New Look

First in a series.....

Well, if you clicked on the G-Ted Productions site and thought, "What the.....?!!", I wouldn't blame you. The header that Jeff Kerkove designed for me way back about 8 years or so has been retired, finally. I would imagine you may think you have ended up at the wrong address, but no......it's gonna be okay. 

I'd been thinking about changing up the site's header ever since I did the "A Decade Of Nonsense" series here which celebrated my ten years of blogging. Plus, I wasn't really focusing on just 29"ers, which was a main theme of the header Jeff did for me. I have been dabbling in all sorts of stuff, really, so the 29"er deal has kind of worn out its welcome here. Not that I still don't like that format, or support it....

The Blogger template allows you to use different images and when I was doing "Gravel Grinder News" on the Blogger template, I used that feature to swap out the header image monthly. I finally recalled that I could do that today, so......

You can expect a new header every so often whenever the fit takes me. I may do that monthly, or whenever I get a good shot I want to share. Thanks for reading, as always, and I hope you enjoy the changing header themes.

New Look

First in a series.....

Well, if you clicked on the G-Ted Productions site and thought, "What the.....?!!", I wouldn't blame you. The header that Jeff Kerkove designed for me way back about 8 years or so has been retired, finally. I would imagine you may think you have ended up at the wrong address, but no......it's gonna be okay. 

I'd been thinking about changing up the site's header ever since I did the "A Decade Of Nonsense" series here which celebrated my ten years of blogging. Plus, I wasn't really focusing on just 29"ers, which was a main theme of the header Jeff did for me. I have been dabbling in all sorts of stuff, really, so the 29"er deal has kind of worn out its welcome here. Not that I still don't like that format, or support it....

The Blogger template allows you to use different images and when I was doing "Gravel Grinder News" on the Blogger template, I used that feature to swap out the header image monthly. I finally recalled that I could do that today, so......

You can expect a new header every so often whenever the fit takes me. I may do that monthly, or whenever I get a good shot I want to share. Thanks for reading, as always, and I hope you enjoy the changing header themes.

A Decade Of Nonsense: Moving Forward

WooHoo...... Okay, now on with the freak show!

Today, May 11th, is the anniversary date of this blog starting up. I've done a small series of blog entries back in February and March detailing the past ten years. Now that the story has been told of the past, it is time to look forward to the future here.

Besides Trans Iowa, the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational, an odd Geezer Ride or two, and RidingGravel.com, I have no other outside obligations besides my work at the shop. No more testing and writing reviews for two other sites, and no extra responsibilities of editing a bunch of other folks reports, posting them, and taking care of a slew of others images. This has already manifested itself in plenty of free time I didn't used to have. In fact, I'm still adjusting to that fact now.

Hmmm........I suppose that all seems like a lot to ride herd on to may of you out there, but of all of these things I do, I do not see myself forsaking this blog anytime soon. That may be good or bad, depending upon your viewpoint. I only know that I like writing on a daily basis and apparently several folks like reading it. Maybe blogging will continue to decline in popularity, (that due mostly to Facebook, I think), or whatever comes next will make blogging the equivalent of doing needlepoint or crochet. Whatever..... I am still carrying on. Just like the tag line for the blog here says.....

"A bicycle and guitar oriented elixir that some find intoxicating. Others...well, let's just say they are sick of it!"

The future will undoubtedly be a surprise and will take twists and turns along the way coupled with a big dose of the "same ol' same ol'". Other than that, I can't really say what will happen for sure. It'll probably be what I said in my very first post.....

"Welcome to the Freakshow that is Guitar Ted Productions! It is here that I will be at liberty to espouse my verbiage in an unbridled, yet entertaining fashion."

So then.......on with the Freakshow!

A Decade Of Nonsense: Moving Forward

WooHoo...... Okay, now on with the freak show!

Today, May 11th, is the anniversary date of this blog starting up. I've done a small series of blog entries back in February and March detailing the past ten years. Now that the story has been told of the past, it is time to look forward to the future here.

Besides Trans Iowa, the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational, an odd Geezer Ride or two, and RidingGravel.com, I have no other outside obligations besides my work at the shop. No more testing and writing reviews for two other sites, and no extra responsibilities of editing a bunch of other folks reports, posting them, and taking care of a slew of others images. This has already manifested itself in plenty of free time I didn't used to have. In fact, I'm still adjusting to that fact now.

Hmmm........I suppose that all seems like a lot to ride herd on to may of you out there, but of all of these things I do, I do not see myself forsaking this blog anytime soon. That may be good or bad, depending upon your viewpoint. I only know that I like writing on a daily basis and apparently several folks like reading it. Maybe blogging will continue to decline in popularity, (that due mostly to Facebook, I think), or whatever comes next will make blogging the equivalent of doing needlepoint or crochet. Whatever..... I am still carrying on. Just like the tag line for the blog here says.....

"A bicycle and guitar oriented elixir that some find intoxicating. Others...well, let's just say they are sick of it!"

The future will undoubtedly be a surprise and will take twists and turns along the way coupled with a big dose of the "same ol' same ol'". Other than that, I can't really say what will happen for sure. It'll probably be what I said in my very first post.....

"Welcome to the Freakshow that is Guitar Ted Productions! It is here that I will be at liberty to espouse my verbiage in an unbridled, yet entertaining fashion."

So then.......on with the Freakshow!

A Decade Of Nonsense: Part 8

This came into my life in 2011 and has made a lot of appearances here since.

Okay, I'm going to lump 2011 to the present into one post here. The blog grew by leaps and bounds every year, but never more so than in these last years. Heck, I've had a stat counter pretty much since day one and I can remember thinking getting 300 page views in a day was awesome. Now I get that somedays in an hour. Not that I am bragging, but you know- it's just how it is. And trust me, my numbers are small potatoes compared to many blogs. However; whatever this blog lacks in numbers it gets back in other "intangibles".

