VTBR Report: N.Y. Roll

 Our first report was filed by N.Y. Roll. He actually did his ride BEFORE the stated time stamp, but we'll see what he has to say about this after his report. Here is his day from Western New York. 

I started before dawn, I headed south on NYS RT 19, and passed through Pearl Creek, then as the road went left with a bend in the road, I stayed pedaling west and headed to West Middelbury. 

 

I ascended into the hills. I then descended by the church. Then I spent what felt like a lifetime climbing up 12-15% grade trying to get to Attica. I finally got there after a long descent in to the valley. I was happy to only be passed by 5 cars till that point. 

The next leg of the ride was a lot of untraveled roads. Even though I'd been around here in my youth I do not recall the roads I passed down today. Around mile 27 I came across a covered bridge in Folsomdale. Once I crossed the bridge I knew my general direction of travel would be heading east for the remainder of the ride. 

I came across a few sleet/rain cells. Nothing heavy but enough to be concerned. So I went north across the border to Genesee County in Darien Center. I would be on pavement for the remainder of the day.
I ended the day with 63 miles and 3,200ft of climbing. It was a quiet day on the bike.

 

Following are N.Y. Roll's images:

 

 

Finally, N.Y. Roll offers up the following as his defense for doing the VTBR earlier than Thanksgiving Day: 

 In case anyone wants to complain about me doing outside the window.....

 Weather was a BIG factor in many of the reports I received this year. Stay tuned for more VTBR Reports throughout the week and next week as well. 

VTBR Ride Report: Weather Related Failure - Part 2

Note: This is the conclusion of Guitar Ted's Virtual Turkey Burn Ride report. Tomorrow others submissions will begin to be posted with the first received posts until all are worked through which were sent in by the deadline.  

The beginning of the afternoon ride.

Take Two:

I had a great lunch of roasted Italian sausage, roasted vegetables, and a slice of Mrs. Guitar Ted's Kentucky Butter Cake. Then I switched out jerseys, jackets, and socks before heading back out again right at 1:00pm. I also managed to find my Wahoo, so I was able to track mileage a bit more accurately on my second leg. 

The plan was to skip the Green Belt with all the stop-and-go nonesense and see if maybe heading Northwestward to Cedar Falls and looping around Big Woods Lake might prove to be a better way to go. I was hoping it would take less time, as I had about 3.5 hours of good light left before it would get gloomy.  Then maybe it would cloud up for the oncoming storm. If the clouds got thick before Sunset I'd be in the dark sooner. 

So I headed back out on bike path, alleys, and streets before hopping on the bike path by Northland Oil. Some yayhoos had a big motor home parked in the street there at this point which was blocking the road and view ahead. I shook my head as I rolled on by the guys milling about the vehicle.

Not much going on here!

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Cedar Falls, Iowa.

When I reached downtown Cedar Falls and the amphitheater/community space at the corner of State Street and Second I turned toward the river on the dedicated bike path to get to the path which reaches around the back end of the area, goes underneath the highway, and along the riverside. But before I got to the top of the little hill I met an SUV with a woman driver who was going down the path toward the set up area for a community gathering later celebrating the beginning of the holiday season. I suppose she thought she was being smart and efficient since she wouldn't have to park in the street with the plebeians and haul whatever she had over where it needed to be? Maybe.  

Either way she shouldn't have been on the bike path driving an SUV, and by her look of trying not to see me as she whizzed by, it was obvious she knew. Oh....she knew. 

Ducks gliding across Big Woods Lake

Heading into George Wyth State Park

There was an uncanny amount of cars coming into and out of the City composting area which the bike path comes near to at one point. It stank of something horrible burning as well. Yuck! I was glad to leave this area, but I was also going to have to come back through it one more time. My plan was to loop around Big Woods Lake on the bike path to get some more mileage, then head back to the house on the North/East side of the Cedar River. 

This would take me through George Wyth State Park. I was hoping to find the little gazebo along the river and stop to rest and drink water. On the way in I saw a few folks running.. I suppose it was their way of burning the turkey. I was foiled in my plan to stop at the gazebo because I had to stop to cross a dead fall....

More carnage as a result of Tuesday's windstorm. 

 

Go ride in the woods to get out of the wind, they say. It'll be fine!

