Uncertainty

Made some tweaks to the set up

Well, this weather pattern sure has been rough in terms of my getting chances to ride. That's brought on a level of uncertainty for this weekend's Solstice 100. One hundred miles......

That would make it my longest ride, by a long, long way, this year. I had expected to have had a few 100 milers under my belt by now, but no. It wasn't to be for whatever reasons. But, that makes this weekend's goals easier to ascertain. Have fun and finish. However long that takes.

The theme of uncertainty was furthered on Wednesday when it wasn't supposed to rain at all. (Ahem!) Yeah..... So, I woke up to rain and all morning the weather app kept saying it would rain again around noon. It didn't, of course. It waited until 3:30pm to pour forth again. In between it was misty, threatening rain, and I wasn't sure I could get a decent ride in all day. So, I got the bike dialled in by making a few rounds about the neighborhood. That'll have to do.

And so if the whole deal is going to be about uncertain things, why not use an untested bike with brand new wheels? Seems consistent with the latest theme. Then there is the fitness. I have done all the off the bike things I can do to give myself an advantage. But some fatigue inducing stress at work and maybe a mild bug have seemed to keep me feeling not so hot anyway.

So whatever...... I am planning on leaving for Lincoln, Nebraska again Friday come hell or high water, and I will just give 'er what I've got Saturday. It won't be pretty..........

Uncertainty

Made some tweaks to the set up

Well, this weather pattern sure has been rough in terms of my getting chances to ride. That's brought on a level of uncertainty for this weekend's Solstice 100. One hundred miles......

That would make it my longest ride, by a long, long way, this year. I had expected to have had a few 100 milers under my belt by now, but no. It wasn't to be for whatever reasons. But, that makes this weekend's goals easier to ascertain. Have fun and finish. However long that takes.

The theme of uncertainty was furthered on Wednesday when it wasn't supposed to rain at all. (Ahem!) Yeah..... So, I woke up to rain and all morning the weather app kept saying it would rain again around noon. It didn't, of course. It waited until 3:30pm to pour forth again. In between it was misty, threatening rain, and I wasn't sure I could get a decent ride in all day. So, I got the bike dialled in by making a few rounds about the neighborhood. That'll have to do.

And so if the whole deal is going to be about uncertain things, why not use an untested bike with brand new wheels? Seems consistent with the latest theme. Then there is the fitness. I have done all the off the bike things I can do to give myself an advantage. But some fatigue inducing stress at work and maybe a mild bug have seemed to keep me feeling not so hot anyway.

So whatever...... I am planning on leaving for Lincoln, Nebraska again Friday come hell or high water, and I will just give 'er what I've got Saturday. It won't be pretty..........

Country Views: The Greening

The Year With No Spring. It's definitely Summer out there now

Wednesday and rain........Bah! But the good news was that it was going away and by late morning we had glorious Sun and wind. Yes, we had lots of wind. Right out of the Southeast to begin with, but that would change.

I got out to the North of town. Yes......not good planning in terms of wind. Or was it? I'd get worked pretty hard, and actually, that's exactly what I needed. I have to buckle down on some fitness here because Spring is gone and Summer will be too before long. I need to be getting miles into my legs.

This poor excuse for Spring kept me off the gravel more often than not, and when it was good, well there was Trans Iowa or planning for that. Last weekend was supporting Almanzo, so zero bicycling for me that weekend. Man! Gotta get going on the riding. It's been way too long since regular miles have happened. It's not just me either. My buddy Tony said that riding the Almanzo 100 doubled his miles for the year. Yeah.....

So, North of town I went and I made some mileage East as well. The roads are like total hero gravel right now up that way. Well.......not for long though. I met the maintainer again. This time going North on Schenk Road. I don't doubt that truckloads of gravel are on the way too. These roads looked like post-Winter roads, not mid-May roads. This year has been so jacked up, it isn't funny.

Stopped to visit the Big Rock at the corner of Big Rock Road and Sage Road.

I was riding a pretty nice rig, at least, and it was light and felt fast. The Jamis Renegade Elite I am riding now is on test for RidingGravel.com and I will be doing a review of it in the next couple of months. It actually has a decent riding carbon fork. I was pretty impressed with it so far, but again- the roads were darn near better than pavement most of the route I took. I am holding out judgement till I get more typical Summertime gravel road conditions.

