Brown Season: End Of A Rough Week

Escape Route; Cedar River Bike Paths

Well, I am glad to have muddled through that week. Last week kind of hit me harder than I expected it to. You see, last week marked a year since my mother died and we had the "services" for her. (It's a loooong story, no need to drag y'all through it here.) 

The point is, I was not very motivated to ride, or do much of anything really, without a great force of will being exerted. I managed to get done what I needed to get done, so I'm counting it as a win. 

Sunday morning was coming and I felt as though it was a chance to crawl out from under the pile and go for a ride. Nothing spectacular, just a ramble on down to some little used gravel and dirt roads Southeast of Waterloo. The weather was cooperating, and so the ride was set for a Sunday morning. I left the house just after Sunrise and rode the Gravel Bus again. 

It was a grey, very still day. It was unusual that there was absolutely no wind at all. But that was fine with me. I just wanted to get out for a couple of hours and ride to get back on the horse again after a bad week. In that, I was successful.

The Cedar River at Evansdale.

McKellar Road

As I rode along the Cedar River, I was struck by how low the river's level was. I knew that September had been one of the driest on record, and I am betting October has been right in that conversation as well. We are headed for some bad drought weather in 2023 if things do not turn around in the next six months.

The gravel end of McKellar Road

The Gravel Bus kind of blends into this dried out corn, don't you think?

With no wind noise, it was amazingly quiet on Sunday morning. I could hear the four-lane highway 20 for blocks until I actually reached it and crossed the Cedar River. The countryside was still and peaceful. 

I found the dirt roads were mostly dry, but not fully dry. We'd had some rain last week, but for the most part, it was very dry out there on the gravel. They have laid down some chunk recently, but it wasn't too bad. 

Bin it!

The dirt end of Weiden Road

It was fun to try to navigate Weiden Road's slightly muddy, very rutted out dirt road sector. While this doesn't have the elevation of Petrie Road's dirt section, it is still a good run of dirt to ride on. 

It was good to shake off the blues for a while.

I ended up riding shy of two hours and a bit over 20 miles in total. That was a good start towards getting out of the rut I was in last week. Like I said, I wasn't expecting that to happen, but it did. I guess I should be a bit more wary come this time of year next year.

Brown Season: End Of A Rough Week

Escape Route; Cedar River Bike Paths

Well, I am glad to have muddled through that week. Last week kind of hit me harder than I expected it to. You see, last week marked a year since my mother died and we had the "services" for her. (It's a loooong story, no need to drag y'all through it here.) 

The point is, I was not very motivated to ride, or do much of anything really, without a great force of will being exerted. I managed to get done what I needed to get done, so I'm counting it as a win. 

Sunday morning was coming and I felt as though it was a chance to crawl out from under the pile and go for a ride. Nothing spectacular, just a ramble on down to some little used gravel and dirt roads Southeast of Waterloo. The weather was cooperating, and so the ride was set for a Sunday morning. I left the house just after Sunrise and rode the Gravel Bus again. 

It was a grey, very still day. It was unusual that there was absolutely no wind at all. But that was fine with me. I just wanted to get out for a couple of hours and ride to get back on the horse again after a bad week. In that, I was successful.

The Cedar River at Evansdale.

McKellar Road

As I rode along the Cedar River, I was struck by how low the river's level was. I knew that September had been one of the driest on record, and I am betting October has been right in that conversation as well. We are headed for some bad drought weather in 2023 if things do not turn around in the next six months.

The gravel end of McKellar Road

The Gravel Bus kind of blends into this dried out corn, don't you think?

With no wind noise, it was amazingly quiet on Sunday morning. I could hear the four-lane highway 20 for blocks until I actually reached it and crossed the Cedar River. The countryside was still and peaceful. 

I found the dirt roads were mostly dry, but not fully dry. We'd had some rain last week, but for the most part, it was very dry out there on the gravel. They have laid down some chunk recently, but it wasn't too bad. 

Bin it!

The dirt end of Weiden Road

It was fun to try to navigate Weiden Road's slightly muddy, very rutted out dirt road sector. While this doesn't have the elevation of Petrie Road's dirt section, it is still a good run of dirt to ride on. 

It was good to shake off the blues for a while.

I ended up riding shy of two hours and a bit over 20 miles in total. That was a good start towards getting out of the rut I was in last week. Like I said, I wasn't expecting that to happen, but it did. I guess I should be a bit more wary come this time of year next year.

The GTDRI Stories: Pre-Ride Festivities

Jeff Kerkove's last design for the GTDRI blog header

 "The GTDRI Stories" is a series telling the history, untold tales, and showing the sights from the run of Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitationals. This series will run on Sundays. Thanks for reading!

The entire deal with "Black Electrical Tape" and the revealing of that bike previous to the third running of the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational kind of guaranteed that most everyone that was going to be there for the ride would show up the night before. And I think that influenced what happened that evening. It also set an interesting precedent for a few years.

