Minus Ten Review- 8

I got this Tomi cog handed off to me at Frostbike '08. Yes....I did actually purchase it!

Ten years ago on the blog here I posted one image all week. That was of this Tomi Cog. It bolts direct to a 6 bolt disc brake rotor mount so you don't have to worry about any issues with lock rings. Yes, you end up with no rear brake, but this is fixed gear people. And I don't ride in the mountains. One brake is really sufficient with the additional "back pressure" applied through the pedals.

My hope is to get this cog back on something here and start using it again. I think that it will go on the original bicycle I had it on, my '03 Karate Monkey, or perhaps on an On One Inbred frame I have that isn't being ridden at the moment. We will see. I am certainly in no hurry to get this done, obviously!

But other than that I was yakking quite a bit that week about Trans Iowa v4 stuff. Recon mostly, but there was banter about lights and how to set up accessories so they wouldn't get rattled off the bike by gravel. I also was stoked to reveal that we had Surly Bikes and Princeton Tec Lights on as sponsors for the fourth running of the event. Princeton Tec sent over some head lamps for volunteers to see with at night, and I still have those around here. I've made use of them in subsequent Trans Iowas. Thanks Princeton Tec!

What became this had its roots ten years ago on this blog

But a big turning point in things here began ten years ago when I posted the following on Thursday, February 21st, 2008:


"First up we have an idea. There seems to be a growing number of freaks putting on low key gravely adventures around these parts. My thought is that there might be a need for a clearing house of sorts. A place dedicated to gravel road rides only and a place where rides could be added that others could go to and check out....."

It wasn't long until I had posted a blogspot address and was compiling events so everyone could keep track of them. The first effort wasn't mine, and it wasn't the blogspot address I mentioned here, but soon afterward it was seen that the original effort wasn't going to be what I had envisioned so I did it myself. Anyway, by the end of the year I was well on my way to doing "Gravel Grinder News" and at the end of 2014 that was merged into RidingGravel.com. The race/event calendar has survived along with those changes all these years.  

Also ten years ago this week I think I made the very first mention of an electric motor fitted to a bicycle which I promptly declared was not a bicycle. I think with ten years of perspective I would slightly modify that to say an e-bike is not bicycling. It is "something else". "Assisted", or whatever, but it is definitely not bicycling, nor can it ever impart the full bicycling experience. It is, at best, a poor facsimile of bicycling and at its worst, out and out motorcycling. 

Note- I have not said here that I am for or against these contraptions, I am just stating that anyone who engages in riding a two wheeled vehicle that, at minimum, assists them in powering the bike or more, is not riding with the same experience as a fully human powered bicycle. Those two experiences are different, and if they were not different, then why would there even be electrically assisted/powered two wheel vehicles? It's obvious that the e-powered experience is "easier"( ie: you are not fully powering the vehicle) and therefore vastly different than fully human powered two wheel travel.