One of those has been my ranting and commentary concerning gravel road bikes. Well, that has resulted in something called the Tamland. I am not going to be shy here. I am rather proud of that. Amazed, for sure, and proud. It's not every day you can say that your ideas for a bicycle were actually implemented in a production model.

I had a lot more to talk about than that though. Trans Iowas, Renegade Gent's races, CIRREM, Triple D's, GTDRI's, and one of my favorite events- Odin's Revenge. Some of those events went well, some not so much, in terms of finishing, but all were very, very memorable and got their stories told here.

Still going.......

Now things have changed dramatically since 2011. There is no more The Cyclistsite, Gravel Grinder News, or Twenty Nine Inches that I have to shepherd, write for, and manage. That's been a good thing, actually.

I've had a lot of opportunities since '11 as well because of this blog. I've been a subject in the chapter of a book, a major character in a film, and I've had my work published in three different magazines.

All because I was convinced to start writing a blog.

To be honest, I feel very uncomfortable even writing that stuff above. I don't talk about it much here or anywhere, but those are the facts. I often downplay these things when folks talk to me about them, and it is why I decided to name this series "A Decade Of Nonsense" because I feel this whole ten year ride on this blog is crazy. It doesn't make any sense at all to me why it happened.

The bottom line was that I wanted to talk about what I cared about concerning bicycles and my adventures with them. It didn't take long before some folks- some in the industry even- were saying that I "had better be careful" what I was saying because it was "influencing" people and making folks edgy, and whatever it was I was supposed to be careful about. I always figured I was just a mechanic in Iowa with an opinion. No one had to listen to anything I had to say. You know.....just a guy spouting a bunch of nonsense, right? Apparently many of you out there think/thought otherwise.

Well, for better or worse, I don't plan on changing anything about my writing here anytime soon.

Thank You: To All The Readers- Many thanks and I cannot properly express how fun it has been to write all this for you. Thank you for your comments and on those rare occasions, for your comments to me personally when we have met. 

Stay tuned for more...........

A Decade Of Nonsense: Part 8

This came into my life in 2011 and has made a lot of appearances here since.

Okay, I'm going to lump 2011 to the present into one post here. The blog grew by leaps and bounds every year, but never more so than in these last years. Heck, I've had a stat counter pretty much since day one and I can remember thinking getting 300 page views in a day was awesome. Now I get that somedays in an hour. Not that I am bragging, but you know- it's just how it is. And trust me, my numbers are small potatoes compared to many blogs. However; whatever this blog lacks in numbers it gets back in other "intangibles".

One of those has been my ranting and commentary concerning gravel road bikes. Well, that has resulted in something called the Tamland. I am not going to be shy here. I am rather proud of that. Amazed, for sure, and proud. It's not every day you can say that your ideas for a bicycle were actually implemented in a production model.

I had a lot more to talk about than that though. Trans Iowas, Renegade Gent's races, CIRREM, Triple D's, GTDRI's, and one of my favorite events- Odin's Revenge. Some of those events went well, some not so much, in terms of finishing, but all were very, very memorable and got their stories told here.

Still going.......

Now things have changed dramatically since 2011. There is no more The Cyclistsite, Gravel Grinder News, or Twenty Nine Inches that I have to shepherd, write for, and manage. That's been a good thing, actually.

I've had a lot of opportunities since '11 as well because of this blog. I've been a subject in the chapter of a book, a major character in a film, and I've had my work published in three different magazines.

All because I was convinced to start writing a blog.

To be honest, I feel very uncomfortable even writing that stuff above. I don't talk about it much here or anywhere, but those are the facts. I often downplay these things when folks talk to me about them, and it is why I decided to name this series "A Decade Of Nonsense" because I feel this whole ten year ride on this blog is crazy. It doesn't make any sense at all to me why it happened.

The bottom line was that I wanted to talk about what I cared about concerning bicycles and my adventures with them. It didn't take long before some folks- some in the industry even- were saying that I "had better be careful" what I was saying because it was "influencing" people and making folks edgy, and whatever it was I was supposed to be careful about. I always figured I was just a mechanic in Iowa with an opinion. No one had to listen to anything I had to say. You know.....just a guy spouting a bunch of nonsense, right? Apparently many of you out there think/thought otherwise.

Well, for better or worse, I don't plan on changing anything about my writing here anytime soon.

Thank You: To All The Readers- Many thanks and I cannot properly express how fun it has been to write all this for you. Thank you for your comments and on those rare occasions, for your comments to me personally when we have met. 

Stay tuned for more...........

A Decade Of Nonsense: Part 7

In 2010 I was halfway to now. Or something........

2010 was a smoother year off this blog as the Twenty Nine Inches deal smoothed out and I made the decision to pass on every extraneous trip having to do with that site that came up. I knew from the previous two years that it was just not a wise idea for me to take on any of those opportunities anymore.

So, I filled the spaces with races, which didn't work out very well either, as finishing anything seemed beyond me in 2010. Heat being the biggest part of my downfalls that year. The heat really blasted me at my (what was to be my last so far) attempt at the Dirty Kanza 200. It also got me at my own Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational, although the hiding in the cornfield is something Jason, Jeremy, and I still talk about to this day. Speaking of Jason, I did the last Fargo Adventure Ride he put on and it turned out to be the only ride I finished all year, pretty much. Even the Gravel Worlds was a heat fest and I wilted after 108 of the 150 miles. Of course, it was the last year I attempted that event so far as well.

So, I was plugging along here on the blog and as far as the way things went here it was nothing out of the ordinary from what you see now. By 2010 I had figured out "my style" and a format for weekly postings. I did do a series on the history of the 29"er, and that was well received and supported. (The tab for the page on that series is at the top of this blog under the header) Speaking of "pages" on this blog, I did open one on the Fargo and another which basically was a copy of the second or so ever post on this blog explaining the whole "Guitar Ted" deal.