Including myself, six of us were there. Besides Jason Boucher on his 'secret bike' there was Matt Gersib (MG), Matt Wills, their friend Jeffrey Bonsall, and David Pals. I've mentioned before that there were always people I was surprised at by their attendance to this ride, and a late comer that would often make us late to start. This GTDRI was no exception in that way, other than that I think we actually did get rolling right on time. The surprise riders were Jeffery Bonsall, a Lincoln, Nebraska acquaintance of MG and Matt Wills, and the next morning, it was Michael Beck, who I never would have pegged as one to show up at this ride. Not that he wasn't a cyclist, or a gravel rider. He was. But he resided in Colorado. Only a chance visit to members of his family in Marshalltown, Iowa had brought him there in time to join us.

Trouble begins! (L-R) Jason, Matt Wills, David, MG, and Jeffery Bonsall.

The scheduling of this ride also was different than many GTDRI's in that I moved the date to the weekend of RAGBRAI's start. I did this out of my spite for that ride at the time. See, we gravel riders in Iowa were always accused of "getting ready for RAGBRAI" at that time which kind of got under my skin a bit back then. So, I decided that if my big Summer ride was happening the day before RAGBRAI started, well, that meant we weren't going on RAGBRAI, right? Only it didn't work. People we ran into still thought we were getting ready for RAGBRAI because they didn't know when RAGBRAI occurred exactly. Oh well....... 

Anyway, back to this story! The trouble started when we built a fire and all the beer was brought out which people had with them to share. Conversations were had into the wee hours of the evening under a full moon which rode up fat and hazy in the humid night air that July night at Hickory Hills campground. We all were tent camping there, and the plan was to head out the next morning, do the ride, return, and maybe hang out some more. 

This was the first GTDRI where a pre-ride social thing happened the day before. There was the year previous, where we all met for breakfast, but this had a different feel to it since we met the night before. While it gave all in attendance time to get to know one another and socialize, drinking copious amounts of beer the night before a century of gravel miles probably wasn't a wise idea. 

Scratch that! It definitely was not a good idea! 

Badly out of focus, but you get the idea!

Well.....it was a good idea though. I mean, these were times that ended up being pretty precious to me. I usually did not get to spend a lot of time with members of a cycling community that were of like mind to me. People who loved to ride gravel, have an adventure, and people that wanted a challenge. Most of the time I was working on bicycles, or writing about them, and social time was rare for me. 

Of course, I cannot speak for those who showed up at this ride, but my feeling is that they were feeling much like myself. We counted these rides and the gatherings they engendered to be special moments in time. People who would not ordinarily have been together, at a ride that was definitely not a race, but a fellowship of gravel cycling junkies. 

And it was good. At least that's the feeling I got from this ride, and those that followed. So, while getting drunk the night before a big ride in hot, humid weather seems like a really bad idea on one hand, I don't know that we'd have changed anything about how things went down either. 

The full moon over Hickory Hills the night before the third GTDRI.

That said, I do recall having conversations with David Pals afterward that we maybe should dissuade this sort of behavior for any future GTDRI rides. I know we both paid a price the following day! That was nothing to be wondered at either, since we had both consumed more than our fair share of beer that night before. 

Up and at 'em! Duty calls....

The next day came too soon, but I got out of my tent and was rolling since I was the ride leader. Hang over or no, I had to be on point. I got dressed and went down to the main visitor parking to see if anyone had shown up early to join us. I did not see anyone, but just as we were about to head out, as I mentioned above, Michael Beck did arrive and was ready to go in a jiffy. 

And we were off on a foggy morning for a century ride which would be mostly in Tama County. A county I would spend a ton of time in upcoming years for reasons I did not quite know about at that time. Back then, Tama County was a big unknown to me. So, as I recall, even seeing some of the roads I already had ridden was still exciting in that "new" way that roads you don't really know yet can be. I was excited to show them off.

It's kind of funny now when I think about that. Tama County is very familiar ground to me now days. There aren't a lot of its roads which I have not either ridden on by bicycle or car. And that familiarity makes it a bit hard today for me to describe my excitement for that GTDRI in 2008. But I was excited, and I was ready to roll despite the previous evening's shenanigans. 

Next: The third GTDRI

The GTDRI Stories: Pre-Ride Festivities

Jeff Kerkove's last design for the GTDRI blog header

 "The GTDRI Stories" is a series telling the history, untold tales, and showing the sights from the run of Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitationals. This series will run on Sundays. Thanks for reading!

The entire deal with "Black Electrical Tape" and the revealing of that bike previous to the third running of the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational kind of guaranteed that most everyone that was going to be there for the ride would show up the night before. And I think that influenced what happened that evening. It also set an interesting precedent for a few years.

Including myself, six of us were there. Besides Jason Boucher on his 'secret bike' there was Matt Gersib (MG), Matt Wills, their friend Jeffrey Bonsall, and David Pals. I've mentioned before that there were always people I was surprised at by their attendance to this ride, and a late comer that would often make us late to start. This GTDRI was no exception in that way, other than that I think we actually did get rolling right on time. The surprise riders were Jeffery Bonsall, a Lincoln, Nebraska acquaintance of MG and Matt Wills, and the next morning, it was Michael Beck, who I never would have pegged as one to show up at this ride. Not that he wasn't a cyclist, or a gravel rider. He was. But he resided in Colorado. Only a chance visit to members of his family in Marshalltown, Iowa had brought him there in time to join us.

