Friday News And Views

  A Very Gravel-filled FN&V!

Gravel Amplifier: The Skirmish:

The area around Northwest Arkansas is rife with mountain bike and gravel event activities, but how about something in Northeast Arkansas? That is where an event dubbed "The Skirmish" takes place. 

The event is being promoted as more than just a race. It will be a "festival" of gravel, and event promoters plan a multi-day experience for those who attend. Here is a bullet point list taken from an article seen on the "Arkansas Outside website HERE. 

• Live music on Friday night.
• A family-friendly “slow roll” ride through the Arkansas State University campus and downtown on Saturday.
• A vendor expo showcasing various products and services.
• Opportunities to meet and greet participating athletes.

The daily schedule will look like this: 

• Thursday: Kick things off with a group ride to energize for the weekend.
• Friday: Enjoy two group rides, explore the vendor expo, meet the athletes, and attend a lively welcome party with free live music.
• Saturday: Participate in the main cycling event followed by a post-race celebration. Family-friendly activities will ensure everyone enjoys the day.
• Sunday: Wrap up the weekend with a relaxing short ride, followed by a video and photo montage showcasing the event’s highlights. Award ceremonies and prize distributions will mark the official closing.

The event will take place out of Jonesboro, Arkansas from May 29th - June 1st with the race date being Saturday, May 31st. The earlier you register the less the event costs, but overall this ranks pretty high on the dollar-per-mile scale I use to rank event value. 

Comments: Can't make it into Unbound, or has that event lost you with its growth and focus? Check out this event, held on the same date as Unbound, by the way. In my opinion this will have a feel much akin to Mid-South in that the community will show out for this, but it won't have a focus on the upper echelon of athletes to the point of ignoring the average rider. 

The last Gents Race logo. For real this time?

Gents Race Run Ends v2:

The event dubbed at first as The Renegade Gentleman's Race, but eventually was known as as just "Gents Race", has posted on social media saying that the event's run is over.

Thanking the past riders of the event in helping raise over $40,000.00 in donations for different causes, the directors of the event also rightly pointed out that the gravel calendar has become a rather crowded space in the Springtime when this event was held. 

Comments: Well, we've been here before with saying this event was over, and you never know, but this time the announcement has a bit of an air of finality to it. This makes me feel like the Gents Race is truly now gravel history. The event, started in 2011, was one of but a handful of gravel specific events held in Iowa at that time. Fast-forward to 2025 and there are two multi-event series on gravel held in Iowa plus many other events which were non-existent back in 2011. 

The Gents Race's unique structure, a team of five time trial, was open to interpretation enough that in some ways the event represented a "gravel RAGBRAI/party-pace event for many who participated in the event over the years. Of course, many also could take the racing part seriously, and did so, which is what made this a very unique and attractive event for many years in Iowa. It was an event challenging enough, (held during the first full weekend of April, metric century length) yet one that embodied the social aspect (party-pace option, mid-ride checkpoint at a winery, social bar time at the end), that there was an appeal across a wide section of society. 

I did a look back at my experiences with the Gents Race HERE in a post from 2023. Check those images out for a feel of what this event was about.
 

New Podcast Dropped:

N.Y. Roll had intended that we would talk about a few new things on the podcast including his pair of WTB i76 fat bike rims, his new Lake gravel shoes, and what we would do for a dream lighting set up for our bicycles. 

While we did get around to all of that, there is a fair bit of discussion and weirdness sandwiched in between those topics. N.Y. Roll bitterly rued our rabbit trail dives, but we made it through the episode. 

I think he's just being a bit sensitive concerning a comment we received saying we are just a couple of old men complaining. Which is rich considering that the comment is a complaint. Someone actually took the time and effort to let us know that. As if we weren't already aware that we complain. I mean, c'mon! If we said everything was roses we'd get lambasted for "not being real", right? Comments we make are our opinions, negative or positive. You can call that whatever you'd like. So, listen or do not listen. Complaining about our content isn't helping anyone. 

Check it all out HERE if you are interested in hearing two old men complain. I jest! But it is true.....

We're hoping to get a long-time guest on next and then start in with my talks with early gravel scene folks. If you have any suggestions for a guest that you'd like to hear from concerning the early days of gravel cycling, let me know in the comments.

Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame To Reveal 2025 Class:

Monday January 27th will be the day that the next class of inductees will be revealed that are going to be enshrined in the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame in late May in Emporia, Kansas. 

Electors were sent the nominees last December and asked to choose five from a long list. Of the five chosen, each had to be ranked 1 - 5 with the elector's number one vote being weighted more than the next and so on. The GCHoF board then compiled all the votes, added up their rankings, and chose three new inductees for the class of 2025.

With the announcement of the 2025 class the total number of individuals in the hall will be 19. The GCHoF started in 2021 and inducted its first class in 2022, which included seven people, including myself. 

Comments: I'll be keen to see which three of the list that was sent to me to vote on will be getting the nod this year. I will have a complete commentary on the 2025 inductees next week after the announcement on Monday. So, stay tuned for that as I will have some very interesting comments depending on how this class shapes up. 

Image courtesy of Life Time Sea Otter

Life Time Sea Otter To Feature Gravel Heavily:

Sea Otter began as a mountain bike festival. Then as the years wore on it took on road racing and other forms of cycling, especially at the expo. Now, in 2025, under Life Time's ownership, the festival will be gravel-centric. 

