And The Rains Came

 Sunday I awoke to a rainy day, just as it had been when I went to sleep on Saturday evening. This was not very conducive to getting any cycling done. 

I heard some faint music and stepped outside to see who might be playing music loud enough on a Sunday morning that I could hear it inside my own home. I went out and caught the sultry sounds of Albert King's "I'll Play The Blues For You". 

Well, it was kinda early for music that loud, but hey! Good taste and a great selection for the dreary, cold, rainy day. I went back inside and watched it rain through the window with a hot cup of coffee in hand. 

Then I got a text that was from our pastor at the church I attend. They had need for a guitar player on short notice, so I decided I'd go and play. And it continued to rain.... 

It didn't stop until late in the afternoon and by then I had other plans in play. I spent time with my family, and with the time change, it was soon to be dark anyway. So, I had a great deal of gratitude that I had gone out and rode on Friday, because Saturday's are pretty much work, then family time, and well, it started raining Saturday anyway. 

Death of an Apple Watch

I've caught myself taking a quick glance at my bare left wrist a lot lately. That's due to my Apple Watch failure last week. You can see the results of a slight blow to the top here.

I'm not the roughest guy on watches, and this thing outlasted those old FitBits I used to get by a long, long time. Oh yeah, time......

I have to tap my phone to see what time it is now. So annoying! I guess I'll have to dig out one of my old analog watches and see if I can't get one going. That or I have to start looking for another electronic device to slap onto my wrist so I can be Dick Tracy again. (Hit the link if you are too young to know about Mr. Tracy)

Maybe I should get a Garmin watch, or a Coros watch. Not sure. Mrs  Guitar Ted is a huge Apple fan, so the most likely thing that will happen is that I end up with another Apple Watch. We will see. In the meantime, I will be caught taking a glance at my bare left wrist several times in the future. 

Old habits and all.....

Friday News And Views

Ride With GPS Announces Integration With Apple Watch:

Ever since 'smart phones' have debuted, the promise of using that device as a cycling computer has been a dream, and the times where it has been tried end with poor experiences, typically due to short battery life issues.

However; a recent development by Ride With GPS, (RWGPS) may point to a time soon where your smart phone takes on new life as a cycling computer/data gathering/dispensing hub. 

The just announced Apple integration with RWGPS goes a long way toward this goal. Using an Apple Watch as a means to gather route data, a rider can then swipe right in the RWGPS app and that route will then be automatically synced to your RWGPS account and would be available later as a turn-by-turn navigable route. The hitch? You need to use you phone and the watch for turn-by-turn navigation, and you'd need a RWGPS upgraded account (monthly subscription) to make it work. 

You might wonder, and rightly so, about battery life. A comment answered by a representative of RWGPS in the press release, (Like it was a live Facebook thread or something. Weird!) states:

"In our testing on the latest app version, we found that the battery lasted 6+ hours (and plenty of juice let [sic]) while running paired navigation, monitoring heart rate, playing music (from Spotify), and checking metrics frequently. "

Comments: This bears watching, (pun not intended), and this may actually prove to be a viable solution for many people who cannot find a reason to be bothered with having to own a GPS cycling computer that does turn-by-turn navigation that costs hundreds of dollars. Not when they already have a smart phone capable of doing the task. Sure, it may not be for those who have ultra-long distance events on the menu, but most folks aren't riding 5-6 hours at a crack either. Still, external battery packs can extend your phone battery life for well over a day. So, there is that, and then you can always think about a hub generator as well. There are a ton of possibilities here. 

I get why RWGPS puts the "good stuff" behind a subscription pay-wall, but I can see a time where Apple, or an Android phone app would be made available with a one-time cost that would essentially do this same thing, maybe even better.

Is the day drawing nigh where separate, GPS/cycling only data heads are going to become obsolete because our smart phones will be able to do everything those devices do and more? I think it is a distinct possibility.  

Big Payout At Iowa Gravel Events:

First of all, "How is this the third year for this event?" I've not heard about it until just recently. Anyway....

