The 32" Watch: Some Background On Those Bigger Big Wheels

Not really a novel concept. (Image courtesy of Baum Cycles)

 The 32"er wheel thing is all the buzz in certain circles of the cycling innerwebs. I decided today to take a cruise through the archives of 20 years of information logged on this platform to see if anything might pop up concerning bigger big wheels. 

Like so many other times I research this blog I found things I had forgotten about. Stories about 36'ers and 32" wheels which might surprise you from the standpoint of how long ago some of this stuff has been percolating in the background.  

My first introduction to anything larger than a 29"er wheel was back in 2006 at Frostbike when Ben Witt had brought his creation to the show to share with the bike nerds in attendance. It was a frame welded up by Mike Pofahl with Ben's 36" wheels attached. It was a raw, unpainted idea, and it was very impressive. 

The first 36"er. I had a chance to buy this thing. 

To my knowledge Ben's bike was the first 36" wheeled bike around. I knew of a 32"er cruiser made with Coker branding, but not a 36"er. The bike was an amazing experience. But a parking lot ride does not tell the complete story. 

Fortunately, I was afforded the chance to try the big 36"er out for a couple of months when Ben was considering selling the bike. By this time it had been painted red. This would have been back in 2009. I used it primarily for commuting, and a lot of what people are saying about 32"ers is very true for 36"ers. Big stability, major roll-over capabilities, lots of steering inertia. I was thinking hard about buying the bike and doing gravel on it, but in the end I passed on the offer. 

Eventually someone did do a proper gravel bike with 36" wheels. I wrote about this in 2021. So, yeah.....big wheels on gravel has been a thing for a while already. And if you click the link and read my post from back then, you'll see reference to the idea dating back to 2006. Right about the same time Ben made his first 36"er, and in fact, the idea was spawned by Ben's bike. 

Even as recently as two years ago, Curve Cycling from Australia was producing a big wheeled gravel bike. I posted about that and made my case for Ben Witt's pioneering influence then. So, I think it is a good perspective to give Ben some props for sparking interest in larger than 29"er wheels. Would it have happened anyway? Yeah.....probably. But it happened the way it did. 

And I think that is worth noting. 

February Was Frostbike Time

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

February was always the month for several years that I went to the Frostbike event in Bloomington, Minnesota. Frostbike was the dealer-only show put on by Quality Bicycle Products, one of the, if not the, largest bicycle parts distributors in North America. Originally this event was called an "Open House" where the idea was that QBP would invite dealers to come up and see their operation, explore opportunities to do business with QBP, and basically get a bit of wine-and-dine, schmoozing to woo the dealers over to the QBP way. 

Attendees were invited to explore the facility where you could see the latest in warehousing technology. QBP offered a lunch as well during this open house. Later on vendors started appearing on the floor showing off their latest wares. This expanded in time until Frostbike became a de-facto trade show replete with more various brands distributed by QBP. Many were showing off their latest product introductions, and with the addition of the QBP brands like Salsa Cycles and Surly Bikes showing new stuff, it was a show not to be missed.  

Later on there were dealer education and mechanic seminars offered. Then QBP shifted all the Salsa and Surly product intros to Summertime with their "Saddledrive" event, which took some of the steam away from Frostbike. Finally, the seminar/education part pushed out the trade show part until Frostbike was essentially a conference and then it petered out. This ending was hastened by the management that clamped down on the partying and extra-event offerings some of their brands were doing which were more social get-togethers and really did not enhance the company's bottom line. However; they were attractions to dealers to show up to the event.

Mike Moyer of the former business in Northfield, Minnesota, Mike's Bikes, holding my old Gryphon Mk1 frame.

I probably started going to Frostbike in 2003, for sure by 2005. Somewhere in there, and it was always because I was a shop rat at the shop I used to wrench for in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Back then I was still pretty much a nobody. But then Trans Iowa, this blog, and the whole 29"er thing swept me into a different part of my life. 

Frostbike became something quite a bit different for me. I became friends with Ben Witt, who at the time was the owner of Milltown Cycles, a shop in Faribault, Minnesota. Through Ben I was invited to visit Mike's Bikes in Northfield, the shop where Ben cut his teeth in the business under the watchful eye of Mike Moyer, who just happened to have been a life-long cyclist and bicycle mechanic. 

Greek pizza and beers at Mike's circa 2010.