Life Time is holding its first Grand Prix event here and has switched it from a mountain bike event to a gravel event. 50 folks will take away free entry to Life Time's Unbound Gravel event. Furthermore, Life Time is promoting its expo as being home to "the cutting edge in gravel" components and bicycles. 

Meet-ups with top gravel athletes and gravel specific workshops will also be offered this year. Life Time predicts that upwards of 70,000 folks will attend the four day event which will be held April 18th - 21 at Laguna-Seca Raceway. 

Comments: With Sea Otter having taken over the role that Interbike used to have in regard to introducing new product and providing a meet-up for industry folks, it is no wonder then that "gravel" is taking over the festival. Gravel being really the only bright spot in the marketplace (besides electrified bicycles) and it certainly draws the most people in terms of events. 

Expect to see a lot of cycling media sites and YouTube accounts spilling coverage all over the place starting in April.
 

Special Thanks: Thanks to all those who commented on the post yesterday, or who have taken the time to give me a Happy Birthday shout-out on social media. I appreciated each and every one of your messages!

Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions! Get out there and ride those bicycles!

Change In Plans

 And Some More Detail On "The Plan":

Things don't always turn out the way you think that they might. Everyone knows this. I thought I would be doing a few events in 2024, and I will still be doing a few, but just not the same few I thought would be the few. 

I know....it's crazy. 

First off, the event I absolutely adore and have attended for years is one that I will not be attending this year. Conflicts with myself and another on the team have scuppered our plans to make the event. This will be the first year that the team has not appeared in the Gents Race in 13 years. That's a pretty good run. Nothing to sneeze at, and if we never go back, well, it was a good run. 

Have fun at the Gents Race if you go. I highly recommend this one.

Image courtesy of Erik Mathy.

The next event I will be attending is coming up very soon. That would be Mid-South. I've never been to this event, and I am excited to witness it first hand. I do have to credit several people for making this happen though. This was not on my radar even two months ago!

This all started with that idea for the Honeman Flyer single speed gravel bike based on a 1930's design. Erik Mathy, a photographer and cyclist out of San Francisco, California, pitched an idea to me that required my buying in, literally and figuratively, to participate in bringing the Honeman Flyer to life. Erik connected me with a local to him frame builder named Liam King of King Fabrications. Li agreed to take on the project, but there were some fits and starts to our communications, and at one point I just figured Li wasn't interested and that was that.

No bike, no Mid-South, and I would have had to have arranged for transportation, housing, get a deferral from Bobby to enter, yada, yada, yada. 

It was all looking insurmountable and I gave up on it by the end of 2023. Meanwhile, Erik thought about the project and realized that he hadn't heard anything about it for a while. Erik's stake in this was that he was going to write up a story and take imagery of the completed bike at Mid-South to pitch to magazines or websites, as he is a free-lance writer as well. He contacted me and when he heard my tale he said he'd get the ball rolling again on his end. As for my logistics issues, Erik said that I needed to contact Ben Witt who was planning on taking several folks with him to Mid-South again as he has done for a few years now. 

Well, Ben was beyond stoked about the entire "Plan", and so he detailed out the finer points for me which included lodging, transportation, and more. Okay, logistically things looked great. Now about getting this bike done, and then I needed to arrange to get the time off at the Collective. This was still not a done deal. 

With Erik's prompting of Li, things got hot on the bicycle front again and the frame and fork were in progress. I went to the Board meeting and got the time off. So.... Game on. As long as this bike turns out well "The Plan" put in place for me will be activated and well..... You'll get the full report afterward. 

The final event I am scheduling for 2024 is my appearance at the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame Induction ceremonies on May 29th, 2024 in Emporia, Kansas. 

The GCHoF board wants me to be a presenter, so I will be up on stage at some point doing "a thing" for the GCHoF. Can't say what that is now. Stay tuned on that.....

I can say that I will arrive in Emporia the afternoon of the 29th and be staying overnight. Oddly enough my room will be in the same facility where the first DK200's were run out of. I may or may not bring a bike. If I do it will be the Honeman Flyer so I can test it out on some terrain I know fairly well. 

And that is my plan for events in 2024. Again, I cannot take off willy-nilly and do weekend events since I work Saturdays and to boot, my son relies on The Truck With No Name now to get to his job. So, I really don't have much access to a vehicle anymore at this time and that doesn't look to change for a while.

Stay tuned for further updates as the become necessary. You know how things can change......

Ready For This

The "Orange Crush" as of today.

 The snow came and well......it's going. Fast! We are to have above freezing temperatures everyday for two straight weeks with the end of that spell being in the 40's. This snow won't make it through that. Not for fat biking purposes, at any rate. And where I ride, it isn't good already. 

I erroneously thought we had it made with the first round of snow we got, but the second round wasn't great snow, and with massive drifting, the snow pretty much got broken down into bits. So it doesn't hold together well and it is actually pretty awful for fat biking once the temps get above 10 or so above zero. With all that in mind, I needed to pivot my plans.

There is also something percolating behind the scenes which may- or may not- happen that impacts what I am doing right now. That and the Gents Race in April has made me switch to a mode of thinking that I need to start training now.