Fairfield, Iowa is hosting a gravel event with three distances on tap. The longest, a century plus a little, is paying out 1K to the Man and Woman who place first. (!!)

Comments: I've scouted the area around Fairfield extensively for Trans Iowa. (No- you are not crazy if you think T.I. never went down that way, but I've scouted a LOT of territory I never used) So, I know that area has some stellar offerings for gravel, Level B roads, and terrain types. It can be dead flat or super hilly.

The event should be great fun, I'm sure, from that standpoint, but look at that purse money! That's gotta grab your attention, and I am thinking that you are going to see some cutthroat racing at the front end of that longer distance part of this event. A grand is no chump change and I figure that as small as this event is, Iowa riders will be thinking that they can take this one down. But you never know.  There are other race options like......

  ...the Snaggy Ridge 105 in Tipton, Iowa, which has been around several years now and also pays out 1K to the man or woman who finishes first. In fact, they have 500 for second and 250 for third, so you could always score some greenbacks if you are fast enough there. 

The Fairfield event cost $95.00 to get in on the payout possibilities, but Snaggy Ridge is a bargain at $40.00 no matter what distance you run. Sounds like the better bargain to me, but you decide what's best for you.

It's kind of crazy that a city running an event, like the Chamber of Commerce is in Fairfield, would choose to run an event the same day as an event that is set up to benefit children's resources, as Snaggy Ridge's is. Especially when the event venues are less than 90 miles apart from each other, but whatever. Gravel events are now so profuse and innumerable now that finding dates that do not conflict with other's event dates probably is impossible. But still, this seems fixable in the future.  

Speaking of the Snaggy Ridge 105, I and N.Y. Roll interviewed Dan Roberts, the RD of that event, on the 100th Episode of the Riding Gravel Radio Ranch. Listen to it from that Spotify link or from Google Podcast feed. Search for the Guitar Ted Productions Podcast.

A Note On The Guitar Ted Productions Podcast:

I'm slowly getting more avenues to distribute this deal. Right now you can search "Guitar Ted Productions Podcast" and you'll get the Anchor.fm and Spotify avenues to listen through. I should be available on Google Podcasts and Amazon Podcast/Audible servers by the time you read this. The podcast has an RSS feed so that may help some of you as well. Later on I should have Apple Play as another source. Any others I should look into? Leave me a comment, please.

There are three Riding Gravel Radio Ranch episodes there so far. I hope to get more content on the podcast soon. Thanks for considering and if you are listening in, thanks for that as well. 

That's a wrap for this week! Thank you for reading and I hope that you all have a fantastic weekend!

Friday News And Views

Ride With GPS Announces Integration With Apple Watch:

Ever since 'smart phones' have debuted, the promise of using that device as a cycling computer has been a dream, and the times where it has been tried end with poor experiences, typically due to short battery life issues.

However; a recent development by Ride With GPS, (RWGPS) may point to a time soon where your smart phone takes on new life as a cycling computer/data gathering/dispensing hub. 

The just announced Apple integration with RWGPS goes a long way toward this goal. Using an Apple Watch as a means to gather route data, a rider can then swipe right in the RWGPS app and that route will then be automatically synced to your RWGPS account and would be available later as a turn-by-turn navigable route. The hitch? You need to use you phone and the watch for turn-by-turn navigation, and you'd need a RWGPS upgraded account (monthly subscription) to make it work. 

You might wonder, and rightly so, about battery life. A comment answered by a representative of RWGPS in the press release, (Like it was a live Facebook thread or something. Weird!) states:

"In our testing on the latest app version, we found that the battery lasted 6+ hours (and plenty of juice let [sic]) while running paired navigation, monitoring heart rate, playing music (from Spotify), and checking metrics frequently. "

Comments: This bears watching, (pun not intended), and this may actually prove to be a viable solution for many people who cannot find a reason to be bothered with having to own a GPS cycling computer that does turn-by-turn navigation that costs hundreds of dollars. Not when they already have a smart phone capable of doing the task. Sure, it may not be for those who have ultra-long distance events on the menu, but most folks aren't riding 5-6 hours at a crack either. Still, external battery packs can extend your phone battery life for well over a day. So, there is that, and then you can always think about a hub generator as well. There are a ton of possibilities here. 

