Project Wide Gravel Wheels v2: Update On Build

The rear wheel is built and awaits final tensioning.

 Just a quick update on the Project Wide Gravel Wheels v2 build. I thought you all might want to know how this is all shaping up so far.

The Spank 359 rims are made in such a way that they require spoke washers. These little discs of doom are a total pain in the butt to deal with, but if I don't use them I risk having the wheels explode due to nipples pulling through the rim extrusion. Not good! So, the pain in the butt process is necessary and patience while building these up is the key. Trying not to drop a spoke washer in the inner rim cavity is not easy, and when you do, you have to shake the rim like you are peppering your favorite recipe until, hopefully sooner than later, the thing pops out and falls to the floor. Fortunately that only happened once so far! 

Ironically, I am getting even more practice with spoke washers at work, since I have a job building up a set of DT Swiss rims on a customer's hubs that also requires spoke washers. The only difference is that DT Swiss' spoke washers are curved- concave/convex, and must be inserted in the correct orientation, making the job even more tedious! When it rains it pours, right? But at least I have work, so I am grateful. 

Anyway, the rims, again which were gifted to me by a former co-worker of mine, came with the spoke washers, but not enough to do both rims. So, I did not realize this until I started building the wheel. I hadn't cracked open the package they had come to me in, so I did not know how many I had to begin with. I immediately hopped online and found what I needed at Jenson USA and the parts (I ordered extra silver brass spoke nipples as well), should be here by the weekend. Okay, with that out of the way.....

I should mention again that Spank highly recommends that you use butted spokes and I suppose that is because these types of spokes will flex easier than straight gauge ones do, and that plays into the 'vertical compliance' claim Spank makes for these rims. Well, as it turned out, I had all butted spokes for this set on hand, so in the end, it will be what Spank recommends. I had at first thought I was going to used a mixed straight/butted gauge set. 

Besides all of that, and the extra time incurred by using spoke washers, this wheel built up really nicely. I hope that the front one goes as well as this one has. Once I get this wheel set done I will dive into wheel set number two for this project using some Stan's Neo hubs laced to Velocity Blunt SS rims. Stay tuned......

Project Wide Gravel Wheels v2: Update On Build

The rear wheel is built and awaits final tensioning.

 Just a quick update on the Project Wide Gravel Wheels v2 build. I thought you all might want to know how this is all shaping up so far.

The Spank 359 rims are made in such a way that they require spoke washers. These little discs of doom are a total pain in the butt to deal with, but if I don't use them I risk having the wheels explode due to nipples pulling through the rim extrusion. Not good! So, the pain in the butt process is necessary and patience while building these up is the key. Trying not to drop a spoke washer in the inner rim cavity is not easy, and when you do, you have to shake the rim like you are peppering your favorite recipe until, hopefully sooner than later, the thing pops out and falls to the floor. Fortunately that only happened once so far! 

Ironically, I am getting even more practice with spoke washers at work, since I have a job building up a set of DT Swiss rims on a customer's hubs that also requires spoke washers. The only difference is that DT Swiss' spoke washers are curved- concave/convex, and must be inserted in the correct orientation, making the job even more tedious! When it rains it pours, right? But at least I have work, so I am grateful. 

Anyway, the rims, again which were gifted to me by a former co-worker of mine, came with the spoke washers, but not enough to do both rims. So, I did not realize this until I started building the wheel. I hadn't cracked open the package they had come to me in, so I did not know how many I had to begin with. I immediately hopped online and found what I needed at Jenson USA and the parts (I ordered extra silver brass spoke nipples as well), should be here by the weekend. Okay, with that out of the way.....

I should mention again that Spank highly recommends that you use butted spokes and I suppose that is because these types of spokes will flex easier than straight gauge ones do, and that plays into the 'vertical compliance' claim Spank makes for these rims. Well, as it turned out, I had all butted spokes for this set on hand, so in the end, it will be what Spank recommends. I had at first thought I was going to used a mixed straight/butted gauge set. 

Besides all of that, and the extra time incurred by using spoke washers, this wheel built up really nicely. I hope that the front one goes as well as this one has. Once I get this wheel set done I will dive into wheel set number two for this project using some Stan's Neo hubs laced to Velocity Blunt SS rims. Stay tuned......

Starting Over

 Not all the gravel is in the country.

 A little over a week ago now I helped my neighbor move from his old home to his current home a little ways across town. I mention this because I did something- or I guess maybe I 'over-did' something, that weekend. I worked 'way too hard'. 

So, moving is an all-body work-out, and in heat and humidity, it can be brutal. Consider that I was also working in two houses with zero A/C that were both so hot inside that it felt like it was a LOT cooler outdoors! I mention all of this because I ended up working harder than I have in years. And....I paid the price. 

I was pretty beat-down last week. Tired, sore, and aching all over every day. My first day of feeling somewhat 'normal'? Saturday this past weekend. So, as a result, I have been taking baby steps back- in terms of cycling- because I just haven't had anything in the tank for many days. In fact, I skipped a few days - not in a row - from cycling at all last week because my body was telling me that I was not ready yet. 

On one hand, I have been a bit dejected about this. On the other, I was surprised at the output I still had while moving that day. I haven't worked that hard on a bicycle- maybe ever - in my life. So, what that taught me was that I have a lot left in there to work with if I can just fuel and drink correctly during an event, and have the mindset I had while moving stuff that day. I know I had a very different mindset than I have ever had while attempting to bicycle a big event. 

 A nice day Lilly seen while 'urban-gravel riding'.

 So, I've been slowly coming back to speed, so to speak, of late. I am a bit anxious, as I prepare for my Gravel Worlds attempt in mid-August. I'm sure I'll be fine by then, but it is the 'worry-gene' I have in me that makes it harder than it needs to be. I think I need to approach this like I did with regard to my moving day's activities; I just need to decide I'm taking the bull by the horns and gettin' things done. 

The mental deal is so much of what we have to overcome. I know my body is capable, but I also know that my biggest battle to overcome is from within me. It's not easy to deal with it. But at least that moving day kind of dialed up to me that I have to work on what's in between my ears more than I do my pedaling a bicycle.

Water Carriers

The Elite Jet Green (L), the Jet Plus,(M), and a standard bottle (R)

 I got a nice gift in the mail yesterday from a marketing company I work with for review items for RidingGravel.com. It was two bottles from the "Elite" company.

I wouldn't normally say anything about 'water bottles', but I thought that these two bottles were unusual enough that they warranted mentioning. By the way, I wasn't asked to review these at all, nor does the marketing company or Elite know I am posting this. I just thought maybe some of you folks could use something like these bottles. 

First up, the enormous 'Jet Green' bottle I got here, which is on the left in the image. The impressive thing about it is that it is made from a 'bio-plastic' using sugar cane plants. There is no petroleum based products in its manufacture at all. The other thing is its size. Now, any of these two bottles are available in 550ml and 750ml, which are normal bottle sizes, but this example is 950ml! That's about a quart, in case you were wondering. 