Mike had a lot of surprises up his sleeve. The uninformed person would have taken Mike for an ordinary shop owner with a super laid-back attitude running a shop that was an eclectic mess. And I mean that with all the love I can give behind that description. There really was no other way to describe Mike's Bikes. 

The sharp-eyed cyclist with a mountain biking background might have soon started picking out some oddities about the shop. Old vintage pieces could be spied in corners, up on racks in unassuming places, and if you were allowed to get into the back room, your mind would have been blown away. 

See, Mike was an OG of the Marin klunker group. He was right there, in the thick of it all, during the birthing of what we now know as the modern mountain bike. He knew all the principals involved and had even laced up wheels for many of them. But Mike wasn't about those tales and he never really was one to trot out stories or drop names. I loved that about Mike. He was as real as it got. 

Some promotional shot at Frostbike for the Fargo. I think that is me!

I adored and cherished every moment I spent with Ben Witt, Marty Larsen, some of the old employees of Mikes, Stuart, Mike's son, and Mike Moyer at Mike's Bikes. Those were some of my very favorite and most fun experiences in life and in cycling. I reported on Frostbike, and Mike's Bikes, every time I went there, here on this blog.  I wish that I could have brought all of you there to Mike's at least once. I don't know if any of that ever came through in my postings, but I truly felt that way and still do. We lost Mike last year in May. I have to say, this time of year will never be the same for me again, but I thank Mike Moyer for all that he did, because without him, my life would have been much less rich. 

Having a chat with Ben Witt, then of Salsa Cycles. Image courtesy of M Larson.

Then there was the whole "media" thing and my attendance at Frostbike. I never went to Frostbike as a media dude, as I always tried to use my shop mechanic credentials instead. More stealthy and subtle under that guise! 

It was hard though, and adding in my status as the director of Trans Iowa, it usually meant I would walk into Frostbike and get stuck at the Salsa Cycles booth for hours. Then there were a few times I was able to get into places I shouldn't have been with the help of some QBP folks I won't name here. 

I was able to get into the cubicle farm on several occasions, a place I wasn't supposed to be in. Ironically Frostbike used to be an "open house" gig, but that ceased to be the case after awhile! On one occasion I snuck into a super-select group of high-end dealers which QBP was having a separate party for upstairs and where the plebians were not allowed. That was fun! 

I couldn't divulge all the details then, and I still probably shouldn't, so a lot of Frostbike did not get reported here, but I told the stories I could tell. Oh, yeah, and images. I've got tons that haven't ever been seen here. 

Frostbike was a thing on the blog for a solid ten years. My last trip was in 2015, and what a way to cap things off! That was the year I walked all the way from downtown Minneapolis to the 494 Interstate loop South of town in the snow with just a hoodie on. It was something like 17 degrees and I had on tennis shoes as well. Four hours and 12.2 miles that adventure was! Anyway, you can read about THAT here. 

I got a finger poked into my chest the next day by someone dear to me that once worked at QBP who was rather upset I didn't call for a ride. But that's the sort of shenanigans I used to get into there, and well, it is probably just as well those days are gone. I never got into any real trouble, despite some numbskull antics like getting a car impounded or nearly crashing in a blizzard getting to Frostbike, but I am sure my luck was about all used up. 

To have had the opportunities I had then are amazing to me and to have met all the people I got to meet was even more amazing. It is a part of my life in the cycling world that almost doesn't seem real, but it did all actually happen. 

Thank you to all involved in those times. 

This post is dedicated to Mike Moyer (Image by Marty Larson)

Friday News And Views

Will Holidays Prop Up Bicycle Industry's Season?

Sluggish sales in many categories have plagued the cycling industry all of 2024. So-called "Black Friday" sales offers and discounts have been piling up in this writer's inbox the entire month of November. I've even seen discounts on already discounted bikes! Deep discounts are tempting, but many seem to be reticent to let go of those funds in their accounts. 

Further muddying the waters are the results of the recent national election which many fear will increase costs to consumers of cycling goods by way of proposed tariffs. Seeing as how most of the stuff cyclists want and consume come from foreign manufacturers, this seems to be a reasonable fear for the cycling consumer. 

Since many consumers are already saying prices are too high, it would seem that any actions taken by the government which would end up increasing the costs of foreign made goods would only further erode consumer's motivations to buy in 2025. Of course, nothing has happened yet, and it may not happen, in regard to the proposed government actions on tariffs. So, we will just have to wait until 2025 and see what really happens. 