I ran across a couple big blow-downs and several branches on the trail in George Wyth. Just a good reminder here to stay out of the woods in this area when the winds are gusty and strong. You never know when some dead tree, branch, or limb will come crashing down on you. This is why I do not ride anywhere near trees - or out in the open country, obviously - when it is very windy here. 

My path homeward took me by many small lakes, backwaters of the Cedar River, and the river itself. 

 

The Cedar River near Tibbits Park

Reality Sets In: 

I was getting pretty fatigued by this point. I was happy with my mileage and it looked like I was going to top 40 miles on the day. This doesn't sound like much, but the Green Belt was slower going and I was running out of time and energy to do anything more in the afternoon. It was barely 30 degrees, so being cold also burns up energy as well as the riding. 

Pogies saved my hands from freezing, and perhaps if I had set up the old On One Inbred for this riding I may have spent less energy on pedaling and would still have been able to use pogies since the Inbred has flat bars. But I used what I used and the Ti Muk is surprisingly light. Anyway, I was doing the best I could at the time. I also knew I was not going to get my metric century in if this weather was coming. 

Big game hunting in Exchange Park. This cement elephant is a remnant of an old theme park. 

 

Along the Cedar River in downtown Waterloo, Iowa.

I was thinking I may as well head over to the Collective and hang the signs telling people we'd be closed Saturday due to the weather. Kind of like my Virtual Turkey Burn Ride, it would be shut down by the arrival of Winter. Fall was going away, and a new season is upon us now. 

Saturday morning @ 9:00am.

Turns Out "They" Were Right: 

I ended up with 42 miles. It started snowing Friday evening, and by Saturday morning it was clear that I was going to be socked in and the VTBR for me was over. Shut down by weather. 

I'm not too bummed about it. I got the Blackborow DS out and plunked around a bit on Sunday, but whatever mileage I got will not approach the metric goal. It's okay. I did well by riding most of the day on Friday and turkey was burned. This was the goal anyway.

Now for gearing up for some fat biking in snow. The forecast appears to be saying we will stay cold for the near term. This snow is more than enough to play around in, (14+ inches!), so I look forward to hitting up some trails and riding in Winter conditions for a bit. We have not had a good Winter for this in several years. 

That is a wrap on my Virtual Turkey Burn Ride Report. Following will be a few reports I have received and there should be several more coming in. As of this writing I have two in and I know of at least three others who said they were doing this challenge and were posting images over the weekend of their riding. 

Stay tuned for those reports all week long. If enough come in I may have to extend the reportage through the weekend and into next week. Thanks to all who either are doing the full challenge, or to anyone who was inspired by this just to get out and ride. I appreciate all of you. 

VTBR Report: Weather Related Failure - Part 1

  Note: The first Turkey Burn Ride Report is from Guitar Ted. Others will follow after his report in the order they were received. 

 Pre-Burn:

Early last week the weather people started crowing about colder air coming and a big Winter storm after Thanksgiving. We had been seeing regular temperatures into the 50's, but this was to go away and our highs would be barely reaching the low 30's by the day after Thanksgiving. 

I scrapped my original plans for a recap of "Jacob's Ride" on gravel. It would be just way too cold for this and I wasn't acclimated to being out riding in near-zero wind chills and temperatures in teens and 20's. Additionally, any wind at all would be a big issue out in the open with zero ground cover now that the crops are out. 

So, I re-upped the tubeless sealant on the front wheel of my Ti Mukluk, (the rear wheel had been done some time ago now). I installed the 45NRTH pogies on it. I went over all the contents of the two bags on the bike and fitted water bottles so everything would be set up the way I'd need it after Thanksgiving. I test rode the bike on my test loop both Sunday and Monday. It pained me to think the 50 degree temperatures would be gone. Tuesday came along and the evening of Tuesday and into Wednesday we had high winds of up to 50mph. This would also end up affecting my ride on Friday. 

Friday after Thanksgiving in the Green Belt.

An Attempt Was Made:

My gut told me I was going to end up being in the same pickle I found myself in last year. The VTBR in 2024 saw me ducking into the Green Belt and other local bike paths to rack up short bits of mileage over three days.  

However; there was this pesky snow storm which was being hyped up over the days leading up to Thanksgiving. By Wednesday there were Winter Storm Warnings in effect for Saturday through Sunday with predictions varying from 8" to as high as 14" in our area. This meant I was going to have to pack in as much riding as I could on Friday, which fortunately was Sunny to start out with and would have gentle breezes instead of a stiff, cold wind.  

