People Of 2024: Dave (N.Y.) Roll

 In my travels and life during the year, I have been blessed to be supported, befriended, and on occasion visited by some pretty awesome folks. Sometimes I visited them. (Hopefully they were equally blessed!) I wanted to take some extra space to recognize and celebrate these people at the end of the year. I hope you gain some insight and appreciation for what these people mean to me this year and beyond. 

A N.Y. Roll selfie from his recent New York trip

This person is an obvious one for this list and a very important person to me. My friend, Dave, has been invaluable to me over the last several years. He's been there for me and helped me out in ways not many people are aware of, but that's okay. We don't need to broadcast everything, right Dave? Ha ha!

I laugh, but it is true. I owe the opportunity to be where I am at now, in part, to Dave. He is influential in my past regarding Trans Iowa, and he continues to be a help up to this very day. 

Mr. Roll has helped organize rides which were centered around myself, he has hosted the podcast at his home for the last two years plus some, and essentially been a friend to me which is something I am eternally thankful for. Plus, Dave gives me Topo Chico to drink sometimes. How can you not like a guy that does that?

It goes without saying then that 2024 would have been not nearly as good or fun if it was a year without N.Y. Roll in it. And a shout-out to Morgan for putting up with our podcast nonsense also. 

I am definitely looking forward to a 2025 that includes my friend and together I hope that we can keep up the podcast and fun times. Plus, there might be something involving bicycles and a ride that we might do. Stay tuned on that possibility next year.

People Of 2024: Ari Andonopoulous

  In my travels and life during the year, I have been blessed to be supported, befriended, and on occasion visited by some pretty awesome folks. Sometimes I visited them. (Hopefully they were equally blessed!) I wanted to take some extra space to recognize and celebrate these people at the end of the year. I hope you gain some insight and appreciation for what these people mean to me this year and beyond. 

Ari and I. Image by Ari's daughter, Giuletta

What can I say about Ari to you that would impress you so that you would understand what he means to me? This is what I think of when I think about Ari and how I would approach this post. Ari didn't just make my 2024 better, he has been there for years making my life better. 

I've said it on these pages before, and it bears repeating - Ari is a HUGE Trans Iowa fan and supported me with words and deeds that many people have no idea about. I think about these things and to me, the most important part of Ari's and my relationship is how Ari is there to pick me up when I need it. And this comes from a place of need for Ari, not out of an abundance of cheer. Ari has given to me when he hasn't had a reason to. He could be selfish and stick to his own life, but he chooses to be a giver, and I think this is what I most respect and cherish about him. More people should be like Ari. 

It was a gesture like the one he made this past Spring that reminded me of how thoughtful and kind Ari is. He was able to attend the memorial service for our mutual friend, Wally Kilburg, who died in April. Of course, no one would blame Ari for feeling his own feels and grieving a lost friend. But he thought of me and sent me a memorial card handed out at the service because he knew what Wally meant to me and to all those who had ridden in Trans Iowa. I often look at this image of Wally on my desk from that card and think about him, of course, but it also reminds me of Ari and his faithful kindness. 

And then we were able to spend most of a day together this past August, which was a highlight of 2024 for me. This would be my last trip of the year. I was really glad I had the opportunity to go to Chicago and see Ari. It had been far too long. 

There is hope that in 2025 we will be seeing each other again. Stay tuned on that front.....

End Of Year Prognosticationg: Part 2

 In celebration of the twentieth year of this blog, I have a few tales to tell. This post is one of them. This series will occur off and on throughout this anniversary year, I hope to illuminate some behind-the-scenes stories and highlights from the blog during this time. Enjoy!

 Last week on Saturday I wrote about some of the end-of-year prognostications I had made over the past 19 years of blogging. Interestingly enough, I found that during 2008 and 2009 that I skipped making any predictions. This maybe is bad from the standpoint of seeing what I was thinking then, or it may be a good thing because I should not have been doing foolish things like predicting the future anyway. 

Oh well! 

So, let's take a look at some of the other notable things I prognosticated on during the past years of blogging, shall we? here's a good one from 2012: "I have lots of things gelling around in my mind that are fun, exciting possibilities for 2013, but ya know what? I'll likely get swept away in a totally different, fun, and exciting direction than I think I will."

Bingo! But that is a "Captain Obvious" prediction. That could be right for any year, ya know? So, while this next one, from 2019, is more of a desire than a prediction, it fits the theme: "So, I want to get away from home more in 2020. I want to ride in more interesting places and report on that here."

Yeah.....about that. 

I hardly went anywhere in 2020, but it may have been my best year of riding ever.

 Last year, with my leaving Riding Gravel, I figured reviewing product posts here might not be a big thing. Here's my take from the last post of 2023: "Review work will be posted here, but again, I don't know how that will look or if it is a sustainable thing here due to the perception of this being a "blog". So, again - we will see...." 

Well, it seems that - at least for 2024 - it was game on! I posted a lot of reviews and as of now that doesn't look to be changing, but next year is another year, right? I think I had this figured out for a while here. This statement was from the end of 2018: "Many years I have made vague comments about changes and what not that were forthcoming. Many times they did not pan out, many times they did."

Again - Bingo! Another "Captain Obvious" statement, but a wise one and true. So, no more prognostications then? No more hoping and dreaming because, well, a lot of it doesn't come to pass, right?

Wrong!

You'll see in about ten days time....

Friday News And Views

The 2025 Gravel Earth Series Calendar

Gravel Earth Series Announces Official Dates For 2025:

The Gravel Earth Series has expanded its palette of offerings to the competitive gravel rider to include several new events to the series. 

Events now span the globe from the Philippines, South America, North America, Iceland, Europe, and Africa. The USA has six dates on the 26 event calendar alone. 

Most interesting to my local readers is that - as reported here previously - CORE4 in Iowa and Gravel Worlds in Nebraska are both Gravel Earth Series events. This will mark the first time that Iowa has figured into any international series or has gotten any spotlight in a world-wide stage, such as the Gravel Earth Series brings. 