So in 2010 I had this blog, TNI.com, Gravel Grinder News, and The Cyclistsite.com all going and consuming my time. Onward to 2011 in my next installment......

A Decade Of Nonsense: Part 7

In 2010 I was halfway to now. Or something........

2010 was a smoother year off this blog as the Twenty Nine Inches deal smoothed out and I made the decision to pass on every extraneous trip having to do with that site that came up. I knew from the previous two years that it was just not a wise idea for me to take on any of those opportunities anymore.

So, I filled the spaces with races, which didn't work out very well either, as finishing anything seemed beyond me in 2010. Heat being the biggest part of my downfalls that year. The heat really blasted me at my (what was to be my last so far) attempt at the Dirty Kanza 200. It also got me at my own Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational, although the hiding in the cornfield is something Jason, Jeremy, and I still talk about to this day. Speaking of Jason, I did the last Fargo Adventure Ride he put on and it turned out to be the only ride I finished all year, pretty much. Even the Gravel Worlds was a heat fest and I wilted after 108 of the 150 miles. Of course, it was the last year I attempted that event so far as well.

So, I was plugging along here on the blog and as far as the way things went here it was nothing out of the ordinary from what you see now. By 2010 I had figured out "my style" and a format for weekly postings. I did do a series on the history of the 29"er, and that was well received and supported. (The tab for the page on that series is at the top of this blog under the header) Speaking of "pages" on this blog, I did open one on the Fargo and another which basically was a copy of the second or so ever post on this blog explaining the whole "Guitar Ted" deal.

So in 2010 I had this blog, TNI.com, Gravel Grinder News, and The Cyclistsite.com all going and consuming my time. Onward to 2011 in my next installment......

A Decade Of Nonsense: Part 6

Travel took me a lot of places in '08. Here's a shot from Deer Valley, Utah.

2009 was a year of really high highs and really depressed lows. I was hither, thither, and non but somehow managed to keep up with the blog here.

It's really hard for me to properly put this time , (including the last end of 2008), into proper perspective. I was really blessed to be where I was and to go where I went, but deep down inside I wasn't comfortable. I wasn't even sure what was going on in many cases, but I muddled through it, and somehow things worked out despite of me. Travel was a curse and a blessing. I was gone too much from my perspective and I really, really despise flying.

A big change was becoming the sole proprietor of TNI.com after a protracted, vague, and overly difficult transaction with the former owner. Not only that, but business connections, business contracts, and even the photo hosting site was either not transferred or lost forever due to incompetence on the former owners part.  But that really didn't affect this blog....

All throughout 2008 I was writing a separate paragraph here and there entitled "Gravel Grinder News". It was usually a part of Friday News And Views, but not always. In 2009 I continued that here and it was becoming more and more apparent that it deserved it's own space. I had been messing around On Blogger with a Trans Iowa History site and what I wnted to do there wasn't easy on the Blogger platform. Someone suggested I look at Wordpress and I got along with that quite well. So, the T.I.History site was ditched on Blogger but I still had the page sitting there in case I needed to refer back to it. Well, all that to say that I figured I could rename the Blogger site "Gravel Grinder News" and separate the gravel stuff from here. By late '09 I had that up and running.

Daryl Pals stands near my "Dirty Blue Box" '91 Honda Civic wagon that saw a lot of gravel action in '09

 

 

 

 

So, I had this blog, a Trans Iowa History blog, Gravel Grinder News, and Twenty Nine Inches. I also made an incredibly bad decision to hook up with a former Crooked Cog Network blogger to start "The Cyclistsite.com". I was pretty stoked at the beginning, then about a month and a half after this individual said that they would help me with it, they suddenly bailed out. Thankfully Grannygear, my new found cohort from SoCal, stepped up and saved me from getting egg on my face, but this was another personal downer at the time. Oh, and another Big Wheeled Ballyhoo fiasco on top of that toward the end of '09 was icing on a not very tasty cake.

At any rate, the bottom line was that by some miracle I made posts here on an almost daily basis anyway. Personally, I was a wreck, but "professionally", things were mostly great and I got to do some incredible things I would have never gotten to do otherwise. I got to meet a lot of really great people. I was blessed, but I had strung myself out too far. It was unwise, and I knew it. After this point, there was some pruning planned and it took several years to accomplish it.

A Decade Of Nonsense: Part 6

Travel took me a lot of places in '08. Here's a shot from Deer Valley, Utah.

2009 was a year of really high highs and really depressed lows. I was hither, thither, and non but somehow managed to keep up with the blog here.

It's really hard for me to properly put this time , (including the last end of 2008), into proper perspective. I was really blessed to be where I was and to go where I went, but deep down inside I wasn't comfortable. I wasn't even sure what was going on in many cases, but I muddled through it, and somehow things worked out despite of me. Travel was a curse and a blessing. I was gone too much from my perspective and I really, really despise flying.

A big change was becoming the sole proprietor of TNI.com after a protracted, vague, and overly difficult transaction with the former owner. Not only that, but business connections, business contracts, and even the photo hosting site was either not transferred or lost forever due to incompetence on the former owners part.  But that really didn't affect this blog....

All throughout 2008 I was writing a separate paragraph here and there entitled "Gravel Grinder News". It was usually a part of Friday News And Views, but not always. In 2009 I continued that here and it was becoming more and more apparent that it deserved it's own space. I had been messing around On Blogger with a Trans Iowa History site and what I wnted to do there wasn't easy on the Blogger platform. Someone suggested I look at Wordpress and I got along with that quite well. So, the T.I.History site was ditched on Blogger but I still had the page sitting there in case I needed to refer back to it. Well, all that to say that I figured I could rename the Blogger site "Gravel Grinder News" and separate the gravel stuff from here. By late '09 I had that up and running.

