Brown Season: Glorified Driveways

This time I embarked on the ride from Cedar River Access near La Porte City.

We have now 'officially' entered "Brown Season". The period of time after the first hard frosts, the end of harvest, and before a blanket of white snow covers the landscape. Officially? Yes, because I said it is official. So there. You do not have to agree, but just go look out into the Iowa landscape, and tell me it isn't mostly brown now. I think you'll find that it is most definitely "Brown Season". 

Anyway, on to more of "The Quest" story. My attempt to ride every gravel road in Black Hawk County by the end of this year. This time I mop up more of the Southeast corner of the county. Specifically, I was taking out all the roads between Brandon Road and the Cedar River. It was a LOT of out and back in which I made an interesting observation. Each dead end road ended on a private property. It was as if each bit of road that was designated as a dead end was really a glorified drive way. There were no signs at the ends of these roads to indicate that you were on private property past a certain point. The road just dumped right into a driveway, or a farm yard, or a front yard. It was bizarre and I've never encountered anything quite like it before, especially multiple times in one area.  

But before I get into the ride details I need to share this ride's kit that I wore and the weather that informed my choices. It was a raw day, with strong Northeast winds gusting to 26mph and the air temperature was in the upper 30's at the morning start. Wind chills were around 30°F. I wore the GORE Windstopper® gear I was sent to review for RidingGravel.com.  This included the Phantom Jacket, Thermo+ bib tights, and a windproof base layer shirt. sandwiched in there was my Twin Six Standard Wool short sleeved jersey. I wore some Twin Six wool socks and the Northwave Winter boots I have. I'm not enamored of the GORE mittens I got to review so I wore my SealSkinz gloves. A Walz Wool earflapper cycling cap and the Rudy Project Cutline glasses made up the rest of the kit including my Bontrager helmet, of course. In this get-up I rode two hours very comfortably. 

 

The first out-and-back was Carr Road.

 

Barns For Jason #1

After finding the first 'glorified driveway', I headed East on Harmon Road. The wind seemed okay at this point, nothing really that bad. Then the route ran into a "T" intersection with Bader Road. I had to run South to get a dead end portion there. So another out-and-back. 

Barns For Jason #2

The roads were mostly really good for bicycle riding.

 

The roads were mostly clear of the big chunk, but I did have a few places where the gravel was deeper. Fortunately most of those sections did not coincide with going North. That direction was hard enough with the wind. As I went along, it became even more difficult as the winds picked up a bit. 

Barns For Jason #3

This tree has been engulfing this derelict windmill for decades.

I then made another out-and-back on Lange Road but instead of ending in someones yard, this road dumped out to Brandon Road, which is paved. Then it was back to Wright road which turns South and becomes Purdy Road and then on to two consecutive out-and-backs. 

Beef cattle grazing on a hillside along Wright Road.

The western terminus of McChane Road, which dumps into an abandoned farm yard.

One of these out-and-backs was McChane Road which terminated into an abandoned farm, again, with no warning signs or anything. So odd! same with Purdy Road's Southern terminus, which bailed out right into a farmer's drive in front of their home. 

The last of the Fall colors hangs on here and there.

Rest stop on the Black Hawk/Buchanan County line. Looking back into Black Hawk County here down McChane Road.

The last bit going North on Black Hawk/Buchanan Road was brutal. By now the winds were a constant blast from the Northeast and if they were anything under 25mph, I would have been surprised. It was almost every bit as bad as that Saturday I rode recently North of here. But coming back from the corner where the road went to pavement was super easy. I almost coasted an entire mile! 

Barns For Jason #4

After the last out-and-back I ran the main drags back the way I came and then one more bit I saved till the end- an out-and-back on Garling Road to Brandon Road. Garling actually continues on North past that intersection, but I'm saving that for the last ride in this area which should happen this weekend. Stay tuned for that report coming soon.......hopefully!

Brown Season: Glorified Driveways

This time I embarked on the ride from Cedar River Access near La Porte City.

We have now 'officially' entered "Brown Season". The period of time after the first hard frosts, the end of harvest, and before a blanket of white snow covers the landscape. Officially? Yes, because I said it is official. So there. You do not have to agree, but just go look out into the Iowa landscape, and tell me it isn't mostly brown now. I think you'll find that it is most definitely "Brown Season". 

Anyway, on to more of "The Quest" story. My attempt to ride every gravel road in Black Hawk County by the end of this year. This time I mop up more of the Southeast corner of the county. Specifically, I was taking out all the roads between Brandon Road and the Cedar River. It was a LOT of out and back in which I made an interesting observation. Each dead end road ended on a private property. It was as if each bit of road that was designated as a dead end was really a glorified drive way. There were no signs at the ends of these roads to indicate that you were on private property past a certain point. The road just dumped right into a driveway, or a farm yard, or a front yard. It was bizarre and I've never encountered anything quite like it before, especially multiple times in one area.  

But before I get into the ride details I need to share this ride's kit that I wore and the weather that informed my choices. It was a raw day, with strong Northeast winds gusting to 26mph and the air temperature was in the upper 30's at the morning start. Wind chills were around 30°F. I wore the GORE Windstopper® gear I was sent to review for RidingGravel.com.  This included the Phantom Jacket, Thermo+ bib tights, and a windproof base layer shirt. sandwiched in there was my Twin Six Standard Wool short sleeved jersey. I wore some Twin Six wool socks and the Northwave Winter boots I have. I'm not enamored of the GORE mittens I got to review so I wore my SealSkinz gloves. A Walz Wool earflapper cycling cap and the Rudy Project Cutline glasses made up the rest of the kit including my Bontrager helmet, of course. In this get-up I rode two hours very comfortably. 

 

The first out-and-back was Carr Road.