Trouble begins! (L-R) Jason, Matt Wills, David, MG, and Jeffery Bonsall.

The scheduling of this ride also was different than many GTDRI's in that I moved the date to the weekend of RAGBRAI's start. I did this out of my spite for that ride at the time. See, we gravel riders in Iowa were always accused of "getting ready for RAGBRAI" at that time which kind of got under my skin a bit back then. So, I decided that if my big Summer ride was happening the day before RAGBRAI started, well, that meant we weren't going on RAGBRAI, right? Only it didn't work. People we ran into still thought we were getting ready for RAGBRAI because they didn't know when RAGBRAI occurred exactly. Oh well....... 

Anyway, back to this story! The trouble started when we built a fire and all the beer was brought out which people had with them to share. Conversations were had into the wee hours of the evening under a full moon which rode up fat and hazy in the humid night air that July night at Hickory Hills campground. We all were tent camping there, and the plan was to head out the next morning, do the ride, return, and maybe hang out some more. 

This was the first GTDRI where a pre-ride social thing happened the day before. There was the year previous, where we all met for breakfast, but this had a different feel to it since we met the night before. While it gave all in attendance time to get to know one another and socialize, drinking copious amounts of beer the night before a century of gravel miles probably wasn't a wise idea. 

Scratch that! It definitely was not a good idea! 

Badly out of focus, but you get the idea!

Well.....it was a good idea though. I mean, these were times that ended up being pretty precious to me. I usually did not get to spend a lot of time with members of a cycling community that were of like mind to me. People who loved to ride gravel, have an adventure, and people that wanted a challenge. Most of the time I was working on bicycles, or writing about them, and social time was rare for me. 

Of course, I cannot speak for those who showed up at this ride, but my feeling is that they were feeling much like myself. We counted these rides and the gatherings they engendered to be special moments in time. People who would not ordinarily have been together, at a ride that was definitely not a race, but a fellowship of gravel cycling junkies. 

And it was good. At least that's the feeling I got from this ride, and those that followed. So, while getting drunk the night before a big ride in hot, humid weather seems like a really bad idea on one hand, I don't know that we'd have changed anything about how things went down either. 

The full moon over Hickory Hills the night before the third GTDRI.

That said, I do recall having conversations with David Pals afterward that we maybe should dissuade this sort of behavior for any future GTDRI rides. I know we both paid a price the following day! That was nothing to be wondered at either, since we had both consumed more than our fair share of beer that night before. 

Up and at 'em! Duty calls....

The next day came too soon, but I got out of my tent and was rolling since I was the ride leader. Hang over or no, I had to be on point. I got dressed and went down to the main visitor parking to see if anyone had shown up early to join us. I did not see anyone, but just as we were about to head out, as I mentioned above, Michael Beck did arrive and was ready to go in a jiffy. 

And we were off on a foggy morning for a century ride which would be mostly in Tama County. A county I would spend a ton of time in upcoming years for reasons I did not quite know about at that time. Back then, Tama County was a big unknown to me. So, as I recall, even seeing some of the roads I already had ridden was still exciting in that "new" way that roads you don't really know yet can be. I was excited to show them off.

It's kind of funny now when I think about that. Tama County is very familiar ground to me now days. There aren't a lot of its roads which I have not either ridden on by bicycle or car. And that familiarity makes it a bit hard today for me to describe my excitement for that GTDRI in 2008. But I was excited, and I was ready to roll despite the previous evening's shenanigans. 

Next: The third GTDRI

Randomonium

 New Riding Gravel Radio Ranch Podcast #104:

Just a reminder that I have another Riding Gravel Radio Ranch Podcast up now if you are so inclined to listen in. N.Y. Roll is my co-host and we discuss a wide range of topics concerning the Gravel Cycling Hall of fame, gravel history, and more. Here is the link to the podcast.

I moved the distribution and production aspects of the podcast in order to ensure a timely release of episodes. Unfortunately that meant that I had to start from zero, in terms of access to the podcast, so it really helps out if you not only listen, but share the link as well.

Thanks for checking the podcast out. 

Cold Weather Clinic: 

I am putting my 20+ years of cold weather riding experiences and know-how into an hour long clinic on November 3rd, at 6:30pm at the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective in downtown Waterloo. 

While it is obviously impossible to cover everything in an hour or so, I am going to download a significant amount of tips and there is going to be a PDF, (I think) of my clinic available to CVBC members. 

Perhaps I will also pull that and a bit more into a mini-series here on the blog afterward. It might prove useful to you readers out there. At least those who are not busy "zwifting", or whatever it is that you call doing that is. (All I know is that ain't fer me!) 

So, if you have any great cold weather tips you'd like me to pass on, just share them in the comments. I'll take those and what I have, share at the clinic, and then I'll post up a series here on what I have as well later in November. 

Header for the Save RAGBRAI Facebook page.

Is The End Nigh For RAGBRAI?:

This week I found out that there was some drama brewing concerning RAGBRAI again. (Remember all the hullabaloo when "Iowa's Ride" split off?) 