I get why RWGPS puts the "good stuff" behind a subscription pay-wall, but I can see a time where Apple, or an Android phone app would be made available with a one-time cost that would essentially do this same thing, maybe even better.

Is the day drawing nigh where separate, GPS/cycling only data heads are going to become obsolete because our smart phones will be able to do everything those devices do and more? I think it is a distinct possibility.  

Big Payout At Iowa Gravel Events:

First of all, "How is this the third year for this event?" I've not heard about it until just recently. Anyway....

Fairfield, Iowa is hosting a gravel event with three distances on tap. The longest, a century plus a little, is paying out 1K to the Man and Woman who place first. (!!)

Comments: I've scouted the area around Fairfield extensively for Trans Iowa. (No- you are not crazy if you think T.I. never went down that way, but I've scouted a LOT of territory I never used) So, I know that area has some stellar offerings for gravel, Level B roads, and terrain types. It can be dead flat or super hilly.

The event should be great fun, I'm sure, from that standpoint, but look at that purse money! That's gotta grab your attention, and I am thinking that you are going to see some cutthroat racing at the front end of that longer distance part of this event. A grand is no chump change and I figure that as small as this event is, Iowa riders will be thinking that they can take this one down. But you never know.  There are other race options like......

  ...the Snaggy Ridge 105 in Tipton, Iowa, which has been around several years now and also pays out 1K to the man or woman who finishes first. In fact, they have 500 for second and 250 for third, so you could always score some greenbacks if you are fast enough there. 

The Fairfield event cost $95.00 to get in on the payout possibilities, but Snaggy Ridge is a bargain at $40.00 no matter what distance you run. Sounds like the better bargain to me, but you decide what's best for you.

It's kind of crazy that a city running an event, like the Chamber of Commerce is in Fairfield, would choose to run an event the same day as an event that is set up to benefit children's resources, as Snaggy Ridge's is. Especially when the event venues are less than 90 miles apart from each other, but whatever. Gravel events are now so profuse and innumerable now that finding dates that do not conflict with other's event dates probably is impossible. But still, this seems fixable in the future.  

Speaking of the Snaggy Ridge 105, I and N.Y. Roll interviewed Dan Roberts, the RD of that event, on the 100th Episode of the Riding Gravel Radio Ranch. Listen to it from that Spotify link or from Google Podcast feed. Search for the Guitar Ted Productions Podcast.

A Note On The Guitar Ted Productions Podcast:

I'm slowly getting more avenues to distribute this deal. Right now you can search "Guitar Ted Productions Podcast" and you'll get the Anchor.fm and Spotify avenues to listen through. I should be available on Google Podcasts and Amazon Podcast/Audible servers by the time you read this. The podcast has an RSS feed so that may help some of you as well. Later on I should have Apple Play as another source. Any others I should look into? Leave me a comment, please.

There are three Riding Gravel Radio Ranch episodes there so far. I hope to get more content on the podcast soon. Thanks for considering and if you are listening in, thanks for that as well. 

That's a wrap for this week! Thank you for reading and I hope that you all have a fantastic weekend!

Randomonium

The Ti Standard Rando v2. Image courtesy of Twin Six

 NOTE: Okay folks, if you haven't been around long enough here to know what a "Randomonium" post is, then here is the deal. I ramble, rant, and randomly moan about all things cycling in one, incohesive, bizarre post. "Randomonium", okay?

Twin Six Debuts Titanium Standard Rando v2:

The week between Christmas and New Year's Day was packed with news and one of the things that came out late enough that it didn't make the "FN&V" was the release of the Standard Rando v2 in titanium. I'll be honest, I knew of this last May when I started talking to Twin Six about getting the steel v2 Rando. They mentioned this was on the horizon and wanted to know if I wanted to wait to get that instead. I decided it was in my best interest not to spend over twice the amount a steel v2 Standard Rando would cost and wait for a bike that might not arrive when Twin Six was thinking it would at that time. Well, I have to say that I am good with my decision. Here's why.....