Barns For Jason

Crops are emerging and the landscape is going from browns and blacks to hazy greens.

Of course, going with the wind makes you feel like a super hero. I was cranking out a rhythm in the big ring and having my way with the Jamis Renegade as I flew down the road. All the while I was well aware that the piper would have to be paid at some point. Would the legs be there? Hard to say.

Barns For Jason- A small barn with two barn quilts.

Eventually I was too close to Dunkerton and decided to head back North and then West. I turned into a heavy crosswind, but it should have been a quatering tailwind. Hmm..... Wind was changing up on me. Fantastic! Oh well, nothing to do but to keep the pedals turning over.

Barns For Jason- With bonus sheep!

I ended up cranking back Southward and by this time the wind was a full on Southwesterly. It was pretty intense and I ended up doing a few intervals into it for good measure. The roads all were decent after the little bit I came across that the maintainer had disrupted. It was hillier coming back into Waterloo as well, which made for tougher pedaling. All good for the legs and lungs. Money in the bank to withdraw later.

Flowers are just starting to pop here. I didn't stop to photograph any, but next time I may do that. Stay tuned for more Country Views coming soon......

Country Views: The Greening

The Year With No Spring. It's definitely Summer out there now

Wednesday and rain........Bah! But the good news was that it was going away and by late morning we had glorious Sun and wind. Yes, we had lots of wind. Right out of the Southeast to begin with, but that would change.

I got out to the North of town. Yes......not good planning in terms of wind. Or was it? I'd get worked pretty hard, and actually, that's exactly what I needed. I have to buckle down on some fitness here because Spring is gone and Summer will be too before long. I need to be getting miles into my legs.

This poor excuse for Spring kept me off the gravel more often than not, and when it was good, well there was Trans Iowa or planning for that. Last weekend was supporting Almanzo, so zero bicycling for me that weekend. Man! Gotta get going on the riding. It's been way too long since regular miles have happened. It's not just me either. My buddy Tony said that riding the Almanzo 100 doubled his miles for the year. Yeah.....

So, North of town I went and I made some mileage East as well. The roads are like total hero gravel right now up that way. Well.......not for long though. I met the maintainer again. This time going North on Schenk Road. I don't doubt that truckloads of gravel are on the way too. These roads looked like post-Winter roads, not mid-May roads. This year has been so jacked up, it isn't funny.

Stopped to visit the Big Rock at the corner of Big Rock Road and Sage Road.

I was riding a pretty nice rig, at least, and it was light and felt fast. The Jamis Renegade Elite I am riding now is on test for RidingGravel.com and I will be doing a review of it in the next couple of months. It actually has a decent riding carbon fork. I was pretty impressed with it so far, but again- the roads were darn near better than pavement most of the route I took. I am holding out judgement till I get more typical Summertime gravel road conditions.

Barns For Jason

Crops are emerging and the landscape is going from browns and blacks to hazy greens.

Of course, going with the wind makes you feel like a super hero. I was cranking out a rhythm in the big ring and having my way with the Jamis Renegade as I flew down the road. All the while I was well aware that the piper would have to be paid at some point. Would the legs be there? Hard to say.

Barns For Jason- A small barn with two barn quilts.

Eventually I was too close to Dunkerton and decided to head back North and then West. I turned into a heavy crosswind, but it should have been a quatering tailwind. Hmm..... Wind was changing up on me. Fantastic! Oh well, nothing to do but to keep the pedals turning over.

Barns For Jason- With bonus sheep!

I ended up cranking back Southward and by this time the wind was a full on Southwesterly. It was pretty intense and I ended up doing a few intervals into it for good measure. The roads all were decent after the little bit I came across that the maintainer had disrupted. It was hillier coming back into Waterloo as well, which made for tougher pedaling. All good for the legs and lungs. Money in the bank to withdraw later.

Flowers are just starting to pop here. I didn't stop to photograph any, but next time I may do that. Stay tuned for more Country Views coming soon......

Friday News And Views

Jamis Renegade Elite here on test

Carbon Or Aluminum:
 
The gravel scene has really come into its own in a very short period of time. When you consider that only seven years ago there weren't any dedicated gravel rigs out there. The Warbird was really the first one, then Raleigh made the Tamland, but now you can hardly turn around without hitting someone's gravel bike. And in most cases, it is carbon fiber or aluminum, not steel or titanium, like it started out.

