Country Views: A Quick One

 I did something I haven't done in a long time. I loaded my bike into a vehicle and drove to a starting point. This was a common thing back when I had "The Truck With No Name", but then my son Jacob started using the truck after he obtained his license and when we traded in the truck late in 2024 for a Toyota 4Runner for Jacob that put me out of a car for the first time in many a year. 

So, it's been a while since I've done the thing where I haul the bike out to Prairie Grove Park. But Tuesday was a very nice day. The weatherfolk were saying the winds would be mere puffs. So, I had some time after an appointment at noon to go ride. 

The bike was the Honeman Flyer. The kit was straight-up Summer kit as it was 80+ degrees. Speaking of warmth, the temperatures have been so warm here the soil temperatures rose to a level which was good for planting sooner than normal. This led to a surprising amount of fields which I saw that were planted already. 

A John Deere planting rig scuds along the horizon line. 

It was 'almost' perfect out. Almost. 

One thing I realized immediately after getting out of town. The weatherfolk missed it on the wind forecast. It was breezy out of the West, and it wasn't a light wind either. So, I was doubly burdened because I also wasn't feeling great either. 

I was working hard, my legs felt tired already, and my heart rate was elevated. I said to myself, "Well, this isn't your day". Sad, but true. 

More fields than not are already planted

Some other day I will be going that way. Soon, I hope....

It's hard to come to the realization that you are starting at a lower level of fitness than you thought. I read something the other day about endurance. It went something like, "Endurance fitness is rented, not owned."

I thought this was a very wise statement. I just have to invest in myself on a regular basis to get back what I had not been renting all Winter. I had grace for myself as well. Just a little over a month ago we had a blizzard, near sub-zero temperatures, and afterward it was so windy it was ridiculous. 

 I had a lot of life stuff to deal with. That has been an ongoing thing. But through it all I haven't quit. I was out there. I wasn't sitting at home wishing I was out there. So, it was good. Short, but good. 

I hope to start stringing together more consistent rides.  

Thwarted

This flooded out grassy two-tracfk wasn't my first check.

The one day I could get out and ride this past week was on Friday. It was going to be a weird day because it was starting out a bit on the chilly/windy side, but it was supposed to get warmer, then storm severely, then get cold. The weather people were in a lather about it all saying things were going to be nigh unto apocalyptic and that we all should be "weather aware", or we might....

I dunno.....what would the weather people say?  You might suffer the consequences of ignoring the weather? And this is different than the past in what way, exactly? 

I'm telling you this whole society is based upon fear. 

Anyway, Yes, I get it. Weather can kill you. I survived an F5 tornado and other near-misses with tornadoes over the years. So I decided to run out to ride in the morning. My plan was to head over to Evansdale via the bike paths and get out on a little gravel. Get home around noon. Then ride the storm out, if any storms should come, at home. 

Well, it didn't take long and I ran up on a barricade where a City worker was messing with some equipment. He looked at me and explained that there was some maintenance work being done and the bridge was impassable by pedestrians and cyclists. I had to backtrack and go across a different bridge. So I did this.

But then I was turned back again by more barricades. So, taking this as a sign, I turned back the opposite way and headed toward the park on the North side of the Cedar River and to a different bridge to cross back to a point closer to home.  

One simply does not just ride by the cement elephant!

I cannot ever remember seeing bluebells bloom this early

I ended up on the Sans Souci Bridge and had a sudden thought. "Ya know, I've never been back in there. Maybe I'll check it out." Sans Souci Island in Waterloo has been the site of the Sans Souci Hotel, cottages, and eventually permanent residences were constructed here. Originally named Merwin Island in the mid-1800's, this 100 acre island, once covered in timber, provided wood for the first bridges across the Cedar River in Waterloo. 

In 2008, a catastrophic flood event wiped out all the homes on the island. The homes were never rebuilt, and now it is an obscure park with a shelter, some hiking trails, and lots of woods. I found a cleared, fairly wide path back into the woods a ways but was turned back by the recent flooding. N.Y. Roll later told me he has been thinking about how this area could stand a short single track loop. 

