Trans Iowa Stories: Here I Am Again On My Own

I've spent a LOT of time alone out in rural Iowa.

"Trans Iowa Stories" is an every Sunday post which helps tell the stories behind the event. You can check out other posts about this subject by going back to earlier Sunday posts on this blog. Thanks and enjoy!

This deal was always about relationships with people and having fun. Part of the 'fun', for me at least, was being alone. Getting away from it all is something I have to do more so than most folks. I admire any of you that can navigate living in big, metropolitan areas, because there is no way I'd make it living in places like that. In fact, I try to avoid such places. That's me. I don't take anything away from anyone else that digs being in the big city life. If you get on with that, like I said, I admire your abilities to do so.

Anyway, the point is that I relished being alone in "The Truck With No Name" doing recon and adventuring out in the rural areas of Iowa. Trans Iowa v8 probably was one of the most remote, unexplored bits of Iowa countryside I ever experienced, besides some bits of T.I.v11's course recon which no one else but Jeremy Fry experienced with me. That'll be spoken of here in upcoming "Trans Iowa Stories".

Of course, I didn't really have a choice in the matter, since David Pals had quit being the co-director, and I was determined to do this all in my way, which meant that recon and route planning were on my shoulders. I guess this made me take stock in a lot of things in my life. This time alone- hours upon hours of it- left me no choice but to think about many things in my life. Things outside of Trans Iowa, like my family, my website work, and my job as a mechanic at a bicycle shop. I did a LOT of deep thinking and what is more, I never listened to music or the radio. I watched nature as the miles rolled by, and I saw a lot of things. This led to one strange practice of mine which was in regard to how I verified a "good route".

I have given special significance to birds of prey if I see them during recon. This eagle was seen during recon for T.I.v12.

I usually mapped out a route at home using various sources like the "Iowa Sportsman's Atlas", Google Earth, and the county PDF files on the State of Iowa's Department of Transportation site. But nothing really tells you about how a course flows, how a rider might see it, or how scenic the route is unless you get out there and either ride it on a bike or drive it. Of course, the possibilities for changing a route present themselves as well. You might, for instance, see a better road choice and go with that, but a map may not show you any reasons to make that sort of change.

Sometimes as I rode along I found myself second guessing my choices, and with no one else in the truck to bounce any ideas off of, I was left to wonder. Now I have to kind of take you back to my youth for a minute to help explain what helped me in route finding over the years.

See, when I grew up, it was during the height of the use of  the chemical DDT. They used it to get rid of mosquitoes, and as a general insecticide on farms, but it was found to be environmentally dangerous to birds of prey and humans. So eventually it was banned. That's when I started seeing hawks again. Then Bald Eagles, which I never saw as a youth, started appearing while I was in my 20's. Now they are a fairly common site in Iowa, but that didn't used to be the case.

So I always took it as a good omen, a sign I was doing things right, when I saw a hawk soaring, and especially if I saw an Eagle on the proposed route. Many times, in fact I cannot recall a time this didn't pan out, the direction a hawk was flying almost always coincided with my course choices. It was as if I was getting a 'second opinion' on what I was doing. Crazy? Well......many of you will think so. I found it to be of great comfort and it seemed to work out in the end. Make of that what you will. I have my deep beliefs on the matter and I am not changing them. The point is, that is what I did, and maybe it was just too much time alone, but hawks and Eagles were a welcomed sight on those recon trips for T.I.v8 and others where I saw these birds.

From the T.I.v8 course.

It was likely during the recon for T.I.v8 where I was solidifying my plans for getting out of the website "Twentynine Inches" and plotting my escape from Trans Iowa with T.I.v10 as the endgame there. It would be 2012 when T.I.v8 would be run, and by the end of 2014 I was looking for freedom from the tyranny of all these stressors in my life, and those two things were at the top of my list.

I guess the previous Trans Iowas were to blame. From T.I.v3 and v4 to the craziness of v6 and the messy T.I.v7 cue sheet/bridge out debacle which culminated in a very personal trial with two friends. Only T.I.v5 went without much issue. I guess I figured most any Trans Iowa would be leading my emotions through a painful knothole. I didn't know how many more I could take. But I figured getting through to ten of these events would be a goal to shoot for. So, if that was the case, why not make 2014 a really big year and retire from TNI too. Sounded like a plan to me.

And I would be able to get three more chances to get Trans Iowa 'right"- v8, v9, and v10. I figured that if I couldn't get it right by then, well I'd quit anyway. But that wasn't an option, really. I mean, I was going to get it right. That's just how it was going to be. Besides having all this time alone planning Trans Iowa v8, I was also constantly bearing down on myself. I was going to do this! It was a LOT of self-induced pressure.

Next: The Story Behind "300 Miles Of Gravel".

Trans Iowa Stories: Here I Am Again On My Own

I've spent a LOT of time alone out in rural Iowa.

"Trans Iowa Stories" is an every Sunday post which helps tell the stories behind the event. You can check out other posts about this subject by going back to earlier Sunday posts on this blog. Thanks and enjoy!

This deal was always about relationships with people and having fun. Part of the 'fun', for me at least, was being alone. Getting away from it all is something I have to do more so than most folks. I admire any of you that can navigate living in big, metropolitan areas, because there is no way I'd make it living in places like that. In fact, I try to avoid such places. That's me. I don't take anything away from anyone else that digs being in the big city life. If you get on with that, like I said, I admire your abilities to do so.

Anyway, the point is that I relished being alone in "The Truck With No Name" doing recon and adventuring out in the rural areas of Iowa. Trans Iowa v8 probably was one of the most remote, unexplored bits of Iowa countryside I ever experienced, besides some bits of T.I.v11's course recon which no one else but Jeremy Fry experienced with me. That'll be spoken of here in upcoming "Trans Iowa Stories".