The nozzle at the top has a bigger diameter than many bottles have, so it flows a bunch of water. The bottle is reasonably soft, easy to squeeze, and not weird feeling. I'm not sure about the 950ml size. There is more volume over the top bit where a water cage grabs this bottle than there is under that area. It makes me wonder how this would stay in a water bottle cage or not. It is so tall that it probably will not work in several cases. So, it has its limitations, but in cases where you need to pack a lot of water and you have the available cage space, well..... This might work for you. https://www.elite-it.com/en/products/water-bottles/sport/jet-green

The Jet Plus has a cover which would make it ideal for under the down tube.

The 'Jet Plus' is Elite's bottle with a cap cover which protects the nozzle from dirt and debris making this bottle a great choice for under the down tube situations where the front tire can sling all sorts of crud at a bottle. 

The other feature of the cap is that with its design, you can 'one-hand' the opening and closing of the top with ease, allowing the rider to keep one hand on the handle bars at all times. One slight flick of the wrist, and the protective cap snaps back into place and you can stow the bottle away again.  

This bottle comes in all three sizes that the Jet Green bottle comes in as well, so you can get something with the protective cap that fits your situation. The 750ml size I received might be a bit much for some bikes under the down tube position, but I'll give it a whirl here and see what bike it works on for me. 

The other thing with this bottle, and the Jet Green, is that they are biodegradable once you are done with them. The plastic is infused with certain elements that allow micro-organisms to attack it and break it down more quickly which allows the bottles to be assimilated into the earth again. You can check out the Jet Plus here:  https://www.elite-it.com/en/products/water-bottles/sport/jet-plus

So, there you have it. As always, I am not being paid, nor bribed for this post, I honestly just thought these two bottles were cool and unusual enough that they deserved to get a mention. I'll be using them soon and I will have a thing or two to say about them down the road, but Elite s a well known and respected company from Italy that manufactures these bottles there. I have little doubt that they are at the very least, 'good' products. But, we shall see.......

Water Carriers

The Elite Jet Green (L), the Jet Plus,(M), and a standard bottle (R)

 I got a nice gift in the mail yesterday from a marketing company I work with for review items for RidingGravel.com. It was two bottles from the "Elite" company.

I wouldn't normally say anything about 'water bottles', but I thought that these two bottles were unusual enough that they warranted mentioning. By the way, I wasn't asked to review these at all, nor does the marketing company or Elite know I am posting this. I just thought maybe some of you folks could use something like these bottles. 

First up, the enormous 'Jet Green' bottle I got here, which is on the left in the image. The impressive thing about it is that it is made from a 'bio-plastic' using sugar cane plants. There is no petroleum based products in its manufacture at all. The other thing is its size. Now, any of these two bottles are available in 550ml and 750ml, which are normal bottle sizes, but this example is 950ml! That's about a quart, in case you were wondering. 

The nozzle at the top has a bigger diameter than many bottles have, so it flows a bunch of water. The bottle is reasonably soft, easy to squeeze, and not weird feeling. I'm not sure about the 950ml size. There is more volume over the top bit where a water cage grabs this bottle than there is under that area. It makes me wonder how this would stay in a water bottle cage or not. It is so tall that it probably will not work in several cases. So, it has its limitations, but in cases where you need to pack a lot of water and you have the available cage space, well..... This might work for you. https://www.elite-it.com/en/products/water-bottles/sport/jet-green

The Jet Plus has a cover which would make it ideal for under the down tube.

The 'Jet Plus' is Elite's bottle with a cap cover which protects the nozzle from dirt and debris making this bottle a great choice for under the down tube situations where the front tire can sling all sorts of crud at a bottle. 

The other feature of the cap is that with its design, you can 'one-hand' the opening and closing of the top with ease, allowing the rider to keep one hand on the handle bars at all times. One slight flick of the wrist, and the protective cap snaps back into place and you can stow the bottle away again.  

This bottle comes in all three sizes that the Jet Green bottle comes in as well, so you can get something with the protective cap that fits your situation. The 750ml size I received might be a bit much for some bikes under the down tube position, but I'll give it a whirl here and see what bike it works on for me. 

The other thing with this bottle, and the Jet Green, is that they are biodegradable once you are done with them. The plastic is infused with certain elements that allow micro-organisms to attack it and break it down more quickly which allows the bottles to be assimilated into the earth again. You can check out the Jet Plus here:  https://www.elite-it.com/en/products/water-bottles/sport/jet-plus

So, there you have it. As always, I am not being paid, nor bribed for this post, I honestly just thought these two bottles were cool and unusual enough that they deserved to get a mention. I'll be using them soon and I will have a thing or two to say about them down the road, but Elite s a well known and respected company from Italy that manufactures these bottles there. I have little doubt that they are at the very least, 'good' products. But, we shall see.......

Starting Over

 Not all the gravel is in the country.

 A little over a week ago now I helped my neighbor move from his old home to his current home a little ways across town. I mention this because I did something- or I guess maybe I 'over-did' something, that weekend. I worked 'way too hard'. 

So, moving is an all-body work-out, and in heat and humidity, it can be brutal. Consider that I was also working in two houses with zero A/C that were both so hot inside that it felt like it was a LOT cooler outdoors! I mention all of this because I ended up working harder than I have in years. And....I paid the price. 

I was pretty beat-down last week. Tired, sore, and aching all over every day. My first day of feeling somewhat 'normal'? Saturday this past weekend. So, as a result, I have been taking baby steps back- in terms of cycling- because I just haven't had anything in the tank for many days. In fact, I skipped a few days - not in a row - from cycling at all last week because my body was telling me that I was not ready yet. 

On one hand, I have been a bit dejected about this. On the other, I was surprised at the output I still had while moving that day. I haven't worked that hard on a bicycle- maybe ever - in my life. So, what that taught me was that I have a lot left in there to work with if I can just fuel and drink correctly during an event, and have the mindset I had while moving stuff that day. I know I had a very different mindset than I have ever had while attempting to bicycle a big event. 

 A nice day Lilly seen while 'urban-gravel riding'.

 So, I've been slowly coming back to speed, so to speak, of late. I am a bit anxious, as I prepare for my Gravel Worlds attempt in mid-August. I'm sure I'll be fine by then, but it is the 'worry-gene' I have in me that makes it harder than it needs to be. I think I need to approach this like I did with regard to my moving day's activities; I just need to decide I'm taking the bull by the horns and gettin' things done. 

The mental deal is so much of what we have to overcome. I know my body is capable, but I also know that my biggest battle to overcome is from within me. It's not easy to deal with it. But at least that moving day kind of dialed up to me that I have to work on what's in between my ears more than I do my pedaling a bicycle.

Guitar Ted Lube-Off: SCC Tech Lube Results

 NOTICE:  The Guitar Ted 'Lube-Off' is a comparison of different lubrication products for bicycle chains that is undertaken in 'real world' conditions in a set way. Then I compare and contrast the results with past 'Lube-Off' products to see "which one is best for me". This is done for entertainment purposes and the reader should apply their own reasoning and discernment while reading my 'Lube-Off' entries. What works for me may not work for you at all. 

Okay, the time has come for me to render a final verdict on the SCC Tech Lube. I also have a bit of news on this lube which I will share first. But even before that, if you missed the last update on this lube, you can click this link to go back and read that. Plus there is another link there to take you to the intro. 