I ended up leaving, but before I got out of the gate, I met two young, what looked to me to be teenage girls walking into the park dressed in attire more akin to the late 19th Century than the 21st Century. I waved, they waved back, and I wondered if I had seen an apparition, but yeah.... I'm pretty sure that was real.  

Weird. 

And then I rode through the cemetery and headed home. The original plans were thwarted, but this ride had it's highlights. And I didn't get sucked up by a tornado. In fact, we escaped any severe weather Friday. The temperature went down a full 47 degrees in twelve hours though. 

All the best to those who did suffer damage Friday. I think we all could do with nicer weather for a while.  

Brown Season: Riding Into Spring

Escape Route: South Riverside Trail

 A little more than a week ago we were staring down a blizzard. High winds and snow battered us Sunday evening through until Monday evening. Then it got brutally cold with negative wind chills and air temperatures in the single digits on Tuesday. 

By Friday it was shirt-sleeve weather! 

What a crazy Winter, and I sure hope it is all over with. We were on a roller coaster of freezing, thawing, snow cover, no snow cover, all Winter long. But hopefully it is all done with, and this Spring can be a bit less up and down. 

Friday I took advantage of the nice weather and got out on my Honeman Flyer since it has all the Ergon stuff on it I am reviewing. It was 65°F and so I put on a wind vest, a short-sleeved jersey, my Twin Six bib knickers, and I wore normal cycling shoes. A bandana and Bontrager Circuit helmet rounded out the kit for the day. 

There were a lot of people enjoying Big Woods Lake on Friday

 

First gravel on Mt. Vernon Road. 

I saw the breeze was out of the Northwest before I left the house so I decided to use my "Northwest Passage" route out of town. It essentially follows the Cedar River along quiet city streets and bike paths, stays out of the wind, and allows me to get out of town without expending a lot of energy.Once I get away from Big Woods Lake I only have about two miles worth of headwind. 

The roads are nice! No fresh gravel......yet!

Not much snow in the ditches anymore here. Probably none now!

It's amazing how quickly the snow disappeared. Tuesday the ditches were full last week. Now on Friday, during my ride, snow was hard to come by, and most of it was stained black from dirt blowing into it during the storm. The winds scoured the snow off  during the blizzard and picked up the black dirt afterward. 

Angles in the Sky and angles on the ground. 

 

It felt like a Summer ride. I almost took the wind vest off a few times to stuff it into my jersey pocket, but I never did. I stuck it out. Because the heat was so unfamiliar to me at this point of the year for around these parts, I decided not to take a longer route. Later on, after I was at home for a while, I was happy I made that decision. 

 

One example of the rolling hills North of Waterloo.

Now we are back to what feels like Spring. This past weekend, well Friday and Saturday, at any rate, were straight out of Summer. It's too early for Summer! Hopefully Spring will be good. I need to get some miles in. 

Stay tuned.... 

Repairs

The life of a bicycle mechanic is one of constant diagnosis and figuring things out. There are simple repairs, which for a seasoned bicycle mechanic are like a school child repeating the addition of 2 + 2 and understanding the answer without a second thought. In fact, many repairs are done so quickly and with such instinct that many mechanics cannot tell you how to do what they just did where you'd understand. 

Then there are the really challenging jobs. The ones that make you cuss, but when you overcome and make a bicycle work again, you crow about it, sticking your chest out and strutting around like some greasy version of a rooster.

I was out riding around on the Honeman Flyer last week getting acquainted with these new Ergon bits I have in for review. As I pulled up to the house I heard a strange noise and I discovered a broken spoke. The sort of "everyday repair" a good mechanic can whip out done in a jiffy. 

When you work in a retail setting you must learn time saving tricks to get things done and out the door quickly. I was employing all of these as I went about trying to replace the rear spoke which had broken. 