Daryl Pals stands near my "Dirty Blue Box" '91 Honda Civic wagon that saw a lot of gravel action in '09

 

 

 

 

So, I had this blog, a Trans Iowa History blog, Gravel Grinder News, and Twenty Nine Inches. I also made an incredibly bad decision to hook up with a former Crooked Cog Network blogger to start "The Cyclistsite.com". I was pretty stoked at the beginning, then about a month and a half after this individual said that they would help me with it, they suddenly bailed out. Thankfully Grannygear, my new found cohort from SoCal, stepped up and saved me from getting egg on my face, but this was another personal downer at the time. Oh, and another Big Wheeled Ballyhoo fiasco on top of that toward the end of '09 was icing on a not very tasty cake.

At any rate, the bottom line was that by some miracle I made posts here on an almost daily basis anyway. Personally, I was a wreck, but "professionally", things were mostly great and I got to do some incredible things I would have never gotten to do otherwise. I got to meet a lot of really great people. I was blessed, but I had strung myself out too far. It was unwise, and I knew it. After this point, there was some pruning planned and it took several years to accomplish it.

A Decade Of Nonsense: Part 5

The start of something good- MG rides with me in March of '08

2008. What a year. In many ways, it was the pinnacle of what happened as a result of this blog. Outside of Guitar Ted Productions, 2008 was a high water mark, (no pun intended, as 2008 was a bad flood year as well), but from the perspective of what is going on in my life now? It was just the beginnings......

It was a year when I met several folks, or got to know them better, that became integral parts of my life for years to come. People like MG, David Pals, Jason Boucher, and Grannygear. It was a year that was the end of the line or the beginning of the end, for several other friendships.

A couple of things stand out for me: The fall out from the cancelled event in Decorah, dubbed the Big Wheeled Ballyhoo. It was a pivotal moment from the standpoint of this blog, my efforts in cycling, and in my life personally. Without that one person making that one silly comment, it all could have looked very, very different now. I won't divulge details, but suffice it to say that "everthing happens for a reason", and sometimes that isn't clear until years down the road.

The other thing that affected the blog here was the fundamental change in my relationship with Twenty Nine Inches. By the end of 2008, any promises made to me by the former owner had been dashed, any hope of making something out of my efforts was negated, and I was in a very unfamiliar place. That being the head of a website- editing, business, relations, and reviewing. Again- I never wanted or envisioned being "that guy". However; I felt that just walking away then was a worse idea. So, I stuck it out and, I guess, it worked out okay from the standpoint of the site. Not for me personally or for this blog, but that is what it is.

This came into my life in '08

Me on the Fargo Gen 1. Image by Jason Boucher

A couple of bikes came into my life in 2008 that I am quite fond of. The OS Bikes Blackbuck, a curvy single speed, was a favorite right out of the gate. I have had it built in several configurations, and it has been an on again- off again test mule for my review work on TNI.com ever since I got it. Now that I am out of that gig, I can focus on just riding it!

The other bike is my Fargo Gen 1. I was rather intrigued by the whole Fargo thing right away when I heard about it. I got really intrigued by the bike when it showed up "under cover" at the '08 GTDRI as "Black Electrical Tape". (Jason Boucher taped over the model name logo to hide the model name from us.) Then in November of '08, on the day Obama was elected, I got a Fargo, which I still have.

I cannot explain why I like the bike so much only that I feel perfectly "fit" on it it every time I ride it. it's "one of those bikes" that just hits you right from the get-go, and there isn't any good explanation for it. All I know is that the Fargo Gen 1 is a "keeper" and that I won't be letting that bike go anytime soon.

More from the "Decade Of Nonsense coming soon.

A Decade Of Nonsense: Part 5

The start of something good- MG rides with me in March of '08

2008. What a year. In many ways, it was the pinnacle of what happened as a result of this blog. Outside of Guitar Ted Productions, 2008 was a high water mark, (no pun intended, as 2008 was a bad flood year as well), but from the perspective of what is going on in my life now? It was just the beginnings......

It was a year when I met several folks, or got to know them better, that became integral parts of my life for years to come. People like MG, David Pals, Jason Boucher, and Grannygear. It was a year that was the end of the line or the beginning of the end, for several other friendships.

A couple of things stand out for me: The fall out from the cancelled event in Decorah, dubbed the Big Wheeled Ballyhoo. It was a pivotal moment from the standpoint of this blog, my efforts in cycling, and in my life personally. Without that one person making that one silly comment, it all could have looked very, very different now. I won't divulge details, but suffice it to say that "everthing happens for a reason", and sometimes that isn't clear until years down the road.

The other thing that affected the blog here was the fundamental change in my relationship with Twenty Nine Inches. By the end of 2008, any promises made to me by the former owner had been dashed, any hope of making something out of my efforts was negated, and I was in a very unfamiliar place. That being the head of a website- editing, business, relations, and reviewing. Again- I never wanted or envisioned being "that guy". However; I felt that just walking away then was a worse idea. So, I stuck it out and, I guess, it worked out okay from the standpoint of the site. Not for me personally or for this blog, but that is what it is.

This came into my life in '08

Me on the Fargo Gen 1. Image by Jason Boucher

A couple of bikes came into my life in 2008 that I am quite fond of. The OS Bikes Blackbuck, a curvy single speed, was a favorite right out of the gate. I have had it built in several configurations, and it has been an on again- off again test mule for my review work on TNI.com ever since I got it. Now that I am out of that gig, I can focus on just riding it!