 

Barns For Jason #1

After finding the first 'glorified driveway', I headed East on Harmon Road. The wind seemed okay at this point, nothing really that bad. Then the route ran into a "T" intersection with Bader Road. I had to run South to get a dead end portion there. So another out-and-back. 

Barns For Jason #2

The roads were mostly really good for bicycle riding.

 

The roads were mostly clear of the big chunk, but I did have a few places where the gravel was deeper. Fortunately most of those sections did not coincide with going North. That direction was hard enough with the wind. As I went along, it became even more difficult as the winds picked up a bit. 

Barns For Jason #3

This tree has been engulfing this derelict windmill for decades.

I then made another out-and-back on Lange Road but instead of ending in someones yard, this road dumped out to Brandon Road, which is paved. Then it was back to Wright road which turns South and becomes Purdy Road and then on to two consecutive out-and-backs. 

Beef cattle grazing on a hillside along Wright Road.

The western terminus of McChane Road, which dumps into an abandoned farm yard.

One of these out-and-backs was McChane Road which terminated into an abandoned farm, again, with no warning signs or anything. So odd! same with Purdy Road's Southern terminus, which bailed out right into a farmer's drive in front of their home. 

The last of the Fall colors hangs on here and there.

Rest stop on the Black Hawk/Buchanan County line. Looking back into Black Hawk County here down McChane Road.

The last bit going North on Black Hawk/Buchanan Road was brutal. By now the winds were a constant blast from the Northeast and if they were anything under 25mph, I would have been surprised. It was almost every bit as bad as that Saturday I rode recently North of here. But coming back from the corner where the road went to pavement was super easy. I almost coasted an entire mile! 

Barns For Jason #4

After the last out-and-back I ran the main drags back the way I came and then one more bit I saved till the end- an out-and-back on Garling Road to Brandon Road. Garling actually continues on North past that intersection, but I'm saving that for the last ride in this area which should happen this weekend. Stay tuned for that report coming soon.......hopefully!

Friday News And Views

The new Trek bike packaging. (Hard to see a difference) Image courtesy of Trek

 Trek Tries To Reduce Waste In New Bike Packaging:

As a bike mechanic with well over 20 years of building new bikes experience, I can say with some authority that there are literally pounds of waste materials generated from every new bike sold. Plastic bits being the worst offense here. But there are also  rubber bands, cardboard, foam, Styrofoam, plastic film, tape, and even paper waste that can become a burden, not only on price, responsibility to the bike shops, but on the Earth. I've said it for years- While bicycles are often said to be a 'green' alternative form of mobility, the bicycle industry is far from 'green' in reality. The packaging of new bikes being one of the worst offenses here. 

Well, some companies are out to do something about this. I reported on something along these lines a year ago on RidingGravel.com in a report on a company that was seeking to reduce waste in packaging their recycled stainless steel bikes. Trek changed their packing up in December last year on some models and reduced some amount of plastic. You'd be hard pressed to see much of a difference. But, something is better than nothing, or actually increasing packaging, which is possible and happens. 

The thing here is that there is a balancing act between getting a bicycle to a destination unscathed, (harder than you think), getting it to a destination in a mostly assembled state, and keeping costs reasonable, which is nearly impossible. I remember in the past, the least waste in packaging for a new bike was always an USA made Cannondale, which had everything zip-tied to a big cardboard plate which was then stuck in a box. The problem with those bikes was that almost nothing was pre-installed, but was often still in OE packaging, which- if you think about that, is another level of packaging bike brands have almost zero control over. Anyway, dealers hated the extra labor that building a Cannondale bike from a box took back in those days. So, despite the reduced waste in packaging, it wasn't practical in terms of doing business. When Cannondale went overseas for production, they ended up becoming packed like every other brand. It just made more sense from a money standpoint. 

Image courtesy of Bike Europe

So, I commend Trek for trying, but this will not be an easy nut to crack for them, or for any other big brand. 

UPDATED: Yesterday an industry news site, "Bike Europe", carried a post on their site saying that - at least out of one factory in Europe- Cannondale has developed a 100% recyclable bicycle carton and is shipping HPC bikes made in this Dutch factory across Europe now. 

So, kind of ironic, eh? But this is certainly a good sign and should point towards industry-wide rethinking on packaging for new bikes, as this idea has been set up as an 'open standard', meaning the ideas and ways to make this new bike packaging are free to any company seeking a way to make their carbon footprint that much smaller.  

The factory representative quoted in the story also claims that there is no additional costs to doing this. That's even better. Elimination of all foam, plastic, plastic type tapes, and PVC materials is awesome and I hope to see this packaging technique become more widespread. So, while I said that the monetary expenses looked to be the biggest barrier to change in this area, this story seems to contradict that thought. Hopefully it will prove out to work as they say it does.

HD "Serial #1" from the early 20th Century.

Harley Davidson Spins Off E-Bike As Separate Brand:

The "FN&V" has reported on the development of a Harley Davidson branded  HPC (electrified bicycle), before, but now it all looks to be coming true (sort of) in a Direct To Consumer model and the company will be a separate entity from Harley Davidson according to several media posts I saw on Tuesday. The company will be called "Serial 1", which is a reference to HD's first HPC (Hybrid Powered Cycle) which is known as "Serial #1", according to the same reports posted Tuesday. 

This becomes interesting since, obviously, it sends another brand in a crowded marketplace against established traditional cycling companies. While Serial 1 will use a DTC model for sales, these HPC's will be available through select Harley Davidson dealers as well, according to reports. This means that these bikes will enjoy a somewhat built in distribution model and possibly reach a new audience. This also points to how motorcycle sales have plummeted over the last several years, making electrified bicycles an attractive market for motorcycle companies to get into since the market share for HPC's is on the upswing. 