Now one of the more important parts of this repair concerned the spoke nipple. It would be imperative to keep the nipple from backing into the rim cavity and falling inside the rim. 

And - of course - this is exactly what happened. 

Now this simple repair just became a big hassle. I would have to take the tire off, the rim tape off, and fish that nipple out of the rim cavity. And the tire is set up tubeless. So......sigh, I went to work on it. 

And when I peeled off the Ritchey SpeedMax tire, I discovered there was almost no sealant inside. So, actually, it was a good thing. But now I'd have to do the tubeless sealant injection dance later. Before that, I had to take the nipple I fished out, replace it where it belonged, thread it on the spoke, and tension it up. After truing I then fished around in my tape drawer for some tubeless tape. 

This DT Swiss tape is really nice.

I found a bit of this DT Swiss tubeless tape. I don't remember for certain how I got it. It wasn't a full roll and I know I've never used it before. I thought I'd use it up on this repair. 

It turns out it is excellent tape. Maybe the best I've used. It certainly was the easiest tape I've applied. Just stretchy enough and tacky enough. It laid down nicely with no weird folds or trapped air bubbles.  

It certainly is not cheap! But I may try some more of it since it was so impressive. I have some of the tape everyone was crowing about from U-Line which is similar to this DT Swiss tape, but it is not the same stuff at all. That tape is thicker, less pliable, and doesn't lay down as nicely. 

Anyway, after a bout of wrasslin' with my tubeless sealant injector, I was done with the job and the Honeman Flyer is ready just in time for a blizzard! Fantastic.... (Update - It wasn't a blizzard, but it did snow)

It'll be 1°F Tuesday morning here and swinging to a projected high of 50°F on Wednesday.  Welcome to Spring in Iowa. 

The Honeman Flyer: Two Years With A Weirdo

The Honemann Flyer March 2026

 This marks the beginning of Year 3 with the bike I dubbed "The Honeman Flyer", a single speed bicycle built by King Fabrications in California. 

Regular blog readers will know this bike well. I thought I would give my impressions of the bike again in view of my previous comments. If this bike is new to you, I have an AI overview of the bike, which is pretty spot-on, concise, and will serve as a way to bring you up to date:

 "The Honeman Flyer is a custom, single-speed gravel bike built by King Fabrications for Guitar Ted Productions, designed based on the 1930s-era track bike geometry of national champion Willie Honeman. It is a unique, super-smooth riding, -framed bike featuring a slack seat tube and modern components, intended to test the relevance of classic geometry for modern gravel riding."

I'll only add that the geometry and the frame and fork Willie rode to three national championships on the track was built by John "Pop" Brennan.  

My last look at this bike was last December in my "Bikes of 2025" post.  You can check that one out if you'd like to. 

Ben Petty (L) and Guitar Ted riding the Honeman Flyer last October

 I have written a ton about this bike so I won't try to rewrite again things I've covered before. I will say this bike seems to be tied to seat post changes. I went with a carbon Whisky Parts Co. post on this, switching out the old post in early March. About a week ago, to be exact. Early returns are good with the original look being present once again, which I happen to like better. 

I re-wrapped the bars with Ergon AllRoad tape. I also installed the Ergon saddle I recently recieved in for review. Both parts were introduced HERE. The black handlebar tape really looks different. I'm so used to running pink hues for handlebar tape on this bicycle. With all the black additions I think it brings out the black crackle overcoat on the paint job. 

I'll be doing a lot of riding on this bike in 2026. Again, it is one of my better riding bicycles. Li King did a great job choosing tubing and fabricating the design. It's kind of funny, but Li hasn't ever shown or mentioned this bicycle since. I would imagine because it seems too weird for many folks to even contemplate. 

It is not in the latest geometry trends or feature trends for a gravel bike. It won't take anything wider than a 44mm tire. It really should be a 40mm tire. It is steel. It doesn't have gears. No down tube storage box. And that radical rear end of this bike. 