I cannot, or more correctly, will not, speak about this 'behind the scenes' thing just yet on the blog. A couple of folks are privy to it, but since things aren't 100% solid and a LOT has to happen to make this chance come true, I feel it is best in everyone's interest to stay put for now concerning that. But be that as it may, IF it happens I need to do what I am doing NOW. 

Besides, now that reviewing stuff is not a pressing need this year, I have time to give to my passion for single speed. I think the first part of 2024 is going to be pretty heavy on the One Gear machines here. That gets me round to the ol' Orange Crush machine, and what I am going to do to kick off the 2024 riding season. 

Snow drifts from last week's storms in Mahaska County. (Image courtesy of KCCI social media)

First off, I wanted to use the Orange Crush because it has fenders and I have an extra wheel set for it that I could set up with some 45NRTH Gravdal studded tires. This might come in handy with what I suspect will be some freeze-thaw icing that will certainly occur with all this snow melting over the next two weeks. 

Secondly, those same fenders and the single speed drive train will be awesome for some January/February country "drift searching", which I hope to do soon. I've heard reports of 15ft - 18ft drifts in Iowa and I haven't seen any "big ones" in several years, so I will be searching for some nice big drifts soon. Probably North of Waterloo, because traditionally that is where I've seen the biggest ones in the past around here. 

Of course, I hope to be getting out as soon as possible, but I will be, and have been, doing urban commuting and riding already. In fact, I cannot wait for this snow to clear out as I have had four crashes in the last week and one a pretty hard knock on pavement. I don't want to continue that trend!

Friday News And Views

Image courtesy of Ride 1Up.

 Electric Gravel: Coming Your Way In 2024:

If you've been paying attention over the last several "FN&V" posts, you will have noticed a lot of electrified gravel bike chatter. That's not going to stop anytime soon. It is a trend, and it will be showing up at your local gravel group rides, races, and events in 2024.

This week a "budget" entrant into the gravel eBike/HPV scene emerged when Ride 1Up introduced their $2500.00 CF Racer model. It has a Bafang motor, an integrated downtube encased battery, and is equipped with SRAM Rival 11 speed drive train bits. 1X, natch!

So, this isn't just for the "doctors and lawyers" out there who might drop 10K+ on a gravel bike with a motor and battery. This is the price of many commonplace carbon fiber gravel bikes without motors and batteries. Don't think for a minute that there are not other, similarly priced "gravel bikes" out there. But in the longer view, how many choices there are is a moot point when considering the effects this might have on gravel racing. 

Event directors are going to have to either ban these, (pressing the "easy button", essentially), or they are going to have to offer separate categories, and possibly provide battery swapping options, or maybe even have special distances for these bikes to allow people to use them. The dynamics of having electrified bikes mixed in with human powered bikes is going to be something of an unknown quantity as well. Typically issues have arisen between the two ways of powering a bicycle. This further complicates accommodating Hybrid Powered Cycles into traditional gravel events. 

I'll touch on this more in an upcoming opinion piece I am doing concerning teaching skills and etiquette when it comes to gravel riding.

New Pirate Cycling League Jacket In:

Long-time blog readers will know that I have been a supporter of the Pirate Cycling League, a loose-knit rabble of pedalers centered in Lincoln, Nebraska, for years now. The PCL offers "team kit" every so often and every time that they do it is generally a limited edition design. They've really only ever 'repeated' a design once, and that was of their original "year one" offering. 

This time the designs on offer were based around a "Miami Vice" theme. (A television show popular in the 1980's here in the USA, if you're wondering what Miami Vice refers to.)

It's getting harder and harder for me to rep a jersey anymore because, I mean, how many does one really need? So I've been doing other accessory gear for the last two design drops. Last time I got a wind jacket. This time I went for the Winter Thermal jacket. 

I've been a big fan of what is called a "soft-shell" Winter jacket. I had an awesome "Niner Bikes" branded one which was made by Endura, I believe, but my son lost it one day when he wore it to middle school and I've been on the search for a good replacement ever since. Of course, Endura quit making the one I had. 

This PCL jacket is made by Voler, which has been doing PCL kit for a long time now. This is not as nice as the Endura jacket I had but it is pretty good. At least it has the three rear jersey style pockets, which for me, is a prerequisite for me to consider buying any jacket. That or a "marsupial" style rear zippered pocket. 

Since this is really made like a jersey, only with a big collar and thicker, fleeced material, I would use this more like a jersey. For my money, a "jacket" has inner pockets, and maybe a zippered outer chest pocket. But maybe that's just me.

Gents Race 14 Announced:

Looks like I have a chance to get back to the Gents Race in 2024, that is, if my team will have me again! The event for 2024 was announced on Tuesday of this past week.

This has become one of those traditions amongst us that have been on the same team since the first Gents Race over a decade ago now. It is the only time, really, all year I see any of these guys anymore, or a lot of folks that attend this event, for that matter.

It is an announcement that fills the last open slot I reserve on the calendar for cycling events. (Official ones, not my GTDR which is not really an event.) This and my appearance again at the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame Awards Ceremonies in Emporia, Kansas at the end of May/early June are my only cycling plans I can make room for in 2024. I work Saturdays and getting time off takes away from my limited paycheck. Plus there are other reasons I don't take more time off, but those are not anything I can or will talk about here. So, at least I have 2024 plans in play now!