The 'Serial 1" company's first HPC offering.

The Serial 1 company has only one model on offer for a March 2021 release, but the reports I read mentioned possibilities of others in the future. Interestingly, some of these reports were from non-cycling publications and their discriminating view of the electrified two wheeler market was enlightening.

One publication alluded to an existence of an 'e-moped' segment of the marketplace. This is very different from what talking heads in the cycling industry say, as these sorts of throttle controlled HPC's seem to be invisible to the cycling industry, or they point to them and say that they are 'illegal' because these vehicles do not adhere to the three-class "e-bike" guidelines.  While this is a distinction I have called out as being silly, the cycling industry has been sticking to their guns on that point, saying that laws are being drawn up across the nation in support of a three tiered class system for what they call 'e-bikes'. See, this sort of ignoring of reality is what is going to cause the cycling industry to eventually fall to the wayside as a provider of motorized transport. 

Consumers could care less about the three tiered class rules. If someone is riding a cargo bike that happens to have pedals but is cruising along at 20mph uphill and not pedaling, this is the sort of magic that attracts their attention. In human terms, the race to the easiest option, the path of least resistance, is far to attractive to be ignored. I mean, look at all the gizmos we have in our lives nowadays. I used to manually turn on my radio. Now you ask your 'digital assistant' to do that task. But I'm a guy with a vehicle that has crank down windows and starts the engine with a key. So old fashioned and ya know......waaaay too much work! So, what do I know/

As consumer trends and desires change, I foresee what I've always said would happen here. The so-called 'e-bike' will eventually shed its nearly useless pedals and cranks as consumers look for easier to ride, more powerful, and eventually, less bicycle-like options for their mobility needs. Attaching motors to bicycles has been done before, and we are simply repeating history with a different motor type, is all. That Harley Davidson has a hand in this market is particularly ironic. 

International Singlespeed Day- November 2nd, 2020:

There is literally a 'day' for everything under the Sun, right? I mean, even the Sun gets its own day once a week. (Sorry! I couldn't resist!) Anyway......I found out that International Singlespeed Day is 11/2/20 this year. Maybe it's the first year for this/ I don't know. I've never heard about this before this past week anyway. But you all know that sort of talk is right up my alley! I love me some single speed bicycle action. 

Well, however it started, I'm certainly in on this. Now the dilemma for me is which one? Which single speed device do I celebrate this day of being in the wrong gear at all times? How do I choose just one to be at oneness with? I suppose it comes down to gravel or single track, and then I go from there. Gravel narrows things down to three main rigs and dirt means I could go with one of two, maybe three if you allow a 'dinglespeed' and I keep it in one range. 

My predilection is to go on a gravel ride, since, ya know, I have this quest thing to finish up. So, that could all change depending upon weather and family obligations, or the fact that this falls on a Monday. We'll see. But this has much more appeal to me than a "World Fat Bike Day" which almost always is on opening day of deer shotgun hunting season here, and I do not want to be in the woods on that day! Heck, I stay off gravel on that day, generally speaking. But yeah.........stay tuned on this single speed deal.  

NOTE: For my opinions and comments on yesterday's announcement concerning the Unbound Gravel event in Emporia, Kansas, I wrote a post about that yesterday.  Click Here to see it.

That's a wrap for this week! Have a great weekend and get out and ride!

Friday News And Views

The new Trek bike packaging. (Hard to see a difference) Image courtesy of Trek

 Trek Tries To Reduce Waste In New Bike Packaging:

As a bike mechanic with well over 20 years of building new bikes experience, I can say with some authority that there are literally pounds of waste materials generated from every new bike sold. Plastic bits being the worst offense here. But there are also  rubber bands, cardboard, foam, Styrofoam, plastic film, tape, and even paper waste that can become a burden, not only on price, responsibility to the bike shops, but on the Earth. I've said it for years- While bicycles are often said to be a 'green' alternative form of mobility, the bicycle industry is far from 'green' in reality. The packaging of new bikes being one of the worst offenses here. 

Well, some companies are out to do something about this. I reported on something along these lines a year ago on RidingGravel.com in a report on a company that was seeking to reduce waste in packaging their recycled stainless steel bikes. Trek changed their packing up in December last year on some models and reduced some amount of plastic. You'd be hard pressed to see much of a difference. But, something is better than nothing, or actually increasing packaging, which is possible and happens. 

The thing here is that there is a balancing act between getting a bicycle to a destination unscathed, (harder than you think), getting it to a destination in a mostly assembled state, and keeping costs reasonable, which is nearly impossible. I remember in the past, the least waste in packaging for a new bike was always an USA made Cannondale, which had everything zip-tied to a big cardboard plate which was then stuck in a box. The problem with those bikes was that almost nothing was pre-installed, but was often still in OE packaging, which- if you think about that, is another level of packaging bike brands have almost zero control over. Anyway, dealers hated the extra labor that building a Cannondale bike from a box took back in those days. So, despite the reduced waste in packaging, it wasn't practical in terms of doing business. When Cannondale went overseas for production, they ended up becoming packed like every other brand. It just made more sense from a money standpoint. 

Image courtesy of Bike Europe

So, I commend Trek for trying, but this will not be an easy nut to crack for them, or for any other big brand. 

UPDATED: Yesterday an industry news site, "Bike Europe", carried a post on their site saying that - at least out of one factory in Europe- Cannondale has developed a 100% recyclable bicycle carton and is shipping HPC bikes made in this Dutch factory across Europe now. 

So, kind of ironic, eh? But this is certainly a good sign and should point towards industry-wide rethinking on packaging for new bikes, as this idea has been set up as an 'open standard', meaning the ideas and ways to make this new bike packaging are free to any company seeking a way to make their carbon footprint that much smaller.  