I mean, how does anyone ride a bike like this in 2026? 

Easy - One pedal stroke at a time!

And what about this experiment's relevance to modern day gravel geometry? I'd say everything from the bottom bracket forward is spot on. The back end? Weird. Not relevant at all.  

Anyway, the bike is surprisingly fun to ride, it handles very well for myself, and in the end, this is all that really matters. It suits me very well. I would not expect anyone else to like such a weird bike. To ride, at any rate. It does also look cool, which is good, but yeah - 1980's crackle finish paint is not everyone's cup of tea. 

Weird bike, weird paint job, weirdo rider. Seems like a match made in heaven.  

Bikes of 2025: The King Fabrications "Honeman Flyer"

 It's another end-of-year period on the blog. You know what that means? Yep! Another round of my bikes I used in 2025. This round-up will not include some of the bikes I did not use this year much, or at all. I focus only on the bikes that played a big role in my riding during this year.  As always, any changes or future plans for any bike I feature will also be detailed. I hope that you enjoy this year's round-up.

 The Honeman Flyer has quickly risen to become one of my favorite bicycles I've ever ridden. This purely based upon my feelings when I ride it. It's so good, thanks in no small part to Li King of King Fabrications. Li had a lot of latitude in this bicycle's details. Sure, the geometry was a lock due to my demand the design reflect all the angles and degrees the original Pop Warner design for Willie Honeman had going on. But Li picked the tubing, decided how to miter the tubes and join them, and Li was the painter as well. I let Li do whatever Li wanted with the paint, and Li knocked it out of the park, in my opinion. I just wanted to make a point of Li's choices in the tubing which contribute heavily to how this bicycle rides.

Still, I find it hard to believe the Honeman Flyer rides as well as it does. It could have been a disaster even though Li did such a great job. This is due to how weird the rear half of this bicycle was designed originally. I have nothing which even comes close to how this bicycle is designed. It makes zero sense, when you think about it, as to why I would even get along with such a radically different bicycle. 

The seat tube is super-slack. The chain stays are really long. The bottom bracket drop is pretty deep. By all accounts, when considering geometry for gravel bicycles in 2025, this should not work for anyone. 

But it works great for me!

The combination of the weird stuff I already mentioned and a somewhat slack 71° head tube angle all combines to make a bike which feels super-stable and accelerates with immediacy when I stomp on the pedals. It handles well enough that during the 2024 Mid-South I was able to navigate the single track section with ease. 

I have only one beef with the bike and it has to do with tire clearances. I wish I would have asked for clearance for up to a 50mm tire. But as it is, I can fit around a 44mm wide tire and I have adequate clearance, so I can live with that. 

Changes? Well, this bicycle is kind of an inside joke regarding seat posts. I think I've gone through a half a dozen trying to find "the one" which will stay on the bike. Currently it sports a straight, no offset, Thompson in silver.  This works great, and I love the look, but eventually I think I'm going back to a carbon post or a titanium post with zero offset. 

I love Ritchey VentureMax bars, which is what the bike has, but I could see myself going with a carbon version for a bit more compliance. I could upgrade the brakes to Paul Klampers as well, since this bike is so custom, and I like it so well, it deserves this level of parts.  

The current state of the King Fabrications Honeman Flyer

Another consideration is a new crank set. I like those Paul cranks which came out recently. I can see upgrading to something like those and doing a nicer bottom bracket as well. 

But I do not need to do anything. These are all just wants/desires. The bike is serviceable and rides so well. So, I am in no hurry to change it up at any point in the near future. 

My Bike For The C.O.G. 40 & More

 Thursday I posted the information for the C.O.G. 40, so if you missed the announcement, click teh hyperlink there and go check it all out. 

I teased this event on Facebook as well ahead of the announcement. It was plain to see several folks thought this was going to be a race, because they were posting comments which gave this vibe. However; it is merely a group ride for fun. I said I was done organizing such events, and I meant what I said. 