Artificial Intelligence, Affiliate Links, and How Cycling Media Makes Money:

Recently the journalism trade has been shaken up by a scandal involving "Sports Illustrated" and "AI" (Artificial Intelligence) generated stories. (Read about it HERE)

Since that story broke a lot of chatter has been going on regarding how content is generated, how revenue is generated for media companies, and how, specifically, the highly leveraged "affiliate link" model is being corrupted since traditional "advertisement revenue" has been drying up and is, for all intents and purposes, gone in 2023. 

First of all, none of that affects me. I don't make a red cent off my writing. It may come as some surprise to many, but I have not received a paycheck, or any monetary benefits from any website owner for any of my writing in over a year. Before that I might occasionally receive a check here and there. But what constitutes a living wage? I've never received enough to live on for a year from my writing. You could combine all the money over the years I've written stuff  and it wouldn't come close to a year's salary for the average American. (Currently that is $60,575.00) I'd guess I maybe have made less than 10% of that figure since 2006.

Essentially, I got some "pocket change" when I did get paid, which wasn't very often, and never on a regular basis. I'm not complaining, I only am telling you all this because I want it understood that I am not motivated by making a profit when it comes to writing and especially for review work. Because if that were the case, I would have opted out in 2008. 

So, you will never see "affiliate links" on this blog. Never. Anything I link to is a courtesy to you, my dear readers, and is there if you want to check into something for yourself. That's it. But that is how the cycling media companies make money. You would see those affiliate links embedded right in text for reviews, and you'll see those ads all over sidebars and inserted in between paragraphs. Sites I used to write for had those, but I never benefited from them, so I cannot speak to how valuable those were/are. I've been told that they were worth pennies, but articles I've read recently make those out to be worth a decent amount. Again, I cannot speak to that directly. 

 And of course, I am not artificial, and depending on who you ask, I might not be very intelligent either. So any writing you see here was generated out of Guitar Ted's grey matter, or something like that. Anyway, I don't own a piece of paper that says I am a "journalist" so it doesn't matter, I guess. That said, I receive a ton  of requests to have paid-for guest posts and "generated content". It's crazy. So, I know that it is a thing in traditional media circles. 

Kona Process 153 29 (Courtesy of Kona Bikes)

Kona BOGO On MTB's:

For the last six months or more I've been reminding you that bicycle brands were in trouble. Well, the end of the year is coming, businesses like to close their books for the year, and new product is about to be shipped from Asia. Time to move the pile of bikes sitting around. Kona Bikes has maybe done the unthinkable here to clear out their inventory. 

Their current promotion until December 31st is that you can buy one in-stock FS bike and get another of equal value or less that is in-stock FOR FREE. 

Not only that, but many of their other MTB's are 50% off. I've said it for a long time here, you will not see these deals again in your lifetime. But I get it. If you don't have the money, you may not be able to take advantage of this, or other deals. 

Previous deals were pretty radical. We saw Salsa and Surly knock off 30%, which is essentially stripping out all the profit margin which bicycle dealers never made any money on anyway. Now, at 30% off,  you are just pretty much covering the brand's investment. But a BOGO deal, or 50% off? That's loosing money big time. And we're talking about really nice MTB's too, not some weird brand you've never heard of. 

Crazy days, but wait until next year......
 

That's it for this week. Have a great weekend and thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

Renegade Gents: Gear Review

An outtake from the previous post. Damaged silos from the 2020 derrecho

The Gents Race is over for 2023 and I was really stoked on how well I actually did, which was due in part to my gear I selected which worked quite well. 

Conditions were challenging and changed significantly throughout the day. To start off it was about 35°F with a heavy 25-30mph Northwest wind which dropped the windchill into frigid territory. Then it progressively warmed up to end the day in the 50's. Winds never really let up for our entire ride. The roads were loose, sandy, to partially gravel covered and hard based. There was little cloud cover, so bright Sunshine necessitated the use of good eyewear. Obviously, I needed to refuel and hydrate along the way, so I'll detail what we did there as well.

I'll cover all of these facets in this post, and remember- This is what worked for me. It may not work at all for you. Each person will need to determine their personal "best choices" on their own.

Wearables:

I wore bib tights from PROVIZ, a company that makes running and cycling gear with this crazy reflective treatment that literally lights up when a light source hits it. Cap'n Steve even noted my light show early on into the event when he was riding behind me for a spell. 

The tights I was wearing are 2016 versions of this product, the "PixElite Performance Men's Bib Tights". They are on sale right now and I can highly recommend them. They have held up really well over the time I have had them and they are some of my warmest bib tights I have, even over stuff from GORE which I have. And they fit better than GORE stuff does, especially if you are not built like the "typical cyclist", as I am not built like. I'm more of a "line backer shaped guy"! 

These bibs also have a nice chamois inside. It is not the best I've used, but it is by far not the worst. For what they are asking for these, I think it is a great value. They certainly kept me comfortable Saturday. 

Under this I wore an Endura base layer. I have a few different base layers from different companies and I cannot say one is all that much better than another. I just appreciate that they all keep the sweat from sitting on my skin and if the base layer I'm using is doing that, well then good enough. While the Endura base layer is really nicely made, I like the Twin Six ones just as well and they are a bit less money. Plus T-6 is US based and fairly local to me. 