The factory representative quoted in the story also claims that there is no additional costs to doing this. That's even better. Elimination of all foam, plastic, plastic type tapes, and PVC materials is awesome and I hope to see this packaging technique become more widespread. So, while I said that the monetary expenses looked to be the biggest barrier to change in this area, this story seems to contradict that thought. Hopefully it will prove out to work as they say it does.

HD "Serial #1" from the early 20th Century.

Harley Davidson Spins Off E-Bike As Separate Brand:

The "FN&V" has reported on the development of a Harley Davidson branded  HPC (electrified bicycle), before, but now it all looks to be coming true (sort of) in a Direct To Consumer model and the company will be a separate entity from Harley Davidson according to several media posts I saw on Tuesday. The company will be called "Serial 1", which is a reference to HD's first HPC (Hybrid Powered Cycle) which is known as "Serial #1", according to the same reports posted Tuesday. 

This becomes interesting since, obviously, it sends another brand in a crowded marketplace against established traditional cycling companies. While Serial 1 will use a DTC model for sales, these HPC's will be available through select Harley Davidson dealers as well, according to reports. This means that these bikes will enjoy a somewhat built in distribution model and possibly reach a new audience. This also points to how motorcycle sales have plummeted over the last several years, making electrified bicycles an attractive market for motorcycle companies to get into since the market share for HPC's is on the upswing. 

The 'Serial 1" company's first HPC offering.

The Serial 1 company has only one model on offer for a March 2021 release, but the reports I read mentioned possibilities of others in the future. Interestingly, some of these reports were from non-cycling publications and their discriminating view of the electrified two wheeler market was enlightening.

One publication alluded to an existence of an 'e-moped' segment of the marketplace. This is very different from what talking heads in the cycling industry say, as these sorts of throttle controlled HPC's seem to be invisible to the cycling industry, or they point to them and say that they are 'illegal' because these vehicles do not adhere to the three-class "e-bike" guidelines.  While this is a distinction I have called out as being silly, the cycling industry has been sticking to their guns on that point, saying that laws are being drawn up across the nation in support of a three tiered class system for what they call 'e-bikes'. See, this sort of ignoring of reality is what is going to cause the cycling industry to eventually fall to the wayside as a provider of motorized transport. 

Consumers could care less about the three tiered class rules. If someone is riding a cargo bike that happens to have pedals but is cruising along at 20mph uphill and not pedaling, this is the sort of magic that attracts their attention. In human terms, the race to the easiest option, the path of least resistance, is far to attractive to be ignored. I mean, look at all the gizmos we have in our lives nowadays. I used to manually turn on my radio. Now you ask your 'digital assistant' to do that task. But I'm a guy with a vehicle that has crank down windows and starts the engine with a key. So old fashioned and ya know......waaaay too much work! So, what do I know/

As consumer trends and desires change, I foresee what I've always said would happen here. The so-called 'e-bike' will eventually shed its nearly useless pedals and cranks as consumers look for easier to ride, more powerful, and eventually, less bicycle-like options for their mobility needs. Attaching motors to bicycles has been done before, and we are simply repeating history with a different motor type, is all. That Harley Davidson has a hand in this market is particularly ironic. 

International Singlespeed Day- November 2nd, 2020:

There is literally a 'day' for everything under the Sun, right? I mean, even the Sun gets its own day once a week. (Sorry! I couldn't resist!) Anyway......I found out that International Singlespeed Day is 11/2/20 this year. Maybe it's the first year for this/ I don't know. I've never heard about this before this past week anyway. But you all know that sort of talk is right up my alley! I love me some single speed bicycle action. 

Well, however it started, I'm certainly in on this. Now the dilemma for me is which one? Which single speed device do I celebrate this day of being in the wrong gear at all times? How do I choose just one to be at oneness with? I suppose it comes down to gravel or single track, and then I go from there. Gravel narrows things down to three main rigs and dirt means I could go with one of two, maybe three if you allow a 'dinglespeed' and I keep it in one range. 

My predilection is to go on a gravel ride, since, ya know, I have this quest thing to finish up. So, that could all change depending upon weather and family obligations, or the fact that this falls on a Monday. We'll see. But this has much more appeal to me than a "World Fat Bike Day" which almost always is on opening day of deer shotgun hunting season here, and I do not want to be in the woods on that day! Heck, I stay off gravel on that day, generally speaking. But yeah.........stay tuned on this single speed deal.  

NOTE: For my opinions and comments on yesterday's announcement concerning the Unbound Gravel event in Emporia, Kansas, I wrote a post about that yesterday.  Click Here to see it.

That's a wrap for this week! Have a great weekend and get out and ride!

Life Time Debuts Unbound Gravel Event

 NOTE: Large doses of "my opinion" will be handed out in gloppy dollops today. You've been forewarned.....

Life Time events, the owner of the former DK200 event, has announced its replacement, called "Unbound Gravel".  While Life Time is soft-billing this as "Same Race, New Face" they may as well drop that and admit to what this actually is- it's not a rebrand- its a brand new event. 

The old Dirty Kanza 200 was Jim Cummings' (and Joel Dyke's before he left the event), and his personality infused the event from top to bottom. All the marketing for the event mentioned Jim and lauded him as the face of the event and the heart of the event. The propaganda machine built up by the DK Promotions team never left any doubt as to the importance of Jim Cummings to the Dirty Kanza and he was ALWAYS front and center in everything the event did. 

Obviously Jim's social media miscue was cause for his dismissal and that and the name change issue combines to make anything smacking of the DK200 a bad deal. So any connection to the past seems......not very genuine? I think this "Same Race, New Face" is a weak attempt at keeping the heritage that suits their agenda and dumping what doesn't, and if that is true, it stinks. 