I made it out by 9;20am in the morning. When I awoke at 6;00am it was a bone-chilling 15°F. That was too cold for my tastes after living in 50 degree days for several weeks just prior to this. So, I had decided to wait for the Sun to get up a bit and the temperatures to begin to crawl upward.  

 

I started out on the nearby bike path

I got in a short bit of gravel road!

Then I ended up in the Green Belt for quite a long while.

One snafu before I left for the ride was my misplacing of my Wahoo GPS unit. Since I was in a hurry to get going and since I was using a similar route from last year to start out, I was fine with this. However; my plan would require my finding the confounded thing before the end of the day. 

Onward. My fear was I would run into a ton of dead falls due to the violent wind storm we went through Tuesday night into Wednesday. However; I did not immediately run into anything impassable. I did have to dismount and remove a 4" diameter branch which was right in the tread of the trail. Immediately after this I ran across a woman trail running who shouted out she had "cleared the trail for me". I responded I had also done so for her. She turned around and shouted something else after I had passed her, but I couldn't make it out. It did sound friendly, at least! 

I used little used spurs and branches of the trail to up the mileage. 

There ended up being several places where I had to get off and walk around big dead falls. 

The Green Belt ended up becoming a work of riding a fair distance, coming around a blind corner to have to jump on the binders to avoid crashing into a dead fall, and then either clearing the trail as best I could, or working around stuff which was too big to deal with. Not only was this time consuming, but I also had issues with the foam gaskets on the pogies where the handle bar and cables passed through the ends of the pogies. Those foam pieces were shifting and wanting to fall out. The Green Belt trails were rough, and the dirt was frozen and unforgiving. This ended up rattling out one of the gaskets, which I lost, and displacing the other. I ended up stopping to fix this issue. 

The Green Belt Lake

Rapids on Black Hawk Creek which I saw on my return leg.

All the stopping and starting was eating away at time. Eventually I was stopped about a mile from the end of the trails Southward by a giant mess of deadfalls and no good way to scoot around it. With time being so precious, and my being so close to the turnaround point, I just made a decision to head back the way I had come, well....mostly. 

I did use other spurs and loops of the trail going back I had skipped going outbound. This added up mileage. I got home with a solid 25 miles in and I arrived at home just in time for lunch. I was hungry, so this was a good thing. The plan was to eat, change out some clothing, and head back out again in the afternoon to get in as much as possible. 

Stay tuned for Part 2 and the conclusion of my report tomorrow.  

The Thirty-Two Watch: What Happens Now With 750D?

 Okay, I know you are never supposed to ask a question in a headline, but this is the subject of the post, so...bear with me. The alternative big wheel sizes are going to face a lot of scrutiny in the coming months, but one which is little known is seemingly on the brink of being passed by for 32"ers. 

Of course, I am speaking of the 750D, a size WTB created to be an alternative wheel for 29"er hard tail riders and for gravel/adventure riders seeking better roll-over benefits. I was made aware of this effort by WTB several years ago, and was promised a set of wheels to try out, maybe even a complete bike, but it never materialized. 

750D on the left in a Stormchaser frame. Warbird on the right with 700c wheels. 

 I was provided the image above by a friend. The 750D wheel and tire is WTB's take on the idea. The tire is a 40mm wide Nanoraptor. On the right is a traditional gravel wheel set up. So you can see the overall wheel diameter difference is notable. 

WTB was betting on this size to be something a 29"er rider could swap into their hard tail and have a gravel riding set up with a similar diameter to a 29" x 2.4" tire.  Thus making the overall feel similar, and keeping geometry intact on the bike. But like so many ideas which seem to vaporize before their time, or are misunderstood, 750D was passed off as "too weird", "a made-up standard", and just not different enough to be bothered with. 

Image courtesy of WTB . 700c on right.

More importantly, no brands seemed interested. Niche brand Dirty Sixer seemed to be the big pusher of 32" early on and got some interest drummed up enough to get V Rubber to make them some tires. These were bigger, wider tires than the tires WTB was showing with 750D.

