Remembering Shenanigans

From 2010's Frostbike 'show'- Back when Frostbike was cool.

 From about 2003 until 2015, I attended the annual Frostbike dealer open house, as it used to be called, every year. In the beginning it was merely a day-trip with my former boss to go see what was new for the coming year in components, mostly, from vendors that Quality Bicycle Products distributed. 

These first few trips to Frostbike were mainly boring affairs as my former boss wasn't very socially adept and really shied away from interactions with 'strangers' that weren't interested in giving him the limelight. Now on occasion he would find a willing subject which he would then assail with half-baked tales of 1980's era crit racing. That was always my cue to escape and ferret out new friends, new stuff, and to just generally poke around. 

Then things changed around about 2006 when I started attending Frostbike on my own. I got the shop invite and just drove up myself and did whatever I wanted. Blogging here and my association with Trans Iowa and "Twentynine Inches.com" gave me access to more people and places. During this time I met Ben Witt, Marty Larson, Jason Boucher, Mike Reimer, and several other QBP people. This was the start of the "Years Of Shenanigans" at Frostbike. And let me tell ya....it was insanity! 

Frostbike generally happened mid-February, so last weekend would probably have been about right, except this year that was Valentine's Day, so maybe this weekend would have been the weekend? I don't know, of course, as I haven't been to Frostbike since 2015. I'm sure QBP's legal and PR departments are quite happy that I no longer come up. Especially after that last year I went! 

Mike, of Mike's Bikes in Northfield, Minnesota, checking out my new Singular Gryphon in 2010

Of course, most of my shenanigans weren't at Frostbike at all, honestly. No, they happened in Northfield, Minnesota at a bike shop which no longer exists anymore called Mike's Bikes. Mike, the owner, was a former resident of San Francisco, (or that vicinity) back in the 70's and worked as a bicycle mechanic during the days of the early klunker experiments. He rode with Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly and had a few great stories about them. He even had his own klunker which he grafted old Shimano disc brakes to! (I saw the pictures)

You may have seen that reproductions of these are available now. Well, these are The Originals! Seen at Mike's Bikes in 2009.

Mike's Bikes was the Center of Shenanigans. Ben, Marty, myself, and usually a few others would gather there on the Friday evening or Saturday evening of Frostbike weekend. Greek style pizzas and lots of beers were brought in. Old collectable bikes were brought out, and a 'track' of sorts was set up. We could speed through Mike's from the front, retail area, through the shop, up a ramp, make a hard left into the storage/office/back room, another hard left through a doorway, down a ramp in a hallway, through another door that was propped open, and then down a longer hallway to the final hard left and back into the retail space. Mike's was all concrete flooring, so grip wasn't an issue and carpeting wasn't going to hold us back either. 

Food + beers + bicycles + inebriated riders going waaaaay too fast = mayhem sometimes. You wouldn't believe how fast we'd get going! It was a blast! Between sessions we'd repair to the back room and drink and yak until we'd all had enough and we would wander off to our beds, for far too little sleep and an early morning. This happened several years and was a big part of why I loved Frostbike weekend.

I got to attend the Grand Opening night of the Angry Catfish bicycle shop.

There were extra-curricular activities as well throughout those years. I was honored to attend several functions, like the opening of the Angry Catfish bicycle shop, and a few "Cutter's Ball" events which were held in various venues. One being the Peacock Groove headquarters. The final shindig was a big affair at a motel in downtown Minneapolis. I remember crashing one shindig for QBP's top dealers held upstairs in the QBP facility. I was snuck in and had to 'hide out' in the cubicle farm with some other "Q" folk until the coast was clear. Good times! 

There were late nights at bars in Northfield, walking around at night through snowy streets as we went from place to place attending affairs and parties. There was the infamous night when I illegally parked Jason Boucher's Honda Element across from One on One Bicycle Studio and got it towed, which cost hundreds of dollars to rectify. There was the assault on the parking ramp, where myself and several others were risking life and limb to short-cut a way to somewhere we thought we needed to be. All at the risk of falling several stories in a concrete jungle. There was the one year when Mrs. Guitar Ted and I ended up driving on a closed to traffic I-35 during an all-out blizzard. But the most notorious dumb deed has to be when I attended Frostbike the last time, and this one ended up being my swan song of sorts. 

About halfway back- I started on 7th downtown Minneapolis!

That would have been my infamous "walking tour of Minneapolis" which I undertook during a snow storm at night in 17° weather wearing nothing but a stocking hat and a red Raleigh Tamland hoodie besides my normal street clothes. 

The situation was that I was to meet Ben Welnak, my then new partner in RidingGravel.com, at the downtown Minneapolis motel where Frostbike was having a big dinner/awards ceremony.  My family came along and we had a motel procured near QBP just off of I-495 in Bloomington, quite a ways South of the 7th and Nicolette area where I was dropped off early in the evening. The family went back to the motel, while the plan for me was to get a ride from Ben after the evening's activities were done.

Well, drinking ensued and Ben had more than enough, and wandered off with a group of folks somewhere when I wasn't looking. I was left with a few acquaintances and figured I better stay put until Ben came back to find me. Well......that never happened. One thing led to another, 'bar time' came and went, people went to their rooms, and I was left alone in a lobby of a strange motel at about 3:00am with no Ben, and no way to get home without incurring the wrath of Mrs. Guitar Ted, who was most likely sleeping by this time. 

So, using my much clouded powers of wisdom, I determined by looking at my dying iPhone with its map app, that I could "easily walk that distance back to the motel!", and so I memorized a basic route, and set off a walkin' South on Nicolette Avenue. Snow, cold, and time to come to my senses eventually shocked me to the reality that I had gotten myself into quite a pickle. My tennis shoe clad feet were getting frozen, my body was in early stages of hypothermia, and the Sun was broaching the Eastern skyline. I was within about a mile or so of my destination by this time though, so I gutted it out and went as far as the infrastructure of interstate roadways would let me. Finally, I had to declare 'no mas!' and I called my wife with my last bit of battery power on the phone. She retrieved me, with a stern scolding,and I got back to the motel by around 8:00am and went directly to sleep. 

I missed the entire first day of Frostbike, since I slept in till about 6:00pm, and I went in on Sunday. People found me and I had several concerned folks giving me what-for and reminding me that I could call for help anytime. Jason Boucher being probably the most adamant in this regard as I remember him poking me in the chest as he admonished me for my previous evening's shenanigans. Word had obviously spread far and wide about "Guitar Ted's Walking Tour of Minneapolis", an approximately 12 mile hike of dubious wisdom overnight in the snow and cold. 

 Yeah, that was a good way to leave it. No more shenanigans at Frostbike for me!

Someday I'll have to do a more thorough retrospective of things I saw at Frostbike. That can wait for another time....

Remembering Shenanigans

From 2010's Frostbike 'show'- Back when Frostbike was cool.

 From about 2003 until 2015, I attended the annual Frostbike dealer open house, as it used to be called, every year. In the beginning it was merely a day-trip with my former boss to go see what was new for the coming year in components, mostly, from vendors that Quality Bicycle Products distributed. 

These first few trips to Frostbike were mainly boring affairs as my former boss wasn't very socially adept and really shied away from interactions with 'strangers' that weren't interested in giving him the limelight. Now on occasion he would find a willing subject which he would then assail with half-baked tales of 1980's era crit racing. That was always my cue to escape and ferret out new friends, new stuff, and to just generally poke around. 

