Up Next

Fall is single speed mtb time

With Gravel Worlds over, my ambitious schedule of events has been completed. Quite honestly, I am surprised that I made it to all the events and rode in them. Completion rate stunk, but hey! At my age, there aren't too many guys out there even trying this stuff.

So, anyway, now Fall is on the doormat and coming through. It is my favorite time to goof off on my single speed mountain bikes and to go for lazy rides in the country on my gravel bikes. That will happen, but I also have to start getting things ready for Winter's coming. That means more than sprucing up the fat bikes around here! I have a few house related tasks that need attention before the frost settles in.

Around the blog here I want to get going again with the Lube-Off. I have some things to add to that very shortly, but I also have Fall to go before we get into wetter, colder applications for lube where we may see some different brands rise to the top. Then I also have some things I'll be adding to the Garage Sale page that I will be offering for sale. (Link at the top under the header) By the way, there is a nice deal on some brand spanking new CX tubular wheels on that page. Couple of SS frames as well.

Anyway, things will go from training/racing mode here to a more laid back mode. I will be doing more Trans Iowa related things coming up soon also, so if that tickles your fancy, stay tuned for that.

Up Next

Fall is single speed mtb time

With Gravel Worlds over, my ambitious schedule of events has been completed. Quite honestly, I am surprised that I made it to all the events and rode in them. Completion rate stunk, but hey! At my age, there aren't too many guys out there even trying this stuff.

So, anyway, now Fall is on the doormat and coming through. It is my favorite time to goof off on my single speed mountain bikes and to go for lazy rides in the country on my gravel bikes. That will happen, but I also have to start getting things ready for Winter's coming. That means more than sprucing up the fat bikes around here! I have a few house related tasks that need attention before the frost settles in.

Around the blog here I want to get going again with the Lube-Off. I have some things to add to that very shortly, but I also have Fall to go before we get into wetter, colder applications for lube where we may see some different brands rise to the top. Then I also have some things I'll be adding to the Garage Sale page that I will be offering for sale. (Link at the top under the header) By the way, there is a nice deal on some brand spanking new CX tubular wheels on that page. Couple of SS frames as well.

Anyway, things will go from training/racing mode here to a more laid back mode. I will be doing more Trans Iowa related things coming up soon also, so if that tickles your fancy, stay tuned for that.

Weekend Update

Dirt home from work was modified by high water

It was a busy weekend here, and not all of it was about bikes. Not by a long shot. However; there was something "big" announced and I did get a ride in on Friday after work.

I'm not the guy who coined the phrase, but I like it, and I've adopted it- "Dirt home from work". I use it to motivate me to take the longer way home sometimes. I used to do this more often a long time ago, but once the kids got into elementary school, I quit. I had to be back at the house by a predetermined time to get them and let them in the house. Now that they are older, I have to remind myself that I can do this stuff again. So, "dirt home from work" is just something I have latched onto as a motivator/reminder to get out and ride the dirt single track we have here in town.

Well, my ride took me to Lower Hartman first and that was kind of a bust, since the water is up. I ended up turning around and coming back down Shirey Way and over to the newer trails on the East side of Hartman Reserve. I know these trails have names, but I am not in the "club", so to speak, so I just ride 'em. Whatever it is the small cadre' of people call these trails is not well known beyond their clique, so I just use the common man's place names for these things. At any rate, those trails were fine and I had an enjoyable ride on the Blackbuck.

Cars on the grid for the Xfinity race at Iowa Speedway.

Saturday was the big day for myself and my son to attend the last Iowa Speedway event for 2015. It was kind of a big deal, in terms of the event, but I won't get in to all the details here. The point was that it was an all day affair getting ready for this and attending it. The race was great, if you are into motorsports. Iowa Speedway puts on great racing, and we had fun. We didn't get home until about midnight though!

Then Sunday I had to be up at 5:30am to get ready to lay down some Fender bass at church. That isn't something I get to do very often, (play the bass guitar), but it is always fun to do that. When that was over, I was bushed, of course, since I didn't get much rest. So, instead of beating myself up more in high humidity and hot temperatures, I took it easy the rest of the day.