It isn't news to hear that the newspaper business is floundering. No one really reads physical newspapers anymore and digital renderings of newspapers don't seem to attract the advertising revenues that the old print newspapers once did. Large corporate news behemoths, like Gannett, who own the Des Moines Register and the sub-corporation, Ventures Endurance, which runs RAGBRAI now, are experiencing deep financial turmoil. So bad are things looking in from the outside that the former director of RAGBRAI, who just left his post recently, has started a "Save RAGRAI" Facebook page to air his concerns. His perspective could be questioned, seeing as he may have an axe to grind, or he could very well be raising red flags which should be acknowledged. I don't know. 

Comments: Claims of overnight towns from the 2022 route not getting paid, claims that RAGBRAI has not upheld contractual obligations, and claims of non-communication from Venture Endurance don't sound great here, but let's be honest- RAGBRAI isn't going to "die" anytime soon. Here are the facts: With upwards of 20.000 registered riders (claimed by Dieter Drake for 2022 ridership numbers), at $175.00 a pop to register, and considering all the business that can be generated out of those numbers in concessions, souvenirs, etc, the economics of RAGBRAI are just too big to ignore. 

The ride isn't going away but it is looking more and more like it may change. It may change a LOT. Think about the whole "Iowa's Ride" fiasco. Had the pandemic not interfered with that, I can totally imagine how that ride may have eventually taken over the spot in July which RAGBRAI has held. It was certainly apparent that a potential was there, and that potential is still there today.

My belief is that despite what may happen to Gannett, RAGBRAI will survive in some form. And even IF it doesn't, something will arise to take its place on the calendar. There is just too much money and tradition on the table for something like RAGBRAI to just disappear now. In the future? Maybe whatever is left over won't be done in a manner that people find attractive and things will fizzle out. That's an outcome I could see happening also. 

But change seems imminent. There has been a lot of upheaval surrounding RAGBRAI in the past five years and I don't think we've seen what the outcome of those forces on that event will be just yet.

Randomonium

 New Riding Gravel Radio Ranch Podcast #104:

Just a reminder that I have another Riding Gravel Radio Ranch Podcast up now if you are so inclined to listen in. N.Y. Roll is my co-host and we discuss a wide range of topics concerning the Gravel Cycling Hall of fame, gravel history, and more. Here is the link to the podcast.

I moved the distribution and production aspects of the podcast in order to ensure a timely release of episodes. Unfortunately that meant that I had to start from zero, in terms of access to the podcast, so it really helps out if you not only listen, but share the link as well.

Thanks for checking the podcast out. 

Cold Weather Clinic: 

I am putting my 20+ years of cold weather riding experiences and know-how into an hour long clinic on November 3rd, at 6:30pm at the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective in downtown Waterloo. 

While it is obviously impossible to cover everything in an hour or so, I am going to download a significant amount of tips and there is going to be a PDF, (I think) of my clinic available to CVBC members. 

Perhaps I will also pull that and a bit more into a mini-series here on the blog afterward. It might prove useful to you readers out there. At least those who are not busy "zwifting", or whatever it is that you call doing that is. (All I know is that ain't fer me!) 

So, if you have any great cold weather tips you'd like me to pass on, just share them in the comments. I'll take those and what I have, share at the clinic, and then I'll post up a series here on what I have as well later in November. 

Header for the Save RAGBRAI Facebook page.

Is The End Nigh For RAGBRAI?:

This week I found out that there was some drama brewing concerning RAGBRAI again. (Remember all the hullabaloo when "Iowa's Ride" split off?) 

It isn't news to hear that the newspaper business is floundering. No one really reads physical newspapers anymore and digital renderings of newspapers don't seem to attract the advertising revenues that the old print newspapers once did. Large corporate news behemoths, like Gannett, who own the Des Moines Register and the sub-corporation, Ventures Endurance, which runs RAGBRAI now, are experiencing deep financial turmoil. So bad are things looking in from the outside that the former director of RAGBRAI, who just left his post recently, has started a "Save RAGRAI" Facebook page to air his concerns. His perspective could be questioned, seeing as he may have an axe to grind, or he could very well be raising red flags which should be acknowledged. I don't know. 

Comments: Claims of overnight towns from the 2022 route not getting paid, claims that RAGBRAI has not upheld contractual obligations, and claims of non-communication from Venture Endurance don't sound great here, but let's be honest- RAGBRAI isn't going to "die" anytime soon. Here are the facts: With upwards of 20.000 registered riders (claimed by Dieter Drake for 2022 ridership numbers), at $175.00 a pop to register, and considering all the business that can be generated out of those numbers in concessions, souvenirs, etc, the economics of RAGBRAI are just too big to ignore. 

The ride isn't going away but it is looking more and more like it may change. It may change a LOT. Think about the whole "Iowa's Ride" fiasco. Had the pandemic not interfered with that, I can totally imagine how that ride may have eventually taken over the spot in July which RAGBRAI has held. It was certainly apparent that a potential was there, and that potential is still there today.

My belief is that despite what may happen to Gannett, RAGBRAI will survive in some form. And even IF it doesn't, something will arise to take its place on the calendar. There is just too much money and tradition on the table for something like RAGBRAI to just disappear now. In the future? Maybe whatever is left over won't be done in a manner that people find attractive and things will fizzle out. That's an outcome I could see happening also. 

But change seems imminent. There has been a lot of upheaval surrounding RAGBRAI in the past five years and I don't think we've seen what the outcome of those forces on that event will be just yet.