More details can be found at the Gravel Earth Series site. 

Comments: This series is ambitious and seems to be aiming to be the preeminent series for gravel racing worldwide. There is, of course, the UCI Gravel World Series, but at this point, if plans come to fruition, the UCI series will have half the events that Gravel Earth Series has in the USA and the UCI has nothing in Iowa or Nebraska at this point. At least the Gravel Earth Series seems to place a heavy emphasis on the birthplace of the modern day gravel scene, both in having events on its calendar and in allowing those events to be what they are uniquely suited to be. 

Now the outlier here is the Life Time Grand Prix, which is a mix of MTB and gravel, but within its smaller series of events, it has a very lucrative payday and the "crown jewel" of gravel, the Unbound event in Emporia, Kansas.  "Crown jewel" in that it is regarded as the most prestigious Pro level event, but that is all. Whatever charm the event had in its early days is being heavily overshadowed or eliminated in favor of a focus on the highest levels of competition, media access, and prizing.

Schwalbe G1 RX gravel tire (Image courtesy of Schwalbe)

Schwalbe Announces G1 RX Gravel Tires:

On Tuesday of last week, Schwalbe announced new G1 RX gravel tires. The tread pattern is Schwalbe's most aggressive pattern for gravel tires. 

Schwalbe also considers this tire as the gravel tire in its range with the best traction and best cornering traction. They also claim good mud clearing abilities, but I wouldn't hold my breath there when it comes to Kansan clay or Iowa's black dirt. 

The G1 RX comes in 700 x 38mm, 700 x 43mm, and 700 x 50mm. Black or tan side walls. Webpage for the black version HERE. 

Comments: I am not all that familiar with Schwalbe gravel tires. I did try a set of their lighter weight MTB treads for my Fargo one year and had a poor experience so I haven't been all that interested in Schwalbe's offerings. There are a LOT of fans of Schwalbe tires, however, so they must be doing some things right. 

I'll have to try a set again someday just to see what the hype is all about. 

Image courtesy of Good Grief Bicycles

These Are Some "Nice Bars":

I follow "Fixie Dave" Nice on several different social media platforms. He has done Trans Iowa in the past and he really does ride fixed gear off-road and everywhere else all the time. Anyway, he was showing these handle bars recently and they struck me as being very familiar looking. 

In fact, they are a dead ringer for the original Jones H-Bars. I first saw those handlebars at the very first DK200 in 2006. I always thought those were cool, but they were expensive, being made from titanium, as they were. 

I ended up buying some Titec H-Bars, which were made out of aluminum and varied a bit from Jeff Jones' design by using a riser center section instead of a plain, straight section of tubing like Jeff Jones had been doing. It was ugly, but man! It was sure awesome on my OS Bikes Blackbuck. 

One thing led to another and those bars came off, others went on, and the Titec bars went to the recyclers. But when I saw these "Nice Bars", (yes- named after Fixie Dave, it seems), I thought I should try a sample, so I have purchased them. 

These are made from steel, not titanium, but the effect will be similar, I hope, to my old Titec H-Bar experience, which is when I thought the Blackbuck was at its best. I'll have more to say when I get them, but if you are curious, here is the website page. And it looks like my handlebars will be here on the 23rd. So, that's pretty quick service from a small fabricator/business. 

Rocky Mountain Solo Carbon 90 gravel bike.

Rocky Mountain Bikes Files For Reorganization:

News broke yesterday that Rocky Mountain Bikes has asked for a "Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act" from the Canadian government, according to this report on the "Bicycle Retailer and Industry News" website. 

Citing the all too familiar story of a crash in sales post-COVID and a market-wide drop in pricing, Rocky Mountain hopes to avoid interruption of its business with this move.

Comments: This was the sort of thing I thought we might have seen more of earlier in 2024, but it seems that the end of the year has pushed some companies to the brink and now we are seeing the results expressed as financial troubles. 

One has to wonder when you see the brand being "closed out" on internet sites like Jenson USA where you can buy a Rocky Mountain gravel bike for 50% off. In fact, that retailer can sometimes be used as a barometer for what companies aren't doing so well by looking at the deeper discounted brands. 

Rocky Mountain isn't the only brand with recent troubling news. I'll have another brand featured in next week's "FN&V".

That's a wrap on this week. Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions and remember: Get out there and ride those bicycles!

Bikes Of 2024: Nobel GX-5

 It's another December here on the blog. You know what that means? Yep! Another round of my bikes I used in 2024. This round-up will not include some of the bikes I did not use this year much, or at all. I focus only on the bikes that played a big role in my riding during this year.  As always, any changes or future plans for any bike I feature will also be detailed. I hope that you enjoy this year's round-up.

 The Noble GX-5 is another oddball bike in my stable. It is fairly rare, but it has a connection to another bike I own, the Raleigh Tamland Two. Ironically, the design for the Noble was informed by the design for the Tamland Two because one of the engineers on the Tamland designed the Noble GX-5 as well. 

This bike was ahead of the game in a couple of ways. It has semi-internal cabling. It also has a 1X specific design. While Nobel listed the GX-5 as having clearances for only 40mm tires in its marketing, it will easily swallow a 700 X 47mm tire and 45's are no big deal. It also wasn't heavily influenced by the "adventure wart" trend which was a big deal when this bicycle was developed in 2018. 

The bike now sports a State Bicycle Co. Monster Fork v2.

Now I have changed just about everything on this bicycle but the head set. Every other component attached to this frame is pretty much new, or is brand new. Now going forward I also see more stability with the stuff bolted to this bike. Changes will be more intentional, I think.

I had thought about swapping back to the original fork, but I have finally decided to give this State Bicycle Co. fork some more time in the new year. I guess I could see going 12 speed on this bike at some point also. It would be the perfect bike to do that with. But I am in no hurry to go there.

