Friday News And Views

 Gravel World Series Calendar Set

Back in February the UCI's calendar for the inaugural Gravel Worlds Series was leaked and dates were talked about, with the Jingle GX Gravel event listed as the final event in the series, Well, apparently that was not correct. Now the calendar has been officially released by the UCI and it would appear that the Jingle GX date is actually in August. August 6th, to be precise.

Here are the dates for the UCI Gravel World Series

Comments: This pushes what used to be "Jingle Cross", an early December date CX event, into August then? Anyway, even if the cross race is later, calling the gravel event "jingle anything" just seems, well......silly. Can't we disassociate a World Cup level gravel event from that? Guess not. I just don't think the marketing of the whole "jingle/Christmas/Grinch" thing means anything here. 

Interesting that the UCI dates in the USA coincide with each other but the rest of the calendar is kind of a logistical nightmare. We'll see how many athletes manage to actually make all the series. The second, Iowa date is two weeks before the Pirate Cycling League's Gravel Worlds, which is also interesting to note here. 

All this hoopla and the UCI says that the rules will be lax for a couple of years until they can "evaluate things" regarding what constitutes legal bicycles to use and whatnot. What?!! As if it already hasn't been "figured out". Wow... Pretty lame statement, UCI people. Read the room here. It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to actually - you know- make rules today. It isn't as if the UCI is going to go all in on being "inclusive" with all the other socially conscientious efforts of the day seen in other bigger gravel events.  Whatever..... My confidence that this will be anything but another UCI circus show is pretty slim to nothing here. 

American Classic Tires Upgraded:

American Classic announced Wednesday that they have upgraded all their gravel tires with new "Stage 5S Armor" puncture protection, new changes to the Kimberlite model to make it roll faster, and that the Kimberlite will also come in a 35mm width now. All the rest of the gravel tire range will be available in 700 X 40mm, 700 X 50mm, and 650B X 47mm. Prices have also increased slightly across the board, but are still far less than most mainstream company's gravel tires. 

In addition, American Classic now offers a brown sidewall in the gravel range alongside the tan and blackwall versions already on offer. American Classic also claims weights have been slightly reduced across the range. 

Comments: I reviewed a few American Classic gravel tires here last year.  These new updates would give me reason to have a slightly better view of these tires if the claims are true. I like the Kimberlite, actually, and it reminds me a lot of the Donnelly Strada USH. So, let's compare....

The Donnelly has 240TPI casings, (okay- they add layers to get that number, most likely, but still...) and their tires list as being slightly lighter. The cost is listed as being $85.00, which compares to $45.00 each at American Classic's new price. 

So, are the Donnelly tires worth it? Well, I have the Strada USH tires and they do have a puncture protection layer, maybe not to the extent that American Classic does, but it is there. Despite the belt under the tread, the Donnelly is one of my favorite tires from the standpoint of "ride feel". The American Classic tires did not have that same feel, but.... Now they are supposedly upgraded. 

I'll have to see about getting some 700 X 40 Kimberlites in and then I'll find out....  

Last Time For The Gents To Roll:

Tomorrow I am to be a participant in what has been billed as the last Renegade Gents event. It will be a bittersweet experience, I am sure, but in the end, I hope that our team has fun and completes the route.

I've told the story before, but since this is the last Gents Race, I will hazard one more retelling- I was invited to be on a team at the inaugural "Renegade Gentleman's Race" back in 2011. I was invited to be on the five man team by Steve Fuller, who I knew through Trans Iowa. But I had no idea who the three other team members were, and being that they all were from the Des Moines area at that time, I was the odd man out. 

So I went in with the attitude of just being as compliant to the team's will and doing so as quietly as I could. Seeing as how this was basically a blind date with three guys I had to adapt to on the fly. It was a bit daunting and I was certainly anxious about it, but after about the halfway mark of that first Gents event, I was feeling much better about things. 

In the end I gained three new friends. Over the years that I have done the Gents Race I have made a lot of memories. So, now it all comes to an end with this weekend's event. I'm really glad I was a part of the run of Gents Race events. I am happy to have made a lot of new acquaintances and friends out of the deal. Now for one more time at it.......

Hopefully I'll have a report up this coming Monday.

Reynolds G700 wheel. Image courtesy of Sun/Rigle'/Reynolds.

Wheels And More Wheels:

Sea Otter is about to happen so the taps on the news faucets are opening up again. We really haven't seen the likes of this for the last couple of years due to "you know what". 

Sun Ringle', Reynolds, and Industry Nine all released news about new wheels for crushed rock roads within a couple of days of each other. 

Sun Ringle', who are best known for value driven aluminum wheels, have a new hoop set out dubbed the Duroc 30. It's a 26mm inner rim width wheel and comes with the newly designed Ringle' hubs. Through axle, Center Lock, blah, blah, blah... You've heard it all before. Pretty decent wheels. Then you have the Reynolds "Black Label" G700's in carbon. Offset spoke bed, low spoke count, 25mm inner rim width, light, new hubs. 

Both models come in 650B as well.

I didn't get pricing, but I would assume that will be available soon from the Sun Ringle/Reynolds sites. (Both companies under the Hayes banner these days) 

Then you have the new Industry Nine wheels called the 1/1 Ultralite Carbon. Yes....carbon rims, and the wheel set weighs in at a claimed 1440 grams and comes with a lifetime warranty. All that for 1600 bucks. 

The carbon wheel market for MTB and gravel has really heated up over the past couple of years. It used to be that carbon wheels meant an instant 2K addition to the bike price tag. Not anymore. While I know of some carbon wheel sets hovering around 1K, most are now around that 1500 dollar range with pretty low weight and durability. 

That's a wrap for this week. Get out and ride if you can!