Friday News And Views

The Trimm "one lite" GPS computer (Image courtesy of Trimm

 Another GPS Option:

Recently a reader of the blog here tipped me off to another interesting GPS based cycling computer option. The company is a Korean based company called Trimm and the model they sell which I figure is analogous to most Garmin, Wahoo, and Hammerhead users is the "One Lite"

It has a similar "smart-phone" type format and uses a Gorilla Glass screen which puts this in a similar class as many of the top-flite GPS units offered by the companies I mentioned above. This One Lite model weighs in at sub-60 grams though, and is supposedly thinner than an iPhone. And it costs less than $200.00USD.

The unit has a feature which many might find interesting- A solar powered attachment that can keep the computer charged all the time. (You can see a bit of the cord to the solar panel in the image here) There is a short, sub-12 minute review of the unit here on YouTube. 

Comments: If you look at the YouTube review, it seems as though this thing has a leg up on Garmin's extremely expensive solar powered unit. Even without the solar panel, the runtime is 50 hours if you use their speed sensor on your bike. Pretty impressive. Oh, and for an extra $50.00 you can go with the Trimm One and get an aluminum case in 8 different colors, and color screen with the solar charge feature at only a slight weight penalty of a claimed 62 grams. 

I assume it does turn-by-turn navigation, but the YouTube reviewer doesn't specifically call this out. I think it does or what's the point of importing route files, right? Anyway... That's a reasonable price and if it works as advertised, it could be a big disrupter in this field. 

"One-eyed" Zeke Shepherd.

Kansas City Bike Mechanic Gets Hit:

Apparently in the early morning hours of Saturday October 22nd, Kansas City bicycle mechanic, Zeke Shepherd was involved in a hit and run while riding his bicycle. The person who hit him has not been found at this point, as far as I know. 

Zeke, known as "One-Eyed Zeke' to many of us here in Iowa, is a good guy. I had a tiny slice of time spent with him during a Gent's Race deal once upon a time. Anyway, Zeke is pretty banged up, will require a long recovery, and his employer, "velogaragekc", has set up a GoFundme page to help defray his recovery expenses. 

The bicycle community has been really very supportive of me, and I know Zeke will get a big boost from his cycling brothers and sisters out there. Please, consider donating to his cause, if you are so led. 

Image courtesy of Canyon Bikes

Will "KIS" Be Coming To Your Bike Soon?

Steering stabilization ideas for bicycles are nothing new. You can see them often on cargo bikes, where they are more for self-centering the wheel while the bike is parked. Hopey's steering damper or Cane Creek's Viscoset may also come to mind here. But whatever the level of technology, the idea is to overcome wheel flop in certain situations.

I've followed along with some interest in this because of my affinity for riding my fat bike in deeper snowy conditions. Mike Curiak, being a big influencer in that regard. However; there are other instances where a steering damper, or self-centering steering device, would be welcomed. Canyon apparently thinks so too, and so they are offering this proprietary system they call "KIS". That stands for "Keep It Stable". 

It works internally, inside the top tube of their 29"er enduro model only- for now. It is a coil sprung self-centering device that is adjustable at the "anchor" in the top tube via a 4mm hex head bolt. The other end is attached to the cam which itself is clamped over the steer tube and that attached to the coil springs by a synthetic material in the form of two bands. 

Image courtesy of Canyon Bikes

The effect of the KIS system is that of more stability on loose, off-camber to flat turns and a more stable front wheel during slow speed climbs, according to accounts I have read. So, for those times when your body has to make sudden corrections either at the bars or through the pedals, this KIS thing helps calm that down and therefore saves the rider energy. 

Comments: So, to answer my header for this, the answer? No- This won't be coming to your gravel bike anytime soon, and probably not to most mountain bikes either, although, it may make sense for some of you. In which case, the Cane Creek Viscoset would be the likely choice. Anytime you see something like Canyon's KIS system, you have to figure that most companies wouldn't be interested in the licensing fee to use the technology. That's going to limit how much you see of this as well.

To my mind, as I look at this, it seems like an over-thought self-centering spring the likes of which I have seen on cargo bikes. This KIS thing is far more elegantly done, and no doubt works well. I could see this as standard issue technology for cargo bikes in the future. 

But for most bikes? No. I don't see this as being a thing. You have no idea how much friction in a headset/steering causes weird handling until you've ridden a bike with a severely indexed headset race, or a bike with a head set adjusted too tightly. I have done all of that, and it isn't my cup of tea. Not for regular riding. 

But maybe for the fat bike......

The GR3 Image courtesy of Argonaut Cycles

Argonaut Cycles Launches GR3 Bike:

Argonaut Cycles announced a new bicycle today for gravel racing, the GR3 model. This bike is touted as the custom made, hand-laid carbon answer for specific customer physiology and terrain needs. Claiming that "professional gravel racing is the ultimate testing grounds", Argonaut has focused on high-performance, extreme "GravelFirst" geometry, and their marketing focuses heavily on what they think makes for a great racing bike on gravel with a side of mountain biking to spice things up even more. Although that last bit is inferred, not specifically called out. Just looking at their chosen imagery and descriptions points me in that direction immediately. 