I am looking forward to riding the Noble again. I have a great time riding this bike, and why wouldn't I? The geometry is almost dead-on what I would specify had this been a custom rig.

Bikes Of 2024: Black Mountain Cycles MCD

It's another December here on the blog. You know what that means? Yep! Another round of my bikes I used in 2024. This round-up will not include some of the bikes I did not use this year much, or at all. I focus only on the bikes that played a big role in my riding during this year.  As always, any changes or future plans for any bike I feature will also be detailed. I hope that you enjoy this year's round-up. 

The Black Mountain Cycles MCD has been a staple of my bike stable for years going back to 2018 when I got it. That happened to be the year it came out and this pink color was a very limited run. Now Mike Varley no longer offers this model, instead morphing what this bike does into what is called the "Mod Zero". 

So, the ol' MCD is kind of a rare bird, and in pink, even rarer. Not that this matters to me, it just is. I only knew that when Mike had a run of Monstercross frames made in pink probably ten years or more ago that I was kicking myself for not getting one when I had the chance. So, when Mike reached out to me to say that the initial run of MCD's would have a pink option, I was all-in. 

This bike gets used for testing a lot, so it has had various wheel sets, saddles, seat posts, and handlebars. I actually almost never can tell you what the bike is running at any given moment unless I go down to the Lab and look at it!

It's a great bike. I've no doubt that the Mod Zero does everything the MCD does and more, but I am fine with this bike as it is. It is very comfortable and it easily handles 700 X 47mm tires on wide-ish rims. 

As far as changes go, I think things are going to normalize there for various reasons. Right now? I probably would only change some more of the drive train to GRX. 

The quirk concerning this bike that I often find amusing has to do with its color. I seem to cause a stir in the country when I show up out there on this bright pink rig. I have actually witnessed cars slow-rolling a mile away when they spot me on the MCD. Other bikes? Usually the rural folk take little notice of me. 

I haven't had any negative feedback on my riding a pink bike yet. But I probably will at some point. I'm good with that.....

Rear View 2024: Third Quarter

Hello! it's time again to review the year on Guitar Ted Productions. The "Rear View" has been a staple of the blog since almost the very beginning. This year there will be four Rear View posts looking back on the year in quarters. I'll also have a post looking ahead at 2024. Enjoy the look back and thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

Mid-Summer saw the continuance of reviewing duties and more Country Views posts. There was even one more significant trip to do as well. Let's dig in... 

Again, the reviewing opportunities continued to flow in and I sprinkled in a couple long-term reviews as well. Here's the list for the third quarter of things that were reviewed here:

• Redshift Sports ShockStop Short Stem
• WTB 700 X 50mm Resolute
• WTB 700 x 45mm Vulpine
• WTB 700 X 45mm Vulpine S
• SILCA Terra Floor Pump
• Delium Tires review
• Guitar Ted Lube-Off review wrapped up for 2024
  
• Long-Term Review of Atomik/Berd Wheel Set
• Long-Term Review of the Lazer Kineticore Strada Helmet

There were newsy items as well which included my getting published in the Japanese publication, "Bicycle Club". There was news out of SRAM concerning the new Red AXS XPLR 13 speed group. The SBT GRVL mess was covered which ended up resulting in a big change for that event in 2025. I wrote an article about gravel culture, past, present, and future. Finally, my ten year annoiversary of getting hit by a truck on the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational was recounted. 

Not all reviews are positive: Delium Tires was one such review.

By far the highlight for me for this quarter was my trip to Chicago. Illinois to see my old friend Ari Andonopoulous. We had not seen each other in a bit over seven years. 

I was happy that things worked out so I could spend some quality time alone with Ari. We went out to a local bar for burgers, then we went back to his place and hung out in his garage full of cycling repair tools, bikes, and accessories. 

Later on Mrs. Guitar Ted and Ari's wife, Jamie joined us and we had thin crust pizza from a local pizza joint. It was a fabulous evening and one that I treasure to this day. Thanks to Ari for being such a great host. 

Riding time was about the same as in Spring and I got plenty of good ones in. There were some struggles with time, but overall it was a s good as it was going to get what with my new schedule and responsibilities. 

With that it is time to review the last quarter of the year and that will close the Rear View for 2024. The last post in this series will go up next week. Then it will be on to a look at what's in store for 2025 and what I think will happen here on the blog.

Bikes Of 2024: Dorado Sherpa

 It's another late December here on the blog. You know what that means? Yep! Another round of my bikes I used in 2024. This round-up will not include some of the bikes I did not use this year much, or at all. I focus only on the bikes that played a big role in my riding during this year.  As always, any changes or future plans for any bike I feature will also be detailed. I hope that you enjoy this year's round-up. 

The Dorado Sherpa after the first snowfall of the 2024/2025 Winter season.

The Sherpa has been a commute to work bike for most of 2024, which is exactly what I had intended it to be. That and for short errands. However; I did use it to commute to a conference in early August which was all the way across the urban area I live in.Probably a 20 mile or more round trip.

While I could have used any of my bikes for 90% of that route, it was the last bit that the Sherpa was really the best choice for a bike I could have made. The reason being was that I ended up doing a bit of bushwhacking around the venue the convention was being held at. 

That venue had no approach to the building that was outside of car-centric amenities. The parking lot was busy, and so I ended up scouting out an approach to the venue that entailed a scaling of a steep, grassy hill, then across a gravel parking lot to a back door where there was a bike rack. In the back of the building! I mean, you couldn't get to it without doing the car dance out front, and well...... Should I be surprised? 

That's another story, but the Sherpa was and is a perfect bash-around bike that can be locked to a rack without any concerns that someone else would want it more than I do. Plus, it doesn't even look like anything "modern", which is great. The Sherpa's weirdness is a theft deterrent!