Friday's ride showed me that I still am not quite "there" yet when it comes to being fully recovered from the GTDRI. Especially my lower back, which I suppose took a beating due to all the seated climbing on the GTDRI that day. The Blackbuck single speed felt great Friday, and I may have overdone things a tad bit!

Now I have to fine tune the next Trans Iowa event, which I announced on Saturday. By the way, thank you to all who have already thrown their hats into the ring for volunteering for this beast. You are all greatly appreciated.

Now hopefully this week I'll get some gravel in.

Weekend Update

Dirt home from work was modified by high water

It was a busy weekend here, and not all of it was about bikes. Not by a long shot. However; there was something "big" announced and I did get a ride in on Friday after work.

I'm not the guy who coined the phrase, but I like it, and I've adopted it- "Dirt home from work". I use it to motivate me to take the longer way home sometimes. I used to do this more often a long time ago, but once the kids got into elementary school, I quit. I had to be back at the house by a predetermined time to get them and let them in the house. Now that they are older, I have to remind myself that I can do this stuff again. So, "dirt home from work" is just something I have latched onto as a motivator/reminder to get out and ride the dirt single track we have here in town.

Well, my ride took me to Lower Hartman first and that was kind of a bust, since the water is up. I ended up turning around and coming back down Shirey Way and over to the newer trails on the East side of Hartman Reserve. I know these trails have names, but I am not in the "club", so to speak, so I just ride 'em. Whatever it is the small cadre' of people call these trails is not well known beyond their clique, so I just use the common man's place names for these things. At any rate, those trails were fine and I had an enjoyable ride on the Blackbuck.

Cars on the grid for the Xfinity race at Iowa Speedway.

Saturday was the big day for myself and my son to attend the last Iowa Speedway event for 2015. It was kind of a big deal, in terms of the event, but I won't get in to all the details here. The point was that it was an all day affair getting ready for this and attending it. The race was great, if you are into motorsports. Iowa Speedway puts on great racing, and we had fun. We didn't get home until about midnight though!

Then Sunday I had to be up at 5:30am to get ready to lay down some Fender bass at church. That isn't something I get to do very often, (play the bass guitar), but it is always fun to do that. When that was over, I was bushed, of course, since I didn't get much rest. So, instead of beating myself up more in high humidity and hot temperatures, I took it easy the rest of the day.

Friday's ride showed me that I still am not quite "there" yet when it comes to being fully recovered from the GTDRI. Especially my lower back, which I suppose took a beating due to all the seated climbing on the GTDRI that day. The Blackbuck single speed felt great Friday, and I may have overdone things a tad bit!

Now I have to fine tune the next Trans Iowa event, which I announced on Saturday. By the way, thank you to all who have already thrown their hats into the ring for volunteering for this beast. You are all greatly appreciated.

Now hopefully this week I'll get some gravel in.

Singlespeed Rising

The Sawyer's sinewy top tubes

Fall is for singlespeed mountain bikes. Why? Well.......because I said so! <===HA! Not really, but I do think that and there is a good reason for it.

Fall is also twig, leaf, and dead weeds season. You know, the things that can clog up a drive train, or worse- rip off your derailleur. Singlespeed mountain bikes just chew right through that stuff. It doesn't faze them in the least. So instead of risking the dangly bits in Fall, I go with a single cog out back and it works great.

The thing is, I have a lot of single speed bicycles in the fleet. Somehow or another, I ended up with several more than I had intended to have. I've even decommissioned a few, relegating their bare frames to an existence on a hook in the darkened corners of the Guitar Ted Laboratories. I've sold off a couple too, but somehow, the critters keep popping up down there. Weird.

So, I've had to do a bit of upkeep of late, just getting them all tuned up and ready to ride. First up was the Pofahl, which honestly is a gravel rig these days. Next was the Singular Gryphon, another dedicated gravel bike for me. Those out of the way, I moved on to the Blackbuck. That one got ridden a few times within the last week.