Then things changed around about 2006 when I started attending Frostbike on my own. I got the shop invite and just drove up myself and did whatever I wanted. Blogging here and my association with Trans Iowa and "Twentynine Inches.com" gave me access to more people and places. During this time I met Ben Witt, Marty Larson, Jason Boucher, Mike Reimer, and several other QBP people. This was the start of the "Years Of Shenanigans" at Frostbike. And let me tell ya....it was insanity! 

Frostbike generally happened mid-February, so last weekend would probably have been about right, except this year that was Valentine's Day, so maybe this weekend would have been the weekend? I don't know, of course, as I haven't been to Frostbike since 2015. I'm sure QBP's legal and PR departments are quite happy that I no longer come up. Especially after that last year I went! 

Mike, of Mike's Bikes in Northfield, Minnesota, checking out my new Singular Gryphon in 2010

Of course, most of my shenanigans weren't at Frostbike at all, honestly. No, they happened in Northfield, Minnesota at a bike shop which no longer exists anymore called Mike's Bikes. Mike, the owner, was a former resident of San Francisco, (or that vicinity) back in the 70's and worked as a bicycle mechanic during the days of the early klunker experiments. He rode with Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly and had a few great stories about them. He even had his own klunker which he grafted old Shimano disc brakes to! (I saw the pictures)

You may have seen that reproductions of these are available now. Well, these are The Originals! Seen at Mike's Bikes in 2009.

Mike's Bikes was the Center of Shenanigans. Ben, Marty, myself, and usually a few others would gather there on the Friday evening or Saturday evening of Frostbike weekend. Greek style pizzas and lots of beers were brought in. Old collectable bikes were brought out, and a 'track' of sorts was set up. We could speed through Mike's from the front, retail area, through the shop, up a ramp, make a hard left into the storage/office/back room, another hard left through a doorway, down a ramp in a hallway, through another door that was propped open, and then down a longer hallway to the final hard left and back into the retail space. Mike's was all concrete flooring, so grip wasn't an issue and carpeting wasn't going to hold us back either. 

Food + beers + bicycles + inebriated riders going waaaaay too fast = mayhem sometimes. You wouldn't believe how fast we'd get going! It was a blast! Between sessions we'd repair to the back room and drink and yak until we'd all had enough and we would wander off to our beds, for far too little sleep and an early morning. This happened several years and was a big part of why I loved Frostbike weekend.

I got to attend the Grand Opening night of the Angry Catfish bicycle shop.

There were extra-curricular activities as well throughout those years. I was honored to attend several functions, like the opening of the Angry Catfish bicycle shop, and a few "Cutter's Ball" events which were held in various venues. One being the Peacock Groove headquarters. The final shindig was a big affair at a motel in downtown Minneapolis. I remember crashing one shindig for QBP's top dealers held upstairs in the QBP facility. I was snuck in and had to 'hide out' in the cubicle farm with some other "Q" folk until the coast was clear. Good times! 

There were late nights at bars in Northfield, walking around at night through snowy streets as we went from place to place attending affairs and parties. There was the infamous night when I illegally parked Jason Boucher's Honda Element across from One on One Bicycle Studio and got it towed, which cost hundreds of dollars to rectify. There was the assault on the parking ramp, where myself and several others were risking life and limb to short-cut a way to somewhere we thought we needed to be. All at the risk of falling several stories in a concrete jungle. There was the one year when Mrs. Guitar Ted and I ended up driving on a closed to traffic I-35 during an all-out blizzard. But the most notorious dumb deed has to be when I attended Frostbike the last time, and this one ended up being my swan song of sorts. 

About halfway back- I started on 7th downtown Minneapolis!

That would have been my infamous "walking tour of Minneapolis" which I undertook during a snow storm at night in 17° weather wearing nothing but a stocking hat and a red Raleigh Tamland hoodie besides my normal street clothes. 

The situation was that I was to meet Ben Welnak, my then new partner in RidingGravel.com, at the downtown Minneapolis motel where Frostbike was having a big dinner/awards ceremony.  My family came along and we had a motel procured near QBP just off of I-495 in Bloomington, quite a ways South of the 7th and Nicolette area where I was dropped off early in the evening. The family went back to the motel, while the plan for me was to get a ride from Ben after the evening's activities were done.

Well, drinking ensued and Ben had more than enough, and wandered off with a group of folks somewhere when I wasn't looking. I was left with a few acquaintances and figured I better stay put until Ben came back to find me. Well......that never happened. One thing led to another, 'bar time' came and went, people went to their rooms, and I was left alone in a lobby of a strange motel at about 3:00am with no Ben, and no way to get home without incurring the wrath of Mrs. Guitar Ted, who was most likely sleeping by this time. 

So, using my much clouded powers of wisdom, I determined by looking at my dying iPhone with its map app, that I could "easily walk that distance back to the motel!", and so I memorized a basic route, and set off a walkin' South on Nicolette Avenue. Snow, cold, and time to come to my senses eventually shocked me to the reality that I had gotten myself into quite a pickle. My tennis shoe clad feet were getting frozen, my body was in early stages of hypothermia, and the Sun was broaching the Eastern skyline. I was within about a mile or so of my destination by this time though, so I gutted it out and went as far as the infrastructure of interstate roadways would let me. Finally, I had to declare 'no mas!' and I called my wife with my last bit of battery power on the phone. She retrieved me, with a stern scolding,and I got back to the motel by around 8:00am and went directly to sleep. 

I missed the entire first day of Frostbike, since I slept in till about 6:00pm, and I went in on Sunday. People found me and I had several concerned folks giving me what-for and reminding me that I could call for help anytime. Jason Boucher being probably the most adamant in this regard as I remember him poking me in the chest as he admonished me for my previous evening's shenanigans. Word had obviously spread far and wide about "Guitar Ted's Walking Tour of Minneapolis", an approximately 12 mile hike of dubious wisdom overnight in the snow and cold. 

 Yeah, that was a good way to leave it. No more shenanigans at Frostbike for me!

Someday I'll have to do a more thorough retrospective of things I saw at Frostbike. That can wait for another time....

Calendar Days

 

The calendar for events on gravel was started here in 2008 or so when I got the idea the 'somebody' should do a list of the then current events specifically aimed at gravel riding. There weren't many, I can tell you that, but the list was growing then, and being able to keep track of the budding scene was getting harder to do. My thoughts were centered around just making a list so people could be aware of what was happening.

Well, obviously, no one back then was going to do it, so I did it. This continued into becoming "Gravel Grinder News" and that folded into RidingGravel.com at the end of 2014. All along I kept cataloging events. Hundreds of events. Events I had to, for the most part, track down, update, and modify on my own time. 

Then COVID came along and pretty much upset the apple cart, as it were. Trying to keep tabs on what was cancelled, postponed, or still going to happen was just far too much for one guy to ride herd on. Of course, no events ever really submitted anything to me, not in the past, or during the pandemic. A few here and there, yes, but that was a drop in the bucket when we are talking between 500-600 events throughout the calendar year. This meant that I let the calendar go. Think of a garden with a major weed problem let go for the majority of the growing season. Yeah...... Things were a mess. 

So, I contacted my partner in Riding Gravel, Ben Welnak, and I stated that this situation was not tenable. The calendar was going to be shut down. We decided to leave up what is there as a reference, and if you go look, that message is there. However; people, being people, don't seem to take the time to read that, or even land there to see that message, and I still am getting inquiries as to when such-and-such event is happening, or if I can transfer entries, or if there is camping, etc. As if I were running all these events. It's nonsense, but I still get the emails. 