On my feet were some Follow-Hollow socks I was sent out back in 2018 when that company was running a Kickstarter project. The site was last updated in 2020, so I don't think they are still around, although you can find scads of Alpaca wool socks online. Anyway, they are thicker, more comfortable, and warmer than my wool socks. 

I wore some 2019 vintage Northwave Extreme XC GTX shoes/boots on the feet as well. These are really nice "shoulder-season" boots for gravel riding. I wouldn't dip much below 20°F with these, but they work great from the 30's up to around 50, which was perfect for this ride. 

On the hands I wore some Hand-Up winter gloves and switched out to Hand-Up full-fingered gloves later on. On the head went a GORE ear-flap windproof cycling hat, my Bontrager helmet, and a Buff around my neck. I used my Rudy Project glasses. My jersey was an old long-sleeved Bontrager Classics jersey in Merino wool.  I also wore an old Bontrager wind jacket I've used for years. 

Verdict: I couldn't have chosen better gear to wear for the majority of the ride. By the end I was starting to feel a tad too warm, but it had hit 50 degrees by that point and we were riding with a mahoosive tailwind.

The Twin Six Standard Rando v2 as it was used for the Gents Race

The Hardwear:

Not much to add here that hasn't already been said. People were commenting on the GRX Limited Silver components and the look of the bike overall. That made me smile. A LOT of people caught on to the the school bus thing, like I did, and why I called this bike the "Gravel Bus". Must be a Mid-West phenomenon. 

There are a few review parts on this bike, so I won't go into detail here on that stuff other than to give a shout-out to the Pirelli tires. These Cinturato M tires are quickly becoming some of my favorite tires. When I checked the air pressures before I left the bike had sat with unchecked air pressure for a week. To my surprise I maybe was down 2psi on each tire and that may be because I let a tiny puff out of each tire just getting the pump chuck on the valve. Nice!

But better than that was the ride. These tires do such a great job of damping out chatter that I almost do not miss my Redshift ShockStop stem on this bike at all. That's saying something! And these tires roll really well on gravel too, despite the tread blocks. Impressive! 

The GRX stuff shifted really well and the SILCA Super-Secret chain lube did an impressive job once again. I could not fault anything on the bike, really, but I'll get into more details on some of that in my upcoming reviews of some of the other components.

Verdict: As good as it could get. I was 100% happy with all my set up. 

Nutrition: 

The story here is Embark Maple Energy. What a huge turnaround from last year at this event when I tried LMNT which was a massive fail for me. Instead of feeling bloated to the point that I was having sharp gastrointestinal pains I felt..... nothing. I just had power when otherwise I would have been dead in the water. 

I point here to when we left the checkpoint and had that Northward push where I actually had enough energy to pull through twice. That surprised me and I attribute this to using the Embark. 

I also had a generic granola-protein bar thing that you see a lot in convenience stores, but that probably didn't do much. It didn't hurt me, but I think the Embark was where it was at. That stuff has my 100% seal of approval now. It's a little spendy, but I have zero negative side effects from using it and that makes spending the coin on this stuff well worth it. 

Verdict: I was 100% pleased with what I did eat. Had I had another Embark packet I think I could have used it, but I only brought two, being foolishly stingy. No more! 

Overall Verdict: I was thrilled with my performance. It was way beyond anything I thought was going to be possible given my Spring, lack of training, and the event's conditions. Everything really worked to perfection to get me where I ended up. That doesn't happen often, so this was a big win for me. 

Thanks for reading my Gents Race report yesterday and the gear review today. Also: The Standard Disclaimer applies to many of the things mentioned in this report.

Renegade Gents: Gear Review

An outtake from the previous post. Damaged silos from the 2020 derrecho

The Gents Race is over for 2023 and I was really stoked on how well I actually did, which was due in part to my gear I selected which worked quite well. 

Conditions were challenging and changed significantly throughout the day. To start off it was about 35°F with a heavy 25-30mph Northwest wind which dropped the windchill into frigid territory. Then it progressively warmed up to end the day in the 50's. Winds never really let up for our entire ride. The roads were loose, sandy, to partially gravel covered and hard based. There was little cloud cover, so bright Sunshine necessitated the use of good eyewear. Obviously, I needed to refuel and hydrate along the way, so I'll detail what we did there as well.

I'll cover all of these facets in this post, and remember- This is what worked for me. It may not work at all for you. Each person will need to determine their personal "best choices" on their own.

Wearables:

I wore bib tights from PROVIZ, a company that makes running and cycling gear with this crazy reflective treatment that literally lights up when a light source hits it. Cap'n Steve even noted my light show early on into the event when he was riding behind me for a spell. 

The tights I was wearing are 2016 versions of this product, the "PixElite Performance Men's Bib Tights". They are on sale right now and I can highly recommend them. They have held up really well over the time I have had them and they are some of my warmest bib tights I have, even over stuff from GORE which I have. And they fit better than GORE stuff does, especially if you are not built like the "typical cyclist", as I am not built like. I'm more of a "line backer shaped guy"! 

These bibs also have a nice chamois inside. It is not the best I've used, but it is by far not the worst. For what they are asking for these, I think it is a great value. They certainly kept me comfortable Saturday. 