Had WTB dared to show, say a two-inch wider Nanoraptor instead of the 40mm width on a 750D rim, well maybe things would be rolling in a different direction. (Pun intended)

Of course, it is all water under the bridge now as 32" wheels are set to be unleashed upon the XC MTB marketplace. I've seen mentions about this for gravel since my last post on the wheel size as well. 

Some Things To Consider:

Before you become one of the already thousands of punters who are going off with speculations regarding how and why 32"ers are dumb - or worse - you may want to consider a few things. 

First and foremost, the benefits of a larger diameter wheel are scientific fact. So, we can forget about 32 not being "better". It inherently is better by way of physics. Now there are a few other things to think about here as well. 

• Materials Technology: When 29"ers came about, there were a LOT of obstacles to overcome. Tires were the least of the issues, but there weren't any big, trail worthy tires for years until closer to 2010. Tire mold-machines were said to be the reason why. There weren't any big enough to make fatter, wider 29"er rubber. This will not be an issue with 32"ers. 
• Rims: 29"ers suffered early on from poorly designed rims, (Rim brakes at first! Egad!) and rims were narrow and heavy. This will not be the case with 32"ers. Already sub-1300 gram wheel sets exist in 32" size. Keep in mind also that 700c was arbitrary due to convenience and tradition. Yes, there was some older science to back up this size wheel, but people changed in the 100 years since this work had been done, so... 
• Geometry: When 29"ers came about all anyone knew were 26", "NORBA" style XC trail bikes. Even downhill racing bikes of the day had ridiculously steep head tube angles and high bottom brackets. 29"ers forced a rethinking of everything from fork offsets to seat tube angles and more. The bikes we have now are, in part, due to 29"ers shaking up of traditional thoughts on geometry. 32 inch wheels will benefit from this previous experience and avoid the pitfalls early 29"ers fell into with regard to geometry.  

So, one more thing to chew on from a gravel rider's viewpoint. I think 32 inch wheels have a fair chance at becoming a gravel rider's next bike IF the bikes and wheels do two things: Absorb vibrations, NOT trail obstacles. Secondly, they must be an advantage on rolling, open terrain.  These wheels should be stable in cross winds and eat up rolling hills or they won't be worth the effort to buy. 

As far as advantages on trails off-road? I don't care. None of the "big deals" for off road riding will be things I would switch to 32" for. I do not need better roll-over. I'm riding crushed rock roads, (gravel, ya know?), and roll-over is not going to be anything notable going from 700c X 45mm - 50mm up to 32"ers. Weight is a BIG deal to me. So a larger, longer frame and bigger tires, which will weigh more, is not really an advantage to me. 32"ers will have a LOT harder time breaking into the gravel scene than they will the MTB arena. 

Maybe if we "half-stepped" it up with a750D X 45mm wheel and tire it would make more sense. I don't know, but I think 750D is dead in the water now.  

If "gravel" is defined by you as "trails/light single track, or off road primarily", then 32"ers may be a thing for your riding. But here in Iowa? Yeah.... It's going to be a lot harder to justify those bigger wheels. 

I'd still give 'em a try though!

People Of 2025

  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. 

From the Tree In The Road Ride. Image by Jason Boucher

 
Last year I started a mew 'end-of-year' segment called "People of 2025". Things were a lot different from the standpoint of people in my life for 2025. Firstly, my giving my truck as a trade in piece to my son, Jacob in October of 2024 severely limited my abilities to go anywhere to be with people I know from cycling. This had an enormous effect on how many people I would see this year. 

But overshadowing this was my son's sudden and unexpected death in early August. This brought a flood of visitors to the memorial service we had in my son's honor. So, listing out each important person seems a bit uncouth and rude to me. Everyone had a part in the support for me and my family. And many people contributed to this in any of several ways beyond physically being here. Therefore, all who chose to even give a thought to myself and my family in these difficult days deserves a "People of 2025" recognition. 

I'll be doing a post looking back on Events and a special post regarding my son and our cycling journey, but singling out folks for recognition this year seems a bit of a miss and I do not feel right about it. So, in closing, I just want to thank each and every one of you who read along when I posted about my son, my feelings, and how I was working through this tragedy, and still am working through it. I appreciate all your thoughts and prayers. I appreciate the contributions, the comments, and the visits. I cherish the hugs and tears shed. 

Thank you all.

