DK My Way: Gear And Comments

The Gen I Fargo in Americus

The gear and clothing I used for the century ride in Kansas was spot on, for the most part. I wanted to detail what I used and what was good or not so good here, in case anyone wanted a reference and ideas on what to do for a ride in the Flint Hills.

First of all, it has been my experience down there that water, specifically having enough of it, is a big challenge to riding the Flint Hills. There are some pretty remote places down there with no chances for resupply of water. Added to this is the fact that, generally speaking, the area is windy and somewhat arid. This has the effect of sucking your moisture out of you without you realizing it. Staying hydrated, in my opinion, is mission number one when setting up for a self supported ride in the Flint Hills.

The Gen I Fargo is a bicycle that has a lot of braze ons for water bottle cages. This along with the Wolf Tooth B Rad System afforded me the opportunity to carry six water bottles of water. I could have gone with seven, but the lowest, down tube mounted bottle I reserved for my tool kit. I'll talk about the B Rad System in more detail in a separate review, but (spoiler alert), it works. I was glad I got that before the trip.

The capabilities of the B Rad equipped Gen I Fargo allowed me to get by without a hydration back pack. I carried nothing at all on my back except a few odd things in jersey pockets. This allowed me to not have to suffer the beat down of 3 liters of water on my back over Kansan gravel roads. I had plenty of water, but given the conditions this time, I wasn't really tested in this.

You can see my Bike Bag Dude "Chaff" bag hanging in the front of my bike here.

The Bike Bag Dude's Chaff Bags have been a staple of my set ups over the past 5 years or so now. I would not ever do a long, extended tour or day ride without at least one of these on my bicycle.

This time I used the single Chaff Bag I took for tube and tool storage, along with the convenience of having a quick place to shove used almond butter packets and other trash. I attached this bag to my Bar Yak System.

The Bar Yak System I use is a combination of the load bars, aero carbon bar ends with a titanium cross bar, and the Pergrine Arm Rests. I also attached the Q; Pro cue sheet holder to the load bars. The cue sheet holder is awesome and probably something I should have had a long time ago. The Bar Yak arm rests and aero bar end set up allows me to relieve hand pressure and prevent numbness. Obviously it is more aero as well. The load bars are a great place to strap an under the bar roll or, as in my case, the Chaff Bag. I even mount my light off the Ti cross bar, so there is that bit of versatility to take advantage of here as well.

I did not use a frame bag or traditional "under the top tube" half bag/tank bag/triangle sort of deal this time. First, it really doesn't work to have that and all the water bottles on the bike. Secondly, I was trying to minimize my kit. I did use my Bike Bag Dude Garage top tube "fuel tank style" bag. I also used a just acquired Carousel Designs top tube bag that is most like a "Jerry Can" from Revelate, but kind of different. In the Garage Bag I stowed food, a few small tools, lip balm, and other items I wanted quick access to. In the Carousel Designs bag I stowed my Lezyne mini pump and all my maps I needed.

Luxy Bar, Gevenalle shifters, Bar Yak, Terrene Honali tires, and my Trelock Control Ion light are seen here.

I did not use a saddle/seat tube mounted bag, although I brought one by Banjo Brothers in the event I thought I might need to carry rain gear. The improved forecast ixnayed that choice from the final set up.

I also swapped out my BodyFloat seat post for my Salsa Cycles Ti Regulator post. I did that mostly so I had the option to run a saddle/seat post mounted bag, but in the end I think it worked out well in terms of comfort. It isn't as compliant as the BodyFloat, but it feels better when climbing because it isn't as compliant as the BodyFloat post. I missed the BodyFloat on the copious amounts of washboard road, but other than that, no. The saddle was changed to a WTB Pure, by the way. A Brooks Cambium will get put on at some point.

The Terrene Honali tires were really nice. See my RidingGravel.com review here. 

Clothing was my new RidingGravel.com kit with a Bontrager base layer tank underneath. Thin wool socks, 8"ers, and my Shimano three strap mtb shoes were on my feet. On my head I had a Twin Six cycling hat and my Bontrager helmet. Eyewear was from Oakley.