Under this I wore an Endura base layer. I have a few different base layers from different companies and I cannot say one is all that much better than another. I just appreciate that they all keep the sweat from sitting on my skin and if the base layer I'm using is doing that, well then good enough. While the Endura base layer is really nicely made, I like the Twin Six ones just as well and they are a bit less money. Plus T-6 is US based and fairly local to me. 

On my feet were some Follow-Hollow socks I was sent out back in 2018 when that company was running a Kickstarter project. The site was last updated in 2020, so I don't think they are still around, although you can find scads of Alpaca wool socks online. Anyway, they are thicker, more comfortable, and warmer than my wool socks. 

I wore some 2019 vintage Northwave Extreme XC GTX shoes/boots on the feet as well. These are really nice "shoulder-season" boots for gravel riding. I wouldn't dip much below 20°F with these, but they work great from the 30's up to around 50, which was perfect for this ride. 

On the hands I wore some Hand-Up winter gloves and switched out to Hand-Up full-fingered gloves later on. On the head went a GORE ear-flap windproof cycling hat, my Bontrager helmet, and a Buff around my neck. I used my Rudy Project glasses. My jersey was an old long-sleeved Bontrager Classics jersey in Merino wool.  I also wore an old Bontrager wind jacket I've used for years. 

Verdict: I couldn't have chosen better gear to wear for the majority of the ride. By the end I was starting to feel a tad too warm, but it had hit 50 degrees by that point and we were riding with a mahoosive tailwind.

The Twin Six Standard Rando v2 as it was used for the Gents Race

The Hardwear:

Not much to add here that hasn't already been said. People were commenting on the GRX Limited Silver components and the look of the bike overall. That made me smile. A LOT of people caught on to the the school bus thing, like I did, and why I called this bike the "Gravel Bus". Must be a Mid-West phenomenon. 

There are a few review parts on this bike, so I won't go into detail here on that stuff other than to give a shout-out to the Pirelli tires. These Cinturato M tires are quickly becoming some of my favorite tires. When I checked the air pressures before I left the bike had sat with unchecked air pressure for a week. To my surprise I maybe was down 2psi on each tire and that may be because I let a tiny puff out of each tire just getting the pump chuck on the valve. Nice!

But better than that was the ride. These tires do such a great job of damping out chatter that I almost do not miss my Redshift ShockStop stem on this bike at all. That's saying something! And these tires roll really well on gravel too, despite the tread blocks. Impressive! 

The GRX stuff shifted really well and the SILCA Super-Secret chain lube did an impressive job once again. I could not fault anything on the bike, really, but I'll get into more details on some of that in my upcoming reviews of some of the other components.

Verdict: As good as it could get. I was 100% happy with all my set up. 

Nutrition: 

The story here is Embark Maple Energy. What a huge turnaround from last year at this event when I tried LMNT which was a massive fail for me. Instead of feeling bloated to the point that I was having sharp gastrointestinal pains I felt..... nothing. I just had power when otherwise I would have been dead in the water. 

I point here to when we left the checkpoint and had that Northward push where I actually had enough energy to pull through twice. That surprised me and I attribute this to using the Embark. 

I also had a generic granola-protein bar thing that you see a lot in convenience stores, but that probably didn't do much. It didn't hurt me, but I think the Embark was where it was at. That stuff has my 100% seal of approval now. It's a little spendy, but I have zero negative side effects from using it and that makes spending the coin on this stuff well worth it. 

Verdict: I was 100% pleased with what I did eat. Had I had another Embark packet I think I could have used it, but I only brought two, being foolishly stingy. No more! 

Overall Verdict: I was thrilled with my performance. It was way beyond anything I thought was going to be possible given my Spring, lack of training, and the event's conditions. Everything really worked to perfection to get me where I ended up. That doesn't happen often, so this was a big win for me. 

Thanks for reading my Gents Race report yesterday and the gear review today. Also: The Standard Disclaimer applies to many of the things mentioned in this report.

The Renegade Gents Race Report

(L-R) Capn' Steve, some guys from Gravel Sharks, and D'Corn

The Gents Race is my one "can't-miss' ride I do now. It's the event I've done the longest, and I've made some friends because of it that have come to mean a lot to me down through the years. The whole mentality of our Careless Whispers team has been one of camaraderie, mutual respect, and caring for one another. It's truly something special. I know when the day comes that the event- or our team - is no more, I will be saddened, but I will smile every time I think of this event and these guys I've come to know like brothers. 

So, the 2023 version of this event came upon the heels of a large scale storm that literally blew through the area the day before, leaving a wake of destruction in its path from high, straight line winds and tornadic activities spanning several states. It also left us with a Friday in the 70's and a Saturday that started out around 30 degrees with a 25mph Northwest wind and gloomy skies to start out the day. 

This edition of the Gents Race was one where I had absolutely zero expectations for myself. I had just come off a three week period of sickness, and the last vestiges of the head cold I had were just recently eliminated from my body only a few days ahead of the event. I had precious few miles in because of that and the wonky weather we've had as well. So, with little training, I only was going to be able to do so much, and I was fine with that. What else could I do? 

N.Y. Roll filing his team's waivers. His team actually won the Gents Race due to a technicality.

 

The race organizers moved the start from the bike path to a shielded from the wicked Northwest winds.