 Now for the news: Wolf Tooth recently introduced their chain lube, which- as it turns out- is this very SCC Tech Lube! They call it "WT-1" but it is the same lubricant as this SCC Tech stuff I already have. So, you are essentially getting a review on the WT-1 as well. Bonus! (The link takes you to my "FN&V" post where I detailed the news on that lube.)

The SCC Tech Lube left a little residue on the cassette, and maybe a bit on the inner plates of the chain.

As far as how this lube performed overall, I would say that it is pretty darn good stuff. I was a bit put off initially by all the black residue that milked out of the chain to begin with, but SCC Tech claims this is the lube doing its 'self-cleaning' thing. Okay.....I decided to bite, and in the end? The lube started to behave in a way that didn't collect more dust and grit, stayed slippery, and kept this chain relatively quiet. I did follow the advice of SCC Tech to wipe down the chain with a rag from time to time, but even this became less of a need as time went on during the test. 

SCC Tech Lube passes the 'Touch Test' with flying colors.

As far as my 'Touch Test' goes, SCC Tech did very well once the lube settled in and quit milking out all that black residue. This ended up being on par with DuMonde Tech and the Muc-Off C3 Ceramic lube. Pretty impressive! 

Shift quality remained excellent throughout the test, but for whatever reason, this lube - or probably this Wippermann chain- is a chunky, loud shifting deal at times. I'm blaming the chain here, because as this lube got drier, the chain shifts got louder. Less wet stuff to damp noise is what that is. So the shifting seemed great, it was just this chain, I think, which was a bit on the loud side when shifting at times. 

At the end of the day, I slot this lubricant in at Number Three on my all-time Lube-Off list. It just is not as clean overall as DuMonde Tech nor as good as the Muc-Off in this regard. The SCC Tech Lube also has that initial period of 'self-cleaning', which can be a bit more maintenance intensive as you should be wiping that off periodically as this process works itself out. That's an extra step neither of the top-two lubricants I have tested require. 

But......SCC Tech Lube is not just a dry conditions lubricant either, so if you see that as a step above from a versatility standpoint, I would take that point and maybe say the SCC Tech Lube could be the better lubricant in those situations where you need an all-around conditions lubricant. So, it depends on how you look at this. I am testing for dry conditions only here, so take that into consideration in my final verdict. 

SCC Tech Lube vs NixFrixShun "Blue Devil" Lubricant: 

 

So, this round featured the two 'blue' colored lubricants, NixFrixShun's Blue Devil and the SCC Tech Lube. The Blue Devil lube's final verdict is here at this link. So, what do I think about the Blue Devil against the SCC Tech Lube? I feel Blue Devil is pretty good, but it was clearly more apt to gather grit and gunk on the side plates of the chain and on the derailleur jockey wheels than the SCC Tech. While Blue Devil kept the chain quiet and shifting really well, it just is not as clean, so it falls below the SCC Tech in that category. Had the SCC Tech Lube stayed dirty as it was out of the gate, this would have ended up being a tie, but the SCC Tech seems to get better with age, in terms of staying gunk-free. 

I will concede that Blue Devil is also listed as an 'all-conditions' lubricant, so it may have staying power through wet and muddy conditions that I did not test for. Again though- it just doesn't stay as clean over-all. To my way of thinking, dirt and gunk on the chain equals a possibility for advanced wear on components, besides slowing you down a tiny bit. That's especially not good in these times where getting new parts is tough, or impossible in some cases. We want to make our parts last as long as possible. A clean drive train goes a long ways toward that goal. 

So, that's a wrap on this round of the "Guitar Ted Lube-Off". I'll check into some lubricants for the next round, but it was clear that many of you thought that I needed to check out the Silca Super Secret Chain Lube and one reader suggested this lube from Prestacycle that has made some amazing claims. Many also suggested Silca's Synergetic lube, but Silca lists this as a 'wet lube' and typically anything specifically listed as such fails miserably in my testing. Remember- dry, dusty, dirty conditions are what I will be subjecting these chains and lubricants to. So, I think it is a bit unfair to put a 'wet lube' up against my proven winners in a 'dry conditions' testing environment. Convince me otherwise and I may change my mind.....

So, this is my ranking so far: DuMonde Tech, Muc-Off C3 Ceramic Dry Lube, SCC Tech Lube. I would heartily recommend any of these three for dry, gravel, dirt road, or pavement use. 

Okay, a final note:  I bought the SCC tech Lube and the NixFrixShun Blue devil lubricants for this round of the Lube-Off. I was not paid nor bribed for these posts and I try to give you my honest thoughts and opinions throughout.

Guitar Ted Lube-Off: SCC Tech Lube Results

 NOTICE:  The Guitar Ted 'Lube-Off' is a comparison of different lubrication products for bicycle chains that is undertaken in 'real world' conditions in a set way. Then I compare and contrast the results with past 'Lube-Off' products to see "which one is best for me". This is done for entertainment purposes and the reader should apply their own reasoning and discernment while reading my 'Lube-Off' entries. What works for me may not work for you at all. 

Okay, the time has come for me to render a final verdict on the SCC Tech Lube. I also have a bit of news on this lube which I will share first. But even before that, if you missed the last update on this lube, you can click this link to go back and read that. Plus there is another link there to take you to the intro. 

 Now for the news: Wolf Tooth recently introduced their chain lube, which- as it turns out- is this very SCC Tech Lube! They call it "WT-1" but it is the same lubricant as this SCC Tech stuff I already have. So, you are essentially getting a review on the WT-1 as well. Bonus! (The link takes you to my "FN&V" post where I detailed the news on that lube.)

The SCC Tech Lube left a little residue on the cassette, and maybe a bit on the inner plates of the chain.

As far as how this lube performed overall, I would say that it is pretty darn good stuff. I was a bit put off initially by all the black residue that milked out of the chain to begin with, but SCC Tech claims this is the lube doing its 'self-cleaning' thing. Okay.....I decided to bite, and in the end? The lube started to behave in a way that didn't collect more dust and grit, stayed slippery, and kept this chain relatively quiet. I did follow the advice of SCC Tech to wipe down the chain with a rag from time to time, but even this became less of a need as time went on during the test. 

SCC Tech Lube passes the 'Touch Test' with flying colors.

As far as my 'Touch Test' goes, SCC Tech did very well once the lube settled in and quit milking out all that black residue. This ended up being on par with DuMonde Tech and the Muc-Off C3 Ceramic lube. Pretty impressive! 

Shift quality remained excellent throughout the test, but for whatever reason, this lube - or probably this Wippermann chain- is a chunky, loud shifting deal at times. I'm blaming the chain here, because as this lube got drier, the chain shifts got louder. Less wet stuff to damp noise is what that is. So the shifting seemed great, it was just this chain, I think, which was a bit on the loud side when shifting at times. 

At the end of the day, I slot this lubricant in at Number Three on my all-time Lube-Off list. It just is not as clean overall as DuMonde Tech nor as good as the Muc-Off in this regard. The SCC Tech Lube also has that initial period of 'self-cleaning', which can be a bit more maintenance intensive as you should be wiping that off periodically as this process works itself out. That's an extra step neither of the top-two lubricants I have tested require. 

But......SCC Tech Lube is not just a dry conditions lubricant either, so if you see that as a step above from a versatility standpoint, I would take that point and maybe say the SCC Tech Lube could be the better lubricant in those situations where you need an all-around conditions lubricant. So, it depends on how you look at this. I am testing for dry conditions only here, so take that into consideration in my final verdict. 