In the meantime, are you considering buying now instead of later due to this fear of tariff action? Respond in the comments if you care to sound off.

Trek Lime ...Or Is It Lemon?:

In the late 2000's Shimano introduced a three speed internal geared hub which was shifted by a control box electronically. The power to make this work was from a generator hub in the front wheel. The rider only had to pedal and when certain speeds were met the shifter control box would make a gearing change by way of a servo motor than pulled a short length of cable to work the hub gears. 

The system had one of Shimano's roller brakes for stopping power. The design also incorporated several visual cues, the most obvious being big, shiny spherical covers over the axles. Shimano marketed it as a group for everyday cycling and for fun. They called it "Coasting". While several companies may have bought into this idea, I only ever saw Treks and Raleighs that were outfitted with the group. 

Recently a Trek Lime with this Coasting set up was donated to the Collective. I noted that it was not shifting. So, as a guitar player I am thinking, "Check all the electronic connections first!", because it is something which can easily be addressed and usually is the issue. Okay, the front generator connector was simple to check. But not so for the shifting mechanism. The shifter box has a cover which has two small Phillips type fasteners, one on each side. Trek put the shifter box under the bike and slightly behind the bottom bracket. They also designed a chain case for this model. The chain case is held on by the flange of the bottom bracket cartridge, and guess what I had to do to access that inner screw on the control box.....

My finger is pointing to where the screw is under the chain case. Had Trek designers just given a bit of access to allow for removal of the shifter box cover, "all I would have had to do" was remove the outer part of the chain case and the crank arm, but noooooo! You have to take the bottom bracket and left crank arm off as well. 

Dumb! 

By the way, the connection was fine. It turns out that the shift point adjustment screw can be adjusted so the bike will not shift. 

Also dumb.

I won't mention the absolutely fantastic rear wheel retention system which utilizes eight fasteners you must remove to get the wheel out to fix a flat tire. Yeah..... This isn't a Lime, it is a lemon! But it works now, so.....

Unbound Announces Qualifying Events :

Last week Unbound sent out a press release showing the qualifying events for a spot in Unbound Gravel events in 2025, 2026, and 2027. Those events that will be a part of the qualifying for Unbound Gravel are as follows:

- April 11, 2025: Life Time Sea Otter Classic Gravel (90 mile) in Monterey, California
- July 12, 2025: Life Time Crusher in the Tushar (70 mile) in Beaver, Utah
- August 10, 2025: Heathland Gravel (100 mile) in Lindburg, Belgium
- September 27, 2025: Life Time Rad Dirt Fest (70 mile and 110 mile) in Trinidad,
Colorado
- October 18, 2025: Life Time Big Sugar Gravel (100 mile) in Bentonville, Arkansas

How it works: Each event will have 50 spots up for grabs. Half of those will go to the top finishers in each category of the event in question. Then the other half of available entries will go to winners of a random draw from a pool of the race's competitors. Winners of entries will be guaranteed a spot on the roster of the Unbound Gravel event that follows the event in question on the calendar. So, as an example, if you won an entry in the 2025 Heathland Gravel event you would be getting a guaranteed entry to the 2026 Unbound Gravel event. 

According to my source at Unbound Gravel this system will carry through at least until the 2026 qualifier events have been held. So the 2027 Unbound Gravel event would be the final event that would carry on with winners of these qualifiers in this format unless things get renewed/changed. 

Comments: This is not "Earth shattering" news by any stretch, but the time stamp for the format is an interesting tidbit. Without saying so, this would indicate to me that Unbound Gravel has no plans currently to become a UCI affiliated gravel event. And from what we already know, it could not carry on as the event is currently formatted if it were a UCI sanctioned event for many reasons, not the least of which is that Unbound's premier distance is about 75 miles too long for the UCI's tastes. 

With the prestige which Unbound holds in gravel cycling's professional ranks, and the allure which it has for the under-classes, the current formatting of Unbound seems prudent to continue. It would appear that will be the case for at least a few years.

Image by Ben Witt

New Teravail MTB Tire Soon?:

Ben Witt of Heath Creek Cycles showed off his new Sklar mountain bike recently on social media. It was noted that the tires are Teravail "Prototype" tires. When a commenter asked Ben about these his reply was that there would be more information coming soon. 