Plus, I am not doing all the legwork for this either. I'm "promoting it", sure, but N.Y. Roll is the one doing the route, the logistics, etc. I merely am showing up to ride a bicycle and hang with friends. That's all. 

Well, with this said, I am going to also give a shout out to those who live far away who have indicated they are considering coming to this ride. This means a lot to me. I do not take it lightly that several who live multiple hours away from Reinbeck want to share a ride with me.  Your consideration and possible commitment to drive this far for a 40 mile gravel ride with me is amazing, even if you do not show up. I marked your comments, and I am very thankful. 

Now, since this is a single speed event, (but if you don't have a single speed, and want to ride, you can!), I am not riding the Peregrine Mk4. I know several of you would have liked to have seen the bike with your own two eyes, but it is geared, so no.  I'll be riding this bike instead, (of course!)......

The Honeman Flyer. Now with zero offset seat post. (Again!) 

Yes, it is the Honeman Flyer! I will be riding this one and it is all set to go for this little adventure. For the SS gear nerds out there, I am running a 42T/20T set up. This gets me a bit slower gear than many single speed gravel riders use, but it eases the climbing efforts and is fast enough on the flats. At least for my type of riding, it is. 

I rode this same gearing on the Victory Ride last year and that course had some pretty big hills. This course won't be as bad for hills, although it will have a fair amount of rollers. So, I feel pretty confident in my ability to roll this around Tama County for 40 miles. 

My tires are Ritchey SpeedMax 700 x 40's which are 43+ wide on my Velocity Blunt SS wheel set. These are severely underrated tires which I feel more people should be looking into. They are fast, light, comfortable, and grippy. They have performed flawlessly as tubeless tires, holding air quite well, and never weeping sealant. 

The Redshift ShockStop stem is there to take the edge off the stiff Salsa Cycles Waxwing fork. (Purchased post recall, by the way). The newest seat post, of which there have been several in this bike, is the Thompson silver anodized zero offset post. This may last a while until the silver bugs me enough to get a black zero offset post! 

So, that's the rig for the ride on the 26th. If you have any questions or comments about the C.O.G. 40, let me know in the comments section or email me @g.ted.productions@gmail.com. 
 

Two Things

 In today's "Two Things" post, I am going to discuss an idea for gravel bikes which came out of the Checkout discussion and another idea based on a bicycle I posted an image of recently which readers professed admiration for as well. 

My old 2006 Salsa Cycles Dos Niner. 

Dual Suspension Gravel Or Soft-tail?

One of the ideas which came up during the recent discussion about the Trek Checkout was an old MTB design which has not really been thoroughly explored for gravel. This idea is the soft-tail design. I wrote about this idea in detail back in 2022 HERE. 

I tried a soft-tail at the 2010 DK200, and there is merit to this idea. The thing is, no one has yet figured out how to best execute this soft-tail idea for gravel, especially from a vibration reduction standpoint. Unless you want to include Salsa's passive, in-frame designed Class V VRS. Which does do what we are talking about here effectively. (There are some other examples as well)

First of all, suspension for gravel, especially for racing on gravel, is pretty much a no-go. Any kind of interruption of power transfer from human to tire contact patch is a real negative for a racer. So, most anything you try to design for a suspension based vibration reduction system is going to be met with disdain from an efficiency and feel standpoint with a racer's perspective. 

Soft-tail design might actually work if the resources were poured into the damper to give it resistance to movement when power is applied and allow the damper to work below certain power thresholds to help riders be less fatigued over a longer distance. This would probably mean a sophisticated electronic sensor and valve control set up. I think it is 100% possible, but who is going to go "all F1" on this idea? It would cost a LOT of money! 

And then, like I said in the linked article, why not just use a suspension seat post? Less complexity, similar results. It wouldn't be for the Pro and semi-Pro riders, but for everyone else? 

Maybe. 

Does The Past Have Any Answers For Vibration Reduction?