Of course, I didn't really have a choice in the matter, since David Pals had quit being the co-director, and I was determined to do this all in my way, which meant that recon and route planning were on my shoulders. I guess this made me take stock in a lot of things in my life. This time alone- hours upon hours of it- left me no choice but to think about many things in my life. Things outside of Trans Iowa, like my family, my website work, and my job as a mechanic at a bicycle shop. I did a LOT of deep thinking and what is more, I never listened to music or the radio. I watched nature as the miles rolled by, and I saw a lot of things. This led to one strange practice of mine which was in regard to how I verified a "good route".

I have given special significance to birds of prey if I see them during recon. This eagle was seen during recon for T.I.v12.

I usually mapped out a route at home using various sources like the "Iowa Sportsman's Atlas", Google Earth, and the county PDF files on the State of Iowa's Department of Transportation site. But nothing really tells you about how a course flows, how a rider might see it, or how scenic the route is unless you get out there and either ride it on a bike or drive it. Of course, the possibilities for changing a route present themselves as well. You might, for instance, see a better road choice and go with that, but a map may not show you any reasons to make that sort of change.

Sometimes as I rode along I found myself second guessing my choices, and with no one else in the truck to bounce any ideas off of, I was left to wonder. Now I have to kind of take you back to my youth for a minute to help explain what helped me in route finding over the years.

See, when I grew up, it was during the height of the use of  the chemical DDT. They used it to get rid of mosquitoes, and as a general insecticide on farms, but it was found to be environmentally dangerous to birds of prey and humans. So eventually it was banned. That's when I started seeing hawks again. Then Bald Eagles, which I never saw as a youth, started appearing while I was in my 20's. Now they are a fairly common site in Iowa, but that didn't used to be the case.

So I always took it as a good omen, a sign I was doing things right, when I saw a hawk soaring, and especially if I saw an Eagle on the proposed route. Many times, in fact I cannot recall a time this didn't pan out, the direction a hawk was flying almost always coincided with my course choices. It was as if I was getting a 'second opinion' on what I was doing. Crazy? Well......many of you will think so. I found it to be of great comfort and it seemed to work out in the end. Make of that what you will. I have my deep beliefs on the matter and I am not changing them. The point is, that is what I did, and maybe it was just too much time alone, but hawks and Eagles were a welcomed sight on those recon trips for T.I.v8 and others where I saw these birds.

From the T.I.v8 course.

It was likely during the recon for T.I.v8 where I was solidifying my plans for getting out of the website "Twentynine Inches" and plotting my escape from Trans Iowa with T.I.v10 as the endgame there. It would be 2012 when T.I.v8 would be run, and by the end of 2014 I was looking for freedom from the tyranny of all these stressors in my life, and those two things were at the top of my list.

I guess the previous Trans Iowas were to blame. From T.I.v3 and v4 to the craziness of v6 and the messy T.I.v7 cue sheet/bridge out debacle which culminated in a very personal trial with two friends. Only T.I.v5 went without much issue. I guess I figured most any Trans Iowa would be leading my emotions through a painful knothole. I didn't know how many more I could take. But I figured getting through to ten of these events would be a goal to shoot for. So, if that was the case, why not make 2014 a really big year and retire from TNI too. Sounded like a plan to me.

And I would be able to get three more chances to get Trans Iowa 'right"- v8, v9, and v10. I figured that if I couldn't get it right by then, well I'd quit anyway. But that wasn't an option, really. I mean, I was going to get it right. That's just how it was going to be. Besides having all this time alone planning Trans Iowa v8, I was also constantly bearing down on myself. I was going to do this! It was a LOT of self-induced pressure.

Next: The Story Behind "300 Miles Of Gravel".

When It Rains, It Pours

The new logo on the store front.

You've probably heard the news about bicycles. How during the shutdown/quarantine/stay at home orders/social distancing phase of this year, there was a boom in sales at the bike businesses. Shops were slammed, bikes sold at twice the rate they had in any other March/April/May, and now bike shop's shelves and racks are bare.

It's true. It's no joke. It is probably worse than you realize it is. I've seen shop mechanics on a forum I follow saying their stores are going to stop selling tubes over the counter because they need them for tune-ups. That's right- inner tubes are harder to get now. That's not even the tip of the ice berg. All kinds of stuff is unavailable, or in very limited supply now. Examples include kid's trailers, mirrors, and handle bar tape- like hen's teeth. Hard to get and what you can get is maybe one- maybe two choices- if you are lucky.

Why? Well, it's not easy to pinpoint, but the biggest factor is that sales for the first quarter of 2020 went off the charts, and probably because of the pandemic, so no one was ready for this. Added in to that is the fact that several Chinese factories were closed longer than just for the Chinese New Year, and well.....things got worse.

I see some poo-pooing the idea about the factories shutting down, and they are saying things related to that are well in hand, but there is no denying that things got started off on the wrong foot, then the pandemic jump started sales to these crazy levels and well.....here we are. How it happened is, perhaps, less important than where it is going to lead us.

People want to know how we're going to "keep all these new riders". Ah.......well, that one is easy. We aren't. It's an easy question to answer because of two reasons- One: Once things are relaxed in terms of restrictions on movements and gatherings, people will, are going to, and already have returned to driving cars everywhere. It's happened here in Iowa where I live already. Those cars are taking them to places they could not go to for three months. You know.......like bars. There is one I pass on my commute home and the first day they could be open, at 4:30pm, the place was bonkers. Packed. You couldn't get another car on the property, and cars were lined up down the street for two blocks.

And no one had ridden a bicycle there.

Two: There are no safe places to ride, just like there weren't at the beginning of 2020. If you don't provide safe infrastructure, and get it in place, like.........yesterday, well, then you've lost a lot of the new riders. When the social distancing was at its height, in April, I could ride down the highway in town and not fear getting hit. Cars were a scarcity. Now? Pfffft! I would get killed. There is no way a new cyclist can ride on the side street, the main drags, or get to bike paths that we have without dealing with the average driver, who, by the way, is as entitled and distracted as ever.