Comments: There are not a lot of "new" 29"er tires coming out anymore because we've had a solid 20 years of development in the size and most "good" tread designs have already been done and copied several times by this point. 

So, it will be interesting to read about what will set this aggressive appearing 29"er tire apart from the crowded MTB tire market. I'm sure there are some interesting details, but from what I can see of the tread design, it doesn't seem that radical or innovative. 

Cropped from an image by Ben Witt

I will say that these Sklar bikes look really cool. Ben is selling them through his Heath Creek Cycles shop and you can check out this bike you see there at Heat Creek Cycles. 

The danger for me would be that I happen to know that Ben sets his bikes up almost to the gnat's eyebrow to how I would, so this bike you see would most definitely fit me as it sits. But don't dismay if you are not a size Large person because Ben has some other Sklars in the shop as well as his being able to order you one if you'd like. 

Interesting note: The 'tall bike' Ben had at Mid-South was built by Sklar but is not a "Sklar Bikes" frame. I know.....weird. But it seemed pretty dialed in and it looked great, so I can only imagine how well these real Sklars are to behold and ride. 

PSA: The Blog Is About To Go Chaotic!

Next week will be double posted almost everyday. This will be due to the addition of the Virtual Turkey Burn Ride Reports, some breaking news on Tuesday, and regular end-of-year stuff I have to squeeze in as well.

This means you probably will need to scroll down the page to make sure that you do not miss anything. You may need two cups of coffee and toast to get through it all. You may roll your eyes and click off to go to another site. 

I don't know, but this message is to let you know one last time that there will be a LOT of content from here on out. So hold on and get comfortable, because things are about to go nuts here!

That's all for this "black Friday" edition of the FN&V. Get out there and burn off a few calories by riding a bicycle this weekend. Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

The Mid-South Report: Getting Home & Thoughts On The Events

Sunrise Monday morning

This will be the last report filed for the 2024 Mid-South event. I'll give a brief overview of our trip home then I'll hit up on some thoughts on the events overall. By the way, a special review of the Honeman Flyer will be done soon, but will not be a part of this post. 

Monday was a tough one for me. I did not feel 100% until we got about three hours from home, but it was a good trip home. We stopped in Kansas City at a home of some friends of Ben and Marty where I met Bob-not-Robert (yes- that is what he goes by), and we had some delicious KC barbecue. Then we stopped in Des Moines to drop off that new Salsa Cycles shirt to Steve Fuller. It was great to see Steve there for a hot minute.

We saw these lavender colored fields, but I do not know what it is that is growing here. 

At any rate, I made it home in one piece and I was wiped out from all the trip's activities and events. I was really happy to get back to my family and my own bed. 

Final Thoughts: So, Mid South.....what do I think........ Well, this is one really special event. That's very apparent. Bobby and Crystal, along with a bunch of help from all over, have crafted an experience that has to be felt to be understood. On one hand it reminds me of old-school gravel events where people concoct their own version of a bicycle event, throw in some good ol' hospitality, a little history, and fun, whip it all up, and you gotta very unique gravel experience. Many events have done this in many various ways. Mid-South does this on a larger scale, but they do it. Really, really well. 

Don't ask. I don't know anything.

I said that Mid South was Bobby Wintle. Obviously that is not the truth, but spiritually, yeah....I think it is true. I got to see Bobby in action at the finish line. I saw his style of leadership. I saw his pouring out of himself for the entire event. 

On Sunday Bobby took me over to his house, just he and I. It was a very kind gesture on his part, and I think it was something done to show me how much he cared about me, our relationship, and his gratitude for what I did which eventually inspired him. Bobby shared with me about his recovery from Mid-South. The inter venous vitamin injection, the massage to relieve his pain and tensions from hugging so many people. I don't know how many other event directors actually physically, mentally, and emotionally sacrifice themselves like Bobby Wintle does, but I bet most do not go this far. 

Then the event itself is really multiple events all at one time. It is a music festival, a running event, a bicycling event, and a party in various places. All in the span of about five days. I have no idea how Bobby and Crystal, and well, their entire support staff - how they live through it all. The event is a massive production and we got to see a lot of it coming down on Sunday which just reinforced the feelings I have that this is an incredible undertaking. 