One of my recent images garnered a lot of praise in the comments section. It was of my Honeman Flyer, a custom made frame by King Fabrications, with geometry taken right off a 1936 era track bike combined in a stunning bit of paint work and was the muse of those folks. 

While I could go on about the bike, the paint job, and how much I like this bicycle, I wanted to focus in on a thing I feel many companies miss out on and what was important in the past which maybe should be thought more about now. 

That 'thing'? Ride quality. Maybe you'd call it "ride feel". Which ever way you want to describe this, I think we've lost our way by focusing on gear, electronics, and racing. Maybe we are relying too much on tires and vibration-reducing stems and seat posts. I think the original intentions for the geometry the Honeman Flyer is based upon might be something to consider when it comes to 'ride quality'. 

This type of bicycle was made in the early to late 1930's, a time when extravagance was in short supply. Riders of custom-made bicycles had to pay a dear amount to get their hands on one bicycle. Maybe they threw in together with other riders in a club which afforded these members access to pure-bred racing bikes with stems and seat posts made to adjust to riders of different measurements. This was done as a way to get a racing bike for all club members and share the cost. This was fairly common in these times. 

The predominate form of bicycle racing was still on tracks, but these were few and far between and riders from areas outside of tracks had to make do with training over rough back roads, on gravel, and where possible, on pavement. This meant that for many cyclists of the day who were competitive, their bicycle had to deal with rough roads, gravel, dirt, and be comfortable, handle well, and still perform as a track bike. 

Tall order! But frame builders arrived at certain ways to accommodate this all, and in doing so, created a ride quality which was at once forgiving on rough stuff, a bike which handled well, and still rode fast, and produced good results at track racing events. One such design being produced by John "Pop" Brennan was ridden to national championships on the track by Willie Honeman. This is the design I copied and had Li King execute for me in steel tubing at his shop. 

It is a very unconventional design from our 2025 perspectives, but it rides like a dream. Could it be that a litigious society, testing protocols, designs stemming from one-use mindsets, and fashion has clouded our ability to make a simple bike which rides nicely for the masses? 

Again - Maybe so....

Guitar Ted Lube-Off 2025: An Update

 NOTICE:  The Guitar Ted 'Lube-Off' is a comparison of different lubrication products for bicycle chains that is undertaken in 'real world' conditions in a set way. Then I compare and contrast the results with past 'Lube-Off' products to see "which one is best for me". This is done for entertainment purposes and the reader should apply their own reasoning and discernment while reading my 'Lube-Off' entries. What works for me may not work for you at all.  

Update: Well, it has been since May when I introduced this year's contenders for the new Lube-Off. (Here is that intro) 

Now it is time for an update. I'll start out with the previous lubes I have used which are in the rotation and conclude with the Stan's Biodegradable lube., First up - The Flowerpower lubed Honeman Flyer. 

I was riding the Honemann Flyer over the weekend and noted the chain was starting to sound noisy. This is a cry for help! I will clean it with a dry rag and hit it again with the Flowerpower lube. I last lubed the chain in May at the start of this run of testing.

This lube was the winner of the last Lube-Off equaling, or in some ways, bettering, the SILCA Super-Secret wax lube. Both are wax based lubricants, but the Flowerpower was just a bit better in terms of dealing with dusty, dry conditions.

The Super-Secret lube is on the Noble GX5. I have done a fair amount of riding on this bike and the lube is holding up well. If I recall correctly, I remember hearing the chain a bit more than usual last I rode the bike, so this one may also be in need of a refresh as well. 

The Stan's lube is on the pink Black Mountain Cycles MCD. I have ridden this bike a bit, but not quite as much as the Noble or the Honeman Flyer. The lube is doing fine. You'll see here in a minute the images of each. I will comment further on all three after the images.

The DuMonde Tech is on my Raleigh Tamland which I haven't hardly ridden at all this year. (Maybe a commute and test ride?) I'll have to get this one out more this Fall and catch up with the results later. I'm not as concerned with this lube though as I am fully aware of how it works and I have had years of usage on various bicycles with which to draw my conclusions from.