Well.....howdy! Haven't seen you out and about for a while!

This weekend I resurrected two others that haven't been out and about for a while now. Especially the plum colored Salsa. Not because I don't care for those bikes, by the way.

The Salsa is an especially good bike for me. It's an odd duck. A 2007 El Mariachi that used to be Superior Blue and spent its early days as a demo rig in Salsa Cycle's fleet. Another guy picked it up from Salsa and I got it from him. I wasn't thinking it would be a "long term" relationship either. It was marked as a test sled for some TNI.com work in the beginning. I was going to flip it after a year, maybe two. Trouble is, I ended up liking this thing so much I decided not to part with it and stuck it into the corner while I got busy with other bicycles.

Then there is the Sawyer, which ended up in the stable and got switched over to a belt drive. I stuck a Fox fork on it and then....... So, I had to get that one out again for some actual work, which is good, and that just about covers all the working single speed rigs in the house now. There is one more though, on the DL right now due to a stuck bottom bracket. If I ever get that out, there will be one more added to the active list.

Good thing it's singlespeed season!

Singlespeed Rising

The Sawyer's sinewy top tubes

Fall is for singlespeed mountain bikes. Why? Well.......because I said so! <===HA! Not really, but I do think that and there is a good reason for it.

Fall is also twig, leaf, and dead weeds season. You know, the things that can clog up a drive train, or worse- rip off your derailleur. Singlespeed mountain bikes just chew right through that stuff. It doesn't faze them in the least. So instead of risking the dangly bits in Fall, I go with a single cog out back and it works great.

The thing is, I have a lot of single speed bicycles in the fleet. Somehow or another, I ended up with several more than I had intended to have. I've even decommissioned a few, relegating their bare frames to an existence on a hook in the darkened corners of the Guitar Ted Laboratories. I've sold off a couple too, but somehow, the critters keep popping up down there. Weird.

So, I've had to do a bit of upkeep of late, just getting them all tuned up and ready to ride. First up was the Pofahl, which honestly is a gravel rig these days. Next was the Singular Gryphon, another dedicated gravel bike for me. Those out of the way, I moved on to the Blackbuck. That one got ridden a few times within the last week.

Well.....howdy! Haven't seen you out and about for a while!

This weekend I resurrected two others that haven't been out and about for a while now. Especially the plum colored Salsa. Not because I don't care for those bikes, by the way.

The Salsa is an especially good bike for me. It's an odd duck. A 2007 El Mariachi that used to be Superior Blue and spent its early days as a demo rig in Salsa Cycle's fleet. Another guy picked it up from Salsa and I got it from him. I wasn't thinking it would be a "long term" relationship either. It was marked as a test sled for some TNI.com work in the beginning. I was going to flip it after a year, maybe two. Trouble is, I ended up liking this thing so much I decided not to part with it and stuck it into the corner while I got busy with other bicycles.

Then there is the Sawyer, which ended up in the stable and got switched over to a belt drive. I stuck a Fox fork on it and then....... So, I had to get that one out again for some actual work, which is good, and that just about covers all the working single speed rigs in the house now. There is one more though, on the DL right now due to a stuck bottom bracket. If I ever get that out, there will be one more added to the active list.

Good thing it's singlespeed season!

Friday News And Views

A bike, a work stand, a pump = clinic

Community Service:

Yesterday I was asked to do a clinic on "trail side repairs" for some Cedar Valley Cyclist Bike Patrol folks.

So..."trail side" in this instance means "paved/crushed gravel bicycle trail type trails. The CVC Bike Patrol is a volunteer group that scours the trails for anyone in need of assistance. It was my good pleasure to give these folks some helpful hints on what to do when other cyclists they come across are in need of mechanical assistance.

This was an outdoor meeting, which is usually okay, except the "real feel" temperature at the time was 102 degrees Fahrenheit. Yeah......and the flies were biting my ankles the entire time. Never the less, I soldiered on and gave them an hour long tip fest in the sweltering heat.

Hopefully it will come to good someday and help save someone's bacon on a trail out there somewhere!