SCC Tech Lube vs NixFrixShun "Blue Devil" Lubricant: 

 

So, this round featured the two 'blue' colored lubricants, NixFrixShun's Blue Devil and the SCC Tech Lube. The Blue Devil lube's final verdict is here at this link. So, what do I think about the Blue Devil against the SCC Tech Lube? I feel Blue Devil is pretty good, but it was clearly more apt to gather grit and gunk on the side plates of the chain and on the derailleur jockey wheels than the SCC Tech. While Blue Devil kept the chain quiet and shifting really well, it just is not as clean, so it falls below the SCC Tech in that category. Had the SCC Tech Lube stayed dirty as it was out of the gate, this would have ended up being a tie, but the SCC Tech seems to get better with age, in terms of staying gunk-free. 

I will concede that Blue Devil is also listed as an 'all-conditions' lubricant, so it may have staying power through wet and muddy conditions that I did not test for. Again though- it just doesn't stay as clean over-all. To my way of thinking, dirt and gunk on the chain equals a possibility for advanced wear on components, besides slowing you down a tiny bit. That's especially not good in these times where getting new parts is tough, or impossible in some cases. We want to make our parts last as long as possible. A clean drive train goes a long ways toward that goal. 

So, that's a wrap on this round of the "Guitar Ted Lube-Off". I'll check into some lubricants for the next round, but it was clear that many of you thought that I needed to check out the Silca Super Secret Chain Lube and one reader suggested this lube from Prestacycle that has made some amazing claims. Many also suggested Silca's Synergetic lube, but Silca lists this as a 'wet lube' and typically anything specifically listed as such fails miserably in my testing. Remember- dry, dusty, dirty conditions are what I will be subjecting these chains and lubricants to. So, I think it is a bit unfair to put a 'wet lube' up against my proven winners in a 'dry conditions' testing environment. Convince me otherwise and I may change my mind.....

So, this is my ranking so far: DuMonde Tech, Muc-Off C3 Ceramic Dry Lube, SCC Tech Lube. I would heartily recommend any of these three for dry, gravel, dirt road, or pavement use. 

Okay, a final note:  I bought the SCC tech Lube and the NixFrixShun Blue devil lubricants for this round of the Lube-Off. I was not paid nor bribed for these posts and I try to give you my honest thoughts and opinions throughout.

Trans Iowa Stories: A Tale Of Two Trans Iowas - Part 3

A rooster pheasant trots along the T.I.v12 course. Image by Wally Kilburg.

  "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 clicking on the "Trans Iowa Stories" link under the blog header. Thanks and enjoy! 

As daylight revealed a calm-ish, comfortably warm day, riders were moving toward the first checkpoint at a pretty decent clip. My volunteers were ready at a corner not far from the main drag through Deep River, Iowa. Due to my insistence that a Trans Iowa course be mostly gravel, and due to the fact that there really was only one way to get into and out of the village without retracing part of the route or using busy roads, the circuit through the area surrounding Deep River was a bit odd. It came in from the Southwest, went past Deep River, a little North, then back West and finally a short Level B section brought them in on an "L" shaped bit into Deep River's South side. Then across the village to the West, and exiting the checkpoint, the riders went South and then West for a mile, then North a bit, and finally East until they crossed Highway 21 and then a big leg Northward. 

Catch all that? 

The sad thing is that I just wrote that from memory. It's that way with some of my courses. I can still see them in my mind and I know where they go without even looking them up. That said, other times I see a map of an old course, or old cues, and am surprised by the route.  I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by that given the amount of time I spent on those courses. But back to the story- That circuitous route around Deep River meant we were in that area a bit longer, in terms of where the riders were, than we'd normally be for a Trans Iowa. 

A lone rider makes his way up the Level B road coming into Checkpoint #1 for T.I.v12 (Image by Wally Kilburg)

This allowed for a chance happening that involved the local volunteer fire department. Apparently, there was an emergency call. The fire department volunteers assembled and were blazing down one of the gravel roads Southeast of town when they came upon some Trans Iowa riders. The story I was told by eyewitnesses, who were also riders in the event, was that several riders pulled over to allow the speeding vehicles to pass, but a couple were either heedless of the commotion due to wearing earbuds, (possibly) or were willfully ignoring the first vehicle's siren and lights. (Note- My eye witnesses told me the following vehicles were not displaying any emergency lighting or audible sirens.) 

The Checkpoint 1 set up at the Southwest end of Deep River for T.I.v12

Subsequently one of the fire department volunteers, who had returned to the village after the call, figured out that our volunteers were involved. This was obvious due to the numbers on the bikes and riders and that the volunteers were servicing the riders with cues for the next leg of the event. That fire department volunteer approached my volunteers and was angry and asked to have a word with whomever was in charge. Andy Tetmeyer, who I have talked about in previous posts about T.I.v12, took it upon himself to deal with this person and Steve Fuller, another volunteer, called me while this was happening and acted as a relay and facilitated the conversation with me. Of course, I was quite alarmed and made Steve tell me a few times what had happened, according to the volunteer. I made a promise that I would get to the bottom of the affair, and told the man via Steve and Andy I was sorry and we would not be any problem for them in the area within a short time. The man seemed to be amicable to my gestures and apologies, and we left the conversation on good terms. Or so I thought.... 

(L-R) Walter Zitz (partially obscured) Greg Gleason, three unidentified riders, Volunteers Mike Baggio and Andy Tetmeyer. Image by A Andonopoulous

After Trans Iowa, the Chief of the Volunteer Fire Department of Deep River, Iowa was searching Facebook for some way of getting a hold of that nere-do-well who was out of line and causing potential mayhem and death in her jurisdiction. I received a message from the administrator of an Iowa based cycling page she posted an email to and so I contacted her. She was pretty adamant that I was a really bad person for allowing these situations to occur, and after I stated my point-by-point fact based report on the matter, she was not very convinced of my leadership in the realm of safety and responsibility. She also said that the agreed upon terms and apology I made with a volunteer of the Deep River Volunteer Fire Department must have been a fantasy because she had no knowledge of it and did not acknowledge to me, or hint that she recognized the description of, the driver or the truck he was allegedly in. Furthermore; even if that was truth he had no basis to accept such terms and/or an apology from me. But she did say that my decision to never disturb the Deep River area again with such nonsense as a bike race was good enough for her to drop the matter.

This took about a week to resolve, post T.I.v12, and required a lot of my time in researching the issue and contacting riders who may have had knowledge of the events which disturbed the Volunteer Fire Chief. Fortunately, I had solid evidence of the facts and was able to present my case in a manner which was pretty bombproof, despite what the Chief thought about it. But all of that really sucked the wind out of my sails. Both that day of and afterward. 

So, as Checkpoint #1 was closing down, I sent word up the road to Jeremy Fry at Checkpoint #2 to make sure every rider got the message that they MUST pull over for emergency vehicles. Then I figured we were in the clear from all the negative stuff for the weekend. Of course, we weren't.... Or I should say, I wasn't clear. 