Images next. Captions will guide you as to what lube is being shown.

Flowerpower Wax

Touch-Test results for Flowerpower Wax

SILCA Super-Secret wax lubricant

Touch-Test results for the Super-Secret Wax lubricant.

Stan's Biodegradable Dry lubricant

Touch-Test results for Stan's Biodegradable Dry lubricant.

Comments: So the two wax based lubricants seem to be dealing with dry conditions in the same way as I have seen in the past. There is a tiny bit of dust accumulation on the inner chain plates, but the chains wipe clean with a dry rag and the performance is good to great with little chain noise or wear.

It is necessary to note with these lubricants their propensity to be washed away in wetter conditions. So, as an example, if you ride in areas with water crossings, or get caught in intermittent showers often, I wouldn't recommend these as being good lubricants. But for completely dry conditions these two keep the chain happy for a long time with little accumulation of gunk and dust.

The Stan's is "good", but it isn't as good as the other two. I might suggest here the fact of little to no information being provided on Stan's end makes judging this lube more difficult. Is it wax based? Petroleum based? Something else? I don't know other than it is "biodegradable". It may be the Stan's holds up better to wet conditions as well, but I have not tested this out. I may try it if I get the chance, but my main focus here is on the dry conditions. 

So Far... If I called the test over today, the Stan's lube would lose, but this isn't a bad thing. The Flowerpower Wax and SILCA\s lube are just awesome and it would be hard to top these two lubricants. I've seen DuMonde Tech be as good and even slightly better, in terms of longevity and cleanliness. However; DuMonde Tech is harder to apply correctly the first time, and if you don't get it right, it will be an abject failure compared to the two wax based lubes in this test. 

Stan's might prove to be a longer-lasting lube than either of the two wax based lubricants here. This is something I will monitor going into Fall and will figure into my final evaluation. But Stan's doesn't seem as good as the two wax based lubes as of now. Good, but not great.  

Coutry Views: Starting Down The Long Road

Escape Route: Sergeant Road Trail

 It had been awhile since I had been out in the country again. Everything that has been going on since our son's death has been eating into time I'd take to ride. And anyway, I felt it would have been incredibly selfish of me to not spend the bereavement time off my wife had with her. Not to mention my daughter.

So, I was okay with just getting a few short urban rides in and with my riding to work three days a week. But on Saturday, my wife could feel that I needed to ride again, and so on Sunday afternoon I dared to take a short ride out into the country. 

Also, it was very hot. I saw it reached 92°F and with the humidity it felt like something in the low 100's. The strong Southeast wind took a bit of the edge off, unless you were going South or East up a hill. Then it was terribly hot! It probably didn't help that I was riding a single speed. But I was, and the Honeman Flyer has endeared itself to me to the point which I find it hard to choose another of my bicycles.

 

The heat was brutal. I tried to take it easy on the front end of the ride so I would maybe keep the kettle from boiling over. I was probably on the right track, but when I reached the "usual rest stop" on Aker Road, I stood and contemplated my options. Since I was pretty overheated already by this point I made the choice to cut back over to Washburn Road and head back toward town. 

Besides, this wasn't about making big miles, training for an event, or evaluating a component. This was for me. I needed to process some feelings and think through some stuff. This ride provided just enough solitude to get me to that place where I can do those things. 

Then there was a storm brewing in the West which began to concern me. By the time I was getting close to town again I could hear the distant rumble of thunder. I stopped for a minute or two in the shade of a tree and checked the radar. Yep! Headed straight for me. 

So, it was good that I had decided to head back when I did. And yes- I beat the rain handily. I think I got one drop on me right as I turned the corner to the house. Fifteen minutes later it was pouring rain.

I was glad I was able to get the ride in. It is only the beginning. The first of many rides I am sure I will need to take in the future to think some stuff through. I know I am very blessed to be able to ride a bicycle and do these things. 