So, no more. I'm done with the calendar of events. Really, there is no need for it anymore and others do it better than I do. Facebook is a defacto "gravel site" for events, BikeReg.com is searchable for gravel events, as are other event registration services. You don't need me to be doing a list of events anymore, and since it was taxing, and really difficult, with no recompense, why should I keep doing it? I haven't come up with a good answer for that, so the calendar thing is off my plate. 

And I will say that I am quite happy to not have to worry about that anymore. I can now focus that energy elsewhere and get a more rewarding result for my efforts. I felt an explanation of this was necessary and so here that is. 

Thanks to all who relied on that early list and to those who enthusiastically contributed to that list back in the days gone by. To those who looked to that calendar as a reference, I thank you as well. I hope that you all understand where I am coming from now and I am confident that going forward you will all have no problems finding events to attend and support in the future. 

Now, on to bigger and better things......

Calendar Days

 

The calendar for events on gravel was started here in 2008 or so when I got the idea the 'somebody' should do a list of the then current events specifically aimed at gravel riding. There weren't many, I can tell you that, but the list was growing then, and being able to keep track of the budding scene was getting harder to do. My thoughts were centered around just making a list so people could be aware of what was happening.

Well, obviously, no one back then was going to do it, so I did it. This continued into becoming "Gravel Grinder News" and that folded into RidingGravel.com at the end of 2014. All along I kept cataloging events. Hundreds of events. Events I had to, for the most part, track down, update, and modify on my own time. 

Then COVID came along and pretty much upset the apple cart, as it were. Trying to keep tabs on what was cancelled, postponed, or still going to happen was just far too much for one guy to ride herd on. Of course, no events ever really submitted anything to me, not in the past, or during the pandemic. A few here and there, yes, but that was a drop in the bucket when we are talking between 500-600 events throughout the calendar year. This meant that I let the calendar go. Think of a garden with a major weed problem let go for the majority of the growing season. Yeah...... Things were a mess. 

So, I contacted my partner in Riding Gravel, Ben Welnak, and I stated that this situation was not tenable. The calendar was going to be shut down. We decided to leave up what is there as a reference, and if you go look, that message is there. However; people, being people, don't seem to take the time to read that, or even land there to see that message, and I still am getting inquiries as to when such-and-such event is happening, or if I can transfer entries, or if there is camping, etc. As if I were running all these events. It's nonsense, but I still get the emails. 

So, no more. I'm done with the calendar of events. Really, there is no need for it anymore and others do it better than I do. Facebook is a defacto "gravel site" for events, BikeReg.com is searchable for gravel events, as are other event registration services. You don't need me to be doing a list of events anymore, and since it was taxing, and really difficult, with no recompense, why should I keep doing it? I haven't come up with a good answer for that, so the calendar thing is off my plate. 

And I will say that I am quite happy to not have to worry about that anymore. I can now focus that energy elsewhere and get a more rewarding result for my efforts. I felt an explanation of this was necessary and so here that is. 

Thanks to all who relied on that early list and to those who enthusiastically contributed to that list back in the days gone by. To those who looked to that calendar as a reference, I thank you as well. I hope that you all understand where I am coming from now and I am confident that going forward you will all have no problems finding events to attend and support in the future. 

Now, on to bigger and better things......

Friday News And Views

T.I.v14 Registration Update:

There is today's mail and tomorrow's mail and then that's it! So far we have a pile of 77 entrants with more sure to come. The lottery drawing will take place on October 31st, because trick-or-treat, ya know?

I plan on hosting a live drawing for the Rookie Class on my Periscope account which you can access from Twitter at @guitarted1961. Just keep checking back for an exact time for that. All Trans Iowa related Tweets are hashtagged #TIv14, so you can search that on Twitter to keep tabs on the goings on with this. I will not be posting the live feed anywhere else, so don't even ask. If you cannot do Twitter, or won't, then you'll have to wait until I upload the roster to the Trans Iowa v14 page later that evening.

New Riding Gravel Radio Ranch Podcast!

Episode #23 of the Riding Gravel Radio Ranch podcast is up and ready for you to check out. Here is the page you can listen to it on and pretend to be working. (Or whatever.....ya know? )

It's been a while since we've posted a podcast, but my partner, Ben Welnak, has been involved in a big cross-state move for he and his family which caused a lot of disruption on the podcast side for Riding Gravel. Now that things have settled down a bit, we're both hoping that the podcast becomes a bit more "regular".

I know. We've said that before! But we cannot always predict how the changes in life will go and that almost always will be more important than the podcast is. Honestly, I like doing the podcast. I find it to be fun and enjoyable. I missed doing it all Summer long. (Our last podcast previous to #23 was back in May!!) So, if you tuned out over the past several months, I get it, but give it another chance and we will see if we cannot be a bit more regular going forward.

This episode deals with the changes to the Dirty Kanza 200 registration, some Trans Iowa stuff, news about stuff I am reviewing, and more. Check it out, please, and if you do, let me know what you think. Thanks!

Thinking of fixing it for Winter

Fascination With Fixed:

I've had a hankerin' for riding fixed gear again. I don't know quite where that comes from either. It's kind of weird.

Why deny the free coasting fun of "normal" bicycles and hamstring yourself to some 19th Century technology? I know........there are benefits, it's great for your pedal stroke, yada, yada, yada.............

And there are those of you reading, no doubt, that are proficient in the fixed gear ways. I get it. The thing is, I don't understand why I sometimes gravitate toward fixed gear riding. I almost always am a klutz at it. I forget I cannot coast and I about launch myself and tweak my knee. Then I have that anxious few seconds when I approach the curb and I am not in a good part of my pedal stroke to pop that front wheel up. Or how about when I stop and my "chocolate foot" isn't in the prime starting position? (Don't know what "chocolate foot" is? See Hans Rey.... It's old skool trialsin/mtb lingo)

I actually have a rat-rod Raleigh Grand Prix converted into a fixed gear bike in the garage and my 1X1 Surly has a flip-flop hub with a fixed cog on one side. Then I also have that Tomi cog in the picture as well. One of the three is getting some use this Winter, maybe all three. We will see. If we get inundated with snow and it gets super cold, well maybe the fat bike rules. Time will tell.

Have a great weekend and hopefully you get to ride your bicycles!

Friday News And Views

T.I.v14 Registration Update:

There is today's mail and tomorrow's mail and then that's it! So far we have a pile of 77 entrants with more sure to come. The lottery drawing will take place on October 31st, because trick-or-treat, ya know?

I plan on hosting a live drawing for the Rookie Class on my Periscope account which you can access from Twitter at @guitarted1961. Just keep checking back for an exact time for that. All Trans Iowa related Tweets are hashtagged #TIv14, so you can search that on Twitter to keep tabs on the goings on with this. I will not be posting the live feed anywhere else, so don't even ask. If you cannot do Twitter, or won't, then you'll have to wait until I upload the roster to the Trans Iowa v14 page later that evening.

New Riding Gravel Radio Ranch Podcast!

Episode #23 of the Riding Gravel Radio Ranch podcast is up and ready for you to check out. Here is the page you can listen to it on and pretend to be working. (Or whatever.....ya know? )

It's been a while since we've posted a podcast, but my partner, Ben Welnak, has been involved in a big cross-state move for he and his family which caused a lot of disruption on the podcast side for Riding Gravel. Now that things have settled down a bit, we're both hoping that the podcast becomes a bit more "regular".