And bike shops, well.....who knows? We will either still be getting slammed with repairs all Summer, or the tide will go out to sea and we will be left twiddling spanners as we will have no bikes to sell. Or....maybe.....Things will get back to a more normal rhythm. Suppliers will catch up, and business will settle into a post-pandemic hangover. I'm betting on the latter. The demand front loaded in 2020 and the rest of the year will be slower.

When It Rains, It Pours

The new logo on the store front.

You've probably heard the news about bicycles. How during the shutdown/quarantine/stay at home orders/social distancing phase of this year, there was a boom in sales at the bike businesses. Shops were slammed, bikes sold at twice the rate they had in any other March/April/May, and now bike shop's shelves and racks are bare.

It's true. It's no joke. It is probably worse than you realize it is. I've seen shop mechanics on a forum I follow saying their stores are going to stop selling tubes over the counter because they need them for tune-ups. That's right- inner tubes are harder to get now. That's not even the tip of the ice berg. All kinds of stuff is unavailable, or in very limited supply now. Examples include kid's trailers, mirrors, and handle bar tape- like hen's teeth. Hard to get and what you can get is maybe one- maybe two choices- if you are lucky.

Why? Well, it's not easy to pinpoint, but the biggest factor is that sales for the first quarter of 2020 went off the charts, and probably because of the pandemic, so no one was ready for this. Added in to that is the fact that several Chinese factories were closed longer than just for the Chinese New Year, and well.....things got worse.

I see some poo-pooing the idea about the factories shutting down, and they are saying things related to that are well in hand, but there is no denying that things got started off on the wrong foot, then the pandemic jump started sales to these crazy levels and well.....here we are. How it happened is, perhaps, less important than where it is going to lead us.

People want to know how we're going to "keep all these new riders". Ah.......well, that one is easy. We aren't. It's an easy question to answer because of two reasons- One: Once things are relaxed in terms of restrictions on movements and gatherings, people will, are going to, and already have returned to driving cars everywhere. It's happened here in Iowa where I live already. Those cars are taking them to places they could not go to for three months. You know.......like bars. There is one I pass on my commute home and the first day they could be open, at 4:30pm, the place was bonkers. Packed. You couldn't get another car on the property, and cars were lined up down the street for two blocks.

And no one had ridden a bicycle there.

Two: There are no safe places to ride, just like there weren't at the beginning of 2020. If you don't provide safe infrastructure, and get it in place, like.........yesterday, well, then you've lost a lot of the new riders. When the social distancing was at its height, in April, I could ride down the highway in town and not fear getting hit. Cars were a scarcity. Now? Pfffft! I would get killed. There is no way a new cyclist can ride on the side street, the main drags, or get to bike paths that we have without dealing with the average driver, who, by the way, is as entitled and distracted as ever.

And bike shops, well.....who knows? We will either still be getting slammed with repairs all Summer, or the tide will go out to sea and we will be left twiddling spanners as we will have no bikes to sell. Or....maybe.....Things will get back to a more normal rhythm. Suppliers will catch up, and business will settle into a post-pandemic hangover. I'm betting on the latter. The demand front loaded in 2020 and the rest of the year will be slower.

Friday News And Views

THIS is gravel riding? From Cannondale marketing imagery.

Cannondale Says Your Gravel Bike Is Really A MTB Rig: (With Motorized Content)

By this time you've all heard the news about the new 2021 Topstone models. I won't get into too much about specifics other than a note about the continuance of that wonky geometry for the Carbon Topstone.

No, what really stood out above all the Neo this, connected app that, were these marketing images Cannondale distributed to the media. Out of the 12 or so "lifestyle" images, maybe four could be on actual gravel roads. The rest were all right out of a page from your typical MTB marketing plans.

So, besides the fact that the biggest tire you can put on any of these is a 650B X 47mm, (on non-HPC versions), and that the suspension travel is a 1992 inspired 30mm, aren't these really mountain bikes with drop bars? Again- I'll ask the question- Where are all the 70-sish degree head angle, rigid hard tail, flat bar MTB's? I mean, if you are going to go single tracking, ya know?

Man! Somebody has to make an El Mariachi-like hard tail again. It'd be five times the bike these Topstones are, especially at what these marketers are saying these bikes are supposedly for, at a third of the price of these Topstones. Cheapest non-motorized one is $3750.00 from what I saw on the release. Then there are the motorized ones. Going up....... Those are nearly 6G and up. And get this- they showed these as if they were MTB's as well. 

I don't know where to start. 28 hole rims on an electrified bike? How about a 59mm bottom bracket drop on an XL? (I get it- they have suspension, but really?) Limited tire clearances? (700 X 37 max or 650 B X 42 max on electrified Topstone Neo) Pffft! I just don't know......

It's an odd marketing campaign for a weird bike, in my opinion.

Throwin' it back to 2009. Best DK200 logo EVER.

Another Virtual Experience 

The DK events are postponed to the weekend of September 12th, 2020, but if you are jonesing for some DK action this week, 'cause this would have been the week, then you can get on yer virtual horse tomorrow and ride, or upload a GPS file of your ride which would have been your race distance, (socially distanced, natch!) and share in the virtual joy with others.

The DK team has been doing some virtual stuff since Wednesday and that was all sent out to the folks that are signed up, so if you are one of them, then y'all know what I am talkin' about already.

It's a good way to keep the DK spirit alive, but with things getting relaxed all over the place now, some smaller events are now filling the need of many who are itching for some dusty competition. The 'anti-DK 200' event, The Sterile Iowan, is going off unhindered, unmasked, and unashamed this weekend near Iowa Falls. I'm sure others are getting their gravelly goodness on very soon at some other smaller events.