But be that as it may, the name change that was promised has now happened. The diversity committee that was promised is supposedly being assembled. There will be 'changes' made. So, how is this the same event with a new name? That's easy- it isn't the same event. It shouldn't be either. If Unbound Gravel, (Maybe it should be Unburdened Gravel?), tries to reach back into any of the 15 years of Dirty Kanza 200 heritage, I don't see those efforts as being very genuine at that point. Life Time cut ties to Jim and the name. In my opinion, it's all or nothing, and the table was set on that by the whole dismissal of Jim and the cultural heritage issues as well. You cannot have your cake and eat it too with this deal. 

There will be elements that are similar, of course. The 200 mile course, the same venue, and many of the same trappings will be pulled over, but this event is not anything like its predecessor just because it starts in the same city and uses the Flint Hills for its course. Just ask the promoters of La Grind, another gravel event based in Emporia, Kansas. 

I'm not saying Unbound Gravel cannot be a good time, a successful event, or as influential as the DK200 once was. It could be all those things and more, or not. Unbound Gravel will have to live or die on its own merits. 

Enough of that. What about the name? Ah.........well. Here's my take. The email I read from Life Time states that "Our summer was spent building a task force full of Emporia businesses and locals, media personnel, professional and passionate cyclists, and many of our partners to create a new name worthy of the magic that the gravel roads in the Flint Hills hold." That's a fancy way to say 'design by committee', and of course, the new name had to be one that couldn't possibly be construed to be offensive to anyone. So, hoping that you'd get any other flavor here than 'vanilla' is just insane thinking. 

It's on the same page as "Mid-South" is to my way of thinking. If anything, the logo and the name are about as corporate-think as one could get. Think of the branding opportunities! In fact, the email I received already was trying to sell me stuff. " We would love for you to share your excitement with us! Visit our partner Gravel City Adventure and Supply to pre-order some new UNBOUND Gravel merchandise." Yeah.... We're sorry. But we've changed! Buy our stuff! 

I apologize if I am a little cynical, but this all just sits cockeyed to me. I'm hoping that this awkward moment passes by and Unburdened.......sorry.... Unbound Gravel makes a splash and saves some of the benefits that the DK200 brought to Emporia and its residents. The tragedy that could happen would be if all this 'changing' combined with COVID ruins the financial windfall that the DK200 was to this area. Not to mention the cultural shift in thinking that the DK200 brought to the residents of Emporia concerning cycling and health and well being.

And speaking of COVID. Yeah, who says that Life Time will even be able to hold a mass start event in early June of 2021? I'd be surprised if that was a good idea by that time seeing as how we aren't any closer to getting through this than we were last June. Hopefully it's all behind us then, for the benefit of Unbridled.....sorry....Unbound Gravel, and the rest of us as well.

Life Time Debuts Unbound Gravel Event

 NOTE: Large doses of "my opinion" will be handed out in gloppy dollops today. You've been forewarned.....

Life Time events, the owner of the former DK200 event, has announced its replacement, called "Unbound Gravel".  While Life Time is soft-billing this as "Same Race, New Face" they may as well drop that and admit to what this actually is- it's not a rebrand- its a brand new event. 

The old Dirty Kanza 200 was Jim Cummings' (and Joel Dyke's before he left the event), and his personality infused the event from top to bottom. All the marketing for the event mentioned Jim and lauded him as the face of the event and the heart of the event. The propaganda machine built up by the DK Promotions team never left any doubt as to the importance of Jim Cummings to the Dirty Kanza and he was ALWAYS front and center in everything the event did. 

Obviously Jim's social media miscue was cause for his dismissal and that and the name change issue combines to make anything smacking of the DK200 a bad deal. So any connection to the past seems......not very genuine? I think this "Same Race, New Face" is a weak attempt at keeping the heritage that suits their agenda and dumping what doesn't, and if that is true, it stinks. 

But be that as it may, the name change that was promised has now happened. The diversity committee that was promised is supposedly being assembled. There will be 'changes' made. So, how is this the same event with a new name? That's easy- it isn't the same event. It shouldn't be either. If Unbound Gravel, (Maybe it should be Unburdened Gravel?), tries to reach back into any of the 15 years of Dirty Kanza 200 heritage, I don't see those efforts as being very genuine at that point. Life Time cut ties to Jim and the name. In my opinion, it's all or nothing, and the table was set on that by the whole dismissal of Jim and the cultural heritage issues as well. You cannot have your cake and eat it too with this deal. 

There will be elements that are similar, of course. The 200 mile course, the same venue, and many of the same trappings will be pulled over, but this event is not anything like its predecessor just because it starts in the same city and uses the Flint Hills for its course. Just ask the promoters of La Grind, another gravel event based in Emporia, Kansas. 

I'm not saying Unbound Gravel cannot be a good time, a successful event, or as influential as the DK200 once was. It could be all those things and more, or not. Unbound Gravel will have to live or die on its own merits. 

Enough of that. What about the name? Ah.........well. Here's my take. The email I read from Life Time states that "Our summer was spent building a task force full of Emporia businesses and locals, media personnel, professional and passionate cyclists, and many of our partners to create a new name worthy of the magic that the gravel roads in the Flint Hills hold." That's a fancy way to say 'design by committee', and of course, the new name had to be one that couldn't possibly be construed to be offensive to anyone. So, hoping that you'd get any other flavor here than 'vanilla' is just insane thinking. 

It's on the same page as "Mid-South" is to my way of thinking. If anything, the logo and the name are about as corporate-think as one could get. Think of the branding opportunities! In fact, the email I received already was trying to sell me stuff. " We would love for you to share your excitement with us! Visit our partner Gravel City Adventure and Supply to pre-order some new UNBOUND Gravel merchandise." Yeah.... We're sorry. But we've changed! Buy our stuff! 