3GR:

 The 3GR will happen again Saturday morning at 8:30 am from Gateway Park. Should be a hot one, so be prepared! (Unless it is raining, then it'll be cancelled.)

Next week 3GR will be in Grinnell, Iowa as I will be putting on my annual Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational which will encompass Grinnell and be about 120 miles long.

So....let's say you are not quite up to that many miles of gravelly goodness. Well then, you can bail out at about a metric century when the ride pulls back into Grinnell for some lunch fodder.

3GR will then again pick up in Cedar Falls on July 21st, just in case you are not going to make that other ride.

4th of July single speed nation!

Dead Deer/ Live Deer Update:
 So, a follow up from the news a week ago concerning the young buck deer that I found dead on my commute route: The authorities scooped him up and removed him sometime last Friday morning. No evidence of him now but a dead patch of grass.

But not to worry- as they say- there are plenty more where that came from! On my 4th of July ride, ( a sweat fest if there ever was one), I came across a buck that I startled out of some tall grass.

He was a "big-un" too! I reckon he went at least 10 points and that velvety rack was something to behold as he bounded off to the cover of the woods. However; unlike does who will play the stare down game with you for upwards of an hour, this buck would have none of it. After he noticed me sitting there motionless, he bolted off, never to be seen again, after about 15 seconds. Hrrumpf! Spoiled sport!

Okay, that's it for today. Have a great weekend and stay cool, ya'all!

Friday News And Views

A bike, a work stand, a pump = clinic

Community Service:

Yesterday I was asked to do a clinic on "trail side repairs" for some Cedar Valley Cyclist Bike Patrol folks.

So..."trail side" in this instance means "paved/crushed gravel bicycle trail type trails. The CVC Bike Patrol is a volunteer group that scours the trails for anyone in need of assistance. It was my good pleasure to give these folks some helpful hints on what to do when other cyclists they come across are in need of mechanical assistance.

This was an outdoor meeting, which is usually okay, except the "real feel" temperature at the time was 102 degrees Fahrenheit. Yeah......and the flies were biting my ankles the entire time. Never the less, I soldiered on and gave them an hour long tip fest in the sweltering heat.

Hopefully it will come to good someday and help save someone's bacon on a trail out there somewhere!

3GR:

 The 3GR will happen again Saturday morning at 8:30 am from Gateway Park. Should be a hot one, so be prepared! (Unless it is raining, then it'll be cancelled.)

Next week 3GR will be in Grinnell, Iowa as I will be putting on my annual Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational which will encompass Grinnell and be about 120 miles long.

So....let's say you are not quite up to that many miles of gravelly goodness. Well then, you can bail out at about a metric century when the ride pulls back into Grinnell for some lunch fodder.

3GR will then again pick up in Cedar Falls on July 21st, just in case you are not going to make that other ride.

4th of July single speed nation!

Dead Deer/ Live Deer Update:
 So, a follow up from the news a week ago concerning the young buck deer that I found dead on my commute route: The authorities scooped him up and removed him sometime last Friday morning. No evidence of him now but a dead patch of grass.

But not to worry- as they say- there are plenty more where that came from! On my 4th of July ride, ( a sweat fest if there ever was one), I came across a buck that I startled out of some tall grass.

He was a "big-un" too! I reckon he went at least 10 points and that velvety rack was something to behold as he bounded off to the cover of the woods. However; unlike does who will play the stare down game with you for upwards of an hour, this buck would have none of it. After he noticed me sitting there motionless, he bolted off, never to be seen again, after about 15 seconds. Hrrumpf! Spoiled sport!

Okay, that's it for today. Have a great weekend and stay cool, ya'all!

New Steed News

Okay, up front I will say I have no pics.........yet! I had to take the day off and spend it with my little girl since she didn't have school yesterday due to the MLK Jr. holiday. We spent the day doing a few odd jobs together and running some errands. I even let her use a hammer while I held a nail setting punch. (Talk about trust!) She never missed the punch, not even once. Whew!