I drove down with plenty of time to spare since the race organizers pushed back the first team out start time an hour to accommodate for frigid temperatures. They also wisely moved the start out of the wind to a sheltered area to help keep riders warmer right up until the start of the event. Teams of five riders were to take off at intervals starting at 9:00am. 

Our start time was 9:44am, so I didn't have to leave the house here until 6:30am, which was really nice. The drive down was rough in that heavy wind, and it made me think about how hard this course is when the winds are out of a Northerly direction. But again - I could only try my best. If that wasn't good enough, I would know why and I was fine with that. 

(L-R) One of the RD's, Kyle Sedore, Christopher Rhodes, D'Corn, GT, Bob, and Cap'n Steve at the start.

(L-R) Partially obscured, Chris Rhodes, D'Corn, Bob, and Capn' Steve.

The start went straight North out of the gate and then turned West after a mile. The start was waaaay too hot for me and I was maxed out in heartrate and breathing straight away. Not good! We turned west and I said to myself, "This isn't going to work for me. I have to back things down." Steve noted my distress and apologized for the pace and promised that he would convince everyone we needed to adjust our expectations of speed. 

That worked and I settled into a pace that worked out at the time. We had about a four mile Southward push about right then and a few of the guys joked that we could just keep going that direction, let the wind push us, and end up at Bob's "Cumming Tap" which he runs. While that sounded fun, we turned Westward and stayed on course!

Here we were at the Southern most point of the course near Saylorville Lake.

 

This was my view for most of the 11 miles we went North before the checkpoint.

Eventually we had to tackle an 11 mile Northward section of the course that was broken up after two miles by a jig-a-jog West of about two miles. I had no idea how I would survive, but I stuck my bike in a gear that I felt "okay" pedaling in and put my head down and tried to find a groove. 

My teammates did a great job shepherding me along when they could and I just kept grinding, and grinding......and grinding. Finally I heard Steve say, "Hey Mark! We made it!" , and just ahead was the turn off Eastward and with the wind at a 3/4's tailwind to our backs. I was really happy to not only turn out of that headwind, but that I made it! I only stopped briefly one time in the entire stretch. That was a lot better than I thought I'd do. 

Barns For Jason: Still heading North at this point

This shot gives you a feel for the sandy, loose gravel that we had for much of the course.

Once I was going with a tailwind it was assured I'd make the checkpoint and there was only about one mile where we would be going West and otherwise it was all East and South in this section of the course. 

Some of the guys were talking like they would call it quits at the checkpoint since it is only about 4 miles from there to the start/finish. I didn't know what to think. On the one hand I figured with a bit of a rest and some food I might be able to make it. On the other hand, stopping the pain I was experiencing sounded good too. My arms felt a dull, aching pain at the shoulder sockets and my legs felt sore too from the big North push. Plus, I was on track to beat my longest ride of the year so far. No big deal, but it was on my mind. 

Moo!

Barns For Jason

At the checkpoint I ate and used some of the Embark maple syrup based nutritional supplement I got, (more on that in another post) and I felt pretty good. We pulled out a bit sooner than our usual last place and motored East a bit and then another five or six miles North back into that wind again. Uggh! But I was actually able to put together two long pulls for the group, which surprised me. I didn't plan that, but I felt it and went with it and it worked. 

Heading North....again! (And yes- D'Corn was wearing denim blue jeans

The Northward section after the checkpoint ended here with a bit of "cheater road". Ha !

I made this Northward push as well, but while I was amazed by that, I had burnt almost all my matches by this point. Going East and South wouldn't be that big of a deal, but at the very end, if we chose to do it, there was another three or four miles of Northbound road. Chatter began about this time that there would be a "team meeting" where the Heart of Iowa Trail crossed our path and went directly back to Slater. 

This wind machine's blades were getting flexed a lot by the heavy winds.

We were making excellent time heading South.

Eventually we made our crossing with the Heart of Iowa Trail and our planned stop to discuss the plans to either go ahead, or cut things short and head to Slater. It seemed that we were right on the borderline of making it back on time, (the cut-off for the event was 4:00pm), and no one was interested in another segment of North headwinds, so we all bailed out on the trail. This brought us in with 50 miles for the day. 

I was fine with the decision. I had gone well over twice the length of any ride I'd done up to that point in 2023 and I was happy with my performance. I had outdone myself, and I am still amazed I made it as far as I did. This is good for me as long as I build on it in the coming days. 

We hit Slater and the bar where I had a meal with Steve and I talked to a few others as well before heading out for home. My legs are torched, but that's okay. They will come around! All in all this was as successful as I could have hoped for considering where I've been most of the month of March. 

I'll have a gear round-up coming next.

The Renegade Gents Race Report

(L-R) Capn' Steve, some guys from Gravel Sharks, and D'Corn

The Gents Race is my one "can't-miss' ride I do now. It's the event I've done the longest, and I've made some friends because of it that have come to mean a lot to me down through the years. The whole mentality of our Careless Whispers team has been one of camaraderie, mutual respect, and caring for one another. It's truly something special. I know when the day comes that the event- or our team - is no more, I will be saddened, but I will smile every time I think of this event and these guys I've come to know like brothers. 

So, the 2023 version of this event came upon the heels of a large scale storm that literally blew through the area the day before, leaving a wake of destruction in its path from high, straight line winds and tornadic activities spanning several states. It also left us with a Friday in the 70's and a Saturday that started out around 30 degrees with a 25mph Northwest wind and gloomy skies to start out the day. 