Riders headed Northward through Tama County during T.I.v12. Image by Celeste Mathias

 Mike Baggio, a volunteer at Checkpoint 1 and who was volunteering as a support person for one of the riders as a last minute replacement, was summoned by his rider who was up the road from the Checkpoint in Deep River quite a ways. Apparently, he was in a group, tailing off the back a bit, when suddenly a Great Pyrenees dog rushed out from a farm yard to give chase to the group. This man had no where to go and actually broadsided the dog in the road, upending his bicycle, and then crashing onto the gravel. The early diagnosis was a broken collarbone. 

My heart sank....

My worst fears during Trans Iowa were having to deal with serious injuries. Fortunately, Mike Baggio was and is a clear-headed thinker and jumped into action. He kept me abreast of the situation via text and phone calls throughout the rest of the morning and early afternoon. As it turned out, there was no broken bone, just a separated shoulder, but still..... I was so relieved to hear Mike say that the rider was going to be fine, that he was safely back in Grinnell, and had no ill feelings about the incident as far as Trans Iowa or myself went. 

This event was not going well for me. While the riders, for the most part, were experiencing possibly the best tailwind section in Trans Iowa history, approximately 160 miles worth of it, I was hitting some pretty big headwinds in terms of emotional and mental storms. A reroute to deal with, lost cues, a tangle with the rural volunteer fire folks, and now this injured rider?  I was hoping for a turn of events for myself and my volunteers. 

But those two incidents weren't the only excitement during the morning and early afternoon hours. There was more to this Trans Iowa than anyone knew about that was going on behind the scenes. 

Next: We will take a break for next week and enjoy some images from T.I.v12

Trans Iowa Stories: A Tale Of Two Trans Iowas - Part 3

A rooster pheasant trots along the T.I.v12 course. Image by Wally Kilburg.

  "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 clicking on the "Trans Iowa Stories" link under the blog header. Thanks and enjoy! 

As daylight revealed a calm-ish, comfortably warm day, riders were moving toward the first checkpoint at a pretty decent clip. My volunteers were ready at a corner not far from the main drag through Deep River, Iowa. Due to my insistence that a Trans Iowa course be mostly gravel, and due to the fact that there really was only one way to get into and out of the village without retracing part of the route or using busy roads, the circuit through the area surrounding Deep River was a bit odd. It came in from the Southwest, went past Deep River, a little North, then back West and finally a short Level B section brought them in on an "L" shaped bit into Deep River's South side. Then across the village to the West, and exiting the checkpoint, the riders went South and then West for a mile, then North a bit, and finally East until they crossed Highway 21 and then a big leg Northward. 

Catch all that? 

The sad thing is that I just wrote that from memory. It's that way with some of my courses. I can still see them in my mind and I know where they go without even looking them up. That said, other times I see a map of an old course, or old cues, and am surprised by the route.  I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by that given the amount of time I spent on those courses. But back to the story- That circuitous route around Deep River meant we were in that area a bit longer, in terms of where the riders were, than we'd normally be for a Trans Iowa. 

A lone rider makes his way up the Level B road coming into Checkpoint #1 for T.I.v12 (Image by Wally Kilburg)

This allowed for a chance happening that involved the local volunteer fire department. Apparently, there was an emergency call. The fire department volunteers assembled and were blazing down one of the gravel roads Southeast of town when they came upon some Trans Iowa riders. The story I was told by eyewitnesses, who were also riders in the event, was that several riders pulled over to allow the speeding vehicles to pass, but a couple were either heedless of the commotion due to wearing earbuds, (possibly) or were willfully ignoring the first vehicle's siren and lights. (Note- My eye witnesses told me the following vehicles were not displaying any emergency lighting or audible sirens.) 

The Checkpoint 1 set up at the Southwest end of Deep River for T.I.v12

Subsequently one of the fire department volunteers, who had returned to the village after the call, figured out that our volunteers were involved. This was obvious due to the numbers on the bikes and riders and that the volunteers were servicing the riders with cues for the next leg of the event. That fire department volunteer approached my volunteers and was angry and asked to have a word with whomever was in charge. Andy Tetmeyer, who I have talked about in previous posts about T.I.v12, took it upon himself to deal with this person and Steve Fuller, another volunteer, called me while this was happening and acted as a relay and facilitated the conversation with me. Of course, I was quite alarmed and made Steve tell me a few times what had happened, according to the volunteer. I made a promise that I would get to the bottom of the affair, and told the man via Steve and Andy I was sorry and we would not be any problem for them in the area within a short time. The man seemed to be amicable to my gestures and apologies, and we left the conversation on good terms. Or so I thought.... 

(L-R) Walter Zitz (partially obscured) Greg Gleason, three unidentified riders, Volunteers Mike Baggio and Andy Tetmeyer. Image by A Andonopoulous

After Trans Iowa, the Chief of the Volunteer Fire Department of Deep River, Iowa was searching Facebook for some way of getting a hold of that nere-do-well who was out of line and causing potential mayhem and death in her jurisdiction. I received a message from the administrator of an Iowa based cycling page she posted an email to and so I contacted her. She was pretty adamant that I was a really bad person for allowing these situations to occur, and after I stated my point-by-point fact based report on the matter, she was not very convinced of my leadership in the realm of safety and responsibility. She also said that the agreed upon terms and apology I made with a volunteer of the Deep River Volunteer Fire Department must have been a fantasy because she had no knowledge of it and did not acknowledge to me, or hint that she recognized the description of, the driver or the truck he was allegedly in. Furthermore; even if that was truth he had no basis to accept such terms and/or an apology from me. But she did say that my decision to never disturb the Deep River area again with such nonsense as a bike race was good enough for her to drop the matter.

This took about a week to resolve, post T.I.v12, and required a lot of my time in researching the issue and contacting riders who may have had knowledge of the events which disturbed the Volunteer Fire Chief. Fortunately, I had solid evidence of the facts and was able to present my case in a manner which was pretty bombproof, despite what the Chief thought about it. But all of that really sucked the wind out of my sails. Both that day of and afterward. 

So, as Checkpoint #1 was closing down, I sent word up the road to Jeremy Fry at Checkpoint #2 to make sure every rider got the message that they MUST pull over for emergency vehicles. Then I figured we were in the clear from all the negative stuff for the weekend. Of course, we weren't.... Or I should say, I wasn't clear. 

Riders headed Northward through Tama County during T.I.v12. Image by Celeste Mathias

 Mike Baggio, a volunteer at Checkpoint 1 and who was volunteering as a support person for one of the riders as a last minute replacement, was summoned by his rider who was up the road from the Checkpoint in Deep River quite a ways. Apparently, he was in a group, tailing off the back a bit, when suddenly a Great Pyrenees dog rushed out from a farm yard to give chase to the group. This man had no where to go and actually broadsided the dog in the road, upending his bicycle, and then crashing onto the gravel. The early diagnosis was a broken collarbone. 

My heart sank....

My worst fears during Trans Iowa were having to deal with serious injuries. Fortunately, Mike Baggio was and is a clear-headed thinker and jumped into action. He kept me abreast of the situation via text and phone calls throughout the rest of the morning and early afternoon. As it turned out, there was no broken bone, just a separated shoulder, but still..... I was so relieved to hear Mike say that the rider was going to be fine, that he was safely back in Grinnell, and had no ill feelings about the incident as far as Trans Iowa or myself went. 

