Coming out of a dark time in 2021, I was hopeful that 2022 would be a ride on the upswing. And how could it get much worse? I had lost my mother at the end of 2021, my last parent, I lost my job at the bike shop due to the pandemic, and I was working a side hustle as a mover at a moving company for pocket change.
So that's where I started in 2022. Of course, I kept writing here and for RidingGravel.com. But I needed to find work and soon because the moving gig was killing my body. Fortunately, by mid-January I had landed a gig as the head mechanic at the local bicycle collective. It wasn't much, but at least I wasn't going to burn out my body lifting and moving heavy furniture around!
On the bicycle front, I started out the year with my annual look at the gravel scene again. This was followed up by news that there would be a Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame, and that stirred up a lot of controversy right away. Additionally, I was mentioned as a possible first class inductee. This was pretty ironic considering my status in society in general at that time!
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| Guitar Ted in his "Lab", January 2022 |
Winter finally came in strong with some snow and some colder temperatures which kept me off the bike for a bit. In the meantime, I did a big shop clean-out/reorganization which was much needed. I celebrated my 61st birthday with a fat bike ride.
The world at large was seemingly looking to head out from under the dark clouds of the pandemic, but supply chain issues were forecast into the year, so I made some plans to acquire some repair parts while I had some spare money and decided that I should try to stretch the life of stuff a bit longer than I typically would like to. I built a proper single speed rear wheel for the Gravel Bus at this time and swapped the old Irwin carbon wheels from that bike over to the Tamland Two.
Meanwhile the new job was lifting my spirits and I was getting great feedback on my performance there, which was refreshing and shockingly different from my previous jobs. February brought a moderation in the weather as well, which meant more bicycle riding, and even some country riding again. But as far as events went, I had to curtail my desires there as the new job meant that I had to work on Saturdays for the first time in a few decades.
March came in and Winter was fading fast. I got more country rides in. I was tabbed to be a part of the Gent's Race team I have been a part of for over a decade again. News surfaced concerning new Iowa gravel events, a UCI "Gravel Worlds", and the industry kicked into high gear with innovations and new technology since the pandemic looked to be easing its grasp on the world by mid-March.
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| For all intents and purposes, the pandemic was over by Spring |
On the blog, I was still writing up the "Trans Iowa Stories" series which was drawing to a close with the telling of the stories behind T.I.v13 and T.I.v14 during this time period.
I also wrote several opinions on gravel, the UCI's involvement in that, and regarding the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame. I wrote several pieces which took a look at how the gravel cycling scene was wrestling with the forces of capitalism which was at odds with gravel's socialist/democratic/grassroots beginnings. I also announced why the C.O.G. 100 was my last act as an event promoter.
The month of March closed out with my getting several rides in so I'd be ready for the Gent's Race. The blog featured the next players in my long running series "Guitar Ted Lube-Off", which pitted a sheep oil lube against SILCA's Super-Secret lube this time around.
Next up I will get into what happened in April, May, and June here at Guitar Ted Productions which will include the Gent's Race, my induction into the Gravel Cycling Hall of fame, and more. Stay tuned for that coming up next Saturday.
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