The other bike is my Fargo Gen 1. I was rather intrigued by the whole Fargo thing right away when I heard about it. I got really intrigued by the bike when it showed up "under cover" at the '08 GTDRI as "Black Electrical Tape". (Jason Boucher taped over the model name logo to hide the model name from us.) Then in November of '08, on the day Obama was elected, I got a Fargo, which I still have.

I cannot explain why I like the bike so much only that I feel perfectly "fit" on it it every time I ride it. it's "one of those bikes" that just hits you right from the get-go, and there isn't any good explanation for it. All I know is that the Fargo Gen 1 is a "keeper" and that I won't be letting that bike go anytime soon.

More from the "Decade Of Nonsense coming soon.

A Decade Of Nonsense: Part 4

2007 marked the first time in ten years that I had raced a mtb event

 2007 continued on with the insanity of activity on the blog here and in my life. In many ways, it was a watershed year.

This was the year that I had two custom 29"er frames done. Both were conceived at nearly the same time and to this day stand as the only two custom frames I've ever had done for me. I still have both of them as well. One I have had rolling since this time, the other has been built and torn down again at least three times and is currently a bare frame and fork. These were both things that were results of the blog, initially here.

Of course, a lot of the first part of the year was spent getting ready for T.I.v3, and saying goodbye to Jeff Kerkove, privately, and alone. He wasn't really "leaving" at the time but he was obviously going on to Ergon, and was not around much after Spring hit. Frostbike that year saw me staying with Brent of Twin Six in the then "World Headquarters" of the fledgling company, which at that time was in his basement.

Plans were also being put together for a "Big Wheeled Ballyhoo", which was supposed to be this "festival" of riding and industry demos of 29"ers that was originally just an idea by me to "get together" and ride 29"ers. However; I let myself get convinced by my Twenty Nine Inches "boss" that it should/could be this "really big deal" someday. Let me just say that the Big Wheeled Ballyhoo ended up becoming a huge thorn in my side for three years, and never really ever was what I wanted it to be. The last year, it would have been but for a freakish snow storm, but by then I was burnt out on the idea. All that to say that I regret where I let this idea go in the beginning of '07. I sure have learned a lot since then!

The Big Wheeled Ballyhoo in '07 was the only one that actually happened in full.

 Later in Spring I was to go to a "press camp" and I reported on that and my going to Sea Otter in Monterey California. Here I was less than two years from starting this blog being jetted out to California, staying at a beachfront motel, eating at Keith Bontrager's home, and going to Sea Otter. It was crazy stuff that I never had envisioned happening to me at all at that time.

Bam! I get back to home from this surreal California experience and then I find out the cue sheets for T.I.v3 are way off and need to all be redone. This and the fact that I was left to organize the event on my own was overwhelming. On top of all of this, I had a guy from Portland, Oregon coming out to write a story about Trans Iowa to be part of a book he was going to do about "Renegade Sports". All this and Trans Iowa was a bit too much, but there was no rest for the wicked and I had another Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational coming, which was basically saved by David Pals doing all the groundwork, or that never would have happened, most likely.

More bike review craziness, I was on a mtb 12 hour four man team at the Iowa 24 hr race, dubbed "Team Stoopid", because we were all on single speeds, and Interbike came and went again. Summer went by fast!

Jeff Kerkove's last "Friday Night Lights" gravel grinder ride announcement.

Jeff made his final ride here a Friday night gravel grinder before he moved off to Colorado, and thus ended an era of my blogging/work career here. It just hasn't been the same since. In fact, before Jeff left, I was rudely reminded of how things were changing when his replacement left in the beginnings of July, just as the RAGBRAI work load increased. It was even worse due to the fact that the ride was coming to our area, so repair jobs were at an all time high, and I had no one at the shop to help bear the burden. It was a tough Summer at work! Not having Jeff there was crudely pushed into my face and I had to make a major adjustment in my ways at work, which has lasted right up till this current time.

Well, the end of the year finally approached, and promises were still being made on the TNI.com front, so I was sure that '08 would see less blogging here. Not only that, but I made an ill conceived decision to become a contributor to another site with another individual that didn't work out. It was good that I tried, but I think it was ill-advised and I wasn't very experienced at the time. It didn't seem to trip me up here though, so that was good. 

The interesting thing about '07 was how many that I knew locally and regionally quit blogging, or curtailed their postings severely and I thought it odd. At the time I did anyway. Now looking back, maybe they were the brilliant ones! In the end, I was forging ahead and I had good intentions and hopes for a different future. We'll see how in '08 and '09 that all fell apart.

A Decade Of Nonsense: Part 4

2007 marked the first time in ten years that I had raced a mtb event

 2007 continued on with the insanity of activity on the blog here and in my life. In many ways, it was a watershed year.

This was the year that I had two custom 29"er frames done. Both were conceived at nearly the same time and to this day stand as the only two custom frames I've ever had done for me. I still have both of them as well. One I have had rolling since this time, the other has been built and torn down again at least three times and is currently a bare frame and fork. These were both things that were results of the blog, initially here.

Of course, a lot of the first part of the year was spent getting ready for T.I.v3, and saying goodbye to Jeff Kerkove, privately, and alone. He wasn't really "leaving" at the time but he was obviously going on to Ergon, and was not around much after Spring hit. Frostbike that year saw me staying with Brent of Twin Six in the then "World Headquarters" of the fledgling company, which at that time was in his basement.

Plans were also being put together for a "Big Wheeled Ballyhoo", which was supposed to be this "festival" of riding and industry demos of 29"ers that was originally just an idea by me to "get together" and ride 29"ers. However; I let myself get convinced by my Twenty Nine Inches "boss" that it should/could be this "really big deal" someday. Let me just say that the Big Wheeled Ballyhoo ended up becoming a huge thorn in my side for three years, and never really ever was what I wanted it to be. The last year, it would have been but for a freakish snow storm, but by then I was burnt out on the idea. All that to say that I regret where I let this idea go in the beginning of '07. I sure have learned a lot since then!