I know. We've said that before! But we cannot always predict how the changes in life will go and that almost always will be more important than the podcast is. Honestly, I like doing the podcast. I find it to be fun and enjoyable. I missed doing it all Summer long. (Our last podcast previous to #23 was back in May!!) So, if you tuned out over the past several months, I get it, but give it another chance and we will see if we cannot be a bit more regular going forward.

This episode deals with the changes to the Dirty Kanza 200 registration, some Trans Iowa stuff, news about stuff I am reviewing, and more. Check it out, please, and if you do, let me know what you think. Thanks!

Thinking of fixing it for Winter

Fascination With Fixed:

I've had a hankerin' for riding fixed gear again. I don't know quite where that comes from either. It's kind of weird.

Why deny the free coasting fun of "normal" bicycles and hamstring yourself to some 19th Century technology? I know........there are benefits, it's great for your pedal stroke, yada, yada, yada.............

And there are those of you reading, no doubt, that are proficient in the fixed gear ways. I get it. The thing is, I don't understand why I sometimes gravitate toward fixed gear riding. I almost always am a klutz at it. I forget I cannot coast and I about launch myself and tweak my knee. Then I have that anxious few seconds when I approach the curb and I am not in a good part of my pedal stroke to pop that front wheel up. Or how about when I stop and my "chocolate foot" isn't in the prime starting position? (Don't know what "chocolate foot" is? See Hans Rey.... It's old skool trialsin/mtb lingo)

I actually have a rat-rod Raleigh Grand Prix converted into a fixed gear bike in the garage and my 1X1 Surly has a flip-flop hub with a fixed cog on one side. Then I also have that Tomi cog in the picture as well. One of the three is getting some use this Winter, maybe all three. We will see. If we get inundated with snow and it gets super cold, well maybe the fat bike rules. Time will tell.

Have a great weekend and hopefully you get to ride your bicycles!

Friday News And Views

This and three other designs coming soon....

Stickers:

I found out yesterday that my partner in Riding Gravel, Ben Welnak, has come up with four new stickers that should be available sometime soon. When I know more I will pass it along here.

There will be "Addicted To Gravel" stickers in this run, in case you were wondering. Stay tuned.....

News on next year's Grinder Nats has come out...

 Grinder Nats, Gravelleurs Raid Join Forces:

The Gravelleur's Raid event has been an annual event for a while now and when Grinder Nationals announced that they were going to have an event in the same area, but later in June, it sent out a red flag to the organizers. To their credit, instead of fighting with each other these events have now joined forces and Grinder Nationals will now happen in conjunction with Gravelleur's Raid on April 7th, 2018.

Here's the Press release:

PRESS RELEASE: Alright gravel peeps here we go.
The Gravelleur's Raid 100 mile gravel road race will now be your gravel Grinder Nationals event. It will be a fully supported gravel event.
It is owned and operated by the United States Endurance Cycling Federation. http://www.usecf.com/
We will be growing the event and making it one of the top gravel races in the United States.
More info to come.
The 50 mile non-competitive event will be called Gravelleur's Raid and become a bigger and better event also.

There ya go......

Commentary: There will be a lot of folks that want to piss and moan about how "gravel racing is being  ruined", or by expressing some similar comments. I have talked with one of the USECF head honches, Troy, worked alongside of him, and have interviewed him. He gets it. The USECF grew up out of a grassroots background. The USECF wants to keep the vibe that gravel racing has always had, but they want to also have an opportunity for its best racers to gain recognition and be rewraded with a jersey that shows that. As far as I know, that's all they want to do. 

Like I have said, I've spoken with Troy from the USECF. Have any of the other commenters dug into this and asked folks from the organization what's up? Or are we just shooting from the hip? Uh huh.......

I will pass along this: The USECF jumped at the chance to do a "Gravel Nationals" because they knew that the USAC Federation was going to try to do it. I doubt that USAC would be interested in doing things in a "grassroots way" judging by how they have operated throughout their history. So, there is that nugget to chew on as well.

Finally, I feel that the Grinder Nationals is not doing anything now, or will do anything in the future that say, an event like Dirty Kanza has not already done before. That's likely what the organizers are shooting for here. So, the DK200 draws well over 2000 racers and supporting folks to Emporia every June. If that is the Grinder Nats template, I don't see how that "ruins" gravel racing, or the scene. I guess if it rankles your feathers, you could always just not bother with it, ya know....... We do have a choice.

2018 Trek Roscoe 8- A 27.5+ rig (Image courtesy of Trek Bicycles)

Trek Resurrects The Roscoe Model, Gives it Plus Wheels:

Remember the old Fisher Roscoe? Well, Trek has dredged up another old Fisher Bikes model name and tacked it on to this new, 27.5+ wheeled hard tail. You can think of it as a smaller wheeled Stache.

There will be two models offered to start with. The Roscoe 7 will retail for right at a grand and the Roscoe 8 will basically be $1200.00 list. The Orange Roscoe 8 has an aluminum frame with internal rear derailleur and dropper post routing, an NX 1X 11 group, and comes with a dropper. It also has a 141mm, open drop out rear end that is like a Boost hub but with a quick release. The fork has 120mm travel, by the way, and the bike is surprisingly shown with Schwalbe tires.I imagine at some point Bontrager will have 27.5+ rubber for these bikes.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out going forward because the X Cal series, also redesigned for 2018, is in this same price point. Trek will certainly be eyeballing which line does better and I wouldn't be surprised to see one or the other go away in the future. But then again, this is Trek and they manufacture a boat load of models.

I like the Roscoe 8. It seems like a better spec than a Timberjack and you'll likely be able to actually find one to test ride. I am a little leery of the rear axle spacing, which seems out of step with the current "axle du jour" standards. But otherwise it seems like a decent entry to plus bikes from a good name brand company.

Okay, that's it for this week. Have a great weekend and stay cool!

Friday News And Views

This and three other designs coming soon....

Stickers:

I found out yesterday that my partner in Riding Gravel, Ben Welnak, has come up with four new stickers that should be available sometime soon. When I know more I will pass it along here.

There will be "Addicted To Gravel" stickers in this run, in case you were wondering. Stay tuned.....

News on next year's Grinder Nats has come out...

 Grinder Nats, Gravelleurs Raid Join Forces:

The Gravelleur's Raid event has been an annual event for a while now and when Grinder Nationals announced that they were going to have an event in the same area, but later in June, it sent out a red flag to the organizers. To their credit, instead of fighting with each other these events have now joined forces and Grinder Nationals will now happen in conjunction with Gravelleur's Raid on April 7th, 2018.

Here's the Press release:

PRESS RELEASE: Alright gravel peeps here we go.
The Gravelleur's Raid 100 mile gravel road race will now be your gravel Grinder Nationals event. It will be a fully supported gravel event.
It is owned and operated by the United States Endurance Cycling Federation. http://www.usecf.com/
We will be growing the event and making it one of the top gravel races in the United States.
More info to come.
The 50 mile non-competitive event will be called Gravelleur's Raid and become a bigger and better event also.

There ya go......

Commentary: There will be a lot of folks that want to piss and moan about how "gravel racing is being  ruined", or by expressing some similar comments. I have talked with one of the USECF head honches, Troy, worked alongside of him, and have interviewed him. He gets it. The USECF grew up out of a grassroots background. The USECF wants to keep the vibe that gravel racing has always had, but they want to also have an opportunity for its best racers to gain recognition and be rewraded with a jersey that shows that. As far as I know, that's all they want to do. 