I apologize if I am a little cynical, but this all just sits cockeyed to me. I'm hoping that this awkward moment passes by and Unburdened.......sorry.... Unbound Gravel makes a splash and saves some of the benefits that the DK200 brought to Emporia and its residents. The tragedy that could happen would be if all this 'changing' combined with COVID ruins the financial windfall that the DK200 was to this area. Not to mention the cultural shift in thinking that the DK200 brought to the residents of Emporia concerning cycling and health and well being.

And speaking of COVID. Yeah, who says that Life Time will even be able to hold a mass start event in early June of 2021? I'd be surprised if that was a good idea by that time seeing as how we aren't any closer to getting through this than we were last June. Hopefully it's all behind us then, for the benefit of Unbridled.....sorry....Unbound Gravel, and the rest of us as well.

Unretired

The Tamland Two on a recent Fall ride.

 Last year I decided that the wheel axle standard and a couple of small details concerning my old (relative term here) Raleigh Tamland Two was making it a bit of a liability when it comes to testing stuff for RidingGravel.com. So, a search began last year to find a substitute that I could press into service for wheel and tire reviews. Maybe other things as well, but mainly for that sort of thing. I ended up getting the Standard Rando v2, and from the beginning of 2020, I had parked the Tamland Two. I figured it would be the bike I might pull out for things like the Gent's Race, or whatever event I had coming up. 

Of course, 2020 threw us a curve ball and I had all my events pulled out from underneath my feet, and so the Raleigh sat forlorn in the Lab, not being used at all. It sat so long that the sealant dried up in the tires and dust was covering the paint job. It made my heart hurt to see that, but I was so busy with trying to get all the review stuff done, well I just didn't have time for the Tamland. 

Then I got sent four sets of tires at about the same time. I just didn't have enough open wheel sets and bikes to really do it justice. So, while I tried to figure out what to do, I was down in the Lab just staring blankly and my gaze fell upon the forlorn Tamland again.  Well......why not? Why not use the Tamland again? It is a shame to let it just sit around. So on went the Vee Tire Rocketman and that was that. I was going to ride the Tamland again. 

And when I did, well that same feeling of comfortable and stable handling was right there. I felt like I had been riding the bike all along. And in one sense I had been. See, the Noble Bikes GX5 is a bike with a very similar geometry and layout to the Raleigh Tamland. In fact, if you don't know, one of the engineers on the Tamland owns Noble Bikes. So, it only makes sense that the GX5 and the Tamland would be similar. Only the frame material is really different. Carbon vs steel. 

The Tamland Two was really an unsung influencer on the gravel bike market. To this day there are vital things that the Tamland has that are defining features of gravel bikes in 2020 and beyond. Head angle, seat angle, bottom bracket drop, and massive tire clearances. The Tamland preceded the 650B/Road Plus thing but those 47mm tires slot right into the Tamland regardless. But there are a couple things that the Tamland missed out on when it hit the scenes in 2014.  

One was the fork mounted water bottle bosses. It also didn't come with a bottom of the downtube bottle boss. Obviously the early Tamlands didn't have through axles either. But those minor issues are no big deal when it comes to the basic bones of what makes a great gravel bike. The Tamland did things the Warbird did not do back then, such as have a lowered bottom bracket and big tire clearances. And you could put through axles, a carbon fork, and add those water bottle bosses, keep everything else the same, and the Tamland Two would be still in the mainstream of gravel bike handling and geometry in 2020. But nobody remembers that the Tamland was the first bike like that. It was the trend setter. 

So, I guess I've 'unretired' the Tamland. And I am glad to have it back.

Unretired

The Tamland Two on a recent Fall ride.

 Last year I decided that the wheel axle standard and a couple of small details concerning my old (relative term here) Raleigh Tamland Two was making it a bit of a liability when it comes to testing stuff for RidingGravel.com. So, a search began last year to find a substitute that I could press into service for wheel and tire reviews. Maybe other things as well, but mainly for that sort of thing. I ended up getting the Standard Rando v2, and from the beginning of 2020, I had parked the Tamland Two. I figured it would be the bike I might pull out for things like the Gent's Race, or whatever event I had coming up. 

Of course, 2020 threw us a curve ball and I had all my events pulled out from underneath my feet, and so the Raleigh sat forlorn in the Lab, not being used at all. It sat so long that the sealant dried up in the tires and dust was covering the paint job. It made my heart hurt to see that, but I was so busy with trying to get all the review stuff done, well I just didn't have time for the Tamland. 

Then I got sent four sets of tires at about the same time. I just didn't have enough open wheel sets and bikes to really do it justice. So, while I tried to figure out what to do, I was down in the Lab just staring blankly and my gaze fell upon the forlorn Tamland again.  Well......why not? Why not use the Tamland again? It is a shame to let it just sit around. So on went the Vee Tire Rocketman and that was that. I was going to ride the Tamland again. 

And when I did, well that same feeling of comfortable and stable handling was right there. I felt like I had been riding the bike all along. And in one sense I had been. See, the Noble Bikes GX5 is a bike with a very similar geometry and layout to the Raleigh Tamland. In fact, if you don't know, one of the engineers on the Tamland owns Noble Bikes. So, it only makes sense that the GX5 and the Tamland would be similar. Only the frame material is really different. Carbon vs steel. 

The Tamland Two was really an unsung influencer on the gravel bike market. To this day there are vital things that the Tamland has that are defining features of gravel bikes in 2020 and beyond. Head angle, seat angle, bottom bracket drop, and massive tire clearances. The Tamland preceded the 650B/Road Plus thing but those 47mm tires slot right into the Tamland regardless. But there are a couple things that the Tamland missed out on when it hit the scenes in 2014.  