This event was not going well for me. While the riders, for the most part, were experiencing possibly the best tailwind section in Trans Iowa history, approximately 160 miles worth of it, I was hitting some pretty big headwinds in terms of emotional and mental storms. A reroute to deal with, lost cues, a tangle with the rural volunteer fire folks, and now this injured rider?  I was hoping for a turn of events for myself and my volunteers. 

But those two incidents weren't the only excitement during the morning and early afternoon hours. There was more to this Trans Iowa than anyone knew about that was going on behind the scenes. 

Next: We will take a break for next week and enjoy some images from T.I.v12

Project Wide Gravel Wheels v2: The Rims

The Spank 359 Rims

 I've been detailing my new wheel build and the obvious 'star' of this show is the Spank 359 rims. Yes.....these are really mountain bike rims. I get that, but as I have said, the whole 'wider is better' inner rim width thing is blurring the lines between road and mountain anyway. May as well go to the wide side, right? That's kind of the point here- to find out where the line is at. 

So, in this post I am going to take a closer look at these rims and what- if anything- would recommend them for riding on gravel roads. The big selling point with these rims is the 'radial compliance' which Spank claims smooths out the ride a bit more over standard rims out there. I thought I'd focus in on that claim a bit first, as it is the main one that would make sense in terms of usage for gravel riding.

First of all, Spank uses a shallow rim depth of 19mm. This is done to help induce some flex in the vertical plane. Kind of like how fat bike wheels in aluminum often are- wide but very thin- these rims would have a bit more of an aptitude towards flexing vertically. The width of 35mm (outer) helps keep the rims laterally stiff, at least that is what Spank claims. There is a version of this rim with Spank's "Vibrocore" which is a foam filled interior of the rim, but this rim I have does not feature this technology. 

To give you an idea of how ridiculous and stupid this idea is, the 359 is Spank's down hill mountain biking rim! But in comparison to many 'gravel rims', this rim is only about 100 grams per rim heavier. And this is not a rim for racing, or even for thoughts of 'going fast', but I am thinking this is the rim for adventure and maybe bike packing with a gravel bike. My intentions are to use a tire of 45mm or wider, so nothing crazy like a 700 X 38mm tire will see these rims. So, at first glance this seems like a really dumb idea, but...... Maybe it will work well. If not, I can always convert to use with a MTB at some point, or just blow apart the rims from the hubs and start from scratch.

The 359 rims feature a 'hump' in the profile where the spoke drillings are.

The 359 rims get some lateral rigidity from the way Spank had the extrusion made which features a mid-hump in the rim well. Instead of the traditional "U" shaped inner rim well this one looks more like a wave with the crest at the point where the spokes go through. There is also a unique ridging in the bead seat which Spank claims locks into the bead of the tire and allows lower pressure usage without tire burping. 

So, that's the deal here. I'll be awaiting spoke nipples and then these wheels will be getting built up. But there has been another recent development which will provide me with the opportunity to test my original hypothesis right along side of these ridiculously wide wheels. You may remember that this project was to be done with a set of Velocity Blunt SS rims? Well......they showed up the other day! 

I could have just swapped out rims and proceeded as planned, but I happen to have a wheel set languishing in the Lab which has rims I do not prefer, and they have 28 hole hubs with Center Lock disc mounts and 12mm through axle compatibility! So, I will be blowing that wheel set apart and utilizing the hubs which will be laced to the Velocity Blunt SS rims. It's a twofer! 

Stay tuned.....

Project Wide Gravel Wheels v2: The Rims

The Spank 359 Rims

 I've been detailing my new wheel build and the obvious 'star' of this show is the Spank 359 rims. Yes.....these are really mountain bike rims. I get that, but as I have said, the whole 'wider is better' inner rim width thing is blurring the lines between road and mountain anyway. May as well go to the wide side, right? That's kind of the point here- to find out where the line is at. 

So, in this post I am going to take a closer look at these rims and what- if anything- would recommend them for riding on gravel roads. The big selling point with these rims is the 'radial compliance' which Spank claims smooths out the ride a bit more over standard rims out there. I thought I'd focus in on that claim a bit first, as it is the main one that would make sense in terms of usage for gravel riding.

First of all, Spank uses a shallow rim depth of 19mm. This is done to help induce some flex in the vertical plane. Kind of like how fat bike wheels in aluminum often are- wide but very thin- these rims would have a bit more of an aptitude towards flexing vertically. The width of 35mm (outer) helps keep the rims laterally stiff, at least that is what Spank claims. There is a version of this rim with Spank's "Vibrocore" which is a foam filled interior of the rim, but this rim I have does not feature this technology. 

To give you an idea of how ridiculous and stupid this idea is, the 359 is Spank's down hill mountain biking rim! But in comparison to many 'gravel rims', this rim is only about 100 grams per rim heavier. And this is not a rim for racing, or even for thoughts of 'going fast', but I am thinking this is the rim for adventure and maybe bike packing with a gravel bike. My intentions are to use a tire of 45mm or wider, so nothing crazy like a 700 X 38mm tire will see these rims. So, at first glance this seems like a really dumb idea, but...... Maybe it will work well. If not, I can always convert to use with a MTB at some point, or just blow apart the rims from the hubs and start from scratch.

The 359 rims feature a 'hump' in the profile where the spoke drillings are.

The 359 rims get some lateral rigidity from the way Spank had the extrusion made which features a mid-hump in the rim well. Instead of the traditional "U" shaped inner rim well this one looks more like a wave with the crest at the point where the spokes go through. There is also a unique ridging in the bead seat which Spank claims locks into the bead of the tire and allows lower pressure usage without tire burping. 

So, that's the deal here. I'll be awaiting spoke nipples and then these wheels will be getting built up. But there has been another recent development which will provide me with the opportunity to test my original hypothesis right along side of these ridiculously wide wheels. You may remember that this project was to be done with a set of Velocity Blunt SS rims? Well......they showed up the other day! 

I could have just swapped out rims and proceeded as planned, but I happen to have a wheel set languishing in the Lab which has rims I do not prefer, and they have 28 hole hubs with Center Lock disc mounts and 12mm through axle compatibility! So, I will be blowing that wheel set apart and utilizing the hubs which will be laced to the Velocity Blunt SS rims. It's a twofer! 

Stay tuned.....

Friday News And Views

 COVID Impacts Supply Chain Issues Again:

The latest news to impact the bicycle, (and other industries and retail segments) supply chains is an uptick in COVID-19 cases in the Far East. Especially important to the bicycle industry is the recent shut down of Shimano's big Malaysian component works. 

Shimano, according to a recent "Bicycle Retailer and Industry News" piece, had to curtail activities at its facility in Malaysia on June 1st to 60% capacity and then a week later it was shut down completely. This shut down has now been extended to June 28th, effectively wiping out a full month of manufacturing of mid to lower tier components. Shimano reportedly makes brakes, hubs, derailleurs, wheels, pedals, and freewheels at this facility.  