Like I have said, I've spoken with Troy from the USECF. Have any of the other commenters dug into this and asked folks from the organization what's up? Or are we just shooting from the hip? Uh huh.......

I will pass along this: The USECF jumped at the chance to do a "Gravel Nationals" because they knew that the USAC Federation was going to try to do it. I doubt that USAC would be interested in doing things in a "grassroots way" judging by how they have operated throughout their history. So, there is that nugget to chew on as well.

Finally, I feel that the Grinder Nationals is not doing anything now, or will do anything in the future that say, an event like Dirty Kanza has not already done before. That's likely what the organizers are shooting for here. So, the DK200 draws well over 2000 racers and supporting folks to Emporia every June. If that is the Grinder Nats template, I don't see how that "ruins" gravel racing, or the scene. I guess if it rankles your feathers, you could always just not bother with it, ya know....... We do have a choice.

2018 Trek Roscoe 8- A 27.5+ rig (Image courtesy of Trek Bicycles)

Trek Resurrects The Roscoe Model, Gives it Plus Wheels:

Remember the old Fisher Roscoe? Well, Trek has dredged up another old Fisher Bikes model name and tacked it on to this new, 27.5+ wheeled hard tail. You can think of it as a smaller wheeled Stache.

There will be two models offered to start with. The Roscoe 7 will retail for right at a grand and the Roscoe 8 will basically be $1200.00 list. The Orange Roscoe 8 has an aluminum frame with internal rear derailleur and dropper post routing, an NX 1X 11 group, and comes with a dropper. It also has a 141mm, open drop out rear end that is like a Boost hub but with a quick release. The fork has 120mm travel, by the way, and the bike is surprisingly shown with Schwalbe tires.I imagine at some point Bontrager will have 27.5+ rubber for these bikes.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out going forward because the X Cal series, also redesigned for 2018, is in this same price point. Trek will certainly be eyeballing which line does better and I wouldn't be surprised to see one or the other go away in the future. But then again, this is Trek and they manufacture a boat load of models.

I like the Roscoe 8. It seems like a better spec than a Timberjack and you'll likely be able to actually find one to test ride. I am a little leery of the rear axle spacing, which seems out of step with the current "axle du jour" standards. But otherwise it seems like a decent entry to plus bikes from a good name brand company.

Okay, that's it for this week. Have a great weekend and stay cool!

My History With "Twenty Nine Inches"

Wes Williams, a 29"er pioneer, and myself at Interbike

First things first. Twenty Nine Inches, as a site, is done. On the passing of that site I thought I would share my history with it. The whole deal I had with Twenty Nine Inches began here and was an outgrowth of this, the Guitar Ted Productions blog. I was writing about 29"ers here and getting news and tips on gear before I ever wrote for another site. Lately I have been recapping the history of that and of this site in my sort of weekly "Minus Ten Review" posts. You can check those out if you care to. The following is a personal recollection and my personal opinions on the history I have with Twenty Nine Inches. This does not necessarily reflect the opinions or recollections of others. So, as always....

NOTE: Large doses of "my opinion" will be handed out in gloppy dollops today. You've been forewarned.....

The Twenty Nine Inches site, (here after referred to as "TNI"), was started by a guy named Tim Grahl. Tim had several cycling related sites, but first and foremost he was an opportunist. He had a rather successful blog/website called "Blue Collar Mountain Bike" which was documenting he and a friends first forays into the world of off road cycling. Basically, these guys were total noobs and they were stumbling through the learning process of mountain biking openly on-line. This brought them a ton of attention from opportunistic marketing wonks who saw an avenue to tell their product story via a "real" and "honest" pair of budding cyclists. Grahl saw an opportunity to get money and product via other cycling based ideas as well. So, he observed that 29"ers were a new and upcoming force in the cycling world. He also noted that I seemed to be a big fan of 29"ers and knew a lot about what was going on with them. Of course, being new to the scene, Grahl did not have the credibility or background knowledge necessary to speak to this new audience. That's where I came in.

As I have said here, I wasn't looking for more opportunities to write. I was already doing reviews and writing for a site called "The Biking Hub", where I learned basic principles of writing for an audience and gained a framework for doing reviews from a guy who had a journalism background. Basically, I was learning a craft and gaining experience, otherwise I wouldn't have engaged with the "Biking Hub" at all. I simply wasn't interested in becoming anything other than a blogger. I had two children, at that time they were 4 years and two years old. I wanted to be around to raise them, not gallivanting around chasing down stories in the bicycle industry. I had a decent job as a bike mechanic which I had arranged to work around my family's needs.

Riding a Lenz Sports Lunchbox at Bootleg Canyon during Demo Days for Interbike

So, when Grahl came a knockin' on my door to write for him I was not biting. I didn't want more on my plate, I wanted less. Then the "Biking Hub" began to become more difficult to communicate with. Eventually the site shut down. Meanwhile, Grahl paid for airfare to get me to Interbike where he offered to pay me for writing and reviewing for TNI. Eventually he promised me that I would make the same amount of money I did at the bike shop so I could quit my job and go full time into TNI. That would allow even more "home time" and free me up for travels.

Well, the travels happened. Between '06 and '09, I was gone a lot. But, the dollars never materialized. In fact, Grahl began to falter on promises to others in the "Crooked Cog Network", his collection of other cycling sites, and eventually he bailed out on them all. In the process, he botched up a picture hosting site contract where he had convinced me I should host images, resulting in the loss of many images. You can still see the "empty holes" on this blog from posts dating from '08 and '09. He bailed on advertisers, and eventually was going to shut down TNI and sell it.

Seeing as how I had responsibilities to companies and people concerning reviews and products still ongoing, I convinced Grahl to give me the site at no charge, since he never paid me in accordance with our '06 handshake agreement in Vegas. Reluctantly and with much resisstance on his end, I eventually got the reigns to TNI in 2010, I believe it was. However, basically since the beginning of 2009 I had been running the site. Free of charge. No pay. Nuthin.

Obviously, Grahl was the brains behind the computer end of the sites he ran, what him having a college trained background in computer sciences and all. Me? I was as bad at computers and websites as Grahl was about cycling. Only difference being that I didn't pretend to know anything about computers. I was getting a serious crash course in website operations, and stress levels in 2009-2010 were at an all-time high.

Meeting Gary Fisher in happier times with TNI. Grahl is on the left here.

That's where Grannygear came in. I met him at Interbike, via Jason Boucher, at the Salsa Cycles booth. Some things are pre-ordained, and not a chance happening. I believe meeting GG was just such a moment in my life.

I know that without GG's technical background that I would have shut down TNI at the end of 2010. In the meantime, we got a European contributor in "cg", a German based rider. His skill in reviewing and communication brought TNI a lot of respect. Grannygear, a natural  born communicator, made connections I never dreamed of making. Meanwhile, I took less and less opportunities for travel, passing all that off to GG and cg instead. I got to stay home, like I wanted to, and the TNI site quickly gained its feet back underneath it. Due to GG and cg's efforts and talents, TNI, regained its status as a well respected site. Or at least I'd like to think so.