These are weird times and weird things are going on all over. I'm not sure about any of it, to be honest. Time will suss out all, that I am sure of that much. As for me..... I'm still on the solo train. Virtual stuff? Not so much.

A US made Schwinn? It's coming....

 Detroit Bikes To Build New Schwinn Collegiate Bikes for 125th Anniversary of Marque. 

Back when I started in the bicycle biz and probably up through 2010, many people still thought Schwinn was made in the USA. Well, Walmart, et al, made sure folks got that nasty idea outta their heads. But now, a Walmart exclusive Collegiate model will be sold for Schwinn's 125th anniversary, and it will be built by Detroit Bikes in the USA. Just in time to confuse the whole situation once again.

While that sounds cool and all, take a really close look at this bike. 1 X 7 drive train, lower end rear derailleur, and side pull calipers? This cannot be much more than a $350.00 price range bike, in terms of what is available in a comparable type bicycle elsewhere. That is, unless they get you on the collectable/limited edition front. Assuming a CrMo frame too. If this is a mild steel alloy frame and fork, well then.... That's different. I'd take even more off that $350.00 figure.

I've no idea what sort of numbers production will be for this, nor what price this will be. I don't see anything in this article on it. There is some yearly production goal for all of Detroit Bikes customers, stated in the article, which is set at 20,000 mark for 2021. So, I'm betting these Collegiates will only amount to a very small number of that overall total production goal.

Note: Image of the Collegiate is a stock media image posted all around the internet. No idea on source, but I'm guessing it is Pacific Cycles. 

 Riding Gravel Radio Ranch Episode #45:

The episodes keep rolling out. Of all the goals I set for myself for 2020, this is one I can truthfully say now that I have accomplished. That goal would be to get more podcasts produced and on a more regular basis. Here's a link to the latest one.

With this episode we have now done as many podcasts in 2020 as we put out in 2018 and 2019 combined. And to think we didn't get started this year until March! We are getting episodes out more or less weekly and there are no signs of slowing down anytime soon. So, with almost a half of the year done, I think I can safely check that goal off the list.

Now my goal is to get you, the listeners, more engaged. Please send me ideas, questions, and comments to guitarted@ridinggravel.com and I will try to get those ideas, comments, and questions into circulation via the podcast. Hearing about things that riders want to hear about will help diversify the subject matter and help us keep content fresher and more interesting. As an example, we will be doing the "Single Speed Nerd-Out" podcast next, which was a suggestion for a topic that a rider e-mailed me about. It's going to happen. See how that works?


Have a great weekend! 

Friday News And Views

THIS is gravel riding? From Cannondale marketing imagery.

Cannondale Says Your Gravel Bike Is Really A MTB Rig: (With Motorized Content)

By this time you've all heard the news about the new 2021 Topstone models. I won't get into too much about specifics other than a note about the continuance of that wonky geometry for the Carbon Topstone.

No, what really stood out above all the Neo this, connected app that, were these marketing images Cannondale distributed to the media. Out of the 12 or so "lifestyle" images, maybe four could be on actual gravel roads. The rest were all right out of a page from your typical MTB marketing plans.

So, besides the fact that the biggest tire you can put on any of these is a 650B X 47mm, (on non-HPC versions), and that the suspension travel is a 1992 inspired 30mm, aren't these really mountain bikes with drop bars? Again- I'll ask the question- Where are all the 70-sish degree head angle, rigid hard tail, flat bar MTB's? I mean, if you are going to go single tracking, ya know?

Man! Somebody has to make an El Mariachi-like hard tail again. It'd be five times the bike these Topstones are, especially at what these marketers are saying these bikes are supposedly for, at a third of the price of these Topstones. Cheapest non-motorized one is $3750.00 from what I saw on the release. Then there are the motorized ones. Going up....... Those are nearly 6G and up. And get this- they showed these as if they were MTB's as well. 

I don't know where to start. 28 hole rims on an electrified bike? How about a 59mm bottom bracket drop on an XL? (I get it- they have suspension, but really?) Limited tire clearances? (700 X 37 max or 650 B X 42 max on electrified Topstone Neo) Pffft! I just don't know......

It's an odd marketing campaign for a weird bike, in my opinion.

Throwin' it back to 2009. Best DK200 logo EVER.

Another Virtual Experience 

The DK events are postponed to the weekend of September 12th, 2020, but if you are jonesing for some DK action this week, 'cause this would have been the week, then you can get on yer virtual horse tomorrow and ride, or upload a GPS file of your ride which would have been your race distance, (socially distanced, natch!) and share in the virtual joy with others.

The DK team has been doing some virtual stuff since Wednesday and that was all sent out to the folks that are signed up, so if you are one of them, then y'all know what I am talkin' about already.

It's a good way to keep the DK spirit alive, but with things getting relaxed all over the place now, some smaller events are now filling the need of many who are itching for some dusty competition. The 'anti-DK 200' event, The Sterile Iowan, is going off unhindered, unmasked, and unashamed this weekend near Iowa Falls. I'm sure others are getting their gravelly goodness on very soon at some other smaller events.

These are weird times and weird things are going on all over. I'm not sure about any of it, to be honest. Time will suss out all, that I am sure of that much. As for me..... I'm still on the solo train. Virtual stuff? Not so much.

A US made Schwinn? It's coming....

 Detroit Bikes To Build New Schwinn Collegiate Bikes for 125th Anniversary of Marque. 

Back when I started in the bicycle biz and probably up through 2010, many people still thought Schwinn was made in the USA. Well, Walmart, et al, made sure folks got that nasty idea outta their heads. But now, a Walmart exclusive Collegiate model will be sold for Schwinn's 125th anniversary, and it will be built by Detroit Bikes in the USA. Just in time to confuse the whole situation once again.