One was the fork mounted water bottle bosses. It also didn't come with a bottom of the downtube bottle boss. Obviously the early Tamlands didn't have through axles either. But those minor issues are no big deal when it comes to the basic bones of what makes a great gravel bike. The Tamland did things the Warbird did not do back then, such as have a lowered bottom bracket and big tire clearances. And you could put through axles, a carbon fork, and add those water bottle bosses, keep everything else the same, and the Tamland Two would be still in the mainstream of gravel bike handling and geometry in 2020. But nobody remembers that the Tamland was the first bike like that. It was the trend setter. 

So, I guess I've 'unretired' the Tamland. And I am glad to have it back.

A Season Of Fatigue

This is home. This is Mean Street.

I don't have to tell you. You know.......this year is getting old. Not just because we are about to enter the last two months of of 2020, but you know......it's the whole pandemic thing. The freaking election. Advertising that is beyond nauseating. Fear mongering. So much is 'fake' we don't know what is real anymore. Maybe that's why it seems drivers along my commute to work have lost their minds lately. 

My favorite move a driver of a car or truck makes is this: Multiple lane road intersects with your path, your 'flight plan', whatever. As a cyclist, you don't even need to be on a road. I had this scene play out as I tried to cross a five lane (one way) highway Monday as I came out from under a bridge about 50 yards from an intersection of any type. 

Anyway- a driver sees your approach. They stop. Now they may do this right at an intersection, or no where near an intersection- doesn't matter. I call this move "The Misdirected Kindness Move". The driver tries to have you cross in front of them. It's as if they are deferring to your weaker mode of transport by stopping and allowing you to cross while they wait inside their climate controlled capsule and stare at you as you are going to be- they hope- parading in front of you. Only their big fail is that they are not in control of the other lanes of traffic adjacent to their vehicle, which may have vehicular traffic bearing down at this scene at a high rate of speed. See.....I'm not falling for this. Then it gets interesting.

The driver with "The Misdirected Kindness Move" now in play gets agitated. They wave at you vigorously. I often give them a 'go on ahead' wave, which 95% of the time gets ignored and more vigorous waving and observed jaw flapping starts. Of course, I cannot hear a word that they say. Apparently these people believe in some magic that not only makes anyone coming down the road stop for me also, but defies the laws of physics and says I should be able to understand their verbiage. Then comes one of three possible outcomes.

One: If I am up from a controlled intersection, the light finally flashes the lanes "The Misdirected Kindness" driver is in the green light and they get the idea and move along. Two: In case the driver has a green light,the oncoming traffic whizzes by the stalled driver and they get the idea and move along, or Three: The uncontrolled intersection allows them to sit there forever, (or until another vehicle comes along) and there appears to be a stalemate. If #3 happens and it looks like a standoff, I turn around and go the other way. THAT finally gets the driver's goat and they blast off with an application of "angry acceleration" at which point I turn around and resume my commute. 

This has occurred more often as fall has come on, and on Monday it happened twice. Both times on the way home from work. Even when I stop 20 yards up from an intersection on a bike path, put my foot down, and show no visual contact, this sometimes still happens to me. Why don't drivers just go ahead and do what they are supposed to do, so I can expect a consistent behavior from the operators of these rust buckets? Because the moment I do that, I get waxed by a driver that is inattentive, or just doesn't care. Or the person in the is just desiring to be mean, which happened on Monday as well.

I'm minding my own business when I see a passenger of an oncoming vehicle crank their hand, which is holding a 20 oz. beverage of some sort, above the roof line. They bob the bottle and I can see this person is trying to time a throw at me. Yeah, the person was so lazy they couldn't be arsed to get out of their seat to get anything on the throw, so failure was predictable. The bottle missed me by a mile, but the intent was there, obviously.

People are getting fatigued. There is no will to use their critical thinking skills, so they are either misdirected in their kindness or they just don't give a rip for their fellow man. That's what I am seeing. I don't know.....maybe I have too much time to think as I ride along.......

A Season Of Fatigue

This is home. This is Mean Street.

I don't have to tell you. You know.......this year is getting old. Not just because we are about to enter the last two months of of 2020, but you know......it's the whole pandemic thing. The freaking election. Advertising that is beyond nauseating. Fear mongering. So much is 'fake' we don't know what is real anymore. Maybe that's why it seems drivers along my commute to work have lost their minds lately. 

My favorite move a driver of a car or truck makes is this: Multiple lane road intersects with your path, your 'flight plan', whatever. As a cyclist, you don't even need to be on a road. I had this scene play out as I tried to cross a five lane (one way) highway Monday as I came out from under a bridge about 50 yards from an intersection of any type. 

Anyway- a driver sees your approach. They stop. Now they may do this right at an intersection, or no where near an intersection- doesn't matter. I call this move "The Misdirected Kindness Move". The driver tries to have you cross in front of them. It's as if they are deferring to your weaker mode of transport by stopping and allowing you to cross while they wait inside their climate controlled capsule and stare at you as you are going to be- they hope- parading in front of you. Only their big fail is that they are not in control of the other lanes of traffic adjacent to their vehicle, which may have vehicular traffic bearing down at this scene at a high rate of speed. See.....I'm not falling for this. Then it gets interesting.

The driver with "The Misdirected Kindness Move" now in play gets agitated. They wave at you vigorously. I often give them a 'go on ahead' wave, which 95% of the time gets ignored and more vigorous waving and observed jaw flapping starts. Of course, I cannot hear a word that they say. Apparently these people believe in some magic that not only makes anyone coming down the road stop for me also, but defies the laws of physics and says I should be able to understand their verbiage. Then comes one of three possible outcomes.