Nutrition was basically Epic pemmican bars and Justin's Almond Butter packets.I did have some salty chips and the Budweiser. I used Gu energy electrolyte tabs since I forgot my Elete at home. I drank 11 bottles of water throughout the ride.

Comments: Mentally I used a couple "mantras" on this ride. One was "Shift early-shift often." I said this at the beginning of almost every hill. I have a tendency to mash, so I used this little phrase as a way to remind myself to shift and spin. The other was "Enjoy the ride". Sounds simple, but this helped when I found myself suffering, or going too hard. If I was hurting, I tried to focus on things around me that brought me joy or put a smile on my face. If I was going too hard, it was a way that I could limit my output and be more attentive to burning up too many matches.

I also allowed myself to take as many images as I wanted to. This was about enjoyment, not racing. I wanted to take in as much as I could on this ride. That said, when I got back, had showered, and had walked down to the start line, there werestill riders coming in for their DK100 Half Pint finish. So, maybe I should start "racing" the way I rode the DK My Way!

DK My Way: Gear And Comments

The Gen I Fargo in Americus

The gear and clothing I used for the century ride in Kansas was spot on, for the most part. I wanted to detail what I used and what was good or not so good here, in case anyone wanted a reference and ideas on what to do for a ride in the Flint Hills.

First of all, it has been my experience down there that water, specifically having enough of it, is a big challenge to riding the Flint Hills. There are some pretty remote places down there with no chances for resupply of water. Added to this is the fact that, generally speaking, the area is windy and somewhat arid. This has the effect of sucking your moisture out of you without you realizing it. Staying hydrated, in my opinion, is mission number one when setting up for a self supported ride in the Flint Hills.

The Gen I Fargo is a bicycle that has a lot of braze ons for water bottle cages. This along with the Wolf Tooth B Rad System afforded me the opportunity to carry six water bottles of water. I could have gone with seven, but the lowest, down tube mounted bottle I reserved for my tool kit. I'll talk about the B Rad System in more detail in a separate review, but (spoiler alert), it works. I was glad I got that before the trip.

The capabilities of the B Rad equipped Gen I Fargo allowed me to get by without a hydration back pack. I carried nothing at all on my back except a few odd things in jersey pockets. This allowed me to not have to suffer the beat down of 3 liters of water on my back over Kansan gravel roads. I had plenty of water, but given the conditions this time, I wasn't really tested in this.

You can see my Bike Bag Dude "Chaff" bag hanging in the front of my bike here.

The Bike Bag Dude's Chaff Bags have been a staple of my set ups over the past 5 years or so now. I would not ever do a long, extended tour or day ride without at least one of these on my bicycle.

This time I used the single Chaff Bag I took for tube and tool storage, along with the convenience of having a quick place to shove used almond butter packets and other trash. I attached this bag to my Bar Yak System.

The Bar Yak System I use is a combination of the load bars, aero carbon bar ends with a titanium cross bar, and the Pergrine Arm Rests. I also attached the Q; Pro cue sheet holder to the load bars. The cue sheet holder is awesome and probably something I should have had a long time ago. The Bar Yak arm rests and aero bar end set up allows me to relieve hand pressure and prevent numbness. Obviously it is more aero as well. The load bars are a great place to strap an under the bar roll or, as in my case, the Chaff Bag. I even mount my light off the Ti cross bar, so there is that bit of versatility to take advantage of here as well.

I did not use a frame bag or traditional "under the top tube" half bag/tank bag/triangle sort of deal this time. First, it really doesn't work to have that and all the water bottles on the bike. Secondly, I was trying to minimize my kit. I did use my Bike Bag Dude Garage top tube "fuel tank style" bag. I also used a just acquired Carousel Designs top tube bag that is most like a "Jerry Can" from Revelate, but kind of different. In the Garage Bag I stowed food, a few small tools, lip balm, and other items I wanted quick access to. In the Carousel Designs bag I stowed my Lezyne mini pump and all my maps I needed.