While that sounds cool and all, take a really close look at this bike. 1 X 7 drive train, lower end rear derailleur, and side pull calipers? This cannot be much more than a $350.00 price range bike, in terms of what is available in a comparable type bicycle elsewhere. That is, unless they get you on the collectable/limited edition front. Assuming a CrMo frame too. If this is a mild steel alloy frame and fork, well then.... That's different. I'd take even more off that $350.00 figure.

I've no idea what sort of numbers production will be for this, nor what price this will be. I don't see anything in this article on it. There is some yearly production goal for all of Detroit Bikes customers, stated in the article, which is set at 20,000 mark for 2021. So, I'm betting these Collegiates will only amount to a very small number of that overall total production goal.

Note: Image of the Collegiate is a stock media image posted all around the internet. No idea on source, but I'm guessing it is Pacific Cycles. 

 Riding Gravel Radio Ranch Episode #45:

The episodes keep rolling out. Of all the goals I set for myself for 2020, this is one I can truthfully say now that I have accomplished. That goal would be to get more podcasts produced and on a more regular basis. Here's a link to the latest one.

With this episode we have now done as many podcasts in 2020 as we put out in 2018 and 2019 combined. And to think we didn't get started this year until March! We are getting episodes out more or less weekly and there are no signs of slowing down anytime soon. So, with almost a half of the year done, I think I can safely check that goal off the list.

Now my goal is to get you, the listeners, more engaged. Please send me ideas, questions, and comments to guitarted@ridinggravel.com and I will try to get those ideas, comments, and questions into circulation via the podcast. Hearing about things that riders want to hear about will help diversify the subject matter and help us keep content fresher and more interesting. As an example, we will be doing the "Single Speed Nerd-Out" podcast next, which was a suggestion for a topic that a rider e-mailed me about. It's going to happen. See how that works?


Have a great weekend! 

Country Views: Rain Delay

It started out pretty hot and beautiful out.

I got out Wednesday afternoon with, what I thought was, a good amount of time before it was supposedly going to rain. I figured I had time to at least ride up Burton Avenue, which changes to Killdeer at the county line, and then to Ivanhoe Road and back across Highway 63 to maybe come back on Schenk Road so I could see all the cool old barns.

That was the plan anyway. You know what they say about 'the best laid plans', right? Well, these plans didn't go totally off the rails, but they were merely delayed. I'm going to get this route done but it didn't happen Wednesday. I decided to do this abbreviated ride on the Stormchaser with the 700c X 50mm tires set at just a hair under 30psi. Heavenly ride quality! If I were going to get to keep this demo bike, I would definitely be running big, puffy 700c tires at lowered pressures. Of all the wheels I ran with from 700c X 42mm and 650B X 47mm tires, these 700c X 50mm tires pull what I think is the best out of the Stormchaser.

Hey there! Some color in the ditches other than yellow and green are starting to appear.

Going up! Burton Avenue is a mostly up road going North.

Once I escaped out of town I found the gravel to be fast, with a deeper loose patch here and there. I also felt, for the first time this year, the Sun's energy being reflected off the road. Baking...... My nemesis for getting long rides done is heat. I throttled it back a touch, as riding a single speed on a mostly climbing road in this sort of heat can wither me. Especially after so many months off from this sort of weather.

Spot light on.....

Hmm..... Clouding up as I crossed into Bremer County.

The heat didn't get me after all. In fact, it wasn't bad after a while and I found myself plugging along upward without much issue. But then I noticed it felt cooler, and then, within a few miles of riding, it clouded up significantly. Ah......it'll be okay! That's what I thought. I figured, you know, it would take a few hours for the clouds to build in and then maybe it would start raining, but I'd be home before that.

I got up to Ivanhoe Road, which I found was marked "Ivanhoe Street" at the intersection of Killdeer, and turned East. Hmm.... The wind was up now out of the Southeast. I remarked to myself that it was going to be a bit more of a challenge getting home, but at least it would be mostly down hill, and the part where I was looking forward to turning West on Airline Highway was going to be fast!

As I approached Highway 63 I felt them. Rain drops!

 

Add caption

Dang it! The skies looked pretty heavy at this point and it was all coming up from the Southeast to greet me. Would there be thunder and lightning? I figured I'd better stop once I crossed the highway to assess the situation via my smart phone.

I pulled up my weather app, started the past radar soundings loop, and then.... Nothing, nothing, nothing, BAM! A line of heavy rain pops up outta nowhere and it was lining up to look like a soaker for me. No need to risk getting hit by lightning, and no need to push through a rain, so I texted Mrs. Guitar Ted and rode the paved way into Denver from the North.

The end of this ride wasn't a whole lot of fun.

As I pedaled South I saw two cyclists in the distance heading toward me. Two youngsters, riding cruiser style bikes, heading off into the rain. Ah! Youth! I was reminded of a not-so-nice thing my Dad used to say, but I won't burden any of you with that here. Suffice it to say that it had to do with lack of knowledge.

Anyway, it started raining in earnest as I approached the town, The Casey's convenience store I said I'd meet her at was on the opposite end of town, about a half mile away from the old city, where the four lane bypasses Denver on the South side. I had a ways to go!

I considered waiting it out under a canopy somewhere, but ya know, once you get wet, you cannot get any wetter. I just rode on. Besides, in these socially distanced times, I don't need to have any interactions with someone who is very fearful and thinks this "outsider" is leaving the worst virus ever behind to infect them with somehow or another. Nope! So, I just kept on keeping on, never coming within 20 yards or less of anyone in that village.

It's weird to think this way, but this has become what the situation is now. People are either super-freaked out or don't give a damn and figure you are being stupid. I'm not engaging on that battleground where there will be no winner. Nope! No interactions, no problems. I sat on the very furthest edge of the property, in the misting rain, and waited for my ride.

And when Mrs. Guitar Ted showed up, I racked up the Stormchaser and hopped in for the ride home. I'll be back again to finish that ride off........