Sporting a very short 415mm chain stay length, a 75mm bottom bracket drop, and a very slack (for gravel) 68.5° head angle probably nudged me to thinking "long, slack, and low", like current enduro bike geometry. The marketing also points to their professional athlete that they sponsor having an experience on the GR3 that "... also enhanced her descending abilities to the point where she has seen multiple podiums atop her GR3 and racked up numerous QOM’s for downhill segments!"

Comments: I received a press release for this bike that made it sound as though that they were eager to send over a review bike. I gotta say, first off- I am honored anytime I get an offer like this. Secondly, I hesitate to review a bike that is super-pigeonholed as a "racing bike" with the force of hype that this release has in it. Thirdly, I hesitate to accept an offer to review a bike that I understand is expensive, but one that most of my audience wouldn't ever be able to afford. I mean, sixty five hundred for a frame set? That's $6500.00 for those who may have missed that.

Look, I get it- Racing at the top levels is spectacular and maybe a lot of us wish we were "those folks" and a bike like this maybe can make you feel like a super-hero at times. Maybe.... But my contention is that this is exactly what we do not need for the majority of the riding public. This bike doesn't put "more butts on bikes", as the saying goes. It caters to Pro racers, Pro racer-wannabees, and people with a  LOT of disposable income. That's not many people. And.....that's not me. 

Oh yeah, and Evil Bikes Chamois Hagar would like to have a word with you.....We've seen this before already. Anyway.... 

That's a wrap for today! Have a great weekend and don't eat all the Halloween candy!

Friday News And Views

The Trimm "one lite" GPS computer (Image courtesy of Trimm

 Another GPS Option:

Recently a reader of the blog here tipped me off to another interesting GPS based cycling computer option. The company is a Korean based company called Trimm and the model they sell which I figure is analogous to most Garmin, Wahoo, and Hammerhead users is the "One Lite"

It has a similar "smart-phone" type format and uses a Gorilla Glass screen which puts this in a similar class as many of the top-flite GPS units offered by the companies I mentioned above. This One Lite model weighs in at sub-60 grams though, and is supposedly thinner than an iPhone. And it costs less than $200.00USD.

The unit has a feature which many might find interesting- A solar powered attachment that can keep the computer charged all the time. (You can see a bit of the cord to the solar panel in the image here) There is a short, sub-12 minute review of the unit here on YouTube. 

Comments: If you look at the YouTube review, it seems as though this thing has a leg up on Garmin's extremely expensive solar powered unit. Even without the solar panel, the runtime is 50 hours if you use their speed sensor on your bike. Pretty impressive. Oh, and for an extra $50.00 you can go with the Trimm One and get an aluminum case in 8 different colors, and color screen with the solar charge feature at only a slight weight penalty of a claimed 62 grams. 

I assume it does turn-by-turn navigation, but the YouTube reviewer doesn't specifically call this out. I think it does or what's the point of importing route files, right? Anyway... That's a reasonable price and if it works as advertised, it could be a big disrupter in this field. 

"One-eyed" Zeke Shepherd.

Kansas City Bike Mechanic Gets Hit:

Apparently in the early morning hours of Saturday October 22nd, Kansas City bicycle mechanic, Zeke Shepherd was involved in a hit and run while riding his bicycle. The person who hit him has not been found at this point, as far as I know. 

Zeke, known as "One-Eyed Zeke' to many of us here in Iowa, is a good guy. I had a tiny slice of time spent with him during a Gent's Race deal once upon a time. Anyway, Zeke is pretty banged up, will require a long recovery, and his employer, "velogaragekc", has set up a GoFundme page to help defray his recovery expenses. 

The bicycle community has been really very supportive of me, and I know Zeke will get a big boost from his cycling brothers and sisters out there. Please, consider donating to his cause, if you are so led. 

Image courtesy of Canyon Bikes

Will "KIS" Be Coming To Your Bike Soon?

Steering stabilization ideas for bicycles are nothing new. You can see them often on cargo bikes, where they are more for self-centering the wheel while the bike is parked. Hopey's steering damper or Cane Creek's Viscoset may also come to mind here. But whatever the level of technology, the idea is to overcome wheel flop in certain situations.

I've followed along with some interest in this because of my affinity for riding my fat bike in deeper snowy conditions. Mike Curiak, being a big influencer in that regard. However; there are other instances where a steering damper, or self-centering steering device, would be welcomed. Canyon apparently thinks so too, and so they are offering this proprietary system they call "KIS". That stands for "Keep It Stable". 

It works internally, inside the top tube of their 29"er enduro model only- for now. It is a coil sprung self-centering device that is adjustable at the "anchor" in the top tube via a 4mm hex head bolt. The other end is attached to the cam which itself is clamped over the steer tube and that attached to the coil springs by a synthetic material in the form of two bands. 

Image courtesy of Canyon Bikes

The effect of the KIS system is that of more stability on loose, off-camber to flat turns and a more stable front wheel during slow speed climbs, according to accounts I have read. So, for those times when your body has to make sudden corrections either at the bars or through the pedals, this KIS thing helps calm that down and therefore saves the rider energy. 

