 |
| Image courtesy of 45NRTH |
Last week 45NRTH released news of a new 700 X 40mm non-studded road tire for wet Winter conditions. Dubbed "Latkat", the tire features a rubber compound that 45NRTH is calling "Gripkraft" which is said to enhance grip on wet pavement.
The tread is also heavily siped for better gripping on slick surfaces. The tire features bead-to-bead puncture protection and is also tubeless ready.
The Latkat costs $70.00 USD and is available online or at 45NRTH dealers. See more about this tire HERE.
Comments: This reminds me a lot of "Blizzak" car tires. (IYKYK) I'd think that these might also work okay as a gravel Winter tire, but I also know that ice on gravel is weird and I would rather run studs because of that. Your mileage may vary.
As a commuter tire in the city? I get it. However; there are really decent gravel tires that do a pretty good job at this already, so the LatKat would have to show significant snow and ice performance bennies before I'd spend the bucks on a set. Seventy a pop isn't all that bad though, so if you haven't got a tire for Winter, and studs seem like overkill, this could be a great solution.
The Guitar Ted Podcast Episode #32:
We're back again with another episode, this time featuring several interesting subjects. N.Y. Roll and I ramble on from the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame noms, which are open now through December 1st, by the way, to industry troubles and we even talk cameras at one point.
The title is from a quote by N.Y. Roll where he says at one point during the episode, "Are we seeing the end of the Age of Gravel?", which I thought was an interesting question.
While we don't answer that in the episode, I think that we are at a point right now where that is a fair question to ask. Gravel™ has "peaked", in my opinion, especially in the rider's viewpoint, and media has already reached a point where "gravel" is everything and besides Pro roadie stuff, which has always been the cycling media's darling, those are primarily the two subjects that dominate their coverage on their sites.
People are sick of it all and that's usually the beginning of the end for many disciplines of cycling. The thing is, what's next? I don't see it being a resurgence of road racing, although the websites and YouTube media wonks are sure pushing that narrative hard. Especially in terms of the Women's Pro events. The thing is, road cycling, as a participatory sport, is a death wish in the USA. The "Lance Effect" isn't going to happen again, and especially with the advent of electrified, assisted bicycles.
So, until a viable, grassroots based type of cycling emerges, we're probably going to be stuck with this "gravel thing" a while longer.
Triple D 2024 Registration Open:
Triple D, the Winter endurance race, is going to occur on January 13th, 2024. This event runs out of Dubuque, Iowa and traverses parts of the Driftless Area and utilizes the heritage Trail as parts of its 70 mile course.
Riders can choose a half distance of 35 miles or an untimed, fun ride of 17 miles as well. Runners are also a part of Triple D and can choose several distances also.
Event headquarters for the bike part of the event will be at 7 Hills Event Center just off HWY 151 in downtown Dubuque. Registration is $75.00 for the full distance and you can sign up HERE.
Comments: I have participated in this event on three occasions and I can recommend it highly. Conditions can be brutal or difficult in several ways, so don't take this one lightly. In my three years of doing the event we had sub-zero temperature starts, copious amounts of snow, and on one occasion ice was a big factor, sending me skittering off the Heritage Trail into the ditch head-first!
This is a long-running event in Iowa and the cycling part was taking place before fat bikes were commercially available. That said, a fat bike is recommended although I have seen people tackle this on mountain bikes and one year a guy showed up on a cross bike!
 |
| Pinched from Instagram |
Jeff Kerkove Finishes Another Ultra:
So, if you are not familiar, Jeff Kerkove and I worked for a few years side by side as mechanics at a bike shop where we concocted the idea for this gravel event called "Trans Iowa". Then gravel became a thing. That was back almost 20 years ago now.
So, while I stuck around and forged ahead with the gravel race and riding stuff, Jeff moved to Colorado, got a job at Ergon USA, and continued his mountain biking while doing well and winning long distance events.
He still works for Ergon, who are based in Germany. While on a business trip to the home office Jeff noted that there was an event in Morocco where he had already ridden in an ultra earlier in the year. It is called Bikingman Origine Ultra X Morocco. The course was a mixture of pavement and gravel.
Jeff had to ride 638 miles and he did it in 61 hours and change coming in 4th overall and 3rd place Mens. So, congratulations to Jeff! What an amazing ride in an amazing country.
Jeff kind of "live-blogged" his journey on Instagram and he was saying that he thought a lot of the riders were "under-biked" having more road biking gearing, not much storage, and "slammed stems". he finished off the description by saying "...you know the type.", which made me chuckle. Roadies! Jeff has always had the tiniest bit of disdain for the overall stereotype of a roadie. You know....him being a dirty mountain biker and all. Ha!
This really reminded of 2004-2005 when Jeff was killing it at solo 24hr races and riding the roadie group ride here on his MTB on the shoulder and keeping pace with the group. It was great training, obviously, and a thumbing of the nose to the local road riders at the same time. Good times!
That's it for this week. Have a great weekend and ride those bikes if you can.
No comments:
Post a Comment