The Big Wheeled Ballyhoo in '07 was the only one that actually happened in full.

 Later in Spring I was to go to a "press camp" and I reported on that and my going to Sea Otter in Monterey California. Here I was less than two years from starting this blog being jetted out to California, staying at a beachfront motel, eating at Keith Bontrager's home, and going to Sea Otter. It was crazy stuff that I never had envisioned happening to me at all at that time.

Bam! I get back to home from this surreal California experience and then I find out the cue sheets for T.I.v3 are way off and need to all be redone. This and the fact that I was left to organize the event on my own was overwhelming. On top of all of this, I had a guy from Portland, Oregon coming out to write a story about Trans Iowa to be part of a book he was going to do about "Renegade Sports". All this and Trans Iowa was a bit too much, but there was no rest for the wicked and I had another Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational coming, which was basically saved by David Pals doing all the groundwork, or that never would have happened, most likely.

More bike review craziness, I was on a mtb 12 hour four man team at the Iowa 24 hr race, dubbed "Team Stoopid", because we were all on single speeds, and Interbike came and went again. Summer went by fast!

Jeff Kerkove's last "Friday Night Lights" gravel grinder ride announcement.

Jeff made his final ride here a Friday night gravel grinder before he moved off to Colorado, and thus ended an era of my blogging/work career here. It just hasn't been the same since. In fact, before Jeff left, I was rudely reminded of how things were changing when his replacement left in the beginnings of July, just as the RAGBRAI work load increased. It was even worse due to the fact that the ride was coming to our area, so repair jobs were at an all time high, and I had no one at the shop to help bear the burden. It was a tough Summer at work! Not having Jeff there was crudely pushed into my face and I had to make a major adjustment in my ways at work, which has lasted right up till this current time.

Well, the end of the year finally approached, and promises were still being made on the TNI.com front, so I was sure that '08 would see less blogging here. Not only that, but I made an ill conceived decision to become a contributor to another site with another individual that didn't work out. It was good that I tried, but I think it was ill-advised and I wasn't very experienced at the time. It didn't seem to trip me up here though, so that was good. 

The interesting thing about '07 was how many that I knew locally and regionally quit blogging, or curtailed their postings severely and I thought it odd. At the time I did anyway. Now looking back, maybe they were the brilliant ones! In the end, I was forging ahead and I had good intentions and hopes for a different future. We'll see how in '08 and '09 that all fell apart.

A Decade Of Nonsense: Part 2

Continuing on with the celebration of my tenth year of blogging, and in this post, I am going to try to portray what it was like in those days to be blogging with no expectations and little to no exposure.

Jeff Kerkove doing some product testing circa 2005

The first post I ever made on this blog was titled "Welcome Wagon" and was indicative of most of my posts during my first year of blogging. Here's the entire text of that post:

"Welcome to the Freakshow that is Guitar Ted Productions! It is here that I will be at liberty to espouse my verbiage in an unbridled, yet entertaining fashion. I have previously been a guest on Jeff Kerkove's site, and I would like to thank him for his incredible generosity. Look for further upgrades to this site as they become technically possible for me to execute!"

The date was May 11th, 2005, and in another example of how things would go in '05 here, I actually posted twice that day. That accounts for how I was able to crank out 300 plus posts in '05 despite not starting until well into the fifth month of that year. Most of my posts had to do with local stuff, because I knew the audience was mostly local, or would be. 

Back in '05, there was no shortage of blogging cyclists. In fact, it seemed as if you had to blog or you weren't a serious cyclist. The landscape was littered with professional, semi-professional, and regional hot shots of the racing scenes who were blogging. A small shop's mechanic's blog? Yeah right! Who would even notice that, ya know? Well, I think once again, that a tip of the hat has to go to Jeff Kerkove, who immediately linked my blog, and by doing so brought a little bit of a light to my efforts. His blog was a very well read one and was becoming increasingly popular. A bit of that rubbed off on me in the beginning. 

Then there was my subject matter, which began to turn to more popular topics, like endurance racing, 29"ers, and of course, anything to do with Trans Iowa. I did a couple of series posts on suspension, a multi-post report on Interbike, and various opinion pieces on cycling. I was digging up a lot of stuff on 29"ers, and that even brought my blog under the spotlight of cycling companies. They were "lurking" and I only knew about it from Jeff teaching me to use a blog stat program. I did a couple of serial posts like "Friday Rants & Raves" which eventually became "Friday News And Views". An end of the year post in '05 was dubbed "A Look Over The Shoulder", which became "Rear View" in recent years.

Go West! And he did..........

 My style was heavily influenced by Jeff in my first year of blogging, but a couple of things happened right away that were big changes in what would happen in '06 and beyond. 

First of all, I was contacted by the owner of a Canadian based blog/cycling site called "The Biking Hub" that was mostly dealing with trail and All Mountain stuff. Cory, the guy in charge there was wanting me to write about 29"ers. I decided to give this a try, as the man wanted to act as my editor. I would submit content, and he would suggest changes, edits, and finally help me craft the posts into a finer written product than I ever would have on my own. This arrangement was a big learning experience for me. Probably the number one influence this man had, (and I wish I could remember his full name, but I lost all my old archives for this), was his take on how to do a cycling product review. I'd never seen anything or read anything like it before in my life. You all reading this today probably don't realize that at least 75% of online reviews and product news was influenced by this man's design for cycling reviews online which I copied. See if you've ever heard of the following:

• An "On Test" article inroducing a review.
• An "Out Of The Box" post about technical features of a product.
• A "First Impressions" post concerning the first uses of a product.
• The concept of "Mid-Term" and "Final Reviews". 
• The "First Look" posts which were about seeing something for the first time at a show, race, or from a press release. 