In another article from "BRAIN", contributor, Jay Townley, it is reported that shipping bottlenecks continue with shipping container prices going through the roof. So much so that some companies are now saying it is too expensive to ship anything out of Far East ports now. The situation might best be illustrated by the following quote taken from the "BRAIN article" here:

"According to The Wall Street Journal Logistic Report June 11, “Dozens of vessels are backed up off the Yantian port in Shenzhen, straining fragile shipping operations that have been battered by a persistent empty container shortage and a continuing bottleneck at U.S. West Coast ports.”  The reason?  A shortage of workers because of a surge in COVID-19 cases! "

Furthermore in regard to container shipping prices from the same article; 

"Container costs are soaring, and logistics service providers report desperate American importers are paying well beyond even the listed spot rates. Human Powered Solutions (HPS) Senior Logistics Advisor, Dave Karneboge reported on June 7 that the none contract rate, which currently represents about 30% of container shipments is currently $10,000 for a 40-foot container that cost under $2,000 a year ago."

This has resulted in a huge delay in getting new bicycles into shops, and a huge shortage of parts to fix bicycles as well. Specifically, at Andy's Bike Shop, which is where I work part time, they are a Kona dealer, and we field calls from across the nation weekly from consumers looking for Kona models. We have seen shortages on brake pads since last year, and cassettes and chains are also in short supply. I recently had to piece together a wheel from a customer's parts and a new rim because complete wheels are non-existent in many sizes. 

As a shop, we are not expecting many new bikes now until 2023! Sure.....some stuff will be out, and available, but I don't see a lot of inventory in complete bikes being in shops next season now, especially when parts for mainstream, 'bread and butter' models seems to be shut down and delayed indefinitely. I expect stock to become available in fits and spurts and that finding a new bike on a shop floor will be rare for a long time coming. 

As an example, I spoke with a shop manager who works for one of the largest Mid-Western bicycle retailers recently and his specific location has back orders on one hybrid model for 200 units! All customers who have pre-paid and will be waiting for months to get their bicycles. That's one, entry level hybrid model at one shop location- Can you imagine what it must be like nationwide? 

Get the picture? This won't get straightened out for a long time.........

Intense MTB as seen on COSTCO's website.

New Times- New Marketing:

You may not know about Intense Cycles, but they have been a small, high-end manufacturer of unique, high-performance mountain bikes for years. Intense has never really broken out as a major player in the field. Not that their bikes weren't top class, they just never broke out of their SoCal backyard to become a nationwide force to be reckoned with. Somehow or another, Intense seemed to keep plugging along regardless. 

Now, with the marketplace changing at a rapid pace, Intense has found itself reaching out to the big box retail and online player, Costco. With resources combined which give Intense better buying power, Costco has and Intense have partnered to bring a special aluminum framed 951 Trail Bike to a direct to consumer price of well under 4G. 

Comments: The marketing and buying power of Costco matched up with the boutique aura of Intense Cycles should be a big hit......for awhile. Typically this sort of an arrangement has the ultimate effect of becoming rather stale after a period of time. Consumers get hip to the lowered, less than special and elite spec and technical frame details, and then on the other hand, the alternative choice tends to become a drag on the rest of the range, making the 'boutique' nature of a brand less than 'boutique'. Consumers are fickle that way. But who knows, maybe Intense can pull off what really hasn't been done well in the past. 

But the bigger picture look at this points to more brands doing similar things. Physical retail floor space is becoming more rare for bicycles and many shops are being consolidated in terms of brand choices down to a single brand's offerings. The old 'just-in-time' ordering philosophy of the past decade has left the supply chain drained for the foreseeable future, so this also tends to be an issue with physical placement of bicycle product going forward. 

I am already seeing pre-order bike sales being handled by many dealers (as noted above) and it doesn't take much of a stretch of imagination to think that this may become a preferred model for brands going forward. Dealers would take orders on a proposed bike and spec and after pre-orders close, those bikes would be manufactured, delivered, and picked up by consumers. Neat and tidy from an inventory perspective and definitely more predictable on the manufacturing end where quantities available could be dictated up front. Both in terms of a minimum to get the ball rolling and a maximum to insure a sell through. 

Orders could be teased up through the use of traveling demos where consumers could try spec bikes and decide on the spot to place a pre-order. While this wouldn't work for mid to lower level bicycle sales, most likely, it could. But I see this being a way to sell high-end MTB, Road, and Gravel in the future. Especially for smaller brands. 

But the Walmart/Costco model will probably also be utilized. We already have seen Walmart delve into higher end bicycle sales (Viathon) and I wouldn't be surprised to see an Intense-like brand come onboard with them in the future. But whatever happens, I am betting big retail and smaller, boutique bicycle brands will start holding hands to reach more consumers in the future and bypass the traditional bike shop sales model.

Gravel Worlds- GirlsGetGritty, Form Partnership To Increase Female Participation In Gravel Events:

When we started rolling out Trans Iowa in 2004-2005, it was our intention to include women into the event. But back then, extreme, ultra-distance events were dominated by fields of male participants. Women weren't excluded, but how do you encourage female participation when , you know, the sport is dominated by dudes? It was a conundrum that flummoxed us in the early days of Trans Iowa, for sure. We really wanted to see more women take part, and even more so- to see a woman finisher, but it took seven events before that happened. 

I suppose we should have had someone like Angela Naeth helping us at Trans Iowa. That's her, by the way, in the image on the left as she was waiting for the start of the 2021 Unbound Gravel. Anyway, having a voice in the event from a female perspective may have helped our ambitions along and expedited female participation at a much faster rate. 

Well, I screwed up. I just wasn't hip to the thought, and that's on me. Truly one of my biggest regrets when thinking back upon Trans Iowa days. Anyway, Gravel Worlds is partnering up with Naeth's all-women gravel race team, "GirlsGetGritty" and Gravel Worlds is offering free and discounted spots to women who belong to Naeth's team and her organization, IRaceLikeAGirl. 

Comments: Kudos to Gravel Worlds and GirlsGetGritty for this initiative. As I stated, I've always desired to see participation increase for females in gravel events and that females also get equal prizing and race the same distances as the males do. Fortunately, in terms of the latter two things there, that has always been pretty much the case since the gravel scene kicked of in 2005. So, we got part of it right! 

This will also help to make the gravel scene more inclusive and should be seen as another step toward the goal of making this sector of cycling the most welcoming one that has a competitive nature. The gravel racing scene has always been light years ahead of Pro, UCI or USAC type governed cycling and sanctioned events in this area. This despite the endemic media attempts to codify gravel events, and bring them under the realm of 'real racing', whatever that is, and I hope that the major gravel event promoters reject that sort of thinking completely now and into the future. Hopefully GirlsGetGritty and their founder, Angela Naeth understand that as well. 

Note: Image and information on the GirlsGetGritty, Gravel Worlds story were provided to me by Matt Gersib, Media Contact for Gravel Adventures LLC.

That's a wrap for this week! Hope that you can get out and ride some! Thank you for reading G-Ted Productions!

Friday News And Views

 COVID Impacts Supply Chain Issues Again:

The latest news to impact the bicycle, (and other industries and retail segments) supply chains is an uptick in COVID-19 cases in the Far East. Especially important to the bicycle industry is the recent shut down of Shimano's big Malaysian component works. 