Comments: So, to answer my header for this, the answer? No- This won't be coming to your gravel bike anytime soon, and probably not to most mountain bikes either, although, it may make sense for some of you. In which case, the Cane Creek Viscoset would be the likely choice. Anytime you see something like Canyon's KIS system, you have to figure that most companies wouldn't be interested in the licensing fee to use the technology. That's going to limit how much you see of this as well.

To my mind, as I look at this, it seems like an over-thought self-centering spring the likes of which I have seen on cargo bikes. This KIS thing is far more elegantly done, and no doubt works well. I could see this as standard issue technology for cargo bikes in the future. 

But for most bikes? No. I don't see this as being a thing. You have no idea how much friction in a headset/steering causes weird handling until you've ridden a bike with a severely indexed headset race, or a bike with a head set adjusted too tightly. I have done all of that, and it isn't my cup of tea. Not for regular riding. 

But maybe for the fat bike......

The GR3 Image courtesy of Argonaut Cycles

Argonaut Cycles Launches GR3 Bike:

Argonaut Cycles announced a new bicycle today for gravel racing, the GR3 model. This bike is touted as the custom made, hand-laid carbon answer for specific customer physiology and terrain needs. Claiming that "professional gravel racing is the ultimate testing grounds", Argonaut has focused on high-performance, extreme "GravelFirst" geometry, and their marketing focuses heavily on what they think makes for a great racing bike on gravel with a side of mountain biking to spice things up even more. Although that last bit is inferred, not specifically called out. Just looking at their chosen imagery and descriptions points me in that direction immediately. 

Sporting a very short 415mm chain stay length, a 75mm bottom bracket drop, and a very slack (for gravel) 68.5° head angle probably nudged me to thinking "long, slack, and low", like current enduro bike geometry. The marketing also points to their professional athlete that they sponsor having an experience on the GR3 that "... also enhanced her descending abilities to the point where she has seen multiple podiums atop her GR3 and racked up numerous QOM’s for downhill segments!"

Comments: I received a press release for this bike that made it sound as though that they were eager to send over a review bike. I gotta say, first off- I am honored anytime I get an offer like this. Secondly, I hesitate to review a bike that is super-pigeonholed as a "racing bike" with the force of hype that this release has in it. Thirdly, I hesitate to accept an offer to review a bike that I understand is expensive, but one that most of my audience wouldn't ever be able to afford. I mean, sixty five hundred for a frame set? That's $6500.00 for those who may have missed that.

Look, I get it- Racing at the top levels is spectacular and maybe a lot of us wish we were "those folks" and a bike like this maybe can make you feel like a super-hero at times. Maybe.... But my contention is that this is exactly what we do not need for the majority of the riding public. This bike doesn't put "more butts on bikes", as the saying goes. It caters to Pro racers, Pro racer-wannabees, and people with a  LOT of disposable income. That's not many people. And.....that's not me. 

Oh yeah, and Evil Bikes Chamois Hagar would like to have a word with you.....We've seen this before already. Anyway.... 

That's a wrap for today! Have a great weekend and don't eat all the Halloween candy!

Local News

Recent recycling haul

Well, I figured that it was time for an update on what is going on with my "day job", such as it is, down at the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective. I work there at that non-profit business three days a week, but it is a pretty fulfilling three days every week.

We essentially are doing service for the community, keeping bicycles out of the landfill, recycling what we can into good, used bikes for sale, and doing clinics/education type things. It is a far different gig than I've had in years.

I guess one of the most amazing things to me are the people who get bicycles from us, or donate them to us for recycling or refurbishment. Almost to a person, they are gracious, kind, and complimentary to a fault. I wrote that story about Bob recently, you might remember that, and he's just one of many stories I could share about the collective, really. It's nothing at all like retail bicycle shop experiences that I have had in the past. 

Then there is the recycling part. It is beyond crazy how many bicycles are just moldering away out there in garages, barns, sheds, and basements. I mean, we hauled away 900+ pounds of bicycle scrap to the recyclers last week alone with almost all of that having come through the doors in two weeks time. I'm sure we've hauled off around 5,000+ pounds of scrap this year since I've started. And you know we aren't even scratching the surface around here. Imagine what is laying around in a big urban area. It boggles the mind.....

Anyway, I'm still chugging along with the job and it has been rewarding. Not financially speaking, (although I am getting paid, mind you), but more so in terms of peace of mind, fulfillment, and in terms of just being very satisfied in that what I am doing is being accepted with a huge amount of gratitude. I couldn't say that about previous employment. 

I really have a hard time imagining why I would ever want to go back to traditional retail bicycle work at this point.
 

Local News

Recent recycling haul

Well, I figured that it was time for an update on what is going on with my "day job", such as it is, down at the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective. I work there at that non-profit business three days a week, but it is a pretty fulfilling three days every week.

We essentially are doing service for the community, keeping bicycles out of the landfill, recycling what we can into good, used bikes for sale, and doing clinics/education type things. It is a far different gig than I've had in years.

I guess one of the most amazing things to me are the people who get bicycles from us, or donate them to us for recycling or refurbishment. Almost to a person, they are gracious, kind, and complimentary to a fault. I wrote that story about Bob recently, you might remember that, and he's just one of many stories I could share about the collective, really. It's nothing at all like retail bicycle shop experiences that I have had in the past. 