Country Views: Rain Delay

It started out pretty hot and beautiful out.

I got out Wednesday afternoon with, what I thought was, a good amount of time before it was supposedly going to rain. I figured I had time to at least ride up Burton Avenue, which changes to Killdeer at the county line, and then to Ivanhoe Road and back across Highway 63 to maybe come back on Schenk Road so I could see all the cool old barns.

That was the plan anyway. You know what they say about 'the best laid plans', right? Well, these plans didn't go totally off the rails, but they were merely delayed. I'm going to get this route done but it didn't happen Wednesday. I decided to do this abbreviated ride on the Stormchaser with the 700c X 50mm tires set at just a hair under 30psi. Heavenly ride quality! If I were going to get to keep this demo bike, I would definitely be running big, puffy 700c tires at lowered pressures. Of all the wheels I ran with from 700c X 42mm and 650B X 47mm tires, these 700c X 50mm tires pull what I think is the best out of the Stormchaser.

Hey there! Some color in the ditches other than yellow and green are starting to appear.

Going up! Burton Avenue is a mostly up road going North.

Once I escaped out of town I found the gravel to be fast, with a deeper loose patch here and there. I also felt, for the first time this year, the Sun's energy being reflected off the road. Baking...... My nemesis for getting long rides done is heat. I throttled it back a touch, as riding a single speed on a mostly climbing road in this sort of heat can wither me. Especially after so many months off from this sort of weather.

Spot light on.....

Hmm..... Clouding up as I crossed into Bremer County.

The heat didn't get me after all. In fact, it wasn't bad after a while and I found myself plugging along upward without much issue. But then I noticed it felt cooler, and then, within a few miles of riding, it clouded up significantly. Ah......it'll be okay! That's what I thought. I figured, you know, it would take a few hours for the clouds to build in and then maybe it would start raining, but I'd be home before that.

I got up to Ivanhoe Road, which I found was marked "Ivanhoe Street" at the intersection of Killdeer, and turned East. Hmm.... The wind was up now out of the Southeast. I remarked to myself that it was going to be a bit more of a challenge getting home, but at least it would be mostly down hill, and the part where I was looking forward to turning West on Airline Highway was going to be fast!

As I approached Highway 63 I felt them. Rain drops!

 

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Dang it! The skies looked pretty heavy at this point and it was all coming up from the Southeast to greet me. Would there be thunder and lightning? I figured I'd better stop once I crossed the highway to assess the situation via my smart phone.

I pulled up my weather app, started the past radar soundings loop, and then.... Nothing, nothing, nothing, BAM! A line of heavy rain pops up outta nowhere and it was lining up to look like a soaker for me. No need to risk getting hit by lightning, and no need to push through a rain, so I texted Mrs. Guitar Ted and rode the paved way into Denver from the North.

The end of this ride wasn't a whole lot of fun.

As I pedaled South I saw two cyclists in the distance heading toward me. Two youngsters, riding cruiser style bikes, heading off into the rain. Ah! Youth! I was reminded of a not-so-nice thing my Dad used to say, but I won't burden any of you with that here. Suffice it to say that it had to do with lack of knowledge.

Anyway, it started raining in earnest as I approached the town, The Casey's convenience store I said I'd meet her at was on the opposite end of town, about a half mile away from the old city, where the four lane bypasses Denver on the South side. I had a ways to go!

I considered waiting it out under a canopy somewhere, but ya know, once you get wet, you cannot get any wetter. I just rode on. Besides, in these socially distanced times, I don't need to have any interactions with someone who is very fearful and thinks this "outsider" is leaving the worst virus ever behind to infect them with somehow or another. Nope! So, I just kept on keeping on, never coming within 20 yards or less of anyone in that village.

It's weird to think this way, but this has become what the situation is now. People are either super-freaked out or don't give a damn and figure you are being stupid. I'm not engaging on that battleground where there will be no winner. Nope! No interactions, no problems. I sat on the very furthest edge of the property, in the misting rain, and waited for my ride.

And when Mrs. Guitar Ted showed up, I racked up the Stormchaser and hopped in for the ride home. I'll be back again to finish that ride off........

When Is Wide Too Wide?

The Noble Bikes GX5 with 700c X 47mm Teravail Cannonballs.

Last week I got these Teravail tires to check out for Riding Gravel reviews which will be trotted out over the next several weeks. (Note- I did not pay for these tires, Teravail isn't paying me to write about them. In fact, they didn't know I was going to write this post, as an example)

So, a couple pairs of these are 700c X 47mm. Yes- forty-seven millimeters. In case that doesn't impress you in some way- that's a really wide gravel tire. So wide that Teravail themselves warn you in their own marketing that they may not even fit your bike.

Regular readers also might remember that I mentioned these tires in the Last FN&V post. I said it may be that more bikes are coming that will fit these size of gravel tires. But what about now? That is a tire size that is kind of a 'no-man's land' in terms of fitment. Generally speaking, there were road and road-ish tires going up to around 700 X 42mm in the past, then you had a few outliers, like the old Continental Goliath, or that voluminous touring tire they made in the 90's, but past 42mm, there usually were no tires listed in distributor's catalogs for 700c.

There is a good reason for that. It doesn't have much to do with tires, but it has everything to do with clearances. Drive train clearances especially. There were two established standards, mostly promoted to the factories by Shimano, so they could eventually standardize the drive train business into 'road' and 'mountain' categories. Road standards allow for a certain chain line, which then pretty much dictates tire clearances in the end. Mountain allows more room, so it has a wider spindle length and crank arms that provide a wider chain line, amongst other things. This is a bit of oversimplification, but the point remains. Everything else follows the chain line and is defined by 'road' and 'mountain'. Note- there is no category for 'gravel'. Well....maybe not. (See GRX)

A close up of the 700 X 47mm Cannonball. It looks like a rasp!