Then 27.5"ers came along, fat bikes came along, and gravel bikes got to be a thing. TNI wasn't getting the review stuff it used to, and marketing turned away from smaller sites. The entrenched cycling media finally figured out 29"ers and other niche cycling growth areas were not to be ignored, as 29"ers had been for several years. This all conspired to make TNI less of a value to advertisers. While I, nor GG or cg, made anything off the site, at least the money we did get "kept the lights on",  paid for business trips for GG and cg, and sometimes for things necessary like tools and supplies at times that we needed them to put bicycles together and maintain them. But even that got to be thin by 2012.

Then I decided that full time editing after doing bicycle mechanic work by day was getting to be too much. I was translating articles from German, going over GG's submissions, doing my part for TNI, writing this blog, running Trans Iowa, and "Gravel Grinder News", all at the same time. It was too much. I decided that TNI was in good hands and I had done more than my fair share in getting it back to a respectable standing after the trashing Grahl put the site through in '09. It was time to bug out.

So, I did just that at the end of 2014. I joined Ben Welnak and we formed Riding Gravel. I gained a partner well versed in the IT side of sites and a trustworthy business partner that had a proven track record of success with making websites and podcasts make money. Not a lot of money, mind you, but enough to make life doing RidingGravel.com worth my attention. Something I never got from TNI, nor did Grannygear.

Twenty Nine Inches outlasted its lifespan that it should have had based on the passion and efforts of individuals that cared about the industry and the people that were involved in it, but mostly for the riders out there who read the site and relied on it. We knew it was a worthwhile effort for them. We spent a lot of our own blood, sweat, tears, and suffered a lot of mental anguish working on TNI to make it the best we knew how to. I am proud of my work there, and while it is no longer a thing, I count it a big blessing to have done it. Especially because of the people I connected to through TNI.

I'm not a businessman. I am a story teller, I guess. So, TNI was a big energy suck with little reward beyond the people part I mentioned. How TNI made it to 2017 is an amazing thing. I tip my hat to Grannygear and "cg". To Jeff J, Captain Bob, and anyone else that contributed to our time there at TNI. I am super thankful for every industry contact. You all are much more to me than an opportunity to "get stuff" or gather news. You are all fantastic folks that gave me so much of your precious time, energy, and knowledge. I could never repay any of you for that.

So long Twenty Nine Inches. It was a good ride while it lasted.

My History With "Twenty Nine Inches"

Wes Williams, a 29"er pioneer, and myself at Interbike

First things first. Twenty Nine Inches, as a site, is done. On the passing of that site I thought I would share my history with it. The whole deal I had with Twenty Nine Inches began here and was an outgrowth of this, the Guitar Ted Productions blog. I was writing about 29"ers here and getting news and tips on gear before I ever wrote for another site. Lately I have been recapping the history of that and of this site in my sort of weekly "Minus Ten Review" posts. You can check those out if you care to. The following is a personal recollection and my personal opinions on the history I have with Twenty Nine Inches. This does not necessarily reflect the opinions or recollections of others. So, as always....

NOTE: Large doses of "my opinion" will be handed out in gloppy dollops today. You've been forewarned.....

The Twenty Nine Inches site, (here after referred to as "TNI"), was started by a guy named Tim Grahl. Tim had several cycling related sites, but first and foremost he was an opportunist. He had a rather successful blog/website called "Blue Collar Mountain Bike" which was documenting he and a friends first forays into the world of off road cycling. Basically, these guys were total noobs and they were stumbling through the learning process of mountain biking openly on-line. This brought them a ton of attention from opportunistic marketing wonks who saw an avenue to tell their product story via a "real" and "honest" pair of budding cyclists. Grahl saw an opportunity to get money and product via other cycling based ideas as well. So, he observed that 29"ers were a new and upcoming force in the cycling world. He also noted that I seemed to be a big fan of 29"ers and knew a lot about what was going on with them. Of course, being new to the scene, Grahl did not have the credibility or background knowledge necessary to speak to this new audience. That's where I came in.

As I have said here, I wasn't looking for more opportunities to write. I was already doing reviews and writing for a site called "The Biking Hub", where I learned basic principles of writing for an audience and gained a framework for doing reviews from a guy who had a journalism background. Basically, I was learning a craft and gaining experience, otherwise I wouldn't have engaged with the "Biking Hub" at all. I simply wasn't interested in becoming anything other than a blogger. I had two children, at that time they were 4 years and two years old. I wanted to be around to raise them, not gallivanting around chasing down stories in the bicycle industry. I had a decent job as a bike mechanic which I had arranged to work around my family's needs.

Riding a Lenz Sports Lunchbox at Bootleg Canyon during Demo Days for Interbike

So, when Grahl came a knockin' on my door to write for him I was not biting. I didn't want more on my plate, I wanted less. Then the "Biking Hub" began to become more difficult to communicate with. Eventually the site shut down. Meanwhile, Grahl paid for airfare to get me to Interbike where he offered to pay me for writing and reviewing for TNI. Eventually he promised me that I would make the same amount of money I did at the bike shop so I could quit my job and go full time into TNI. That would allow even more "home time" and free me up for travels.

Well, the travels happened. Between '06 and '09, I was gone a lot. But, the dollars never materialized. In fact, Grahl began to falter on promises to others in the "Crooked Cog Network", his collection of other cycling sites, and eventually he bailed out on them all. In the process, he botched up a picture hosting site contract where he had convinced me I should host images, resulting in the loss of many images. You can still see the "empty holes" on this blog from posts dating from '08 and '09. He bailed on advertisers, and eventually was going to shut down TNI and sell it.

Seeing as how I had responsibilities to companies and people concerning reviews and products still ongoing, I convinced Grahl to give me the site at no charge, since he never paid me in accordance with our '06 handshake agreement in Vegas. Reluctantly and with much resisstance on his end, I eventually got the reigns to TNI in 2010, I believe it was. However, basically since the beginning of 2009 I had been running the site. Free of charge. No pay. Nuthin.

Obviously, Grahl was the brains behind the computer end of the sites he ran, what him having a college trained background in computer sciences and all. Me? I was as bad at computers and websites as Grahl was about cycling. Only difference being that I didn't pretend to know anything about computers. I was getting a serious crash course in website operations, and stress levels in 2009-2010 were at an all-time high.

Meeting Gary Fisher in happier times with TNI. Grahl is on the left here.

That's where Grannygear came in. I met him at Interbike, via Jason Boucher, at the Salsa Cycles booth. Some things are pre-ordained, and not a chance happening. I believe meeting GG was just such a moment in my life.

I know that without GG's technical background that I would have shut down TNI at the end of 2010. In the meantime, we got a European contributor in "cg", a German based rider. His skill in reviewing and communication brought TNI a lot of respect. Grannygear, a natural  born communicator, made connections I never dreamed of making. Meanwhile, I took less and less opportunities for travel, passing all that off to GG and cg instead. I got to stay home, like I wanted to, and the TNI site quickly gained its feet back underneath it. Due to GG and cg's efforts and talents, TNI, regained its status as a well respected site. Or at least I'd like to think so.

Then 27.5"ers came along, fat bikes came along, and gravel bikes got to be a thing. TNI wasn't getting the review stuff it used to, and marketing turned away from smaller sites. The entrenched cycling media finally figured out 29"ers and other niche cycling growth areas were not to be ignored, as 29"ers had been for several years. This all conspired to make TNI less of a value to advertisers. While I, nor GG or cg, made anything off the site, at least the money we did get "kept the lights on",  paid for business trips for GG and cg, and sometimes for things necessary like tools and supplies at times that we needed them to put bicycles together and maintain them. But even that got to be thin by 2012.