First off, I wouldn't have had the bike at all until well into 2021. At least completed, and then I'd have to wait for good weather. So, all those miles I put on the Gravel Bus wouldn't have happened on that bike. Now of course, that would not have made a big difference since I have other bikes to take up the slack, so to speak. But there were two other things concerning the Standard Rando Ti which I didn't like when I looked into it on New Year's Day. Had I waited, I would have been a bit disappointed. 

Those two things are maybe not a big deal to you, but I really wouldn't have preferred either of these two things in a titanium bike. One was the curved top tube. Aesthetically it goes against my sensibilities for a 'classic' looking frame, which I consider the steel version of the Standard Rando to be, and what I think is one of its strongest visual cues. Now, I could have gotten over that, maybe, but they went with a 31.6mm diameter seat post. Almost every bike I own runs a 27.2mm post, and they are more compliant as well, no matter the material, compared to a like 31.6mm sized post. Curiously, Twin Six did not use a dropper route on this bike, which would have made the choice of a 31.6mm post a sensible one. Yes- I could get a shim, but...... Well, let's just say that I wasn't too impressed by this offering when I already have the steel one and it does exactly what I need it to do. 

Interested? It'd be a fine bike , I am sure. Here's the webpage.  

Ah....wait.....what? New Year's Day didn't start out too good.

Tech Fail Leads To Upgrade (My Only Real Device Fetish Revealed):

I woke up New Year's Day and did what I always do first thing- Swing my legs out of the bed, pry open my eyes, and slap on my Apple Watch. This has been a routine thing for me for just over a year. I got my watch as a hand-me-down from Mrs. Guitar Ted, as I do with most techie device-like gizmos. See, she was into fitness tracking for a while. I ended up getting her first one, a Fitbit, when she upgraded. It was one of those simple, bracelet styled ones. Then shortly after that I got her 'real watch' styled one when she went full-on and got an Apple Watch, the first gen one. Meanwhile, I tried to make do with the Fitbit watch. I ended up getting the first one warranted when the thing started falling apart. The next one did too, and then I got a new version of their latest Fitbit watch, which seemed a lot more robust. I was really into tracking daily exercise, and I started walking religiously. 

Well, that watch ended up imploding. It was a band failure where it joined the case, and it was not a replaceable band, so it was time to bail on their platform. By this time, Mrs. Guitar Ted had upgraded to another Apple Watch version and her original Gen I watch was just laying around. I decided to do a side-by-side comparison of the Fitbit and Apple Watch to see which I liked better. I landed on the Apple Watch and wore it since then, as I say, a little over a year ago now.

So, when I woke up to put it on the first day of 2021, I noticed the face of it, the screen, felt odd. Was it loose? Maybe a little. Then as the morning wore on it felt worse, so I showed it to Mrs. Guitar Ted, and when she looked the whole dang face came loose! Now what? I felt a little twinge of sadness, because, well.........I had a string of days consecutive where I had achieved my goals going back to the weekend the pandemic started. Not that it was a life-or-death thing if my string was broken, but it kind of meant something to me. I have made a lot of health gains since this all started and this string of consecutive goal achievements was a motivator in that. 

So, with a bit of sadness, but a resolve to make-do somehow and continue onward, I took off the watch and tried to come up with a plan to start another streak somehow. Well, then Mrs. Guitar Ted, she's a 'doer'- a problem solver, and she went to work on a plan and well..... The end result was that I got a new Apple Watch and she got my info saved and the streak is alive! 

It's funny that this is a thing I got so attached to because I could give a rip about cycling computers, GPS data, Strava, or whatever the latest indoor cycling craze is. But there is something that grabbed me with these fitness watches and the Apple watch is my jam. So, this is really my only 'device' fetish, if you will. 

A Little Blackborow DS Action:

Over the weekend I had the chance to take advantage of the 5" of snow that fell and I got out on the Blackborow DS again. I love this bike when the conditions are right for it. The thing is, this bike is so capable, it takes a pretty extreme set of conditions to make it 'worthwhile' to me to ride. 