The people I met were from all over. Different ideals, different cultures, different everything. I had my eyes opened. I learned a lot of things. But one thing I learned that went and cut across all those differences was that we all need each other. We need the community in gravel and elsewhere in our lives. It binds us together, but when it is good and honest, it gives us Life. 

I have to thank Erik Mathy, who, without his energetic activism and ideas, this would never have happened. I have to thank Li King for the talent and craftsmanship that went into producing the bike I rode. I wanted to thank Michael Lehmkuhl, Marty Larson, Ben Witt, and Justin Michaels for catering to me, putting up with me, and generally just for being so kind to me. I owe all these folks a lot. 

Of course, there is Bobby and Crystal Wintle, without whom Mid-South would not exist. Thank You!

 

It is kind of hard to put this one into words that suffice to describe what I experienced at Mid South. I recall several pivotal moments and intimate things which I don't think I can ever share outside that little community of people I was privileged to get to know. 

There were kindnesses, hugs, the look in a person's eyes that was somehow just different than your day-to-day interactions this time. People had joy. There was hope. Optimism. The gravel family really showed out for me this time. Maybe I just have not been sensitive to it before, but maybe it is just a Mid South thing. I cannot say. 

Sorry about all the vaguery and shadowy comments. I really was just struck  differently this time, and besides the obvious roads, bikes, event formatting stuff, which is blah, blah, blah... Mid South had what I think is very unique, rare, and makes one want to come back again. If there was a theme to this thing, it was that: Many people said that they wanted to come back again. I think that says a lot. 

I was told that the red dirt of Oklahoma will never truly be washed out of my clothes. Maybe, maybe not. I do know that red dirt will be part of my soul from now on.

That's the conclusion of the Mid South Report. Now back to the regularly scheduled blog postings.....

Mid South Report: The After-Party

Sunday morning Sunrise.

 Sunday. The event was over, yet we had one more thing to participate in. It was arguably more important to Ben, Marty, and Michael than the riding was. It was the day that these guys were to cook a special home-cooked, Mid-western themed meal for the Mid-South crew including Bobby, Crystal, and their special guests. The guys told me that they expected up to 40 people. 

The venue would be a rented home about a block or so from Bobby and Crystal's home. It was a two story home with a small back porch and a huge back yard. The full kitchen was well appointed but perhaps a tic too small for three guys trying to cook a big meal. At least Ben was outside grilling the two hams in a Weber grill. 

But before all that happened we had gone down in the morning for breakfast at a Mexican restaurant. It was a good place and we all got our fill of vittles. Then it was downtown to meet up with the weary-eyed District crew. The day was a bright, Sunny day, warm, but not hot. The wind was up and it was breezy downtown. The doors to District were flung open and a few people were wandering around. 

They were tearing down the finish line arch when we got there.

The Merman bikes are really cool and ride very nicely.

This custom mountain bike had an insanely painted Cane Creek Helm fork on it.

Check out that paint! I was told it is called "Bad Magic".

That drop out insert? Anodized with a special process.

We hung out at District for a bit. Bobby came by and his voice was blown out. He sounded like an 80 year old man with a three-pack-a-day habit. We ended up going across the street to shop a bit, then over to a local brewery for drinks. 

Shopping for the special dinner later.

My photo shoot with Erik Mathy was in the late afternoon on Sunday.

There was grocery shopping and my photo shoot with Erik Mathy, which I rode to. Ben wouldn't let me out of the Air BnB without a sandwich for lunch. So, there I was, hustling to make my 3:15-3:30pm appointment with Erik out in the country with a turkey and cheese sandwich hanging out of my mouth. It's really hard to breath, eat bread, and ride hard all at the same time, by the way!

Then the guys picked me up and we went in to town to the home that was rented out for us to cook at. Well, not me, because I only barely assisted. I pretty much was a hangar-on at this deal the rest of the night. And what a night! YouTube guitar professional Rhett Shull showed up and he and Tyler from District Cycles played some tasty guitar tunes. Bobby even jumped in for a bit of finger pickin' goodness. Lots of great people showed up, maybe a little more than two dozen in the end. 

Bobby playing guitar, (back to camera) with Tyler (obscured) and Rhett Shull.

The house party was a pretty special thing. Probably the best part of the entire weekend. Out of respect for the details that were shared in that house I will leave it at that.

Suffice it to say that good food was enjoyed by some damn fine people and we all got to know each other just a bit better. I won't be forgetting that night for a long, long time, if ever. 