This edition of the Gents Race was one where I had absolutely zero expectations for myself. I had just come off a three week period of sickness, and the last vestiges of the head cold I had were just recently eliminated from my body only a few days ahead of the event. I had precious few miles in because of that and the wonky weather we've had as well. So, with little training, I only was going to be able to do so much, and I was fine with that. What else could I do? 

N.Y. Roll filing his team's waivers. His team actually won the Gents Race due to a technicality.

 

The race organizers moved the start from the bike path to a shielded from the wicked Northwest winds.

I drove down with plenty of time to spare since the race organizers pushed back the first team out start time an hour to accommodate for frigid temperatures. They also wisely moved the start out of the wind to a sheltered area to help keep riders warmer right up until the start of the event. Teams of five riders were to take off at intervals starting at 9:00am. 

Our start time was 9:44am, so I didn't have to leave the house here until 6:30am, which was really nice. The drive down was rough in that heavy wind, and it made me think about how hard this course is when the winds are out of a Northerly direction. But again - I could only try my best. If that wasn't good enough, I would know why and I was fine with that. 

(L-R) One of the RD's, Kyle Sedore, Christopher Rhodes, D'Corn, GT, Bob, and Cap'n Steve at the start.

(L-R) Partially obscured, Chris Rhodes, D'Corn, Bob, and Capn' Steve.

The start went straight North out of the gate and then turned West after a mile. The start was waaaay too hot for me and I was maxed out in heartrate and breathing straight away. Not good! We turned west and I said to myself, "This isn't going to work for me. I have to back things down." Steve noted my distress and apologized for the pace and promised that he would convince everyone we needed to adjust our expectations of speed. 

That worked and I settled into a pace that worked out at the time. We had about a four mile Southward push about right then and a few of the guys joked that we could just keep going that direction, let the wind push us, and end up at Bob's "Cumming Tap" which he runs. While that sounded fun, we turned Westward and stayed on course!

Here we were at the Southern most point of the course near Saylorville Lake.

 

This was my view for most of the 11 miles we went North before the checkpoint.

Eventually we had to tackle an 11 mile Northward section of the course that was broken up after two miles by a jig-a-jog West of about two miles. I had no idea how I would survive, but I stuck my bike in a gear that I felt "okay" pedaling in and put my head down and tried to find a groove. 

My teammates did a great job shepherding me along when they could and I just kept grinding, and grinding......and grinding. Finally I heard Steve say, "Hey Mark! We made it!" , and just ahead was the turn off Eastward and with the wind at a 3/4's tailwind to our backs. I was really happy to not only turn out of that headwind, but that I made it! I only stopped briefly one time in the entire stretch. That was a lot better than I thought I'd do. 

Barns For Jason: Still heading North at this point

This shot gives you a feel for the sandy, loose gravel that we had for much of the course.

Once I was going with a tailwind it was assured I'd make the checkpoint and there was only about one mile where we would be going West and otherwise it was all East and South in this section of the course. 

Some of the guys were talking like they would call it quits at the checkpoint since it is only about 4 miles from there to the start/finish. I didn't know what to think. On the one hand I figured with a bit of a rest and some food I might be able to make it. On the other hand, stopping the pain I was experiencing sounded good too. My arms felt a dull, aching pain at the shoulder sockets and my legs felt sore too from the big North push. Plus, I was on track to beat my longest ride of the year so far. No big deal, but it was on my mind. 

Moo!

Barns For Jason

At the checkpoint I ate and used some of the Embark maple syrup based nutritional supplement I got, (more on that in another post) and I felt pretty good. We pulled out a bit sooner than our usual last place and motored East a bit and then another five or six miles North back into that wind again. Uggh! But I was actually able to put together two long pulls for the group, which surprised me. I didn't plan that, but I felt it and went with it and it worked. 

Heading North....again! (And yes- D'Corn was wearing denim blue jeans

The Northward section after the checkpoint ended here with a bit of "cheater road". Ha !

I made this Northward push as well, but while I was amazed by that, I had burnt almost all my matches by this point. Going East and South wouldn't be that big of a deal, but at the very end, if we chose to do it, there was another three or four miles of Northbound road. Chatter began about this time that there would be a "team meeting" where the Heart of Iowa Trail crossed our path and went directly back to Slater. 

This wind machine's blades were getting flexed a lot by the heavy winds.

We were making excellent time heading South.

Eventually we made our crossing with the Heart of Iowa Trail and our planned stop to discuss the plans to either go ahead, or cut things short and head to Slater. It seemed that we were right on the borderline of making it back on time, (the cut-off for the event was 4:00pm), and no one was interested in another segment of North headwinds, so we all bailed out on the trail. This brought us in with 50 miles for the day. 

I was fine with the decision. I had gone well over twice the length of any ride I'd done up to that point in 2023 and I was happy with my performance. I had outdone myself, and I am still amazed I made it as far as I did. This is good for me as long as I build on it in the coming days. 

We hit Slater and the bar where I had a meal with Steve and I talked to a few others as well before heading out for home. My legs are torched, but that's okay. They will come around! All in all this was as successful as I could have hoped for considering where I've been most of the month of March. 

I'll have a gear round-up coming next.