Then there is the recycling part. It is beyond crazy how many bicycles are just moldering away out there in garages, barns, sheds, and basements. I mean, we hauled away 900+ pounds of bicycle scrap to the recyclers last week alone with almost all of that having come through the doors in two weeks time. I'm sure we've hauled off around 5,000+ pounds of scrap this year since I've started. And you know we aren't even scratching the surface around here. Imagine what is laying around in a big urban area. It boggles the mind.....

Anyway, I'm still chugging along with the job and it has been rewarding. Not financially speaking, (although I am getting paid, mind you), but more so in terms of peace of mind, fulfillment, and in terms of just being very satisfied in that what I am doing is being accepted with a huge amount of gratitude. I couldn't say that about previous employment. 

I really have a hard time imagining why I would ever want to go back to traditional retail bicycle work at this point.
 

Nominations Open

Posted on the GCHoF's Instagram yesterday

 You'd have thought that yesterday's post and today's were premeditated to coordinate with each other, but that's not at all the case. It is just a happy circumstance that yesterday the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame announced that their nomination process would open up November 1st. 

Again, I said much of what I wanted to say about the "why" of this organization's existence. Today I will focus on the "how" of the process of nominating an individual or event/organization for GCHoF inclusion. 

I'm going to specifically take the case of Joel Dyke, the co-founder of the DK200 along with Jim Cummings. By the way, these are two guys I think should be shoe-ins for nomination and induction for 2023. 

As a matter of fact, they should have gotten in this year. But things being what they are, that did not happen. So, following is a true example of why that did not happen, and then I'll show you how it should happen. 

Joel Dyke was nominated this year, but to get inducted, you have to convince a panel of "judges" who are a diverse group of racers, journalists, and bicycle company folks. I know it may come as a complete shock to some of you, but the name "Joel Dyke" doesn't do anything for those who came into the sport in the last ten years, and especially since 2019, which is the date many say that this "gravel thing really took off". (Although, in 2019 they were saying "this thing really took off in 2015, so, yeah.....) 

The result of Joel being a person who has already "faded from memory" or was "lost to history" was that the nomination the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame received, and what they had to go on, was a one word sentence. "Joel was the man", or something to that effect, was what I was told by LeLan Dains, the chairman of the GCHoF. That was not anything that moved the needle for the nomination committee. So, Joel, disappointingly, was not inducted into the first class, as should have been the case. But, the process relies on riders to tell the story, so here is how it maybe should have been written up:

Joel Dyke, (L) as seen at Trans Iowa v2 in April of 2006.

 I nominate Joel Dyke for inclusion into the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame. Joel was the co-founder of the gravel event which eventually became the Unbound Gravel event, based out of Emporia, Kansas, home of the GCHoF, in 2006. Joel was integral to the early success of the modern day gravel scene. He, along with co-founder of the Emporia based event, Jim Cummings, forged a new identity not only for gravel cycling, but for the city of Emporia Kansas as well. The event that Joel helped create is now known world-wide as North America's premier gravel event. This would not have occurred without Joel's participation and influence.

Furthermore; Joel was already a well known cyclist and regarded as a fine "underground" events promoter within the Kansas City cycling community. His events drew cyclists from all stripes to get off the couch, move, and become a part of a welcoming community of cyclists. Joel's affable, outgoing personality helped draw in people. Armed with this and his experiences with events, Joel helped create the prototypical "grassroots gravel" experience for those early gravel events he and Jim Cummings put on in Emporia. Joel drew in influences from his participation in other early gravel events, like Trans Iowa, to expand on his repertoire of knowledge and tools to help the gravel scene expand and grow not only in Emporia, but all over the Mid-West.  

Joel Dyke is then an important figure for the early gravel cycling scene, and as a pioneer of the sport, he deserves to be included in the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame. 

So, had THAT been the story the committee got, I have no doubt that they would have nominated Joel. (Not because I wrote that, but you get the idea here...) Of course, anyone who nominates a person for this needs to get their permission to do so, and in this case, since Joel tragically died several years ago, you'd have to ask his widow, I suppose. But there ya go. Write up something like that for Joel, (or anyone else you deem worthy), and send it in after November 1st to the GCHoF. Heck- you can even copy and paste what I wrote, I don't care. 

That's how it happened that Joel wasn't in on the first class of the GCHoF. This is one of the reasons why I wrote yesterday that it is sooooo important for us to get this all written down, recorded, and preserved somewhere so that these fans of the gravel cycling scene can know what the heck actually happened to get them where they are in the future. 

Without the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame, you wouldn't know about many of us that were there. It may seem obvious to you now, but in another 20 years? Yeah..... Without that history being documented, those folks born today won't know about me, Joel, or anyone else who got them on gravel racing and riding in 2042 because of what we did "back in the day". Instead people might still be writing ding-dong statements like "this gravel thing has really taken off in the last few years", which even now is clearly not the case.  

So, it is important for you folks out there to participate and let your voices be heard with regard to what is and what is not important to gravel cycling. It doesn't have to be about certain people, but let's be real here- Without the people involved, gravel cycling wouldn't be worth a hoot. So, you will never get away from that bit.