I am skeptical for several reasons when it comes to carbon fiber gravel/rough road rigs. Why? Well, with these bikes you can find yourself in situations that no "proper" road bike would ever be ridden in. Mud, slurry, and sand, not for a half an hour race, not for an hour,  but for many hours straight, can put the hurt on frames. I've seen carbon frames, and titanium ones, for that matter, worn straight through due to abrasive conditions. Yes......"seen" as with my own two eyes. Not hearsay folks. This happens to gravel bikes.

Now, admittedly, carbon can be built and "armored" to withstand this, but then there is the "other" thing about carbon- stiffness. A lot of effort goes into the rear triangles of these bikes to bring some modicum of comfort but the forks......not so much. To my way of thinking, that is backwards. But maybe this Jamis Renegade Elite will be an outlier and actually ride well on rough gravel. I'm about to find out, as it hit the RidingGravel.com headquarters Wednesday. Post Trans Iowa I will be pressing this into service.Stay tuned......

Another American made headset choice by Wolf Tooth Components

Wolf Tooth Does Head Sets Now:

For the longest time Chris King was the only game in town if you wanted nice, anodized, colorful head sets for bicycles. Those are really good, and no one was willing to jump in against them until recently. First it was Phil Wood, then White Industries, and now, Wolf Tooth has decided to offer a head set choice.

Made in Minnesota, the headsets will be available in standard configurations for straight and tapered steer tubes and in several luscious colors.......like PURPLE! Yaaaaasssss!

That said, my Raleigh is due for a new 1 1/8th head set and, well, purple wouldn't really fit the color scheme of that bike. So, a blue anodized one is on its way to me and will be installed on the Tamland soon.

Mike Varley's MCD prototype

Black Mountain Cycles MCD News:

I've gone on and on about Black Mountain Cycles and the Monster Cross bike I have from that place here for years. I've also teased this new "MCD" version here and said I would be getting one at some point. Well, I am making good on that and I have a PINK (!!) frame and fork reserved from the first shipment due at the end of June or early July.

You can get one pre-ordered now as well by checking out this blog post here.

I'm really excited about this bike. Yes......steel. You can see the above entry on the carbon fiber rigs to get the "why" for that enthusiasm. I have two or three bikes here that have been severely abused, and since they are steel, I don't bat an eyelash in worry about any of them. Carbon I would have killed long ago had I treated it like I have these other bikes, but well......speculation. I'll leave it at that for now.

But this Monster Cross, with the tweaks Mike Varley has made, should ride even better than mine and it will have the brake standard all my other bikes have making wheel swappage a piece of cake. That's a big deal to me. Maybe others wouldn't care, but for what I do, a test mule must be very versatile, and this one will be just that.

This means one bike in the herd will be going away and the "OG" BMC "Orange Crush" bike will get back to being a single speed again. I am loving that idea, and this will become a fun bike as a single speed. I know, because that's how I had it set up for a while when I first got it.

Trans Iowa v14:

Of course, today is the start of the "big dance", the fourteenth Trans Iowa gravel road cycling event which will get underway at 4:00am Saturday, but the Pre-Race Meat-Up is tonight at the Grinnell Steakhouse.

I'm gone traveling today. First off, I need to scout the roads for the first leg of the event so we don't have any surprises. Then I need to get to the Steakhouse to set up for the meeting which will officially get underway at 4:00pm.

Just a quick reminder that Trans Iowa Radio can be used to follow the event. Click Here. There is already a preliminary post from myself with my partner, Ben Welnak in which I give some last minute insight as to how things are setting up for this go-round. Don't look for any further updates about Trans Iowa here. The next post will be about post-TI stuff, the race report, etc. That will begin here after the weekend is over.

I will also be posting live updates via Twitter on my account- 2guitarted1961 using the hashtag #TIv14 for reference. Just type that hashtag into Twitter's search box to bring up all TIv14 related Tweets and Periscope live broadcasts.

Have a great weekend and pray that I come back from this one alive, if you would.........

See ya on the other side!