Luxy Bar, Gevenalle shifters, Bar Yak, Terrene Honali tires, and my Trelock Control Ion light are seen here.

I did not use a saddle/seat tube mounted bag, although I brought one by Banjo Brothers in the event I thought I might need to carry rain gear. The improved forecast ixnayed that choice from the final set up.

I also swapped out my BodyFloat seat post for my Salsa Cycles Ti Regulator post. I did that mostly so I had the option to run a saddle/seat post mounted bag, but in the end I think it worked out well in terms of comfort. It isn't as compliant as the BodyFloat, but it feels better when climbing because it isn't as compliant as the BodyFloat post. I missed the BodyFloat on the copious amounts of washboard road, but other than that, no. The saddle was changed to a WTB Pure, by the way. A Brooks Cambium will get put on at some point.

The Terrene Honali tires were really nice. See my RidingGravel.com review here. 

Clothing was my new RidingGravel.com kit with a Bontrager base layer tank underneath. Thin wool socks, 8"ers, and my Shimano three strap mtb shoes were on my feet. On my head I had a Twin Six cycling hat and my Bontrager helmet. Eyewear was from Oakley.

Nutrition was basically Epic pemmican bars and Justin's Almond Butter packets.I did have some salty chips and the Budweiser. I used Gu energy electrolyte tabs since I forgot my Elete at home. I drank 11 bottles of water throughout the ride.

Comments: Mentally I used a couple "mantras" on this ride. One was "Shift early-shift often." I said this at the beginning of almost every hill. I have a tendency to mash, so I used this little phrase as a way to remind myself to shift and spin. The other was "Enjoy the ride". Sounds simple, but this helped when I found myself suffering, or going too hard. If I was hurting, I tried to focus on things around me that brought me joy or put a smile on my face. If I was going too hard, it was a way that I could limit my output and be more attentive to burning up too many matches.

I also allowed myself to take as many images as I wanted to. This was about enjoyment, not racing. I wanted to take in as much as I could on this ride. That said, when I got back, had showered, and had walked down to the start line, there werestill riders coming in for their DK100 Half Pint finish. So, maybe I should start "racing" the way I rode the DK My Way!

Minus Ten Review- 52

Jeff Kerkove ride announcement. These were the best!

Ten years ago on the blog I was doing then what I do now- retrospective posts on the year. Big surprise, eh? Ha! There was a ride announcement I posted though, which I know many locals might recall. The Jeff Kerkove gravel grinder rides of yore were legendary for their graphic designed announcements done by Jeff himself. The one from ten years ago is shown here at the left.

I find it ironic that Jeff is now sponsored by Gu Energy. His latest fat bike race win was written up for Gu here. I bet Jeff never dreamed that ten years after he winged out this ride announcement that he'd be where he is, still winning races and writing up a bit for Gu Energy. Crazy!

So, here's an idea for Gu, in case anyone reading this knows anyone there, or if someone from Gu Energy just happens to see this. Gu Energy should actually do a flavor called "Gravel Gu" and market it at some big event, say like the Dirty Kanza 200, where a lot of people would see it and Gu would get a big run of publicity out of it.

Why not? I think it would be awesome.

Anyway, here's another tidbit related to the altering of product labels, a thing Jeff used to do with some regularity back in the day. Trans Iowa v8 was upcoming and I had asked Jeff to render another header for the event, as he had for the previous seven. Well, he took the obvious route of altering a V8 juice can graphic to read like it was about Trans Iowa. It was absolutely fantastic.

It was up for maybe a week when I got a cease and desist e-mail from a Campbell Foods Incorporated lawyer. They were NOT amused, and asked that I pull the header or there would be legal action.

Damn fun haters!

So I rushed a quick e-mail off to Jeff requesting another header design. In the meantime, I pulled the V8 Juice header and put up a simple "V8" engine insignia from a Ford car until Jeff got the Ploughboy header which we ended up using done. So, there ya go, the only Trans Iowa to have had three different header designs.