Towards the end of the night I wasn't feeling so hot, so I sat by myself and just listened to the people's conversations and watched as people tried to say goodbye and leave but were still wandering around the house a half an hour later.  

That wasn't some pent-up, socially awkward Mid-Western thing either. It was a genuine feeling - I think - that people that had experienced that evening did not want it to end, but, as with all things, there was an end. 

Someone or another finally took pity on me and Justin motioned that we were headed back to the house. I was happy to get back to a bed and a bathroom, and I used it, I'll just put that out there like that. I was fine afterward, but anyway, enough detail on that!

Then all that was left was to get home to Waterloo. I'll have that bit and a final take on Mid-South next.

Mid South Report: The Race: Part 2

The view from the oasis stop

 Note: There will be no FN&V this week as I am still writing up the Mid-South experience. The FN&V will return next Friday!

Ben had promised that this oasis stop would be one of the highlights of my trip down to Mid-South,, and he was not wrong about that! The guys had a plan for roadside charcuterie and Old Fashioneds made with whiskey, bitters, and a cherry with ice! 

Ben or Justin, I cannot remember which it was, sat the whiskey bottle in plain sight and we began cheering on riders. The responses were entertaining, to say the least. 

Most would smile, nod or wave in recognition of us, and some would yelp, cheer back, or say hello. But the ones who were trying to look serious, give us no response, and all the while look as though they were jealous, were our favorites. Some folks even admitted that it looked as though we were "doing it the right way", yet they pedaled on anyway? Weird!

Ben declared that we had "won the event" by doing things in fun mode, and we were packed up and gone again within an hour, maybe more. Next stop, the Salsa Chaise lounge! I was really looking forward to getting my picture made in the Chaise Lounge. 

Justin Michaels looks on as our first partaker of whiskey fumbles a bit!

This woman brought her cat in a trailer along for the 50 miler.

During the route to the lake and the Salsa Chaise Lounge I managed to get ahead of the guys again and I was feeling pretty strong once more. The day was going great so far and the Honeman Flyer was holding up well. Only thing was that the other bottle cage came loose at one point and I had to re-tighten it as well. But besides that, and a slightly slipping seat post from the really rough terrain, I was doing great. 

The Salsa stop at Lake McMurtry.

The road leading away from the single track section at Lake McMurtry.

I saw Mike Reimer and he had a Chesire cat grin on as I rode by. I got in the couch and held the bike with one hand, smiled, and that was that. I was off. By the time I cleared the couch here came Ben and the others rolling up. They got their pictures done and we then all rolled out together to the ......singletrack? 

Now, I had no idea I would be required to ride about a mile of single track on a drop barred single speed with 42mm tires, but that's what was expected. I had no time to consider the ramifications as we were heading in and it was game on.

I ended up getting separated from the guys again when I caught an inexperienced rider sitting at the apex of a steep uphill corner and I lost my momentum. That was the only time I had to put a foot down though and otherwise I cleaned the entire section without dabbing or having a pedal strike. The last thing was tricky to avoid as I have a 76mm bottom bracket drop which puts the bottom bracket in the weeds a bit and makes the bike ripe for a strike, but nope! No such thing!

I caught up with the guys at this roadside rest stop.

The final miles roll by......

I ended up catching the guys at a corner where they were sitting alongside the road in some luscious green grass. There were now only about ten miles to go, and this ride would be over. I have to say, I wasn't doing badly, even though this was my longest ride of 2024, and I hadn't been on this bike for that long before either. 

The experience was awesome. I was stoked to have ridden Oklahoma roads now and especially the Mid-South, even though I wasn't "official", (yes, Bobby is aware I did this), and I did not receive a time or record of it in their books. But no one cares about that anyway.... 

I wasn't going to do this, but Bobby was waiting for me, so.....

In fact, all along I had planned on bailing out a block or two before the official finish and coming back around on the back streets to reconnect with the guys who had paid and earned their "Bobby Hug". But remember what Bobby said to me earlier? That he was so looking forward to giving me a finish line hug? Well, I could not take away his hope in that, so I rode on in like everyone else did. 

Of course, Bobby Wintle went nuts, as he does, and gave me a very special hug. He said into my ear, "Thank you so much for teaching us how to do this." That really meant a lot to me. I'll never forget that as long as I can remember stuff. 