Friday News And Views

Jamis Renegade Elite here on test

Carbon Or Aluminum:
 
The gravel scene has really come into its own in a very short period of time. When you consider that only seven years ago there weren't any dedicated gravel rigs out there. The Warbird was really the first one, then Raleigh made the Tamland, but now you can hardly turn around without hitting someone's gravel bike. And in most cases, it is carbon fiber or aluminum, not steel or titanium, like it started out.

I am skeptical for several reasons when it comes to carbon fiber gravel/rough road rigs. Why? Well, with these bikes you can find yourself in situations that no "proper" road bike would ever be ridden in. Mud, slurry, and sand, not for a half an hour race, not for an hour,  but for many hours straight, can put the hurt on frames. I've seen carbon frames, and titanium ones, for that matter, worn straight through due to abrasive conditions. Yes......"seen" as with my own two eyes. Not hearsay folks. This happens to gravel bikes.

Now, admittedly, carbon can be built and "armored" to withstand this, but then there is the "other" thing about carbon- stiffness. A lot of effort goes into the rear triangles of these bikes to bring some modicum of comfort but the forks......not so much. To my way of thinking, that is backwards. But maybe this Jamis Renegade Elite will be an outlier and actually ride well on rough gravel. I'm about to find out, as it hit the RidingGravel.com headquarters Wednesday. Post Trans Iowa I will be pressing this into service.Stay tuned......

Another American made headset choice by Wolf Tooth Components

Wolf Tooth Does Head Sets Now:

For the longest time Chris King was the only game in town if you wanted nice, anodized, colorful head sets for bicycles. Those are really good, and no one was willing to jump in against them until recently. First it was Phil Wood, then White Industries, and now, Wolf Tooth has decided to offer a head set choice.

Made in Minnesota, the headsets will be available in standard configurations for straight and tapered steer tubes and in several luscious colors.......like PURPLE! Yaaaaasssss!

That said, my Raleigh is due for a new 1 1/8th head set and, well, purple wouldn't really fit the color scheme of that bike. So, a blue anodized one is on its way to me and will be installed on the Tamland soon.

Mike Varley's MCD prototype

Black Mountain Cycles MCD News:

I've gone on and on about Black Mountain Cycles and the Monster Cross bike I have from that place here for years. I've also teased this new "MCD" version here and said I would be getting one at some point. Well, I am making good on that and I have a PINK (!!) frame and fork reserved from the first shipment due at the end of June or early July.

You can get one pre-ordered now as well by checking out this blog post here.

I'm really excited about this bike. Yes......steel. You can see the above entry on the carbon fiber rigs to get the "why" for that enthusiasm. I have two or three bikes here that have been severely abused, and since they are steel, I don't bat an eyelash in worry about any of them. Carbon I would have killed long ago had I treated it like I have these other bikes, but well......speculation. I'll leave it at that for now.

But this Monster Cross, with the tweaks Mike Varley has made, should ride even better than mine and it will have the brake standard all my other bikes have making wheel swappage a piece of cake. That's a big deal to me. Maybe others wouldn't care, but for what I do, a test mule must be very versatile, and this one will be just that.

This means one bike in the herd will be going away and the "OG" BMC "Orange Crush" bike will get back to being a single speed again. I am loving that idea, and this will become a fun bike as a single speed. I know, because that's how I had it set up for a while when I first got it.

Trans Iowa v14:

Of course, today is the start of the "big dance", the fourteenth Trans Iowa gravel road cycling event which will get underway at 4:00am Saturday, but the Pre-Race Meat-Up is tonight at the Grinnell Steakhouse.

I'm gone traveling today. First off, I need to scout the roads for the first leg of the event so we don't have any surprises. Then I need to get to the Steakhouse to set up for the meeting which will officially get underway at 4:00pm.

Just a quick reminder that Trans Iowa Radio can be used to follow the event. Click Here. There is already a preliminary post from myself with my partner, Ben Welnak in which I give some last minute insight as to how things are setting up for this go-round. Don't look for any further updates about Trans Iowa here. The next post will be about post-TI stuff, the race report, etc. That will begin here after the weekend is over.

I will also be posting live updates via Twitter on my account- 2guitarted1961 using the hashtag #TIv14 for reference. Just type that hashtag into Twitter's search box to bring up all TIv14 related Tweets and Periscope live broadcasts.

Have a great weekend and pray that I come back from this one alive, if you would.........

See ya on the other side!