Country Views: A Search For Solace

Escape Route: Dead end of Falls Avenue.

 This week has been a tale of mountain-top highs and the deepest valleys. A whirlwind of emotions and things to take care of, including ourselves. (If you just clicked in here and you don't know the context of these statements, see HERE)

We had a slew of visitors which I and my family really did appreciate, but I was itching to ride a bicycle since I hadn't ridden at all for three days. Which, I know, doesn't sound like much, but combined with my current situation, I was in desperate need of some mind-cleansing and a chance to do some reflecting on the tragedy.

So, I cleared out some time on Tuesday afternoon to get on my bicycle and ride. I chose the single speed Honeman Flyer. I decided to head out North of town, despite the Southerly wind, and see the old church at the corner of Burton and Marquise Road. 

The first gravel I'd ridden on in quite a while. (For me, at any rate)

Looking up Mount Vernon Road to the West

It was a typical Summer day. Hot, not too humid, and breezy. I headed up out of town on Burton Road with the thought in the back of my head saying, "Be careful! The last thing we need is another tragedy or trouble!" I was extra nervous around cars. More than normal. Maybe it is a good fear, and a heightened awareness maybe was due. 

Local honey for sale here. Take a jar, leave your cash. 

I started rolling over what happened Saturday morning in my head, but I had to shut those thoughts down. It's very difficult to ride a bicycle with tears in your eyes, as it turns out. My thoughts have been to consider my time with my son as a blessing. Something I never thought would happen when I was younger, and an experience that was, for the most part, very enjoyable. Things could have gone very differently. I just need to look around me to see many examples of this, including my own relationship with my father. 

First rest stop.

My experience didn't last as long as many other father-son relationships have. But I'm okay with what I was blessed to have. I didn't deserve such a thing in the first place, and the way it turned out for Jacob, well, I thought it was a smashing success.

I mean, I considered what I was doing at 22 years of age, and what preceded those days for me. Whew! Yeah.... Let's just say I'm very fortunate to have lived through it. I shouldn't have, Jacob should have. Life isn't fair. You do what you can with what you have, and hopefully you maximize your potential, not squander it. Jacob did the former, I did the latter.

Things are not looking so great up at East Janesville Church these days. 

The road goes forever on and on down from the door where it began.... (JRR Tolkien)

I had a long bit of thought during this ride. I wondered aloud why some things Jacob did, which I felt were awesome, were making me cry. Why? Because I am selfish. I won't get to experience those things again. But shouldn't I be happy I did get to experience those things when I consider them in the future? Shouldn't those things make me happy, put a smile on my face, and bring me joy instead? 

Can it be both things at the same time? Mountain-top highs, and deepest valleys......

 

I turned East on Marquise Road, flew down the hill with the wind in my face. It was a beautiful day out. One of those you yearn to experience on a bicycle ride, if you are like I am. The crickets sang there creaky songs in the weeds and the wind masked everything else. Vehicles would appear, seemingly out of nowhere, from behind me. Lazy dust clouds flew off into the ditches in the breeze. Dappled Sunlight chased me on the road going North, but now was rushing past me.

 

It's a big rock, but it isn't my Rock. 

I felt alive. I was breathing the fresh air. Wildfire smoke was cleansed from the area. Blue skies appeared on this day where before they were a washed out white. I was riding well. Better than I had expected. But I carried a weight on my soul which was heavy. I felt an emptiness inside. A big hole is healing. It will take time. It may never close up. I don't know. 

You can look at my son's life in one manner where it can be said he was cut short. He never had the experiences an adult person maybe should be able to have in life. He never held a woman close. He will never get to have children, as I have. But he won't have to bear the burdens of this World. The sadness, The heartache. The nights of worrying about those you love. Disease. Sickness. You get the picture.

I'm not angry. I am sad, yes, but I am glad he is free. He is Home now. 

And that is good.