By the way, for you T.I. trivia buffs- Trans Iowa v10 had two different designs for a header.

And that's a wrap on the Minus Ten Reviews for 2016.

Minus Ten Review- 52

Jeff Kerkove ride announcement. These were the best!

Ten years ago on the blog I was doing then what I do now- retrospective posts on the year. Big surprise, eh? Ha! There was a ride announcement I posted though, which I know many locals might recall. The Jeff Kerkove gravel grinder rides of yore were legendary for their graphic designed announcements done by Jeff himself. The one from ten years ago is shown here at the left.

I find it ironic that Jeff is now sponsored by Gu Energy. His latest fat bike race win was written up for Gu here. I bet Jeff never dreamed that ten years after he winged out this ride announcement that he'd be where he is, still winning races and writing up a bit for Gu Energy. Crazy!

So, here's an idea for Gu, in case anyone reading this knows anyone there, or if someone from Gu Energy just happens to see this. Gu Energy should actually do a flavor called "Gravel Gu" and market it at some big event, say like the Dirty Kanza 200, where a lot of people would see it and Gu would get a big run of publicity out of it.

Why not? I think it would be awesome.

Anyway, here's another tidbit related to the altering of product labels, a thing Jeff used to do with some regularity back in the day. Trans Iowa v8 was upcoming and I had asked Jeff to render another header for the event, as he had for the previous seven. Well, he took the obvious route of altering a V8 juice can graphic to read like it was about Trans Iowa. It was absolutely fantastic.

It was up for maybe a week when I got a cease and desist e-mail from a Campbell Foods Incorporated lawyer. They were NOT amused, and asked that I pull the header or there would be legal action.

Damn fun haters!

So I rushed a quick e-mail off to Jeff requesting another header design. In the meantime, I pulled the V8 Juice header and put up a simple "V8" engine insignia from a Ford car until Jeff got the Ploughboy header which we ended up using done. So, there ya go, the only Trans Iowa to have had three different header designs.

By the way, for you T.I. trivia buffs- Trans Iowa v10 had two different designs for a header.

And that's a wrap on the Minus Ten Reviews for 2016.

Friday News And Views

Another look at the All City rig to be revealed full on 7/18/16

More On The All City Rig:

So, there ya go folks. Another peek at the upcoming All City rig to debut on July 18th, as far as I have seen on their Facebook page. (Image courtesy of said page belonging to said All City)

So, pretty obvious that it is a disc brake bike, right? Looks a heck of a lot like a Space Horse, with, you know..........disc brakes. Yeah.

Well, if that is all it is, that wouldn't be a very big surprise. Like I said last week in this space, almost anything saleable these days either has to have disc brakes or "plus" something or another in its name. Not that this is a bad thing, necessarily. But marketing gets on a roll and it seems that all of a sudden all you hear about is "disc brake road bike this" and "plus sized wheels" that. Interestingly, this could all be attributed to one phenomenon that occurred in the last decade.

Stated as briefly as possible, that would be 29"ers and the way the industry did their best to ignore a grassroots trend that just wouldn't go away. Then the industry wished they would've hopped on that "love train" sooner. Because, ya know.......the perception was that they lost out on making sales to some other early adopters. 

Anyway..... All City's something or another disc braked, drop barred bike will be revealed soon.

New JET-9 from Niner. Of course it is a "plus" bike, you ninny!

Speaking Of Plus Bikes......

Niner Bikes dropped their "plus" versions of the venerable JET-9 and RIP-9 models. All new, "modern" slack/long geometry with stubby stems/wide bars and lots of travel.

Some media outlets are making a big stink about these not being 29"ers. Whatever...... Click baiters all of 'em. Playing upon people's lack of understanding of tire sizing tradition to get them to read the same press release everyone else is regurgitating. Brilliant.