Then I decided that full time editing after doing bicycle mechanic work by day was getting to be too much. I was translating articles from German, going over GG's submissions, doing my part for TNI, writing this blog, running Trans Iowa, and "Gravel Grinder News", all at the same time. It was too much. I decided that TNI was in good hands and I had done more than my fair share in getting it back to a respectable standing after the trashing Grahl put the site through in '09. It was time to bug out.

So, I did just that at the end of 2014. I joined Ben Welnak and we formed Riding Gravel. I gained a partner well versed in the IT side of sites and a trustworthy business partner that had a proven track record of success with making websites and podcasts make money. Not a lot of money, mind you, but enough to make life doing RidingGravel.com worth my attention. Something I never got from TNI, nor did Grannygear.

Twenty Nine Inches outlasted its lifespan that it should have had based on the passion and efforts of individuals that cared about the industry and the people that were involved in it, but mostly for the riders out there who read the site and relied on it. We knew it was a worthwhile effort for them. We spent a lot of our own blood, sweat, tears, and suffered a lot of mental anguish working on TNI to make it the best we knew how to. I am proud of my work there, and while it is no longer a thing, I count it a big blessing to have done it. Especially because of the people I connected to through TNI.

I'm not a businessman. I am a story teller, I guess. So, TNI was a big energy suck with little reward beyond the people part I mentioned. How TNI made it to 2017 is an amazing thing. I tip my hat to Grannygear and "cg". To Jeff J, Captain Bob, and anyone else that contributed to our time there at TNI. I am super thankful for every industry contact. You all are much more to me than an opportunity to "get stuff" or gather news. You are all fantastic folks that gave me so much of your precious time, energy, and knowledge. I could never repay any of you for that.

So long Twenty Nine Inches. It was a good ride while it lasted.

Friday News And Views

The new Riding Gravel Radio Ranch podcast features tales of Almanzo and more.

New Podcast Is Live: 

Ben, Matt, (of  the "Just Riding Along" podcast), and myself have just put out the latest "Riding Gravel Radio Ranch" podcast for your listening pleasure HERE. It is also available through the Mountain Bike Radio app, Stitcher, and most podcast outlets.

It is a rambling show where we talk about the Trans Iowa experience, our volunteering at the Cherry Grove checkpoint for the Almanzo 100 and Royal (or "Royale", as Matt thinks it should be), 162 events held in Spring Valley Minnesota a couple of weeks ago now. Ben also gets a kick out of #bikeshophorrors and "chain sculptures'. Finally, we touch on what will be coming up in the next update on the podcast, hopefully which will be available for download in a couple of weeks or so from now.

I apologize to listeners for the unusual timing between podcasts, but Ben has been in a big moving phase in his life right now going from North Dakota to Wisconsin and that has put a big obstacle in our way as far as producing these podcasts. At some point, it will become more of a regular thing.

Someone with this sticker on a Subaru Forester was not very patient Wednesday!

Not My Red Light:

I commute to work by bicycle and have used the same basic route for probably 13 years plus. So, folks know me out there. It isn't often that I see something I haven't before, but Wednesday proved different.

I rolled up behind an sage green Forrester with the bumper sticker shown here plastered on the back of it. I hadn't seen the car before, but it had Black Hawk County plates. Heading West on Falls, you have to wait at the red light to allow oncoming traffic to turn left. It takes a few seconds to wait. That turn signal for left turning traffic maybe lasts 30-45 seconds. I know. I go through that intersection a lot.

Well, apparently "Not My President" thought that the red light wasn't his red light, because he tried to poke his nose up the street, clearly alarming those who had the right to turn. Eventually the Forrester caused one car to stop and the Forrester blew the intersection and raced up the street.

Nice!

Sometimes it might be best if you didn't put any stickers on your car at all. Or maybe it would be better if you obeyed traffic laws for all of our safety? I don't know. Maybe I'm just not in touch with reality..........

So.......Guitar Ted? Where'd that come from? Image by Jason Boucher

Frequently Asked Question:

If I had to chose what I get asked most about, I would have no problem identifying that subject. It would be why I am called "Guitar Ted" and where that came from.

Matt from Mountain Bike Radio asked me that point blank when we met up in Cherry Grove. Many folks have asked me that question over the years.

It has been that way for years. In fact, I have a permanent page explaining the story which has a link just under the header up there. For those of you that have never noticed, here is that same link. I think it was like the second or third blog post I ever wrote for this site. I did not have any images for it back then, but I have added a couple since.

Anyway, Matt from Mountain Bike Radio says that I need to tell the story on the Riding Gravel Radio Ranch podcast, so I guess that will be out there sometime soon. If you can't be arsed to read about it, well at least soon you can listen to it at your leisure while you do whatever. Just a fair warning there......

Okay, that's all for today. I hope to be having a good ride in Kansas tomorrow and if you are riding, I hope you have a great, safe ride as well.

Friday News And Views

The new Riding Gravel Radio Ranch podcast features tales of Almanzo and more.

New Podcast Is Live: 

Ben, Matt, (of  the "Just Riding Along" podcast), and myself have just put out the latest "Riding Gravel Radio Ranch" podcast for your listening pleasure HERE. It is also available through the Mountain Bike Radio app, Stitcher, and most podcast outlets.

It is a rambling show where we talk about the Trans Iowa experience, our volunteering at the Cherry Grove checkpoint for the Almanzo 100 and Royal (or "Royale", as Matt thinks it should be), 162 events held in Spring Valley Minnesota a couple of weeks ago now. Ben also gets a kick out of #bikeshophorrors and "chain sculptures'. Finally, we touch on what will be coming up in the next update on the podcast, hopefully which will be available for download in a couple of weeks or so from now.

I apologize to listeners for the unusual timing between podcasts, but Ben has been in a big moving phase in his life right now going from North Dakota to Wisconsin and that has put a big obstacle in our way as far as producing these podcasts. At some point, it will become more of a regular thing.

Someone with this sticker on a Subaru Forester was not very patient Wednesday!

Not My Red Light:

I commute to work by bicycle and have used the same basic route for probably 13 years plus. So, folks know me out there. It isn't often that I see something I haven't before, but Wednesday proved different.

I rolled up behind an sage green Forrester with the bumper sticker shown here plastered on the back of it. I hadn't seen the car before, but it had Black Hawk County plates. Heading West on Falls, you have to wait at the red light to allow oncoming traffic to turn left. It takes a few seconds to wait. That turn signal for left turning traffic maybe lasts 30-45 seconds. I know. I go through that intersection a lot.

Well, apparently "Not My President" thought that the red light wasn't his red light, because he tried to poke his nose up the street, clearly alarming those who had the right to turn. Eventually the Forrester caused one car to stop and the Forrester blew the intersection and raced up the street.

Nice!

Sometimes it might be best if you didn't put any stickers on your car at all. Or maybe it would be better if you obeyed traffic laws for all of our safety? I don't know. Maybe I'm just not in touch with reality..........

So.......Guitar Ted? Where'd that come from? Image by Jason Boucher

Frequently Asked Question:

If I had to chose what I get asked most about, I would have no problem identifying that subject. It would be why I am called "Guitar Ted" and where that came from.

Matt from Mountain Bike Radio asked me that point blank when we met up in Cherry Grove. Many folks have asked me that question over the years.