Then Bobby made us wait as he hugged about ten more finishers. Then he demanded we stand next to the tall bike and get our picture made with him and the Northfield Crew. Then he sped off like a whirling dervish and was gone again. 

Erik Mathy rode this King Fabrications bike belonging to Li King on the 100 mile route.

My bike right after the ride.

Then there was a looooong hang in an alley by the finish line. People came by that were new to me, but had known Ben and crew from previous Mid-South events, and I had a chance to get to know them as well. I saw a few folks that I knew that finished. Rob Evans and Kerry Moyer to name a couple. I saw Derek Henry, a Trans Iowa vet, out on course too. It was a great day on the bike and now it was time to soak it all in at the finish. 

I got to chat again with Li King, who had a sprint finish to win the non-binary category for Mid-South this year. Li actually rode my bike and was pretty impressed with how it came out after all. 

Later we went back to the Air BnB to get showered and cleaned up. A return ride to downtown was in order and we were thinking about eating and catching the DFL rider, the last person to finish, which Mid-South makes a big deal over. 

We ended up eating out at Louie's downtown and then heading back to catch some sleep. All of us were too tuckered out to stay up for the DFL, so we went back and had a nice, long sleep until Sunday morning and our last full day in Stillwater. 

Next: The After-Party

Mid South Report: The Race: Part 1

The morning of Mid South finally dawns.

We wanted to be up and moving by 6:00am, but I did not awaken until about 6:20am. Our start time for the 50 mile course was to be about 8:10am, so we had a little time to get things done, which included some breakfast. 

Ben took it upon himself to cook all of us eggs and rice. Once we were all fed and ready, we piled into the truck which was pulling the trailer with our bicycles inside of it down to the start-finish area. 

I have not officially "raced" my bike since the 2023 Gents Race, and well.......I still haven't. Bobby Wintle has a certain number of free entries he holds back for special people/athletes. He had offered me one of these to get into the event. This is nothing unusual for me, I get offered to come to events with a comped entry all the time. The thing is, I almost never accept those invitations. 

I get that people have feelings about me and those are valid. People in charge of events sometimes want to express their feelings of thankfulness towards me via these comped entries, which I also understand. I just seem to have a problem with that when it comes to myself. I feel I would be taking away from the possibility that someone more deserving than I could get that entry. I also just don't feel "right" about it. I don't know that I deserve even more than I've already received from the gravel scene. Maybe I need to let that go...... There is also the obstacle of my Saturday work schedule at the Collective too, so even if I wanted to go partake in a free entry, I probably couldn't.

But the point is, I was not "on record" as a racer. Yes.....I rode it "bandit".  

The 100 milers take off as King Cabbage plays on the bandstand.

The Northfield crew is on their way.

Bobby had a great start set up. The band was playing, whose name is "King Cabbage", and they have a stout horn section. They played Rage Against The Machine's "Bulls On Parade". It was hair raising and fun. The band was also playing some good tunes as we left for the 50 miler. 

After leaving the noisy start-finish area, we meandered through the business district and eventually to the fringes of Stillwater. First gravel was on some rollers and on narrow, tree-lined roads. There were lots of folks around us so it was "be careful" time and I wasn't pushing the issue at this point. Just cruising along with the river of cyclists. 

It was chilly to start out, but I chose to go minimalist and only wore a long-sleeved wool jersey and bibs anyway. My toes were cold, not bad, and 100% tolerable, but my fingers were frozen. I was hoping the Sun would come out, but it never really did and overcast skies were the norm for most of the day. 

The weather! I'm telling you! Most times it is an issue for some reason or another, but the weather was 100% a non-factor at Mid South this year. No wind! None! The temperatures finally got to around 70 degrees, and I only felt hot for about an half an hour on the entire ride. I am of the belief that Mid-South will never again have such a perfect weather weekend, but I could be wrong.

Then there were probably more course-side spectators than I have seen at an event in a long while. Some especially cute young children were cheering us all on with their 'You can do it!" shouts of encouragement. They were my favorites. 

First gravel and a lot of riders

More of the initial miles of the Mid South

Things were going great so far with my Honeman Flyer. The gearing was perfect. I could climb and I could hold my own on the flats. I had the ability to sprint short distances to get around riders if necessary. I was pretty happy early on. 