Anyway, I was just reading about Intense's new FS "plus" bike too. Nice looking rig, and Jeff Steber, the head honch over there, actually was expounding on something you don't hear many companies saying, and is something I was talking about here a while back. That being how it is difficult to get suspension which is intentional, designed to a certain goal, and obviously has damping to work with big, voluminous tires that have very little to no damping and can vary a great deal in how they "suspend" the bike and rider due to air pressure settings. Now that's smart thinking right there, and since Jeff was talking about that, I wonder how other companies approached that issue, or even if they did. To my way of thinking, it would be a critical component of the design for any plus FS trail bike  design.

So, yeah........more plus bike stuff! 

It's not bad, actually

With Bacon, How Could It Be Bad? 

Last year, I think it was, I was chatting with Yuri Hauswald at Gravel Worlds. He'd just won the Dirty Kanza 200 a couple of months prior and, amongst other chit-chat, he was telling me about this new flavor of GU gel called "Maple Bacon". Well, he wasn't so much telling me about it as he was raving about it. 

I like bacon, but in a gel packet? I was not convinced that this was anything other than Yuri being loyal to GU and spouting off as an ambassador of the brand. Which is cool. He should do that. I get that about marketing and it doesn't bother me one bit.

Fast forward to yesterday at the shop. A sales rep comes in that we are familiar with that reps for GU Energy. By the way, I happen to like and use their stuff. Roctane, Fizz tabs, and GU Chomps are amongst my favorite things they make. So, I was interested in what the rep had to say about GU products. He laid out some packets and they were, of course, the Maple Bacon flavor. So, I figured, what the heck! I tried one and.......

Dang it! It was really good! So, I was all wrong about that one, and Yuri was right. It is that good. Maybe you aren't into bacon because, ya know.....animals, vegetarianism, etc. Well, did you know that this and other GU gels are actually vegan and kosher? That's what the rep said. Weird. How could Maple Bacon taste so good and not have real bacon?

Never underestimate the Power of the Name "Bacon"! <==HA!

Studded. Tubeless. and yes.....in plus sizes!

 But Wait! There Is More Plus Tire Stuff To Talk About!!

Readers here may recall back in May I talked about this new tire company that isn't really new, but is "coming out" from behind the curtains to market under their own brand name, Arisun. I mentioned that they will have studded, tubeless tires. Well, I just got word yesterday what they are doing.

The line of tires Arisun is going to bring here are called "Sharktooth" and will consist of the following sizes: A 26" X 4.0" tire in wire bead, folding bead, and "TLR" (tubeless ready) with thread counts ranging from 30, 60, and 120. There will also be a 27.5+ configuration to come. But get this- they are doing a 29" X 2.8" Sharktooth in the same versions as the 26" X 4.0"ers! Did you catch that? A 2.8 inch wide, studded 29"er tire?

Sign me up! 

The tubeless version will be killer. And yes......I have a bike that will fit these. By the way, this is another thing I've heard a lot of rumblings about, and may be the next "evolution" of "plus" bikes. That being that 27.5+ and the attendant "Boost" wheel spacing that came along with that has now created a bunch of bikes that probably will fit 29" X 2.5"-2.8" tires, and the industry is going to start pumping out that size tire very soon, as we can see with this Arisun model. So, yeah.........more plus tire stuff!


Have a great weekend, y'all! 

Friday News And Views

Another look at the All City rig to be revealed full on 7/18/16

More On The All City Rig:

So, there ya go folks. Another peek at the upcoming All City rig to debut on July 18th, as far as I have seen on their Facebook page. (Image courtesy of said page belonging to said All City)

So, pretty obvious that it is a disc brake bike, right? Looks a heck of a lot like a Space Horse, with, you know..........disc brakes. Yeah.

Well, if that is all it is, that wouldn't be a very big surprise. Like I said last week in this space, almost anything saleable these days either has to have disc brakes or "plus" something or another in its name. Not that this is a bad thing, necessarily. But marketing gets on a roll and it seems that all of a sudden all you hear about is "disc brake road bike this" and "plus sized wheels" that. Interestingly, this could all be attributed to one phenomenon that occurred in the last decade.

Stated as briefly as possible, that would be 29"ers and the way the industry did their best to ignore a grassroots trend that just wouldn't go away. Then the industry wished they would've hopped on that "love train" sooner. Because, ya know.......the perception was that they lost out on making sales to some other early adopters. 