So, I really like this bike. It rides so smoothly, works all the time flawlessly, and does a great job of getting places other bikes I have would struggle to get to. That final point due to the Sherpa's geometry, gearing range, and overall degraded condition, meaning I don't have to worry about scratches or what have you. 

No plans to change anything here. Just basic maintenance going forward.

Bikes Of 2024: Shogun 1000 Fixie

 It's another late December here on the blog. You know what that means? Yep! Another round of my bikes I used in 2024. This round-up will not include some of the bikes I did not use this year much, or at all. I focus only on the bikes that played a big role in my riding during this year.  As always, any changes or future plans for any bike I feature will also be detailed. I hope that you enjoy this year's round-up. 

Ever since I retired and scrapped out my old Raleigh "Rat Rod" fixed gear bike, and gave away my old Surly 1X1, which could be run fixed, I have missed having a fixed gear bike around. There is just something about riding fixed gear that appeals to me. 

So, I had been on the lookout for the right road bike donation to come through at the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective so I could score a bike with geometry better suited to my kind of riding. I really do not like modern day fixed gear geometry. Too high, too steep, and way too short. I wanted a frame with a decent bottom bracket drop, not too steep in the head angle, and the fit had to be very good for me to consider it. 

Along came this Shogun 1000, a 1980's era survivor road bike which was in excellent condition. Trouble is that the Collective cannot hardly give away a road bike. Well, in fact, we can't give these away. No one wants one. 

So, the fate of this bike was the scrap heap or.... I bought it for $40.00, bought a set of fixed gear wheels at the Collective and then went on to put it all together as you see it here. Since the original crank set supported a ring I could use, it stayed, and the bottom bracket was a good one, so it stayed as well. The head set was already an excellent Shimano 600 with the fluted jamb nut/adjuster nut, which I happen to have the wrenches for, and that stayed as well. 

It took me a bit to dial in the saddle angle and handle bar, a carbon Winston Bar from Whisky Parts Co., and then it was darn near perfect. I just need to get some cork grips. 

I love riding this bike! It has 30mm tires on it, but they barely fit, and I wish for poofier rubber. So, this isn't the be-all, end-all fixed gear rig for me. But it does do very well for what it is now.

Review: 45NRTH Draugenklaw Drop Bar Pogies

NOTE: The 45NRTH Draugenklaw Drop Bar Pogies were purchased by Guitar Ted for test and review on Guitar Ted Productions. 45NRTH is not paying for nor do they have any influence on this review, All opinions are Guitar Ted's

The 45NRTH Draugenklaw Drop Bar Pogies on my King Fab Honeman Flyer

Pogies are an invaluable cold weather bike accessory for flat bar riders. While there are, and have been drop bar pogies for years, the choices are far fewer than they are for flat bars. Recently I found a deep discount was being offered on some 45NRTH cold weather accessories which included the Draugenklaw pogies, so I bit and ordered a pair up. 

What It Is: The Draugenklaw is a pogie which is designed to keep hands warm in sub-freezing weather. The Draugenklaw is designed to be used on drop bars. 

The fabric is a soft-shell with a weather-resistant outershell and soft fleeced interior. The Draugenklaw is a slimmer design than other drop bar pogies and is a light-weight design.

Interestingly the inner lining fabric is something 45NRTH is calling 'far-infrared yarn'. It supposedly has the characteristic of accumulating heat and retaining warmth. 

The Draugenklaw is specifically designed for drop bars with up to a 24° flare. Draugenklaw Drop Bar Pogies normally run $85.00 USD but you might find them heavily discounted at the time of this writing. More on these drop bar pogies can be seen on the 45NRTH webpage for the product HERE. 

First Impressions & Installation: The pogies arrived quickly to the Guitar Ted headquarters and out of the box I was impressed by the light, very slim looking design. The seams and materials all looked very well done. There is a nice patch of reflective material on the front facing section of the pogies which will be good in the lower light conditions often seen during Winter months. 

The pogies come with instructions and are clearly written to show you how the pogies should be installed on your bicycle's drop bars. I can say that following 45NRTH's suggestion for the install is a wise decision, as my first attempt to put these on was met with frustration. The lower opening is a small, tight fitting one and seems needlessly so. It precludes any installation over a double-wrapped bar, since the outside diameter of such a set up would render the Draugenklaw to be nearly impossible to pull over the tape. It's a very tight fit over a standard bar wrap as it is. Perhaps if the design had allowed for a hook and loop closed opening that could be adjusted? 

The openings will not allow for bulky gloves or big, heavy jackets.

Ride Performance: The Draugenklaw is a pogie with a minimal frontal area, which is great for aerodynamics, but this means that you have a slimmer opening to get your hands in and out of them. In my opinion, a glove liner is ideal for use with the Draugenklaw. Heavy gloves will be a tight fit, and that will cause another problem I'll get to in a bit. Heavy, thick sleeves on jackets are probably also a bad match with these pogies for a similar reason. 

I used a Summer weight Hand Up brand glove and found it was really about the best weight/thickness for a gloved hand inside the Draugenklaw. The fit around the levers is very snug on my Ritchey Venturemax/Tektro lever set up. I would say I have average sized hands for a 6ft, 1" tall man, so it isn't like I have meat hooks for hands here. So, I was a bit dismayed by the act of removing a hand from the bar and returning it again. The Draugenklaw wants to push down and away from the rider when the hands are entering the pogie. This ends up pushing the opening down until it is essentially facing skyward. You can wriggle your hand and get a semblance of coverage back again, but the thought I had was, "am I missing something here?"

A smaller hand and thin gloves, or no gloves at all, with a tight fitting long-sleeved  jersey/jacket would help mitigate this issue. But larger handed folks and anyone trying to use these with thick gloves, mittens, and heavy Winter jackets will be disappointed. That much was apparent, but still.... I was wondering if there was something I missed. My mind lit on the hook and loop section meant to go around the handle bar top section. Maybe......

Here you can see how the Draugenklaw openings are pitching toward the sky.