There were two things that happened that morning that affected my race. One was "positive" and one was a negative. The "positive" one could be debated, but I'm saying this was good. See, Oklahoma is a legal state for marijuana products. Marty, who grabbed some "dosed" chocolate squares at the party Thursday night, handed me a half a square before we started. I did not know it was a dosed candy. I'm not mad about it either, and the thing did make me feel like I could ride like the wind, which is what I ended up doing, and I dropped the guys like a bad habit. 

I tried to rein it in, but the bike was so easy to pedal and I felt great working the hills. Anyway, the second thing, the negative thing, kind of took care of that. 

I was on my own at this point.

I was descending one of the rock-hard, cobbled up sections of the course when I heard something rattling on the bike. The seat tube mounted bottle cage was loose! I swung over to the right side of the road to address the situation. 

I had an issue with this before I left for Mid-South but I thought I had addressed it. The lower bottle cage bolt seemed to have bottomed out on something inside the seat tube and so I just put in a shorter bolt and it seemed tight, but apparently, it wasn't. I took the bottle off and put it in my jersey pocket, tightened up the bolts as good as I could get them, and then I remounted and moved on. 

Of course, by this time Ben, Michael, Marty, and Justin had all passed me by, along with probably hundreds of other people. Oh well! We were not looking to go fast, Ben had lots of stops planned, and I was sure to come across the guys at some point. Besides, I always end up riding alone at these events. So, what's new about this time? Same-ol-same-ol. 

A rider adjusting his bike along the course of the Mid-South event.

These roads are very unique.

So, a few words about Oklahoma roads around Stillwater. I'd never ridden there before and I was excited to see what the fuss was about with Mid-South and the course. I'd heard and read plenty over the years and so this was a real treat to finally do this thing. 

I guess I'd call the terrain a mix between Iowa and what I'd find at Gravel Worlds. Lots of punchy, shorter climbs but not just a few longer hauls with gentler grades as you might ride around Lincoln. The dirt was gritty and in places, blown out like powder. A red powder that was being whipped up by our bicycles and making strange rouge-like deposits on cheeks, noses, and arms and legs. 

There was some crushed rock, which seemed to be white, like Iowa's and only used for certain things like repairs or bridge approaches. This stuff was 100% familiar to me and I took to it like a fish in water. There were sections of grayer gravel which was sometimes pushed into the road's center lane, or would be humped up in between the classic three-tire clearings on your typical crushed rock roads. 

Not a lot of that is unusual, but what is different is how hard and rough the dirt road beds are. The descents are many, fast, and combined with the roughness of the roads, you'd better have everything battened down tight or it will vibrate loose! 

The "conga line" waiting to cross about five yards of wet mud.

I finally reached the checkpoint at about 28 miles into the event.

I rode alone through to the checkpoint where I hoped to find the guys I had been separated from. The racers had spread out a bit more as I was coming toward the checkpoint, but keeping track of where to go was easy. Just follow the leaders! 

The course featured lots of shorter climbs and descents which suited the single speed. I was still trucking along fine, but something was lost after the first time that I stopped and I no longer felt quite so invincible. 

At the checkpoint I ran across Rob Evans from Nebraska and some Cycle Works riders. They invited me over for some snacks.  I left to use the porta-potties and I realized that Ben and Marty were trying to find me. They were on the roadside where I eventually saw them. I told them what had separarted me from them and Ben offered some split washers he had which would secure the cage better. That worked out so I could carry the water bottle as intended. With that done, we readied to go again. 

The courses for the 100 and the 50 split off here. 100 milers went straight, 50 milers towards camera.

Even though we started together, I was off the back and seemed to be slipping back from the Northfield group. Then I made a wrong turn, or rather, no turn instead of turning, where I ended up having a half mile round trip correction. 

The course had a lot less riders on it since the 100 mile folks peeled off, and with no directions, I was left to see if I could either read the trail or watch other cyclists. That's the price you pay for riding bandit! 

I did get back on course and I eventually found the guys resting around a corner. Then we were off again, only now I found myself off the front again, and not being able to ride slowly enough to let them catch back on. 

We reached the point where in 2023 Ben and crew had a ditch-side oasis stop.

Ben had been talking up this stop he had done the year before where they had whiskey, snacks, and shade to share with riders. He wanted to do something similar again for 2024. Once we found the spot we planned on at least staying for an hour, maybe more. 

Next; The Race Part 2.