So, stuffing a big tire, a chain stay, and a chain ring, plus allowing for clearance for spinning crank arms, and don't forget a drive train that is in line, (chain line), and all that together......whew! That is truly complicated stuff, and to make a change in any one of those things affects all the others. That's why when 29"ers came around companies were saying 'no way!', because making room for a big tire and a drive train plus all that other stuff- even though it could be MTB stuff- was throwing a huge wrench into the standardization pool. Remember- it took years to get parts that were 29"er friendly. This is why.

All that to say that this 700c X 47mm deal, or even Donnelly's 700c X 50mm MSO, is a weird size for a gravel tire because the limits of the road standard are being sorely tested. You might be thinking, "Well, why not use MTB standard design then!". Great idea, excepting that you have things like "Q" factor, no drive train parts which are drop bar/MTB specific, and now we have GRX.

Ah! The GRX thing! Is this Shimano's sneaky way to circumvent changing road bike standards by creating an entirely new one, outside the box of the traditionalist roadies? And when is something like a 47mm or 50mm tire appropriate for many/most riders? Isn't that just too much tire? Are we turning 'gravel' into 'drop bar mtb'? And at what point do we start seeing that the closer to 70° head angle, fully rigid hard tail bike is sorely absent from our "general purpose" off-roading options?

Add to that inner rim widths and what about these crazy wide handle bars? The cycling industry seems to be on a 'make everything wider' kick the past decade or so, and they show no signs of stopping.....yet. At some point, the pendulum of fashion and "expertise" may change and we will swing back to narrower stuff. Just wait and see.

Although, I highly doubt we go back to 17mm outer rim width roadie rims, like my Sun Mistrals, anytime soon.

When Is Wide Too Wide?

The Noble Bikes GX5 with 700c X 47mm Teravail Cannonballs.

Last week I got these Teravail tires to check out for Riding Gravel reviews which will be trotted out over the next several weeks. (Note- I did not pay for these tires, Teravail isn't paying me to write about them. In fact, they didn't know I was going to write this post, as an example)

So, a couple pairs of these are 700c X 47mm. Yes- forty-seven millimeters. In case that doesn't impress you in some way- that's a really wide gravel tire. So wide that Teravail themselves warn you in their own marketing that they may not even fit your bike.

Regular readers also might remember that I mentioned these tires in the Last FN&V post. I said it may be that more bikes are coming that will fit these size of gravel tires. But what about now? That is a tire size that is kind of a 'no-man's land' in terms of fitment. Generally speaking, there were road and road-ish tires going up to around 700 X 42mm in the past, then you had a few outliers, like the old Continental Goliath, or that voluminous touring tire they made in the 90's, but past 42mm, there usually were no tires listed in distributor's catalogs for 700c.

There is a good reason for that. It doesn't have much to do with tires, but it has everything to do with clearances. Drive train clearances especially. There were two established standards, mostly promoted to the factories by Shimano, so they could eventually standardize the drive train business into 'road' and 'mountain' categories. Road standards allow for a certain chain line, which then pretty much dictates tire clearances in the end. Mountain allows more room, so it has a wider spindle length and crank arms that provide a wider chain line, amongst other things. This is a bit of oversimplification, but the point remains. Everything else follows the chain line and is defined by 'road' and 'mountain'. Note- there is no category for 'gravel'. Well....maybe not. (See GRX)

A close up of the 700 X 47mm Cannonball. It looks like a rasp!

So, stuffing a big tire, a chain stay, and a chain ring, plus allowing for clearance for spinning crank arms, and don't forget a drive train that is in line, (chain line), and all that together......whew! That is truly complicated stuff, and to make a change in any one of those things affects all the others. That's why when 29"ers came around companies were saying 'no way!', because making room for a big tire and a drive train plus all that other stuff- even though it could be MTB stuff- was throwing a huge wrench into the standardization pool. Remember- it took years to get parts that were 29"er friendly. This is why.

All that to say that this 700c X 47mm deal, or even Donnelly's 700c X 50mm MSO, is a weird size for a gravel tire because the limits of the road standard are being sorely tested. You might be thinking, "Well, why not use MTB standard design then!". Great idea, excepting that you have things like "Q" factor, no drive train parts which are drop bar/MTB specific, and now we have GRX.

Ah! The GRX thing! Is this Shimano's sneaky way to circumvent changing road bike standards by creating an entirely new one, outside the box of the traditionalist roadies? And when is something like a 47mm or 50mm tire appropriate for many/most riders? Isn't that just too much tire? Are we turning 'gravel' into 'drop bar mtb'? And at what point do we start seeing that the closer to 70° head angle, fully rigid hard tail bike is sorely absent from our "general purpose" off-roading options?

Add to that inner rim widths and what about these crazy wide handle bars? The cycling industry seems to be on a 'make everything wider' kick the past decade or so, and they show no signs of stopping.....yet. At some point, the pendulum of fashion and "expertise" may change and we will swing back to narrower stuff. Just wait and see.

Although, I highly doubt we go back to 17mm outer rim width roadie rims, like my Sun Mistrals, anytime soon.

Well, That Was A Typical One!

Not the kind of radar images I like to see, but pretty typical for this time of year.

The weekend was wet and rainy off and on. Most of it, at any rate. It really was pretty typical for Memorial Day Weekend in Iowa. I have no 'weather data' to back this up, but I have my memories, and I seem to recall that it rains more often than not around the end of  May here.

Years ago, long before bicycles changed my life, I used to go fishing on this weekend. We'd leave on Memorial Day for a week. The destination was Northwest of Hayward, Wisconsin to a place called Middle Eau Claire Lake. There were sunny years, but there were a lot of rainy ones as well. It's just what happens around here at the end of May. I remember those times due to that momentous occasion every year which was that fishing trip. Kind of sticks out in my mind a bit. And YES- There are a LOT of 'fish stories'. Anyway.....

