Randomonium: Three Things

Trek Farley 9 Winter Edition (Image courtesy of Trek Bikes)

 Trek Offers Fully Decked Out Farley:

Trek announced a new Farley fat bike this past week that is fully kitted out. this turnkey fat bike is ready for a long haul, bikepacking, or a quick over-night outing. 

Made from aluminum, the bike features frame and fork mounted racks reminiscent of the 1120 plus-wheeled bike, although these are reportedly somewhat different to address mounting security concerns with the 1120's racks. 

The bike also features a frame bag, dropper post, and a splash guard under the down tube. This all comes in at $3999.99USD with a SRAM Eagle GX drive train. 

Comments: Trek just released this bike as a "Winter Edition" Farley 9. Let that sink in for a moment.....

Hello Spring! So, yeah.....weird timing there Trek! But beyond that, I will note that this bike can certainly be used year-round. Anyway.... The SRAM drive train, aluminum frame, and spec of mostly Bontrager stuff is okay, but 4G for this? Hmm..... I know things have gone up in price, but this bike has aluminum rims, tubes (!), and GX is kinda low spec here. I get it- It is a turnkey solution to roll out the door ready for off-road touring and adventure, and that counts for something. And I realize prices have gone up some, but still.... Great idea. A bit spendy for what you get. 

SRAM AXS Force. (Image courtesy of SRAM)

SRAM Announces New AXS Force Group:

Looking a lot more like the upper end Red group now, SRAM has refreshed the look of Force AXS and refined a few bits, most notably the hood/lever shapes and the power meter integration with the chain rings. 

Otherwise this is pretty much standard fare for SRAM AXS Force. 

Comments: Lots of chatter online about the power meter integration with the chain rings here. (This only applies for the roadie crank set. The "Wide" and 1X crank sets have spindle based power meters) I guess I see their point when a direct mount chain ring set with integrated power meter costs something North of four hundred bucks, but when you are dealing with race-level gear, stuff found on bikes costing around 10K, what's four hundred bucks for a part? Honestly, the entire economics of a "road racing bike" is bonkers these days. 

Chris Skogen from his Instagram post.

 Almanzo 100 Founder & Gravel Cycling Hall of Famer Chris Skogen Announces Gravel Events:

The Almanzo 100 founder and Gravel Cycling Hall of Famer, Chris Skogen surprised many of his social media followers on Thursday last week with an announcement that he was going to facilitate three off-pavement events. The biggest surprise? None of the proposed events will be in Minnesota. 

The only event Mr. Skogen did release a date for was a September 16th date for this year at an undisclosed location in "Northern New Mexico". Here are the details he did specify in his announcement: 

• 100 miles
• 100 people
• $0 to enter
• 0 sponsorships
• 0 brand affiliations

Mr. Skogen did also say that if you wanted more details then you should email him. (Ironically he did not give his email out in the announcement) Mr. Skogen did say that more information would be forthcoming, however. 

Plans are to follow up the 2023 event with one in Oregon and then in 2024 in "upstate New York".

Comments: That the proposed events are "non-sponsored, no brand affiliations" does not surprise me. This is Chris Skogen we are talking about and this is in keeping with his character when it comes to events. I did also hear Chris say at the GCHoF installment ceremonies last year that he had been "bitten by the bug" again and that he was considering putting on an event again. I guess this is evidence of that. 

Stay tuned. If I find out anything more I'll post here about it all.  UPDATE: Mr. Skogen released these details today (Saturday,March 4th, 2023)

How to enter…

Mail a letter (yes, a letter…in the mail…I know, I’m such an ass) of declaration which must include the following:

Name (first & last)
Age
Email
Favorite book
Something from your local bike shop (if this one is a struggle, DM me)

That’s it. Just those five things, in an envelope sent to the address below before 4/20/23.

Mister Skogen
959 Weeks Ave SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414

You might be asking why to the letter and maybe even why this event needs to exist at all. Don’t worry I’ll explain later.

For now, the first 100 people to register by letter will be notified accordingly.