 Tightening the part that wraps around the flats of the drop bar may help, so that is what I tried on the next ride. I also went bare-handed and used a thermal jacket with a more slippery outer shell material. This all showed marked improvement when it came to removing and reinserting the hands. Cool! So, I think the tightening of the hook and loop opening around the handlebar top was key here, but I still believe that a thinner glove and sleeker jacket combination will be best with the Draugenklaw.

I think there is something to the high-tech fabric and its claim of heat-holding warmth. I could tell on all three times I rode with the Draugenklaws that heat was being retained inside the fabric.  Even in really cold weather. I didn't ride for long, but at single digits with below zero wind chill, and with heavier gloves? I could make this work. I also confirmed that heavier gloves are a pain to deal with when using the Draugenklaw.

I'll be back after I try these again a few times  I think they will be quite good.  Stay tuned....

People Of 2024: Taiki Sakamoto

In my travels and life during the year, I have been blessed to be supported, befriended, and on occasion visited by some pretty awesome folks. Sometimes I visited them. (Hopefully they were equally blessed!) I wanted to take some extra space to recognize and celebrate these people at the end of the year. I hope you gain some insight and appreciation for what these people mean to me this year and beyond. 

Taiki Sakamoto, editor of "Bicycle Club" and I in Emporia Kansas. Image by Otaki-san

Late in 2023 I received a message from Taiki Sakamoto, a Japanese journalist, who wanted to do a story on the history of gravel cycling. He told me then that he was referred to me by Kai Takashita, the woman who had won her category at the very last gravel event I helped promote called the C.O.G. 100. 

Now, I get occasional requests for interviews and opinions from all over concerning gravel cycling, so this wasn't anything unusual with the exception of Sakamoto-san's request that I help write the story. He also wanted to meet me at the Unbound Gravel event, which he had signed up to participate in and write about for his publication's future issue with a section on gravel cycling.

My part of the article appeared in this issue of "Bicycle Club"

This was exciting for me because it was an international publication in the Japanese language. So, I would not know exactly how it would read translated, but I did get an edited copy of my part of the article in English. 

I did a detailed look at the experience which you can read HERE. 

The day I met Sakamoto-san I was so impressed by his  character and with his efforts to be kind and polite to me. It was apparent every second of our encounter. An example of this was shown at the very end of our meeting.

I thought that Sakamoto-san had left and our meeting was over. Mrs. Guitar Ted and I were kind of spending a bit of time goofing off and then she noted that Sakamoto-san was across the street waving furiously at me. Turns out he had forgotten to give me a gift he had intended to give me. He sheepishly requested that I wait a moment as he wanted to run and fetch whatever it was he had intended to gift to me. Off he ran like a rabbit down a trail!

It wasn't long and he returned with a copy of "Bicycle Club" that I could have to see what kind of publication I was going to be contributing to. It was a thoughtful and incredibly kind gesture, and an unnecessary one, but I was duly impressed.  

Meeting Sakamoto-san was a highlight of 2024 and was eye-opening for me because of the interest that Sakamoto-san said there was in Japan for gravel riding and gravel culture, That Sakamoto-san wanted to get the story from me was an honor. I will cherish the opportunity he gave me and the magazines he sent in August of this year with my contribution in them. 

Published in Japan! I never would have thought that would happen.

End Of Year Prognosticating: Part 1

 In celebration of the twentieth year of this blog, I have a few tales to tell. This post is one of them. This series will occur off and on throughout this anniversary year, I hope to illuminate some behind-the-scenes stories and highlights from the blog during this time. Enjoy!

 December on the blog usually marked my stab at prognosticating what the future in cycling might bring. This was usually found in the December 31st posts here. I thought that since we were coming to the end of another year that it might be fun to see how I did regarding predicting trends and events in cycling over the years. 

Was 2015 the pinnacle of fat bikes, as I predicted?

At the end of 2015, for example, I stated the following: "I feel that 29"ers, fat bikes, and 29+ have seen about as much play as they are going to get and I wouldn't at all be surprised to see some eroding of their popularity and thus, sales, in 2016."

The song goes, "Two outta three ain't bad" and I think I can safely say I got two of three things right here. 

29"ers became "just a mountain bike", but they sure did not go away. If that is what I meant. Now one could say that sales of MTB's have waned, and since most of those are 29"ers, well then..... I could be seen as being correct there, but I'll put that one in the "L" column for this discussion.

However; fat bike sales definitely cooled way off after 2015, with many companies dropping fat bikes altogether soon after 2015.  Innovation arguably came to a standstill until recently with Surly's Moonlander v2 model. There was a bit of a surge with 27.5 fat tires, but overall, yes. Fat bike sales dipped significantly after 2015. 

Surly Krampus as seen at Outdoor Demo/Interbike

29+ also took a hiatus as a bike many were interested in. Bikepacking, arguably, is the only reason this tire size has survived. MTB designs have whittled the width back to 2.6" on the maximum side for 29"ers, for the most part. 2.8" and 3.0" are still around, but this size wheel/tire combo is not the hot set-up it was hoped it would be earlier in the mid-twenty-teens. 

Some things I predicted would happen never even came close to happening. Such was the case at the end of 2007 when I predicted the following: "Well, that "bit" is about to become a "bit more" and will be a really important part of my life moving forward."

I was actually being told by the owner of Twenty Nine inches that I'd be getting regular paychecks for my contributions and that I'd likely have to quit my daytime bike mechanic job! There was even a hint that this very blog might have to be curtailed, or go away, but we all know what happened there. 

I was totally wrong!

I competed in CIRREM in 2011 and never got back there again

Another swing and miss I have had in these prognostications has to do with events I have said I was going to do, signed up for, and then - for whatever reasons - did not ride. One such was CIREM, the February "kick-off" gravel event held for years now out of Cumming, Iowa. I rode in the snow-covered 2011 edition of that event, but I signed up for 2012 and never got there. An icy Winter storm the night before made the roads so treacherous I turned around after trying to drive for an hour and went back home. 

