.