Bikes Of 2025: Black Mountain Cycles MCD

 It's another end-of-year period on the blog. You know what that means? Yep! Another round of my bikes I used in 2025. 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 part of the stable now since 2018. This is kind of a transitional model between the Monster Cross and the Mod Zero model currently offered by Black Mountain Cycles. So, this MCD has been discontinued, but a Mod Zero is a great alternative and better in some ways to the MCD. (In case you were wanting something like this bicycle.)

I always wanted a pink bicycle. I am maybe weird this way, but ever since "Captain Dondo" wrote about his pink Specialized mtb in "Dirt Rag" I have thought about owning a pink bicycle. Then I missed out on Mike Varley's offering of a pink BMC Monster Cross model and I was sure I missed the boat there. However; in 2018 Mike tipped me off about his offering a pink MCD model, one of the first of the run of this model, and I bought in immediately. 

I think of the MCD as my "skinny tire Fargo", or a Vaya-like bicycle. I've ridden both extensively on gravel and there are characteristics of both Salsa models in this MCD. That's a good thing. 

In fact, initially I set the MCD up to mimic exactly my then Fargo Gen I set up. It made this bike instantly comfortable and easy to get along with. 

I swap out wheels so much on this bicycle I never really get a chance to hone in on anything super-specific about the way it rides, but I'll just say it is very good. 

Changes? Well, maybe sticking to a single wheel set and tire combination for a season! I might switch out more components to GRX, or maybe a new group set at some point. I have enjoyed the carbon VentureMax handle bar on this bike, so this component will not change. 

My only big change I really want to see is riding more on this bicycle than I did in 2025. The MCD was minimally used this year, and I often wished it could have been out with me more than it was. This will be a goal for 2026. 

Bikes Of 2025: Raleigh Tamland Two

 It's another end-of-year period on the blog. You know what that means? Yep! Another round of my bikes I used in 2025. 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 Raleigh Tamland Two finishes out its 11th year here with minimal use. I had it out a couple of times this Spring, but on through Summer it sat mostly unused. The longest ride I did on it was the Labor Day Ride with N.Y. Roll, at least I think it was the longest ride I did on that bike for 2025.

I did figure out the rear wheel issue, which wasn't a rear wheel issue, and bought a new crank set for it in a 170mm length. I was hoping to put a lot more miles on this bike to see what I thought of the slightly shorter cranks, but alas! I just never got around to it. I think I like this shorter crank, but as of now, I cannot say until I get more time in on those. 

Since I gave away the Black Mountain Cycles MCD this is now my oldest purposed gravel bike. I'm definitely not getting rid of it, and if you have been a long-term reader here, you know all about the story which would explain why. 

As for changes I may build a chi-chi wheel set for this bike some day. Maybe a set of blue hubs with silver spokes on carbon rims of some sort. I mean, that'd be cool, but totally unnecessary. It's a good bike as is. So, I wouldn't count on much changing with this one. 

Happy Thanksgiving

 Happy Thanksgiving!

All the best from myself, Guitar Ted, to you and yours if you are celebrating on this day of thanks. 

I am thankful for my life.

I am thankful I can ride a bicycle.

I am thankful for my family. 

I am thankful for my friends. 

 

And I am thankful for so much more. I hope today you take a minute to think about what you are thankful for. I hope you take some time to say "I love you" to those who are important to you. You don't have to be celebrating a "thanksgiving" holiday to do any of these things.  

Finally, thank you for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

Now get out there and ride your bicycle! 

Bikes of 2025: The King Fabrications "Honeman Flyer"

 It's another end-of-year period on the blog. You know what that means? Yep! Another round of my bikes I used in 2025. 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 Honeman Flyer has quickly risen to become one of my favorite bicycles I've ever ridden. This purely based upon my feelings when I ride it. It's so good, thanks in no small part to Li King of King Fabrications. Li had a lot of latitude in this bicycle's details. Sure, the geometry was a lock due to my demand the design reflect all the angles and degrees the original Pop Warner design for Willie Honeman had going on. But Li picked the tubing, decided how to miter the tubes and join them, and Li was the painter as well. I let Li do whatever Li wanted with the paint, and Li knocked it out of the park, in my opinion. I just wanted to make a point of Li's choices in the tubing which contribute heavily to how this bicycle rides.