It has been that way for years. In fact, I have a permanent page explaining the story which has a link just under the header up there. For those of you that have never noticed, here is that same link. I think it was like the second or third blog post I ever wrote for this site. I did not have any images for it back then, but I have added a couple since.

Anyway, Matt from Mountain Bike Radio says that I need to tell the story on the Riding Gravel Radio Ranch podcast, so I guess that will be out there sometime soon. If you can't be arsed to read about it, well at least soon you can listen to it at your leisure while you do whatever. Just a fair warning there......

Okay, that's all for today. I hope to be having a good ride in Kansas tomorrow and if you are riding, I hope you have a great, safe ride as well.

Almanzo Report: Cherry Grove Checkpoint

Jacob waiting in the cold rain and wind for things to get started.

The Almanzo 100, probably one of the most classic of gravel road events, was held again this past weekend up in Spring Valley, Minnesota. The 11th running of this event was marked by some brutal conditions. My son, Jacob, and I were up to help with the RidingGravel.com Cherry Grove Checkpoint. This is the tale of the day as I saw it....

Our trip was arranged so that we could ride up and back again with my friend Marty in his Ford Flex. Marty picked us up at 7:00am and we hightailed it up North, raining and blowing all the way. Marty had an intrepid attitude going in to this event and he seemed to be well prepared for the day. He dumped us off in Cherry Grove at about 8:30 am and headed off to find his starting spot in the event.

We were left in the forlorn looking town made even more dreary by the cold, wind driven rain which was slashing down and drowning everything in a heat sucking, watery curse. Only the robins seemed pleased as they hopped about, joyfully chirping as they pulled doomed earthworms out of the water-logged ground. Whomever showed up for this Almanzo was in for a brutal day, that was for sure.

Jacob and I shivered and milled about as best we could, trying to stay warm and engaged with each other. Actually, with the sub-40 degree temperatures, the wet air, and the strong winds, I was already going in to the throes of hypothermia after only being there about an hour. My chest ached and I tried to do some exercises to get the blood pumping again. Fortunately, after a little over an hour, Ben and Matt showed up with all the supplies and we set about to getting the checkpoint operable.

Matt chats with Troy from the USECF Gravel Nationals

Ben scored the use of this fire pit from the local Spring Valley hardware store owner. It was much appreciated!

We set about to getting some shelter up first of all. It  was a pop up tent given to Ben to use by Surly Brewing. The work was welcomed by Jacob and I and it helped to warm me right up. I think had I had to stand out there much longer I might have been in trouble. The work went fast with many hands. We were joined in our efforts by Troy from the USECF Gravel Nationals (If you haven't heard of Gravel Nationals, I recommend listening to this podcast) Matt and Ben also helped a lot to get the checkpoint looking like something within a short period of time. Matt kicked right in to frying bacon and my son assisted him in that task. Meanwhile, Ben and I got a fire going in a borrowed fire pit that Ben had secured from the local hardware store owner in Spring Valley. Not long afterward, the man from Cherry Grove in charge of taking care of the community center stopped by and opened up the place which had heat and a clean, dry place to sit. Now we were ready for the first riders.

First rider through.

The first seven riders trickled through within an hour or so of each other and then it took a long time before we saw anyone else.

Suddenly a call went up that there was a rider spotted. He was all alone and looked a little unhappy, but who wouldn't be in those conditions? Anyway, it was quite a few minutes before we saw another pair, then quite a few minutes more before we saw another lone rider. Finally, we had about seven go through within about an hour or so of each other, then nothing for a long time.

Meanwhile we went in to the community center, which was a country school from the 1880's to 1954, and warmed up by the gas furnace. We "cooked" our wet clothes on top, just like we used to do back when I was a kid at many of my relative's country homes when we would get wet playing in the snow as kids.

(L-R) Sam Cohen, Troy from Gravel Nationals, and Ben Welnak gathered under the tarp behind the RadTour's Sprinter van.

We noted a Sprinter van which pulled up, set out a big, blue tarp, and had a dog cavorting about. It was Audrey Wiedemier and Sam Cohen who were helping support some folks, I believe, on the Almanzo. Anyway, Audrey has a touring business going where she takes folks on short, mixed gravel and pavement routes to farms where the idea is to get local produce and meats to eat. I probably have some of that wrong, but maybe someone could comment on this post and set me straight?

Anyway, Audrey and Sam had tea and were very gracious to anyone who ducked under their blue tarp for shelter. And we needed all the shelter we could get. It blew hard and rained a lot most of the day.

Riders that stopped by at the checkpoint were treated to a warm fire and lots of attention from the bystanders.

Jason O'Mahoney of Gravel Cyclist avails himself of the hospitality at the RidingGravel.com food table.

We were told by Pat Sorensen of Penn Cycles that "everybody is dropping out..." and while we didn't know exactly what that meant, we had only seen about 15 cyclists by 3:00pm! However; a slug of bikers were spotted, and then a slow trickle of wet, weary cyclists were coming by in ones and twos until probably around 5:30 or so. By that time we were seeing a few of the Royal 162 riders, of which there were only seven or so left of that started the event. One of them, the leader, Greg Gleason, went steaming by on his distinctive Salsa Cycles Cutthroat. He looked really strong.

I was told by Joel Raygor that Ben Mullin, who was in Trans Iowa v13 this year, had a "special gift" which he was carrying for me and that I should wait for him to reach Cherry Grove. By this point, Marty, who had abandoned in Preston, was there waiting with our ride back to Waterloo. It was a great thing that Marty was so amenable to the idea of waiting around a bit longer. Thanks Marty!! In fact, Marty ended up giving a local to us rider a hitch back to the starting line. So, it all worked out.

Me (L) and Ben Mullin, who hauled this sixer of beer for 100 plus miles in his hydration pack to give to me. Photo by Martin Bunge

Ben eventually rolled in with a few other riders and proceeded to dislodge six cans of craft beer which he had hauled around the Royal course to give to me along with a movie pass for my wife. What a guy! Don't try this at home kids, because hauling around all that extra weight in those conditions was a handicap Ben didn't need. That was super awesome of him to do and I won't soon forget about that.

Well, a few more riders came around after that, but according to the report we had from Joel Raygor, the last of the riders were to arrive very soon. I have no hard numbers on how many folks went by us. I lost track at 25-30, but I would be very surprised if more than 75 riders passed us at Cherry Grove. (NOTE: Initial Almanzo tabulations show 110. I find that hard to fathom myself.) It was a very difficult day, and many made a wiser decision for themselves and pulled out after shorter rides, or decided not to come at all. Ben Welnak, who was at the start, said maybe 300 folks were in Spring Valley to start the event Saturday. So, obviously this unseasonably cold, wet, windy weather has had a big effect upon the turnout and the finishing numbers.

Martin took us home and we arrived shortly before sunset. Probably about a ten hour day of exposure for myself and my son, but we had a blast and we hope that our "gravel family" had a good time despite the conditions. I look forward to seeing many of you again and more at the Dirty Kanza 200 in a couple of weeks from now. Hopefully the nasty weather will leave us alone!

Thank You: To Ben Welnak and Matt McCauley of RidingGravel.com, to Troy of the USECF Gravel Worlds, Penn Cycles, The Spring Valley Tourism Board, The Cherry Grove Community Center, Surly Brewing Company, and especially to all of the outstanding Almanzo riders. Thanks to all that came to hang out with us at the checkpoint. It was wonderful to have been with you all. #gravelfamily Finally- A big Thank You to Martin Bunge for the transportation and great conversation.