The latest snow drop is on the cusp of where the Blackborow comes on and does what my other fat bikes cannot do. It has enough float and aggressive enough tires that it can plow its own path through 5-8" of fresh snow with no worries. The Blackborow can make a snow machine track rideable due to the bigger footprint where a 4" tire won't cut it. Well, actually a 4" tire does cut through. That's the problem there. 

The trails are decent in the Green Belt, and actually really good in places, so I probably could have done fine with 4" tires there, but where there were places that were still soft I needed the Blackborow. So, I had fun, but unless we get more fresh snow, I probably will go back to riding the Mukluks again, because the need for almost 5" wide tires will go away again. And that's what makes me sad about owning the Blackborow DS.

It's such a great bike that leaving it sit for 10 months out of the year seems like a crime, but unless we have deep snow cover or mud, the Blackborow is simply overkill. I have thought about building up some 27.5 wheels on some fat bike hubs using wide rims that would support 27.5" X 3" tires. Then I could see this being a dinglespeed mountain bike. but that means I'd have to actually go, you know, mountain biking, and well, I didn't get much of any of that in during 2020. My thoughts are that I will be spending a lot more time riding remote gravel and dirt roads than I will be mountain biking, but who knows? Anyway......

Andy Has Another Mouth To Feed:

In some joyful news over the weekend, Andy, of Andy's Bike shop where I work, announced the birth of his second child, a daughter, born to he and his wife Samantha on January 2nd. they named the girl Stella and so the shop is closed for the first two days this week as a result.

Welcome to Stella! Congratulations to Sam and Andy!

That's the Randomonium for this time.

Randomonium

The Ti Standard Rando v2. Image courtesy of Twin Six

 NOTE: Okay folks, if you haven't been around long enough here to know what a "Randomonium" post is, then here is the deal. I ramble, rant, and randomly moan about all things cycling in one, incohesive, bizarre post. "Randomonium", okay?

Twin Six Debuts Titanium Standard Rando v2:

The week between Christmas and New Year's Day was packed with news and one of the things that came out late enough that it didn't make the "FN&V" was the release of the Standard Rando v2 in titanium. I'll be honest, I knew of this last May when I started talking to Twin Six about getting the steel v2 Rando. They mentioned this was on the horizon and wanted to know if I wanted to wait to get that instead. I decided it was in my best interest not to spend over twice the amount a steel v2 Standard Rando would cost and wait for a bike that might not arrive when Twin Six was thinking it would at that time. Well, I have to say that I am good with my decision. Here's why.....

First off, I wouldn't have had the bike at all until well into 2021. At least completed, and then I'd have to wait for good weather. So, all those miles I put on the Gravel Bus wouldn't have happened on that bike. Now of course, that would not have made a big difference since I have other bikes to take up the slack, so to speak. But there were two other things concerning the Standard Rando Ti which I didn't like when I looked into it on New Year's Day. Had I waited, I would have been a bit disappointed. 

Those two things are maybe not a big deal to you, but I really wouldn't have preferred either of these two things in a titanium bike. One was the curved top tube. Aesthetically it goes against my sensibilities for a 'classic' looking frame, which I consider the steel version of the Standard Rando to be, and what I think is one of its strongest visual cues. Now, I could have gotten over that, maybe, but they went with a 31.6mm diameter seat post. Almost every bike I own runs a 27.2mm post, and they are more compliant as well, no matter the material, compared to a like 31.6mm sized post. Curiously, Twin Six did not use a dropper route on this bike, which would have made the choice of a 31.6mm post a sensible one. Yes- I could get a shim, but...... Well, let's just say that I wasn't too impressed by this offering when I already have the steel one and it does exactly what I need it to do. 

Interested? It'd be a fine bike , I am sure. Here's the webpage.  

Ah....wait.....what? New Year's Day didn't start out too good.