Perhaps worse yet were the times I said I was going to do DK200, Gravel Worlds, or Solstice 100 gravel events and never did them. In that category, but not a prediction, is the time I signed up for the first Spotted Horse gravel event and went and did the Fargo Reunion Rid instead. 

That'll do it for this week. I'll have more next Saturday to close out the year on these 20th Anniversary year blog posts.

Friday News And Views

BMC Two Stroke AL 24 (Image courtesy of BMC)

 BMC Does Something For The Kids:

Last week I received a promotion for BMC kids bikes. BMC is a high-end, bike shop brand from Switzerland, and are sold in the USA. 

The kids bikes are fine. Very well done and smartly designed without suspension forks, which are not very good at this level anyway. Plus they add a ton of weight. Well.....not an actual ton, but you understand what I mean, right? 

So, kudos to BMC for some smart work there. However.....

Comments: This is not the first time something like this has been tried. A "higher end" kids bike that will give a better experience than a department store boat anchor shaped like a bike. It is a noble cause, but we've seen this movie before in the USA. Ross Shafer of the original Salsa Bikes tried this, Trek tried this (along with Gary Fisher bikes in the 90's, also owned by Trek), and I probably am not aware of other companies that have tried to crack the code for selling "nicer" bikes to parents of kids. 

The reasoning for this is easy enough to understand. My son, who got his 24" Trek MT 200 in 2010 had outgrown it in two years. The BMC cost a penny less than seven hundred dollars. You can buy a 24 inch wheeled kids Ozark Trail MTB (Walmart) for under $150.00. You can buy bike shop brands like Specialized and others in 24 inch wheeled bikes for around $350.00 - $400.00. Which one will most budget-conscious parents choose? Probably the Ozark Trail, or an even cheaper Huffy, especially considering how fast a kid can outgrow a bike. 

Draugenklaw pogies from 45NRTH.

45NRTH Draugenklaw Drop Bar Pogies On Test:

I love pogies and I love drop bar bikes. But drop bar pogies are a bit of a weird product niche that not a lot of companies cover. 45NRTH is one such comapny and with a recent deep-discount sale on, I decided to try out a set of their Draugenklaw drop bar pogies. 

I'll have a detailed take on these in a separate post later, but right now I will say that this whole deep-discount thing with 45NRTH and some other brands I see doing this is a bit concerning. I mean, sheesh! This is a bit unprecedented and does not look 'good' to me. 

I'm trying these out soon and then I'll be back with a look at all the details and give you my impressions at that time. Look for this later in the month here. (Note: I bought the Draugenklaw pogies with my own money to use and review on the site here. 45NRTH has no idea I am doing a review nor do they have any say in what I am writing about the Draugenklaws. 

Background image by N.Y. Roll of a trail in New York.

The Guitar Ted Podcast Wraps Up Season #2:

Recently I spent part of an afternoon with N.Y. Roll and Mabel the Rhodesian Ridgeback recording the last episode of the podcast for 2024. 

We talked about all sorts of subjects including our own podcast stats, events and how they might be run in the future, and we discussed what bicycle retail might also look like going forward. 

Check it out at the link in the first paragraph.  

I wanted to thank N.Y. Roll for providing the venue to record at and for the various refreshments he provided for each recording session. Of course, I am grateful for his participation in the podcast as well.

We are taking a rest until sometime in January unless something comes up that we feel needs to be responded to immediately. I think mid-January seems like a good time to start cranking up things for the 2025 season of gravel grinding. Thanks for listening, if you do, and if you haven't, please give the podcast a try. We'd appreciate it if you would. 

Pirate Cycling League Garb Arrives:

Thursday I received my Pirate Cycling League (PCL) hoodie. It will go alongside my recently purchased PCL t-shirt and all my past PCL cycling jerseys and other cycling kit. 

So, if you don't know, the PCL is a "cycling league" in a loose sense that it is more of a theoretical group than it is one in reality. Essentially, if you admire the idea of grassroots, somewhat subversive, under-the-radar rides and ride culture, then you might identify with the PCL and want to rep the colors. It's really just that simple. 

Now, I may be speaking out of turn, but I've witnessed the PCL's comings and goings for around a decade and a half now, so I think I am in the ballpark here. 

At any rate, you maybe would like to be a cycling pirate, yes? If so, then all you need to do is pay attention to the Instagram account - https://www.instagram.com/pirate.cycling.league/# or check their Facebook page for their periodic releases of apparel. You can also check out my post from 2023 when the PCL offered up their 15th anniversary jersey HERE. 

That's a wrap on this week. Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions and remember: Get out there and ride those bicycles!

People Of 2024: Warren Weibe

 In my travels and life during the year, I have been blessed to be supported, befriended, and on occasion visited by some pretty awesome folks. Sometimes I visited them. (Hopefully they were equally blessed!) I wanted to take some extra space to recognize and celebrate these people at the end of the year. I hope you gain some insight and appreciation for what these people mean to me this year and beyond. 

Warren Weibe at the 2021 Gravel Worlds

Now here's a guy I have known from gravel riding for many years. Warren is one of the "OG's" of the modern gravel community. He participated in events that were "pre-gravel" that informed what modern day gravel became, namely the Flint Hills Death Ride. (And likely others I don't know about) Warren did many of the early gravel events, and was an eight time Trans Iowa participant with one finish in v12. 

So, I've seen him around all these years at different events. One of my chief remembrances of Warren is the time in 2017 at Gravel Worlds when it was so stupid-hot and humid that I was pedaling in a fever dream, barely moving, while Warren just pedaled along side of me, cranking away on his single speed. He did not say anything. He was just "there" for me. I felt that deeply, but at the time, I could not speak. 

I didn't need to, really.  

Image of the "Victory Riders" minus Rob Evans who took this image.