Shimano, according to a recent "Bicycle Retailer and Industry News" piece, had to curtail activities at its facility in Malaysia on June 1st to 60% capacity and then a week later it was shut down completely. This shut down has now been extended to June 28th, effectively wiping out a full month of manufacturing of mid to lower tier components. Shimano reportedly makes brakes, hubs, derailleurs, wheels, pedals, and freewheels at this facility.  

In another article from "BRAIN", contributor, Jay Townley, it is reported that shipping bottlenecks continue with shipping container prices going through the roof. So much so that some companies are now saying it is too expensive to ship anything out of Far East ports now. The situation might best be illustrated by the following quote taken from the "BRAIN article" here:

"According to The Wall Street Journal Logistic Report June 11, “Dozens of vessels are backed up off the Yantian port in Shenzhen, straining fragile shipping operations that have been battered by a persistent empty container shortage and a continuing bottleneck at U.S. West Coast ports.”  The reason?  A shortage of workers because of a surge in COVID-19 cases! "

Furthermore in regard to container shipping prices from the same article; 

"Container costs are soaring, and logistics service providers report desperate American importers are paying well beyond even the listed spot rates. Human Powered Solutions (HPS) Senior Logistics Advisor, Dave Karneboge reported on June 7 that the none contract rate, which currently represents about 30% of container shipments is currently $10,000 for a 40-foot container that cost under $2,000 a year ago."

This has resulted in a huge delay in getting new bicycles into shops, and a huge shortage of parts to fix bicycles as well. Specifically, at Andy's Bike Shop, which is where I work part time, they are a Kona dealer, and we field calls from across the nation weekly from consumers looking for Kona models. We have seen shortages on brake pads since last year, and cassettes and chains are also in short supply. I recently had to piece together a wheel from a customer's parts and a new rim because complete wheels are non-existent in many sizes. 

As a shop, we are not expecting many new bikes now until 2023! Sure.....some stuff will be out, and available, but I don't see a lot of inventory in complete bikes being in shops next season now, especially when parts for mainstream, 'bread and butter' models seems to be shut down and delayed indefinitely. I expect stock to become available in fits and spurts and that finding a new bike on a shop floor will be rare for a long time coming. 

As an example, I spoke with a shop manager who works for one of the largest Mid-Western bicycle retailers recently and his specific location has back orders on one hybrid model for 200 units! All customers who have pre-paid and will be waiting for months to get their bicycles. That's one, entry level hybrid model at one shop location- Can you imagine what it must be like nationwide? 

Get the picture? This won't get straightened out for a long time.........

Intense MTB as seen on COSTCO's website.

New Times- New Marketing:

You may not know about Intense Cycles, but they have been a small, high-end manufacturer of unique, high-performance mountain bikes for years. Intense has never really broken out as a major player in the field. Not that their bikes weren't top class, they just never broke out of their SoCal backyard to become a nationwide force to be reckoned with. Somehow or another, Intense seemed to keep plugging along regardless. 

Now, with the marketplace changing at a rapid pace, Intense has found itself reaching out to the big box retail and online player, Costco. With resources combined which give Intense better buying power, Costco has and Intense have partnered to bring a special aluminum framed 951 Trail Bike to a direct to consumer price of well under 4G. 

Comments: The marketing and buying power of Costco matched up with the boutique aura of Intense Cycles should be a big hit......for awhile. Typically this sort of an arrangement has the ultimate effect of becoming rather stale after a period of time. Consumers get hip to the lowered, less than special and elite spec and technical frame details, and then on the other hand, the alternative choice tends to become a drag on the rest of the range, making the 'boutique' nature of a brand less than 'boutique'. Consumers are fickle that way. But who knows, maybe Intense can pull off what really hasn't been done well in the past. 

But the bigger picture look at this points to more brands doing similar things. Physical retail floor space is becoming more rare for bicycles and many shops are being consolidated in terms of brand choices down to a single brand's offerings. The old 'just-in-time' ordering philosophy of the past decade has left the supply chain drained for the foreseeable future, so this also tends to be an issue with physical placement of bicycle product going forward. 

I am already seeing pre-order bike sales being handled by many dealers (as noted above) and it doesn't take much of a stretch of imagination to think that this may become a preferred model for brands going forward. Dealers would take orders on a proposed bike and spec and after pre-orders close, those bikes would be manufactured, delivered, and picked up by consumers. Neat and tidy from an inventory perspective and definitely more predictable on the manufacturing end where quantities available could be dictated up front. Both in terms of a minimum to get the ball rolling and a maximum to insure a sell through. 

Orders could be teased up through the use of traveling demos where consumers could try spec bikes and decide on the spot to place a pre-order. While this wouldn't work for mid to lower level bicycle sales, most likely, it could. But I see this being a way to sell high-end MTB, Road, and Gravel in the future. Especially for smaller brands. 

But the Walmart/Costco model will probably also be utilized. We already have seen Walmart delve into higher end bicycle sales (Viathon) and I wouldn't be surprised to see an Intense-like brand come onboard with them in the future. But whatever happens, I am betting big retail and smaller, boutique bicycle brands will start holding hands to reach more consumers in the future and bypass the traditional bike shop sales model.

Gravel Worlds- GirlsGetGritty, Form Partnership To Increase Female Participation In Gravel Events:

When we started rolling out Trans Iowa in 2004-2005, it was our intention to include women into the event. But back then, extreme, ultra-distance events were dominated by fields of male participants. Women weren't excluded, but how do you encourage female participation when , you know, the sport is dominated by dudes? It was a conundrum that flummoxed us in the early days of Trans Iowa, for sure. We really wanted to see more women take part, and even more so- to see a woman finisher, but it took seven events before that happened. 

I suppose we should have had someone like Angela Naeth helping us at Trans Iowa. That's her, by the way, in the image on the left as she was waiting for the start of the 2021 Unbound Gravel. Anyway, having a voice in the event from a female perspective may have helped our ambitions along and expedited female participation at a much faster rate. 

Well, I screwed up. I just wasn't hip to the thought, and that's on me. Truly one of my biggest regrets when thinking back upon Trans Iowa days. Anyway, Gravel Worlds is partnering up with Naeth's all-women gravel race team, "GirlsGetGritty" and Gravel Worlds is offering free and discounted spots to women who belong to Naeth's team and her organization, IRaceLikeAGirl. 

Comments: Kudos to Gravel Worlds and GirlsGetGritty for this initiative. As I stated, I've always desired to see participation increase for females in gravel events and that females also get equal prizing and race the same distances as the males do. Fortunately, in terms of the latter two things there, that has always been pretty much the case since the gravel scene kicked of in 2005. So, we got part of it right! 

This will also help to make the gravel scene more inclusive and should be seen as another step toward the goal of making this sector of cycling the most welcoming one that has a competitive nature. The gravel racing scene has always been light years ahead of Pro, UCI or USAC type governed cycling and sanctioned events in this area. This despite the endemic media attempts to codify gravel events, and bring them under the realm of 'real racing', whatever that is, and I hope that the major gravel event promoters reject that sort of thinking completely now and into the future. Hopefully GirlsGetGritty and their founder, Angela Naeth understand that as well. 

Note: Image and information on the GirlsGetGritty, Gravel Worlds story were provided to me by Matt Gersib, Media Contact for Gravel Adventures LLC.

That's a wrap for this week! Hope that you can get out and ride some! Thank you for reading G-Ted Productions!