I never saw any of this previous to my experience in '05 but these days you cannot count the number of sites that either use these terms and concepts directly, or have borrowed heavily from this structure for reviews and product news. I feel I was a big part of why that happened. But it wasn't from being a part of this long defunct Canadian based site. 

 No, that all was because I was starting to get offers to write for a competing online site called "Twenty Nine Inches.com". It was run by a guy by the name of Tim Grahl who started BlueCollarMountainBike.com and TNI.com, but he was looking for a writer/contributor that knew more about 29"ers. I actually submitted some pieces for the site, but in those days I had zero intentions of writing for anything but that Canadian site and my own blog, which was taxing my extra time as it was. Still, Mr. Grahl was very persistent. By 2006 I was being drug into more conversations about contributing to TNI. Meanwhile, the Canadian site was fizzling out. All along the blog was getting more attention from industry folk, but my numbers didn't suggest that my audience was all that big. It was a strange deal. I had just started blogging and here were all these things starting to happen. 

Next time I'll talk about where this blog went in '06-'07 and how things got kind of crazy.
 

A Decade Of Nonsense: Part 2

Continuing on with the celebration of my tenth year of blogging, and in this post, I am going to try to portray what it was like in those days to be blogging with no expectations and little to no exposure.

Jeff Kerkove doing some product testing circa 2005

The first post I ever made on this blog was titled "Welcome Wagon" and was indicative of most of my posts during my first year of blogging. Here's the entire text of that post:

"Welcome to the Freakshow that is Guitar Ted Productions! It is here that I will be at liberty to espouse my verbiage in an unbridled, yet entertaining fashion. I have previously been a guest on Jeff Kerkove's site, and I would like to thank him for his incredible generosity. Look for further upgrades to this site as they become technically possible for me to execute!"

The date was May 11th, 2005, and in another example of how things would go in '05 here, I actually posted twice that day. That accounts for how I was able to crank out 300 plus posts in '05 despite not starting until well into the fifth month of that year. Most of my posts had to do with local stuff, because I knew the audience was mostly local, or would be. 

Back in '05, there was no shortage of blogging cyclists. In fact, it seemed as if you had to blog or you weren't a serious cyclist. The landscape was littered with professional, semi-professional, and regional hot shots of the racing scenes who were blogging. A small shop's mechanic's blog? Yeah right! Who would even notice that, ya know? Well, I think once again, that a tip of the hat has to go to Jeff Kerkove, who immediately linked my blog, and by doing so brought a little bit of a light to my efforts. His blog was a very well read one and was becoming increasingly popular. A bit of that rubbed off on me in the beginning. 

Then there was my subject matter, which began to turn to more popular topics, like endurance racing, 29"ers, and of course, anything to do with Trans Iowa. I did a couple of series posts on suspension, a multi-post report on Interbike, and various opinion pieces on cycling. I was digging up a lot of stuff on 29"ers, and that even brought my blog under the spotlight of cycling companies. They were "lurking" and I only knew about it from Jeff teaching me to use a blog stat program. I did a couple of serial posts like "Friday Rants & Raves" which eventually became "Friday News And Views". An end of the year post in '05 was dubbed "A Look Over The Shoulder", which became "Rear View" in recent years.

Go West! And he did..........

 My style was heavily influenced by Jeff in my first year of blogging, but a couple of things happened right away that were big changes in what would happen in '06 and beyond. 

First of all, I was contacted by the owner of a Canadian based blog/cycling site called "The Biking Hub" that was mostly dealing with trail and All Mountain stuff. Cory, the guy in charge there was wanting me to write about 29"ers. I decided to give this a try, as the man wanted to act as my editor. I would submit content, and he would suggest changes, edits, and finally help me craft the posts into a finer written product than I ever would have on my own. This arrangement was a big learning experience for me. Probably the number one influence this man had, (and I wish I could remember his full name, but I lost all my old archives for this), was his take on how to do a cycling product review. I'd never seen anything or read anything like it before in my life. You all reading this today probably don't realize that at least 75% of online reviews and product news was influenced by this man's design for cycling reviews online which I copied. See if you've ever heard of the following:

• An "On Test" article inroducing a review.
• An "Out Of The Box" post about technical features of a product.
• A "First Impressions" post concerning the first uses of a product.
• The concept of "Mid-Term" and "Final Reviews". 
• The "First Look" posts which were about seeing something for the first time at a show, race, or from a press release. 

I never saw any of this previous to my experience in '05 but these days you cannot count the number of sites that either use these terms and concepts directly, or have borrowed heavily from this structure for reviews and product news. I feel I was a big part of why that happened. But it wasn't from being a part of this long defunct Canadian based site. 

 No, that all was because I was starting to get offers to write for a competing online site called "Twenty Nine Inches.com". It was run by a guy by the name of Tim Grahl who started BlueCollarMountainBike.com and TNI.com, but he was looking for a writer/contributor that knew more about 29"ers. I actually submitted some pieces for the site, but in those days I had zero intentions of writing for anything but that Canadian site and my own blog, which was taxing my extra time as it was. Still, Mr. Grahl was very persistent. By 2006 I was being drug into more conversations about contributing to TNI. Meanwhile, the Canadian site was fizzling out. All along the blog was getting more attention from industry folk, but my numbers didn't suggest that my audience was all that big. It was a strange deal. I had just started blogging and here were all these things starting to happen. 

Next time I'll talk about where this blog went in '06-'07 and how things got kind of crazy.
 