Warren has gone way out of his way to make me know that I am appreciated and he often reminds me of my place in the gravel history. Warren was the man who came up with the idea for this year's Victory Ride, with an aim to make it as easy and stress free for me as possible. His reasoning was that he knew how much I stressed out over the details while putting on Trans Iowa, and he felt like it was high time someone did something to respond to that. So, we did the Victory Ride, and it was really stress-free for myself. 

The Victory Ride was a highlight of 2024 for me. I consider it my "death ride" for the year as well, since the Victory Ride really had that same vibe to it that the old GTDRI's had. Also, it was the longest single ride I did all year! 

So,thanks Warren! You made a great ride come true, and I count it as a highlight of 2024, which would never have happened without you. Cheers!

Bikes Of 2024: Twin Six Standard Rando v2

  It's another late December here on the blog. You know what that means? Yep! Another round of my bikes I used in 2024. This round-up will not include some of the bikes I did not use this year much, or at all. I focus only on the bikes that played a big role in my riding during this year.  As always, any changes or future plans for any bike I feature will also be detailed. I hope that you enjoy this year's round-up. 

This bike barely made this list for 2024! I hadn't used it at all for the year until I did a Delium Tire review mid-Summer which required me to have two or three bikes available to run those tires through their paces. One of those bikes ended up being the Standard Rando v2. 

The tires weren't that great, so when I finished the review I decided to swap a few things out, and the tires were one thing. I had strongly considered removing the WTB Graveleur saddle, but I ended up not doing that. I still am conflicted on whether or not that saddle is 'good' or no. For myself, that is. It hits me 'just' wrong on some rides then on others it is perfect. Weird...

The one major change, other than tires, was the switch out to a Redshift Sports ShockStop Stem. This bike really needs that stem since the fork on the Standard Rando rides like a brick. In fact, I almost put that State Bicycle Co. Monster Fork v2 on this bike to see if that might help, but I didn't go that route. 

So, there were a couple changes, and I still am on the fence regarding the saddle and fork. The fork would radically change how this bike looks and it may still ride the same, so I am hesitant to go that direction. The ShockStop stem should help out, but since I parked the bike again after the swap, I still am not sure. 

I think Twin Six needs a v3 Standard Rando withj50mm tire clearance. Until they do that, this bike is sticking around, although I was looking at a Singular Cycles Peregrine frame just a minute ago that does all the things I need plus some, but is out of stock in my size. Now that could be a wonderful alternative to a Standard Rando, We'll see.....

Rearview 2024: Second Quarter

  Hello! it's time again to review the year on Guitar Ted Productions. The "Rear View" has been a staple of the blog since almost the very beginning. This year there will be four Rear View posts looking back on the year in quarters. I'll also have a post looking ahead at 2024. Enjoy the look back and thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

As April kicked in here at Guitar Ted Productions, so did the review work! The move off from Riding Gravel was expected to a be marker for a decline in reviews that I would be offered to do, but it did not seem that there was much fall-off in that area at all. I was surprised by the amount of products I reviewed during this period when I did my research for this post.

Here is a listing of the products I wrote about during the second quarter of 2024:

• Ritchey Design SuperLogic Carbon Venture Handlebar
• Velo Orange Burrito Supreme Handlebar Bag
• Ortlieb Fuel Pack & Top Tube Bags
• Redshift Sports ShockStop Pro seat post
• Redshift Sports Top Shelf Bar
• Camp Snap Camera
• Velo Orange Mojave Bottle Cage
• Caterpy Laces
• Effetto Mariposa Shelter frame protection tape
• Equipt Sardine Multi-Tool

And of course, I reviewed my Honeman Flyer single speed gravel bike I had made by King Fabrications. So, there was a LOT going on there. Probably more than I had going on while I was with Riding Gravel for those three months, which I found really surprising. 

It also bears mentioning that many of these reviews garnered record viewing numbers. You'll see this manifested when I post my "Top Ten Posts of 2024" article later in the month here. So, while my assumption that leaving Riding Gravel would hurt my reviewing side of writing, (which I was totally fine with, if that happened, by the way), it did not decrease as expected. In fact, as I said, I may have actually been busier than ever.  

Articles of note on the blog for the second quarter included my news of the introduction of Shimano's 12 speed Di2 GRX group. News came out concerning Gravel Worlds changing venues. I also announced my 20th Anniversary year of looking back on the history of this blog. That will wrap up in May next year when the 20th anniversary happens. I announced my "official" reasons for departing Riding Gravel. Then finally, on a sadder note, I received news of the death of Trans Iowa supporter, volunteer, image maker extraordinaire, and friend, Wally Kilburg. I wrote a eulogy in response here on the blog.

(L-R) Bobby Kennedy, GT, Curt Young

A few trips happened during this period. One was to Des Moines to visit the Des Moines Street Collective and Bobby Kennedy. Bobby's work there is similar to what I do at the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective. One of the CVBC's board members, Curt Young, and I went down to Des Moines to pick up some extra bikes the Street Collective needed to move on. It is always fun to visit there and Bobby is a great guy to catch up with over a cup of coffee.

Then it was off to Emporia, Kansas with Mrs. Guitar Ted to take in another induction ceremony at the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame. I got another ride in there and caught up with many of my gravel riding friends there as well.

Probably the highlight of the trip was meeting with Japanese journalist, Taiki Sakamoto. Getting to contribute to the publication Sakamoto-san works for was a true honor!

Finally there was the Victory Ride in June which I was really floored by. Warren Weibe was the organizer and the route was planned by N.Y. Roll. We even had "bandit" spray can t-shirts being made to commemorate the ride in the parking lot afterward. So cool! 

I was able to write up several "Country Views" posts over this period as well, so I was getting out there and riding, which was a good thing. It was a busy second quarter of 2024! Stay tuned for what the third quarter of 2024 brought next week in my Rear View 2024 series.