One: If I am up from a controlled intersection, the light finally flashes the lanes "The Misdirected Kindness" driver is in the green light and they get the idea and move along. Two: In case the driver has a green light,the oncoming traffic whizzes by the stalled driver and they get the idea and move along, or Three: The uncontrolled intersection allows them to sit there forever, (or until another vehicle comes along) and there appears to be a stalemate. If #3 happens and it looks like a standoff, I turn around and go the other way. THAT finally gets the driver's goat and they blast off with an application of "angry acceleration" at which point I turn around and resume my commute. 

This has occurred more often as fall has come on, and on Monday it happened twice. Both times on the way home from work. Even when I stop 20 yards up from an intersection on a bike path, put my foot down, and show no visual contact, this sometimes still happens to me. Why don't drivers just go ahead and do what they are supposed to do, so I can expect a consistent behavior from the operators of these rust buckets? Because the moment I do that, I get waxed by a driver that is inattentive, or just doesn't care. Or the person in the is just desiring to be mean, which happened on Monday as well.

I'm minding my own business when I see a passenger of an oncoming vehicle crank their hand, which is holding a 20 oz. beverage of some sort, above the roof line. They bob the bottle and I can see this person is trying to time a throw at me. Yeah, the person was so lazy they couldn't be arsed to get out of their seat to get anything on the throw, so failure was predictable. The bottle missed me by a mile, but the intent was there, obviously.

People are getting fatigued. There is no will to use their critical thinking skills, so they are either misdirected in their kindness or they just don't give a rip for their fellow man. That's what I am seeing. I don't know.....maybe I have too much time to think as I ride along.......

Update On The Whisky Parts Co. Milhouse Bar

The Snow Dog set up with the Milhouse Bar.

 After my Saturday of travel and volunteering at the Spotted Horse Gravel Ultra, (reported on yesterday), I took Sunday off from gravel travel to do a bit of testing with the Whisky Parts Co. Milhouse Bar. This is their carbon moto-inspired handle bar which Whisky Parts Co. sent me to evaluate. I did not pay for this bar and am not being paid or bribed for this post. I just thought I'd get that cleared up first. I did want to let those who are curious know what I have thought about it so far. 

As I shared last week, I ended up sticking the Milhouse Bar on my old fat bike I call The Snow Dog. It just made a lot more sense on that bike than it did on the On One Inbred I originally had installed it on. The bar not only looks better on the Mukluk, but it does a better thing for that bike than it did on the Inbred. I'll get to that in a moment....

I took the Mukluk on a bit of a bushwhacking ride this time. The first thing I did was to check out the progress on the new section of University Avenue. To get to that meant I was going to have to climb a dike and then try to traverse some wet dirt. The Mukluk with this Milhouse Bar on it really makes a huge difference in weight distribution over the bike. This means it is really easy to loop out on a steep climb. At least if you try to stay seated. I ended up finding that standing and climbing actually worked better. 

Weight distribution is changed so much that I felt like almost all my weight was on the saddle. This meant that using the Redshift Sports ShockStop seat post ended up being a great idea. I fact, it makes the bike ride super-smooth. The carbon bar has a wee bit of give too, so that helps as well. 

The Milhouse Bar is wiiiide! You may have trouble getting between trees in some places.

After getting a good look at the new pavement for University Avenue, I headed over toward George Wyth State Park with no real agenda. On the way I remembered "Casey's Trail", a new-ish single track along the expressway which I have ridden maybe three or four times, but not in 2020 at all. So, I figured why not go and check it out? It's really one of only a few "true" single track trails in the area. 

You'd never know by looking that you are about 50 yards from a busy highway right here.

The Milhouse Bar is so different from anything I've tried that my typical MTB control layout wasn't working as well as I'd like. I ended up stopping at three different spots to make incremental adjustments to the lever and shifter placements until I was satisfied with the ergonomics. I still have to adjust the lever reach a tiny bit, but I didn't have a small enough hex key with me on the ride to do it then.

The changes made the experience of riding with these bars even more enjoyable. I will take a bit longer to become better acquainted with how the handling of this set up works. The weight distribution, width of the bars, and how the steering geometry is now have made it so the Snow Dog rides like a completely new-to-me bike. 

The drive train needs an update too. These old 9 speed parts are pretty tired and the range of gearing is not what it should be. I almost am pulled toward going with a nice 2X front crank and front derailleur, but eh.....maybe I should stick to 1X here. At any rate, I need a clutch rear derailleur and a 1X specific ring up front. I almost torqued off the chain twice on my ride as it was. 

Nature is the 'hook", my clothing, the "loop".

Follow the Yellow (Leaf) Road!

I ended up doing some twisty single track for a bit and then heading to the house. The Milhouse Bar is a really different, but really nice bar. The 70mm rise and the 810mm width is a flavor I have never had the pleasure of experiencing before this. I would like to see this bar on a proper 'trail bike' type geometry bike where I could use a stubby stem and not the long-ish tiller I have to use on the Snow Dog so I could evaluate this on a 'proper' set up. That said, I can certainly see how this bar can make a fat bike handle better by allowing more rearward weight shift to allow for front tire flotation, but still have a good climbing capability (standing climbing) and turning grip. 

Obviously, if a handle bar like this is interesting to you, you generally had to accept that the bar would weigh quite a bit. However; the Milhouse bar brings all the attitude and benefits of a moto inspired riser bar without the weight and better comfort than a handle bar made out of metal in this style. That said, it ain't a cheap option, but carbon fiber handle bars made to a MTB testing standard are not inexpensive, generally speaking. Especially if they are unique, as this bar is. 

More soon.