So, the Sun had been pretty absent all last week here. I mean- zero Sun. It was as if it were November or something. Then on Saturday, for about four hours, the Sun appeared. That's when I got all those shots on yesterday's post. Then it clouded over, rained again- of course- and as of this writing on Memorial Day, as I sit here, it is cloudy once again, with the threat of rain all day off and on.

I had a big ride planned on Saturday with a friend but we cancelled it Friday evening after weather reports came out showing thunderstorms would be prevalent for most of the morning. Bummer, but at least my little 'mission' to gather images on Saturday afternoon went off without a hitch. I actually was on the Ti Muk 2 as some of what I wanted to short cut across was grassy territory, torn up by construction, or through alleys. The right call was a fat bike.

Looking back toward HWY 63 and the bike path.

At one point I had to traverse a section where there was a ton of shredded under brush resulting in lots of wood chips, debris, and mud. Low geared it through that, and since I had a Rohloff drive train, I did not have any concerns about any of the shredded sticks getting caught in a derailleur. My only worry was potentially driving a stick through a side wall, but I took it slow and easy. Nothing of the sort happened.

NOTE: I just looked outside and the SUN IS SHINING!

Anyway.... Back to the Ti Muk 2. I sometimes wonder what it is about this bike, but after pushing through all that torn up wood, mud, grassy sections, up and down hills, and around to four different cemeteries, I look at my fitness watch and it shows I barely did any work. That's not the first time I've noticed that. I know I exerted myself, and yeah, the Ti Muk 2 is easy to ride, but I find it kind of amazing that if I ride a single speed- any single speed- I can be relaxed and feel good, but the dang techno-watch says I've worked my rear end off. I actually proved that out by riding the singled out BMC Orange Crush #49 Sunday. It's just weird, or the Ti Muk 2 is a magical beast. One or the other.

It's too bad that I don't have power meters, just to see what is going on there. But yeah- just imagine what that would cost! I mean, with all the bicycles I have, there is just no way that is going to be happening. I might be able to draw some real conclusions as to why I'm seeing this on this Apple watch dealio I have on my wrist. Technology.........Pffffft! It's enough to drive ya nuts some days. I'm probably better off just riding and enjoying it, rather than trying to dig into data and never looking up.

But that's pretty typical of these days too, isn't it?

Well, That Was A Typical One!

Not the kind of radar images I like to see, but pretty typical for this time of year.

The weekend was wet and rainy off and on. Most of it, at any rate. It really was pretty typical for Memorial Day Weekend in Iowa. I have no 'weather data' to back this up, but I have my memories, and I seem to recall that it rains more often than not around the end of  May here.

Years ago, long before bicycles changed my life, I used to go fishing on this weekend. We'd leave on Memorial Day for a week. The destination was Northwest of Hayward, Wisconsin to a place called Middle Eau Claire Lake. There were sunny years, but there were a lot of rainy ones as well. It's just what happens around here at the end of May. I remember those times due to that momentous occasion every year which was that fishing trip. Kind of sticks out in my mind a bit. And YES- There are a LOT of 'fish stories'. Anyway.....

So, the Sun had been pretty absent all last week here. I mean- zero Sun. It was as if it were November or something. Then on Saturday, for about four hours, the Sun appeared. That's when I got all those shots on yesterday's post. Then it clouded over, rained again- of course- and as of this writing on Memorial Day, as I sit here, it is cloudy once again, with the threat of rain all day off and on.

I had a big ride planned on Saturday with a friend but we cancelled it Friday evening after weather reports came out showing thunderstorms would be prevalent for most of the morning. Bummer, but at least my little 'mission' to gather images on Saturday afternoon went off without a hitch. I actually was on the Ti Muk 2 as some of what I wanted to short cut across was grassy territory, torn up by construction, or through alleys. The right call was a fat bike.

Looking back toward HWY 63 and the bike path.

At one point I had to traverse a section where there was a ton of shredded under brush resulting in lots of wood chips, debris, and mud. Low geared it through that, and since I had a Rohloff drive train, I did not have any concerns about any of the shredded sticks getting caught in a derailleur. My only worry was potentially driving a stick through a side wall, but I took it slow and easy. Nothing of the sort happened.

NOTE: I just looked outside and the SUN IS SHINING!

Anyway.... Back to the Ti Muk 2. I sometimes wonder what it is about this bike, but after pushing through all that torn up wood, mud, grassy sections, up and down hills, and around to four different cemeteries, I look at my fitness watch and it shows I barely did any work. That's not the first time I've noticed that. I know I exerted myself, and yeah, the Ti Muk 2 is easy to ride, but I find it kind of amazing that if I ride a single speed- any single speed- I can be relaxed and feel good, but the dang techno-watch says I've worked my rear end off. I actually proved that out by riding the singled out BMC Orange Crush #49 Sunday. It's just weird, or the Ti Muk 2 is a magical beast. One or the other.

It's too bad that I don't have power meters, just to see what is going on there. But yeah- just imagine what that would cost! I mean, with all the bicycles I have, there is just no way that is going to be happening. I might be able to draw some real conclusions as to why I'm seeing this on this Apple watch dealio I have on my wrist. Technology.........Pffffft! It's enough to drive ya nuts some days. I'm probably better off just riding and enjoying it, rather than trying to dig into data and never looking up.

But that's pretty typical of these days too, isn't it?

Memorial Day

Today is the day we recognize the sacrifices those who fought and died for this country made for us. So, I thought it would be good to make a post dedicated to the remembrance to those who gave all in the line of duty.

These are shots I took in four of Waterloo, Iowa's local cemeteries on Saturday. My hope is that in some small way they can help you to consider the men and women who died to make sure this country survived and provided us the lives we have today.

Dedicated to Francis Odbert and Jerry Stevenson

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