Fixin' A Wheel

The Tamland with the temporary wheel

 Last Summer I was going round and round with my Tamland's Roval wheels and figured out that the noise I was hearing was some of the spokes getting loose due to unwinding nipples. 

I temporarily solved the issue by using an old wheel I had sitting around. However; I wanted to save that Roval wheel somehow and I thought maybe rebuilding it would be the way to go. 

However, straight pull spokes are expensive, and buying a minimum of 32 of them, (what one wheel would need) was going to be costly. So, since the spokes were really not the issue here, I decided that maybe I had nipples that would work to replace the red alloy DT Swiss nipples the wheel had originally. 

I searched for some brass DT Swiss nipples I knew that I had but there were only 26 nipples in that little box. Hmm.... I started digging through my stash of wheel stuff and I found these red alloy nipples I had saved for years. They had come from a wheel off a Raleigh Rush Hour track bike. If I recall correctly we were tasked to remove all the alloy nipples for the customer right away when the bike was purchased and replace them with brass nipples and different spokes. Anyway, I hadn't found a use for them all these years. 

Oddball red alloy nipples.

As I recalled these nipples were weird. They would not thread on Wheelsmith spokes as they had a slightly different thread pitch. I usually use Wheelsmith spokes, so that was maybe why I still had not found a home for these red nipples. 

I had no good idea what the spokes were in the Roval wheel but my guess was DT Swiss. (And no - I did not check the head for a stamp) I grabbed a red nipple half expecting it to not work when hey! It went on!

Now I have plenty of these nipples, so I started going through the Roval wheel one spoke at a time. Unwinding the old nipple, putting Wheelsmith Spoke Prep on the threads, and then installing with the red alloy nipples from the old Rush Hour track bike. 

The new nipples are longer, which I guess is 'good', assuming that the nipple has a bit more support. The thing is, the old, I assume DT Swiss nipples, had a hex head inside the rim portion that was hidden from view so the support thing may be a wash. 

Straight pull spokes are a bit weird because they usually have to pierce a thicker "flange" so they tend to be a bit longer than you might expect. These are 300mm and 302mm in length for this rear wheel application. 

Plus, they can spin while you are tightening up the spoke nipple. There is no "J" bend to work against, so I have to kind of tension them up by applying sideways pressure which jambs the nail head and helps prevent the spoke from spinning until you get enough tension for that to hold the spoke immobile. 

While I have two tensionometers, I am doing initial tensioning by plucking the spokes and matching pitch. I'll go through and do a final tensioning with the tensionometer at the end. But in my experience, it probably will need only very minor adjustment. 

'Spose I should do some cleaning too.

This will save the rear wheel, use the spokes I have without having to purchase new ones, and get this wheel back on the Tamland again. 

It is important to save this wheel because I don't have much for quick release wheels anymore and less that are suitable for a gravel application. These are pretty light wheels as well as being thematically similar in color scheme to the Tamland, so they kind of look at home on that bike. Those red painted DT Swiss Aerolite spokes are definitely unique! 

So, that's but one of the Winter projects I have in mind to do this Winter. I'll be busting out more as the season rolls along. Hopefully I get around to everything I have in mind to do. That will depend on the weather we get, of course. 

Stay tuned.....

Virtual Turkey Burn Reaction 2024

Thanksgiving Day 2024

 Well, this year's Turkey Burn has come to a close with ten reports, including my own, which has been the most out of any year I've run the challenge. (I had to edit that total thrice after writing this post the first time to reflect late additions!) And this is just for those who actually made the mileage, reported it, and sent it all in to me. It does not count for those who tried, failed, or did the challenge and kept it to themselves. (Somebody out there did this without sending in a report, I just know it)

And yes - The Turkey Burn Ride Challenge is not an event with a huge amount of people nor does this register on the radar of social media or by any metrics that "big time" media would consider. But that was not the point of the Virtual Turkey Burn Challenge at all. 

To be perfectly honest, the VTBC is more about getting myself out there to do some riding. Secondly, seeing as how I need that proverbial "kick in the pants", I figured perhaps someone else might be like myself as well. Maybe a challenge to take on would get them riding when maybe they would not consider doing that due to weather, time, or other mitigating circumstances. 

Judging from the reports, I think this was the case for some of the folks. Tom, Muddy Matt, Mike, Scott, Warren, Shiggy, and Ari come to mind, all who were battling weather, poor roads, or time crunches to get the challenge in. I know for myself it was weather related. This near-zero wind chill stuff is for the birds, but I managed to overcome my distaste for riding in such weather. Hey, I guess we all were pretty much in the same boat, come to think of it!

I also got the sense that some of you do this challenge as a way to show your appreciation for the blog and what I do. If that is near the mark, I am truly humbled and honored by this. Thank you!! 

I also wanted to say that I ran the reports as I received them. I also ran a couple as stand-alone posts for that particular day due to their length and imagery content. Other reports were combined as they were brief and had few images. If anyone that submitted reports is offended by my editorial decisions, just let me know and I can explain myself further.

From the first Virtual Turkey Burn Ride Challenge in 2021

This ride has a bit of a history now. The first one was in 2021, and I received four reports! I was not able to participate in 2022 due to a severe head cold, but I ran the challenge anyway and a few folks chimed in with reports, and one came in from overseas, which was nice. In 2023 I received a few as well, but this year's response was by far the best. The weather was the worst here since I started the Challenge which has had typically warmer than usual days to get the miles in. I guess we are back to a more typical pattern for Winter this time around.

The overall results are positive. Some folks were motivated which equals a win in my estimation. Yes, it created content for the blog, but let's be real folks - I am not wanting for content in late November or early December. That is not the reason I put out the VTBRC at all. 

Thanks again to all who participated in any way, whether or not we know it. Thanks for reading the reports, if you did, and I hope that you enjoyed them. But more importantly, I hope that these reports have motivated you to choose to ride a bicycle and keep the car parked one more time. 

Cheers until next year.....