Anyway..... All City's something or another disc braked, drop barred bike will be revealed soon.

New JET-9 from Niner. Of course it is a "plus" bike, you ninny!

Speaking Of Plus Bikes......

Niner Bikes dropped their "plus" versions of the venerable JET-9 and RIP-9 models. All new, "modern" slack/long geometry with stubby stems/wide bars and lots of travel.

Some media outlets are making a big stink about these not being 29"ers. Whatever...... Click baiters all of 'em. Playing upon people's lack of understanding of tire sizing tradition to get them to read the same press release everyone else is regurgitating. Brilliant.

Anyway, I was just reading about Intense's new FS "plus" bike too. Nice looking rig, and Jeff Steber, the head honch over there, actually was expounding on something you don't hear many companies saying, and is something I was talking about here a while back. That being how it is difficult to get suspension which is intentional, designed to a certain goal, and obviously has damping to work with big, voluminous tires that have very little to no damping and can vary a great deal in how they "suspend" the bike and rider due to air pressure settings. Now that's smart thinking right there, and since Jeff was talking about that, I wonder how other companies approached that issue, or even if they did. To my way of thinking, it would be a critical component of the design for any plus FS trail bike  design.

So, yeah........more plus bike stuff! 

It's not bad, actually

With Bacon, How Could It Be Bad? 

Last year, I think it was, I was chatting with Yuri Hauswald at Gravel Worlds. He'd just won the Dirty Kanza 200 a couple of months prior and, amongst other chit-chat, he was telling me about this new flavor of GU gel called "Maple Bacon". Well, he wasn't so much telling me about it as he was raving about it. 

I like bacon, but in a gel packet? I was not convinced that this was anything other than Yuri being loyal to GU and spouting off as an ambassador of the brand. Which is cool. He should do that. I get that about marketing and it doesn't bother me one bit.

Fast forward to yesterday at the shop. A sales rep comes in that we are familiar with that reps for GU Energy. By the way, I happen to like and use their stuff. Roctane, Fizz tabs, and GU Chomps are amongst my favorite things they make. So, I was interested in what the rep had to say about GU products. He laid out some packets and they were, of course, the Maple Bacon flavor. So, I figured, what the heck! I tried one and.......

Dang it! It was really good! So, I was all wrong about that one, and Yuri was right. It is that good. Maybe you aren't into bacon because, ya know.....animals, vegetarianism, etc. Well, did you know that this and other GU gels are actually vegan and kosher? That's what the rep said. Weird. How could Maple Bacon taste so good and not have real bacon?

Never underestimate the Power of the Name "Bacon"! <==HA!

Studded. Tubeless. and yes.....in plus sizes!

 But Wait! There Is More Plus Tire Stuff To Talk About!!

Readers here may recall back in May I talked about this new tire company that isn't really new, but is "coming out" from behind the curtains to market under their own brand name, Arisun. I mentioned that they will have studded, tubeless tires. Well, I just got word yesterday what they are doing.

The line of tires Arisun is going to bring here are called "Sharktooth" and will consist of the following sizes: A 26" X 4.0" tire in wire bead, folding bead, and "TLR" (tubeless ready) with thread counts ranging from 30, 60, and 120. There will also be a 27.5+ configuration to come. But get this- they are doing a 29" X 2.8" Sharktooth in the same versions as the 26" X 4.0"ers! Did you catch that? A 2.8 inch wide, studded 29"er tire?

Sign me up! 

The tubeless version will be killer. And yes......I have a bike that will fit these. By the way, this is another thing I've heard a lot of rumblings about, and may be the next "evolution" of "plus" bikes. That being that 27.5+ and the attendant "Boost" wheel spacing that came along with that has now created a bunch of bikes that probably will fit 29" X 2.5"-2.8" tires, and the industry is going to start pumping out that size tire very soon, as we can see with this Arisun model. So, yeah.........more plus tire stuff!


Have a great weekend, y'all!