Tech Fail Leads To Upgrade (My Only Real Device Fetish Revealed):

I woke up New Year's Day and did what I always do first thing- Swing my legs out of the bed, pry open my eyes, and slap on my Apple Watch. This has been a routine thing for me for just over a year. I got my watch as a hand-me-down from Mrs. Guitar Ted, as I do with most techie device-like gizmos. See, she was into fitness tracking for a while. I ended up getting her first one, a Fitbit, when she upgraded. It was one of those simple, bracelet styled ones. Then shortly after that I got her 'real watch' styled one when she went full-on and got an Apple Watch, the first gen one. Meanwhile, I tried to make do with the Fitbit watch. I ended up getting the first one warranted when the thing started falling apart. The next one did too, and then I got a new version of their latest Fitbit watch, which seemed a lot more robust. I was really into tracking daily exercise, and I started walking religiously. 

Well, that watch ended up imploding. It was a band failure where it joined the case, and it was not a replaceable band, so it was time to bail on their platform. By this time, Mrs. Guitar Ted had upgraded to another Apple Watch version and her original Gen I watch was just laying around. I decided to do a side-by-side comparison of the Fitbit and Apple Watch to see which I liked better. I landed on the Apple Watch and wore it since then, as I say, a little over a year ago now.

So, when I woke up to put it on the first day of 2021, I noticed the face of it, the screen, felt odd. Was it loose? Maybe a little. Then as the morning wore on it felt worse, so I showed it to Mrs. Guitar Ted, and when she looked the whole dang face came loose! Now what? I felt a little twinge of sadness, because, well.........I had a string of days consecutive where I had achieved my goals going back to the weekend the pandemic started. Not that it was a life-or-death thing if my string was broken, but it kind of meant something to me. I have made a lot of health gains since this all started and this string of consecutive goal achievements was a motivator in that. 

So, with a bit of sadness, but a resolve to make-do somehow and continue onward, I took off the watch and tried to come up with a plan to start another streak somehow. Well, then Mrs. Guitar Ted, she's a 'doer'- a problem solver, and she went to work on a plan and well..... The end result was that I got a new Apple Watch and she got my info saved and the streak is alive! 

It's funny that this is a thing I got so attached to because I could give a rip about cycling computers, GPS data, Strava, or whatever the latest indoor cycling craze is. But there is something that grabbed me with these fitness watches and the Apple watch is my jam. So, this is really my only 'device' fetish, if you will. 

A Little Blackborow DS Action:

Over the weekend I had the chance to take advantage of the 5" of snow that fell and I got out on the Blackborow DS again. I love this bike when the conditions are right for it. The thing is, this bike is so capable, it takes a pretty extreme set of conditions to make it 'worthwhile' to me to ride. 

The latest snow drop is on the cusp of where the Blackborow comes on and does what my other fat bikes cannot do. It has enough float and aggressive enough tires that it can plow its own path through 5-8" of fresh snow with no worries. The Blackborow can make a snow machine track rideable due to the bigger footprint where a 4" tire won't cut it. Well, actually a 4" tire does cut through. That's the problem there. 

The trails are decent in the Green Belt, and actually really good in places, so I probably could have done fine with 4" tires there, but where there were places that were still soft I needed the Blackborow. So, I had fun, but unless we get more fresh snow, I probably will go back to riding the Mukluks again, because the need for almost 5" wide tires will go away again. And that's what makes me sad about owning the Blackborow DS.

It's such a great bike that leaving it sit for 10 months out of the year seems like a crime, but unless we have deep snow cover or mud, the Blackborow is simply overkill. I have thought about building up some 27.5 wheels on some fat bike hubs using wide rims that would support 27.5" X 3" tires. Then I could see this being a dinglespeed mountain bike. but that means I'd have to actually go, you know, mountain biking, and well, I didn't get much of any of that in during 2020. My thoughts are that I will be spending a lot more time riding remote gravel and dirt roads than I will be mountain biking, but who knows? Anyway......

Andy Has Another Mouth To Feed:

In some joyful news over the weekend, Andy, of Andy's Bike shop where I work, announced the birth of his second child, a daughter, born to he and his wife Samantha on January 2nd. they named the girl Stella and so the shop is closed for the first two days this week as a result.

Welcome to Stella! Congratulations to Sam and Andy!

That's the Randomonium for this time.