A Decade Of Nonsense: Part 1

The header since early 2007- Design by Kerkove Media

Last year I made mention in my "Rear View" series that I was going to be celebrating ten years of blogging in May of 2005. Well, that's not quite technically correct, as I was doing guest blogging on Jeff Kerkove's blog back in late 2004. The celebration then is starting now and will be ongoing- off and on as I come up with something to say about all of this- through the Summer months. I hope to take some of you back to the days when getting 50 people to look at this deal was considered by myself to be "really amazing" and perhaps give you some insight as to the highs and lows the blog has gone through throughout these years here. Most of all, I want to thank all of you out there that stop in to read. Without you, this is all just blathering into the wind. Meaningless. Nonsense.


Well, maybe there still is some nonsense here! 

Guitar Ted Productions

A bicycle and guitar oriented elixir that some find intoxicating. Others...well, let's just say they are sick of it!

Above is the first, Blogger.com generated header the site used. 

Things started out pretty simply here. I didn't have any real sense of how this medium worked at all. Not that I am a whole lot better now, but at least I know how to post a picture! Jeff Kerkove was instrumental in getting me on the internet. Without his daily cajoling back around 2004, this never would have happened. So, a first, and huge, thank you goes out to Jeff for never letting up on me and finding a way to edge me into the water of blogging by allowing me to sully his page for a bit. That bit of guest blogging was a lot of fun, and it opened my eyes up to something I became, (or maybe already was and didn't know it), very passionate about, namely writing. In fact, I felt compelled to tell stories that, quite honestly, didn't fit the mold of Jeff's then freewheeling banter on endurance training, so along about April of 2005, I started looking into doing my own thing, and how that might work out.

The first design for the blog header, circa 2006, by Jeff Kerkove

Well, obviously April of 2005 was a busy month, as Jeff and I put on our first ever event, Trans Iowa. So, this whole blogging thing didn't get going until I decided to pull the trigger one evening in May of 2005 and there it was! When I set up my template, I chose a Blogger generated one and it asked for a "description of your blog", so I came up with the now infamous "A bicycle and guitar oriented elixir that some find intoxicating. Others...well, let's just say they are sick of it!". Which was ironic, because at the time no one had ever heard of me, so why would they be sick of it? Well, I was being somewhat of a smarty pants in that I figured no one would ever read this stuff anyway, so why not just have fun with it? At any rate, after ten years, maybe some of you are sick of it! 

Apparently Jeff, when he found out about my new blog, wasn't too enamored of my "plain clothes look" on the blog, so he asked for permission to get into my template one day in the latter part of 2005 and came up with the "cardboard & fly" header. I was pretty dang stoked to have a custom made header, and I figured that would be that. However, sometime between the Summer of '06 and early '07, Jeff got into the back room and swapped out the header to what you see everyday here now. Of course, in '07 Jeff left for Ergon, and I never tinkered with that code again.


Okay, that's a look at, well.........the look of this blog over the years and how that happened. Thanks to the internet Wayback Machine for the images of this site as it evolved. Until next time.......

A Decade Of Nonsense: Part 1

The header since early 2007- Design by Kerkove Media

Last year I made mention in my "Rear View" series that I was going to be celebrating ten years of blogging in May of 2005. Well, that's not quite technically correct, as I was doing guest blogging on Jeff Kerkove's blog back in late 2004. The celebration then is starting now and will be ongoing- off and on as I come up with something to say about all of this- through the Summer months. I hope to take some of you back to the days when getting 50 people to look at this deal was considered by myself to be "really amazing" and perhaps give you some insight as to the highs and lows the blog has gone through throughout these years here. Most of all, I want to thank all of you out there that stop in to read. Without you, this is all just blathering into the wind. Meaningless. Nonsense.


Well, maybe there still is some nonsense here! 

Guitar Ted Productions

A bicycle and guitar oriented elixir that some find intoxicating. Others...well, let's just say they are sick of it!

Above is the first, Blogger.com generated header the site used. 

Things started out pretty simply here. I didn't have any real sense of how this medium worked at all. Not that I am a whole lot better now, but at least I know how to post a picture! Jeff Kerkove was instrumental in getting me on the internet. Without his daily cajoling back around 2004, this never would have happened. So, a first, and huge, thank you goes out to Jeff for never letting up on me and finding a way to edge me into the water of blogging by allowing me to sully his page for a bit. That bit of guest blogging was a lot of fun, and it opened my eyes up to something I became, (or maybe already was and didn't know it), very passionate about, namely writing. In fact, I felt compelled to tell stories that, quite honestly, didn't fit the mold of Jeff's then freewheeling banter on endurance training, so along about April of 2005, I started looking into doing my own thing, and how that might work out.

The first design for the blog header, circa 2006, by Jeff Kerkove

Well, obviously April of 2005 was a busy month, as Jeff and I put on our first ever event, Trans Iowa. So, this whole blogging thing didn't get going until I decided to pull the trigger one evening in May of 2005 and there it was! When I set up my template, I chose a Blogger generated one and it asked for a "description of your blog", so I came up with the now infamous "A bicycle and guitar oriented elixir that some find intoxicating. Others...well, let's just say they are sick of it!". Which was ironic, because at the time no one had ever heard of me, so why would they be sick of it? Well, I was being somewhat of a smarty pants in that I figured no one would ever read this stuff anyway, so why not just have fun with it? At any rate, after ten years, maybe some of you are sick of it! 

Apparently Jeff, when he found out about my new blog, wasn't too enamored of my "plain clothes look" on the blog, so he asked for permission to get into my template one day in the latter part of 2005 and came up with the "cardboard & fly" header. I was pretty dang stoked to have a custom made header, and I figured that would be that. However, sometime between the Summer of '06 and early '07, Jeff got into the back room and swapped out the header to what you see everyday here now. Of course, in '07 Jeff left for Ergon, and I never tinkered with that code again.


Okay, that's a look at, well.........the look of this blog over the years and how that happened. Thanks to the internet Wayback Machine for the images of this site as it evolved. Until next time.......