Well, anyway.............about that bike thing! Yeah, I basically got a deal I couldn't refuse on a new frame and fork that I will be replacing the On One frame and fork with....sort of. (I'll explain further) The bike is something you may never have heard of out of California by way of Taiwan. It's called "Blackbuck" and it's by a company called OS Bikes. The Blackbuck is the only model and it only comes in one size for now. Low and behold, that size fits me to a "T".

It is a single speed bike with a eccentric bottom bracket and about the only thing going for it at first glance is the highly arched seat stays. But that's just the most obvious thing, there are a lot more details that make the Blackbuck quite an interesting bike. I won't get into that right now. I'll be detailing all the subtleties on Twenty Nine Inches. I'll post some of that here too. For now suffice it to say that it is mostly painted in "Kerkove Nation Black" and we'll let it go at that. (Seems odd to say "black" in reference to Jeff these days though, since he is festooned in Ergon's neon pea green.)

This bike replaces the Inbred, as I stated. I'll be throwing on most of the gear from that bike over to the Blackbuck for racing purposes in '08. (Although I'll probably just ride it around a fair bit too) Here's where it gets interesting. The fork choices play a huge part in how the OS Bikes Blackbuck handles. It was designed with this in mind too. For instance, the bike comes with a non-suspension corrected rigid fork with 51mm offset. (!!!) The bike can also be mounted up with a standard 80mm travel Reba. To add to all of this, I am retaining the On One Superlight Carbon fork to use as a test on this bike which has 47mm offset and is suspension corrected. It'll be a fun test to see just what types of handling will result, since I have all three fork options at my disposal, plus I could play with a 44mm offset RST M-29 just to make it even more interesting.

Ahh! Mad scientist type experimenting! So.............like when is all of this snow going to be gone? And like, Get it warmer out there already, mmmmkay! I gotta ride!

Stay tuned! More to come..........

New Steed News

Okay, up front I will say I have no pics.........yet! I had to take the day off and spend it with my little girl since she didn't have school yesterday due to the MLK Jr. holiday. We spent the day doing a few odd jobs together and running some errands. I even let her use a hammer while I held a nail setting punch. (Talk about trust!) She never missed the punch, not even once. Whew!

Well, anyway.............about that bike thing! Yeah, I basically got a deal I couldn't refuse on a new frame and fork that I will be replacing the On One frame and fork with....sort of. (I'll explain further) The bike is something you may never have heard of out of California by way of Taiwan. It's called "Blackbuck" and it's by a company called OS Bikes. The Blackbuck is the only model and it only comes in one size for now. Low and behold, that size fits me to a "T".

It is a single speed bike with a eccentric bottom bracket and about the only thing going for it at first glance is the highly arched seat stays. But that's just the most obvious thing, there are a lot more details that make the Blackbuck quite an interesting bike. I won't get into that right now. I'll be detailing all the subtleties on Twenty Nine Inches. I'll post some of that here too. For now suffice it to say that it is mostly painted in "Kerkove Nation Black" and we'll let it go at that. (Seems odd to say "black" in reference to Jeff these days though, since he is festooned in Ergon's neon pea green.)

This bike replaces the Inbred, as I stated. I'll be throwing on most of the gear from that bike over to the Blackbuck for racing purposes in '08. (Although I'll probably just ride it around a fair bit too) Here's where it gets interesting. The fork choices play a huge part in how the OS Bikes Blackbuck handles. It was designed with this in mind too. For instance, the bike comes with a non-suspension corrected rigid fork with 51mm offset. (!!!) The bike can also be mounted up with a standard 80mm travel Reba. To add to all of this, I am retaining the On One Superlight Carbon fork to use as a test on this bike which has 47mm offset and is suspension corrected. It'll be a fun test to see just what types of handling will result, since I have all three fork options at my disposal, plus I could play with a 44mm offset RST M-29 just to make it even more interesting.

Ahh! Mad scientist type experimenting! So.............like when is all of this snow going to be gone? And like, Get it warmer out there already, mmmmkay! I gotta ride!

Stay tuned! More to come..........