Still, I find it hard to believe the Honeman Flyer rides as well as it does. It could have been a disaster even though Li did such a great job. This is due to how weird the rear half of this bicycle was designed originally. I have nothing which even comes close to how this bicycle is designed. It makes zero sense, when you think about it, as to why I would even get along with such a radically different bicycle. 

The seat tube is super-slack. The chain stays are really long. The bottom bracket drop is pretty deep. By all accounts, when considering geometry for gravel bicycles in 2025, this should not work for anyone. 

But it works great for me!

The combination of the weird stuff I already mentioned and a somewhat slack 71° head tube angle all combines to make a bike which feels super-stable and accelerates with immediacy when I stomp on the pedals. It handles well enough that during the 2024 Mid-South I was able to navigate the single track section with ease. 

I have only one beef with the bike and it has to do with tire clearances. I wish I would have asked for clearance for up to a 50mm tire. But as it is, I can fit around a 44mm wide tire and I have adequate clearance, so I can live with that. 

Changes? Well, this bicycle is kind of an inside joke regarding seat posts. I think I've gone through a half a dozen trying to find "the one" which will stay on the bike. Currently it sports a straight, no offset, Thompson in silver.  This works great, and I love the look, but eventually I think I'm going back to a carbon post or a titanium post with zero offset. 

I love Ritchey VentureMax bars, which is what the bike has, but I could see myself going with a carbon version for a bit more compliance. I could upgrade the brakes to Paul Klampers as well, since this bike is so custom, and I like it so well, it deserves this level of parts.  

The current state of the King Fabrications Honeman Flyer

Another consideration is a new crank set. I like those Paul cranks which came out recently. I can see upgrading to something like those and doing a nicer bottom bracket as well. 

But I do not need to do anything. These are all just wants/desires. The bike is serviceable and rides so well. So, I am in no hurry to change it up at any point in the near future. 

Rear View 2025: End Of Winter

 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 will feature  five Rear View posts looking back on   End of Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, and  Beginning of Winter. I'll also have a post looking ahead at 2026. Enjoy the look back and thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

Winter was missing in action when the calendar flipped to 2025. Sure, it was cold, but we were pretty much snow-free, and there were regular times when the temperatures were more like November than January. 

I started a review of the blog including major story lines and images due to the blog reaching the start of its 20th year. The date was actually May 15th, 2005 when the lights turned on here, so technically I am still in Year 20 of this thing called "Guitar Ted Productions". 

This review was fun for me as I was digging through old posts. But the most fun part for me was looking at the old headers when I started using my own images. There were a lot of those which spurred old memories. 

A foggy January ride

I have found the reviewing duties to be more self-chosen and less 'offered' as it was in the past.  So, now I typically am buying things and then reviewing them. I'm okay with this because it means I am reviewing things I have keen interest in versus doing someone a solid by taking on a review of a product I'm skeptical of, or one I feel isn't all that interesting to myself. 

Besides, with the arrangement I have now I don't have to review anything, and while this may be hard for you, the reader, to understand, it is something of a relief to me. Reviews are an obligation I do not take lightly. Whether or not I am "into" a product or bicycle or not, I give it my all to do the thing justice. It is a responsibility and a duty to you, the reader. Now, if I don't feel up to it, I just don't have to do anything, which is freeing. I guess I'll leave it at that. 

Anyway, I started reviewing a couple of items in January. The Good Grief Bikes "Nice Bar" and Bike Tubes TPU fat bike tubes. Both are great and I use them to this day happily. The TPU tubes are fairly impressive and a big upgrade for any fat biker using butyl rubber tubes, in my opinion. The weight difference is astounding, and this makes them worthwhile alone, but air retention is also really good. 

We didn't ever really get much snow in 2025

The Snow Dog. I'll have more to say about this bike in my year end bike review soon.

We did end up getting one fairly decent drop of snow, but it did not last long. I think I actually rode more in January and February out in the country than I had in a while. I'd have to double check this, but the weather was outstanding for country rides from a Winter standpoint. 

It had been a long time since Guitar Ted Headquarters had upgraded its computer, so back in late February there was some changes in the works to upgrade the ol' 'puter'. 

I know, it looks all cool and whatnot, but I have to say Windows 11 isn't my favorite. The search function is terminally slow, and things are displayed in a way which is not conducive to my style. Well, I guess I've gotten used to it, but sometimes so-called "advancements" are really not. 

