The year kicked off here with unusually cold and windy weather with plenty of snow around. I laid low while the Arctic blast lasted and wrote up my usual "State of the Gravel Scene" posts.
Things were different as I had to put in time at work on Saturdays which I had started doing the previous year when I was hired at the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective. Which reminds me, January 2023 was the first January in three years that I had a steady income!
Weather moderated and I actually got out on a ride or two in the country. Plans were formulating for my goals going into the year concerning riding, and writing up newsy bits was a big part of the blog early in the year.
January also marked a change in the podcasting status. I had taken over the production and publishing duties regarding the old podcast back in late 2022, but in January of 2023 I made the clean break to having the show under my complete control and creative input. "The Guitar Ted Podcast" was announced and we ended up recording 35 episodes in 2023. That's a third of what my previous podcast put out in the span of its nine years of my involvement with it. The old ways of producing the show were clearly holding things up!
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| By the time of my birthday in January, we had more snow on the ground. |
The Renegade Gents race, or as it is known now as - Gents Race - was on again and I started scheming up a plan to get ready for that event. Then it was time to announce the next class of the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame. I was proud to have served as one of the electors for the organization and as an inaugural inductee, the new class made my inclusion in the Hall even more meaningful.
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| Testing lights on the way home from work late in Winter. |
Eventually the snow started melting and I started pushing to get out into the country again on gravel rides. I was a bit amazed by the low snow-pack and lack of towering drifts which are a normal occurrence during a typical Iowa Winter. But not this season!
This was a portent for what was to come in 2023 as we experienced a severe drought and we reached "Exceptional" drought levels by late Summer.
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| Grinding out some early Spring miles in Southern Black Hawk County. |
Essentially the first part of 2023 was fairly uneventful. I was pumping out podcasts with N.Y. Roll, getting some riding in, and working the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective part time. Things were going well with the job, and I had opportunities to pick up more hours, which helped out tremendously with finances, but the schedule was tripping me up and I was having a hard time wrapping my head around that. Trying to balance family, work, writing, and riding was all a new thing and a different balance than it had been.
Of course, we were in constant upheaval for three years prior to this, and coming down off that roller coaster was presenting a new way of navigating life. I was not immune to that. Finding new balance with new challenges was demanding some changes be made. I was definitely making some of those. Both outwardly and behind the scenes.
Next: Rear View 2023: Spring
2 comments:
Wondering aloud and a little off topic here. Your stable of winter fat bikes always look so sharp and pristine as all your bikes do; so when you do hit the streets and ride through all that slush and salt and chemical crap that the city puts down, when you get home from your ride how do clean all that mess up ? Did you build some sort a wash station in your basement to clean all that corrosive crap off ? Obviously you can't do it outdoors in sub freezing temperatures creating a hockey rink in your yard and I'm pretty sure your wife wouldn't go for you using the bath tub.
Beside being old and able to break things ( bones ) more easily, not having as much tolerance for the cold as I used to nor an affinity toward icy streets, not wanting to subject the bikes I do have to said corrosive crap nor yet owning a fat bike of any kind but would like to .... So how do you clean up your bikes in the winter ?? Always wondered. Inquiring minds want to know, just in case ....
@baric - The truth of the matter is that it is just the opposite of what you think. I get accused all the time of never cleaning my bikes by my friends and coworkers!
But specifically to the Winter soup that sometimes I ride through: Before I bring a bike in from a ride, I will spend some time knocking off the big chunks of slush and snow. I might even take a broom to the bike also. But that's all done outside. And I never get it all off.
I have a cement floor basement and I just let the bikes melt off/dry off and then - often times - I just go ride again. I might spend a little time here and there with some Pedros Bike Lust or lubing a chain, but honestly, my fat bikes get ridden hard and put away wet, almost literally.
The finish stays pretty nice on them due to the use of the Bike Lust which leaves a silicone film on the finish. I've found Bike Lust to be really quite good at helping keep a bike looking its best. Muc-Off has a similar product that does really well also.
I suppose using car wax might be good in a similar way also.
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