Moving on! March brought warmer weather again and with this I was able to get outside some more. Then later in the month I was busy writing up stories about three main things: Gravel cycling trends, the bicycle industry slump, and the upcoming Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame class for 2025. The reviews on the TPU fat bike tubes and the Good Grief bar were wrapped up. Then with the close of March I was looking forward to maybe getting more rides out in the country. 

From a March ride to check out Marky-Mark trail. 

Riding out East of Waterloo here on the Honeman Flyer

In March I wrote up a "one-year" review on the Honemann Flyer. I'll have more to say about this bike in my year-end bike reviews, but suffice it to say that I really enjoy riding this bike. It has quickly become one of my favorite bicycles of all-time. 

Hmm.... 

Maybe I should write THAT post! 

More year-end stuff coming soon. The next Rear View will be after Thanksgiving in the first week or so of December, depending upon what happens with Virtual Turkey Burn Ride reports.  

Two Things

The Peregrine Mk4 with Schwalbe G-One Overlands.

Ride Quality vs Speed:

If I am not using my gravel bike for racing, then what am I using it for? This may sound like a ridiculous question, but the answer you give matters. 

Why? Well, the answer will tell you what is likely going to be a bigger influence on the success of your riding. If the answer is that you only really race, or are training to race, on the gravel bike, then your focus will be on speed and aero. If you don't really care about racing, then maybe you might want to think about comfort and ride quality. 

I like fun. Being beaten and made numb or sore because my bicycle rides like a hay rack is not fun. I will give you an example. The recently reviewed Schwalbe G-One Overland tires I tried were fast. They were some of the best I've tested in this category. However; they did not feel very good. 

I was a bit disappointed and fearful this may have been an issue with the Peregrine itself. Maybe the frame is just too stiff? Well, after the review was over, I swapped wheel sets and tires. The tires I used were older SOMA Cazadero 700 X 50mm tires and these were fitted with Rene Herse TPU tubes. I used the bike on the Veteran's Day ride with N.Y. Roll. 

Image by N.Y. Roll

The ride quality was better. No more harshness when hitting things like expansion cracks, potholes, or the like. Plus the Cazadero/TPU tube combo rolled nearly as fast as the Schwalbe tires did. 

Now had I run these tires tubeless I would imagine the ride quality would have been even a little bit better, at the least. So, this fit my purposes better than a tire which has speed but lacks in ride quality. 

My results were that I had more fun. Fun is good. 

Now had I been going racing? Had I been doing work in training for a race? Maybe I'd throw the Schwalbe tires back on. But I am not racing, and so I don't place speed above all else when it comes to riding gravel. 

I'm not saying racing is bad, or you should not ride for those purposes. However; many folks get caught up in the racing stuff due to those racing things seemingly being "the goal you should strive for". I think this is wrong thinking. I believe most riders want to have fun riding their bicycles and speed gains, power outputs, and GPS data - while cool - is not what the focus should be for most riders. It is not why most people ride. They typically ride for pleasure and fitness. So, maybe choose tires which fit why you are really riding. Just a thought.....

Big Wheels For Gravel:

Maybe 15 years ago, maybe a little more than that, you would have been fairly acquainted with the arguments for and against 29" wheels for mountain biking. 

29"ers were really the first wheel size which came along to break all the traditional thoughts and technical design behind mountain biking. Change is never easy, and a lot of people don't cotton to change. Resistance was high. However; eventually the results of using 29"ers convinced most people this was actually a better way to go.

Manufacturers made a few mistakes along the way. Technologies came along, which enhanced the positives of 29"ers to the point where 26" wheels, once the mainstay of MTB, were now deemed not all that great to use anymore. 

Now there is a new wheel size which is here to challenge 29"ers. It is 32" in diameter, and it sure looks as though the MTB world is going to be in line to see what shakes out from the trial usage of 32" wheels in XC racing. Technically manufacturers and designers all know what to expect, in theoretical terms, due to the previous experiments with 29"er wheels. Mistakes and failures should be mitigated to a great degree. If 32" wheels "work", it won't be because of luck. 

So, in the latest podcast we discuss this, 32"ers rumors and speculations which are afoot, and whether or not 32" is a good idea for gravel bikes. Give the show a listen. Let me know what you think in the comments. 

Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions