Rear View '19 - Fall

I got the OS Bikes Blackbuck up and running again this past Fall

 Hello Readers! Once again I am doing the annual retrospective on what went down over the year of 2019. This post will focus on Fall. Previous posts have covered the other seasons for a total of four, one each week of December on Thursdays.This is the last "Rear View" post of the series. 

Fall kicked off with a ride with N.Y. Roll which went really well. We stopped in LaPorte City at Rockets Bakery and then came back via the Cedar Valley Nature Trail.

I ended up doing a couple of rides in that general direction over the Fall, seeing roads and views I hadn't seen before from a bicycle saddle. The Southeastern quarter of Black Hawk County had been a mystery to me, but no longer.

There was also a chilly early morning ride at the beginning of November with N.Y. Roll and several other folks starting out of Hudson, Iowa. We rode down to the start and I came back with N.Y. Roll for a good long one to kick off the chilly part of Fall. October was pretty much shot, since it rained nearly the entire month, and then it got super cold. We even had a bit of snow for a spell at which time I got the fat bike out for a bit of a ramble in the white stuff. That has since melted and we are just brown and chilly as the year closes out.

Of course, by now you all know that my time at Europa Cycle and Ski has come to a close since the place is going out of business. This was probably the main theme for 2019 for me, because this has been coming on for a long, long time. Unfortunately, not a lot could be said while things slid downhill for various reasons. Since that was the case, I want to apologize to local customers and those that felt left out of the loop. It was not for me to "let the cat out of the bag", as it were. That made things even harder. Keeping face and trying to work through that was a big time sap on my energy. Having a far less profitable year in terms of work satisfaction and in terms of pay added to the pile. Not knowing the future of my employment status was hard. No help at all from a rudderless management, that's for sure.

As I said the other day, I think better times, and far less stressful times, are ahead. I hope to tell a much more detailed and better story for you all in 2020, but for now, that was the year that was 2019, and I am really glad to see this one go into the past for several reasons. Definitely not one of the best years of my life, but definitely not the worst either. There were good times, certainly, but the whole employment/work situation ended the year on a down note. Well, another way to look at it is that this whole mess at the end of the year was a blessing, because I can finally move on. So, that's what I'm taking away from 2019.

Onward........

Rear View '19 - Fall

I got the OS Bikes Blackbuck up and running again this past Fall

 Hello Readers! Once again I am doing the annual retrospective on what went down over the year of 2019. This post will focus on Fall. Previous posts have covered the other seasons for a total of four, one each week of December on Thursdays.This is the last "Rear View" post of the series. 

Fall kicked off with a ride with N.Y. Roll which went really well. We stopped in LaPorte City at Rockets Bakery and then came back via the Cedar Valley Nature Trail.

I ended up doing a couple of rides in that general direction over the Fall, seeing roads and views I hadn't seen before from a bicycle saddle. The Southeastern quarter of Black Hawk County had been a mystery to me, but no longer.

There was also a chilly early morning ride at the beginning of November with N.Y. Roll and several other folks starting out of Hudson, Iowa. We rode down to the start and I came back with N.Y. Roll for a good long one to kick off the chilly part of Fall. October was pretty much shot, since it rained nearly the entire month, and then it got super cold. We even had a bit of snow for a spell at which time I got the fat bike out for a bit of a ramble in the white stuff. That has since melted and we are just brown and chilly as the year closes out.

Of course, by now you all know that my time at Europa Cycle and Ski has come to a close since the place is going out of business. This was probably the main theme for 2019 for me, because this has been coming on for a long, long time. Unfortunately, not a lot could be said while things slid downhill for various reasons. Since that was the case, I want to apologize to local customers and those that felt left out of the loop. It was not for me to "let the cat out of the bag", as it were. That made things even harder. Keeping face and trying to work through that was a big time sap on my energy. Having a far less profitable year in terms of work satisfaction and in terms of pay added to the pile. Not knowing the future of my employment status was hard. No help at all from a rudderless management, that's for sure.

As I said the other day, I think better times, and far less stressful times, are ahead. I hope to tell a much more detailed and better story for you all in 2020, but for now, that was the year that was 2019, and I am really glad to see this one go into the past for several reasons. Definitely not one of the best years of my life, but definitely not the worst either. There were good times, certainly, but the whole employment/work situation ended the year on a down note. Well, another way to look at it is that this whole mess at the end of the year was a blessing, because I can finally move on. So, that's what I'm taking away from 2019.

Onward........

Rear View '19: In Images

The 12 best images from the blog for 2019 as chosen by me, Guitar Ted. All decisions are final! (HA!) I actually do not have one from this month as it is filled with all this other garbage from looking back on the other 11 months, so you'll get a "bonus" November image instead.

So, here we go with the 12 best images from 2019. Enjoy!

January- Winter came late, around about January 15th, so gravel travel went longer into the season than usual. 

February- There wasn't much riding done in February as all I did was shovel snow. The C.O.G. 100 was a month away!

March- While it took about two weeks to melt all the snow, we were pretty worried going into the inaugural C.O.G. 100 that it wouldn't be.

April- The Renegade Gents Race day presented me with this opportunity to ride to the start from Ankeny Iowa.

June- The Solstice 100 was a fun, but strange adventure for me.

July- The Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational. Dirt, rain, and heat.

August- Peace falls on Southern Black Hawk County

September- "Grandpa Flowers" on Petrie Road's Level B section.

October- A lonely dog trots down Sage Road in Black Hawk County

November- Sunrise over Grundy County

Bonus November image- Riders coming back towards Cedar Falls, Iowa on a chilly morning. 

Thanks for checking out Guitar Ted Productions!

Rear View '19: In Images

The 12 best images from the blog for 2019 as chosen by me, Guitar Ted. All decisions are final! (HA!) I actually do not have one from this month as it is filled with all this other garbage from looking back on the other 11 months, so you'll get a "bonus" November image instead.

So, here we go with the 12 best images from 2019. Enjoy!

January- Winter came late, around about January 15th, so gravel travel went longer into the season than usual. 

February- There wasn't much riding done in February as all I did was shovel snow. The C.O.G. 100 was a month away!

March- While it took about two weeks to melt all the snow, we were pretty worried going into the inaugural C.O.G. 100 that it wouldn't be.

April- The Renegade Gents Race day presented me with this opportunity to ride to the start from Ankeny Iowa.

June- The Solstice 100 was a fun, but strange adventure for me.

July- The Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational. Dirt, rain, and heat.

August- Peace falls on Southern Black Hawk County

September- "Grandpa Flowers" on Petrie Road's Level B section.

October- A lonely dog trots down Sage Road in Black Hawk County

November- Sunrise over Grundy County

Bonus November image- Riders coming back towards Cedar Falls, Iowa on a chilly morning. 

Thanks for checking out Guitar Ted Productions!

Rear View '19 - Summer

After getting lost on the Solstice 100, I had this meal at the Loma Tap.

 Hello Readers! Once again I am doing the annual retrospective on what went down over the year of 2019. This post will focus on Summer. Previous posts have covered the other seasons, with one to come,  for a total of four, one each week of December on Thursdays.

Summer: The year wasn't going well in regard to riding since Spring was so wet and cool. I was way behind on miles and training was not up to snuff. The Solstice 100 saw a day where it got hot and humid, and of course, that made things really hard on me. I ended up off course and found my way back to Loma, Nebraska where I had quite the experience in the tap there helping prepare my own lunch!

Well, while that was fun it was another DNF to add to the piles of DNF's that had been experienced before this one. Getting to finish lines was becoming a rarity in my riding, and it was wearing on me. But Summer was finally getting together, and heat and humidity were the name of the game. I managed to get some rides in, but I was not getting the miles in that I wanted to either. Part of the problem was stress related to work. The "end" of the shop's life was nigh, and how management was handling affairs was causing me, and other employees a lot of trouble. Let's just say "denial" was the strategy being employed which many of us at the shop could see right through.

The next big event on the horizon was the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational. After two successful years of Tama County dirt road tours I decided to roll a route in Powesheik County and it was brutal. I knew it was going to be a big day of rollers and hot weather was sure to play a part in things, but thunderstorms? Yes, we got rained on, and we barely escaped lightning which hounded us for a few hours. Still, it was fun to ride with so many great folks.

Then it was only a few short weeks until Gravel Worlds. I had good intentions, but the day went South on me. No big surprise there, the whole year was a big DNF as far as events went for me. A gut issue got me this time. Oh well!

From the 2019 GTDRI

From Gravel Worlds 2019.

After Gravel Worlds I did not have any riding plans. I just got out to help clear my head from the work related nonsense which was going on, saved my money for leaner times, and took in as much as I could whenever I did get out. The late summer riding was awesome. No events to "get ready for", nothing to prove. I needed every mile I got this past late Summer and into Fall.

The single speed version of the Orange Crush is a blast to ride.

I got this new Sully Guitars Raven model which I have been enjoying a lot.

On the "Six String Side" I got a new guitar after many, many years, and I am really enjoying it. It is a Sully Guitars Raven model from the Conspiracy Series. It plays so well, and I was pleasantly surprised by that and the sound, which, obviously, has to be there. This was, at least, one bright spot in the Summer for me.

Next: Fall and the close of this year's "Rear View" posts.

Rear View '19 - Summer

After getting lost on the Solstice 100, I had this meal at the Loma Tap.

 Hello Readers! Once again I am doing the annual retrospective on what went down over the year of 2019. This post will focus on Summer. Previous posts have covered the other seasons, with one to come,  for a total of four, one each week of December on Thursdays.

Summer: The year wasn't going well in regard to riding since Spring was so wet and cool. I was way behind on miles and training was not up to snuff. The Solstice 100 saw a day where it got hot and humid, and of course, that made things really hard on me. I ended up off course and found my way back to Loma, Nebraska where I had quite the experience in the tap there helping prepare my own lunch!

Well, while that was fun it was another DNF to add to the piles of DNF's that had been experienced before this one. Getting to finish lines was becoming a rarity in my riding, and it was wearing on me. But Summer was finally getting together, and heat and humidity were the name of the game. I managed to get some rides in, but I was not getting the miles in that I wanted to either. Part of the problem was stress related to work. The "end" of the shop's life was nigh, and how management was handling affairs was causing me, and other employees a lot of trouble. Let's just say "denial" was the strategy being employed which many of us at the shop could see right through.

The next big event on the horizon was the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational. After two successful years of Tama County dirt road tours I decided to roll a route in Powesheik County and it was brutal. I knew it was going to be a big day of rollers and hot weather was sure to play a part in things, but thunderstorms? Yes, we got rained on, and we barely escaped lightning which hounded us for a few hours. Still, it was fun to ride with so many great folks.

Then it was only a few short weeks until Gravel Worlds. I had good intentions, but the day went South on me. No big surprise there, the whole year was a big DNF as far as events went for me. A gut issue got me this time. Oh well!

From the 2019 GTDRI

From Gravel Worlds 2019.

After Gravel Worlds I did not have any riding plans. I just got out to help clear my head from the work related nonsense which was going on, saved my money for leaner times, and took in as much as I could whenever I did get out. The late summer riding was awesome. No events to "get ready for", nothing to prove. I needed every mile I got this past late Summer and into Fall.

The single speed version of the Orange Crush is a blast to ride.

I got this new Sully Guitars Raven model which I have been enjoying a lot.

On the "Six String Side" I got a new guitar after many, many years, and I am really enjoying it. It is a Sully Guitars Raven model from the Conspiracy Series. It plays so well, and I was pleasantly surprised by that and the sound, which, obviously, has to be there. This was, at least, one bright spot in the Summer for me.

Next: Fall and the close of this year's "Rear View" posts.

Rear View '19 - Spring

March saw the inaugural C.O.G. 100 event which N.Y, Roll and I put on.

  Hello Readers! Once again I am doing the annual retrospective on what went down over the year of 2019. This post will focus on Spring. The previous post covered the Winter season, with two to come,  for a total of four, one each week of December on Thursdays.

Spring: Things kicked off with the inaugural C.O.G. 100 Iowa Single Speed Championships. N.Y. Roll and I put the event on out of Grinnell, Iowa on a wet, cold, and very windy day. We had a great group of enthusiastic riders whittled away by the severe conditions and not many survived to beat the time limitation on the event.

My next big deal came only a week afterward when I did the Renegade Gents Race with my old team for the ninth year in a row. I ended up getting a bad hip pain, likely due to an ill-advised fixed gear gravel ride I did before the event by a couple of weeks which really made my hips sore. In fact, it took most of the Spring and into Summer for the effects of that to go away. So, it resulted in a DNF once again for Team Careless Whispers. Dang it!

Later in April I got a full set of Bike Bag Dude bags to replace a set I had gotten years ago which were so soiled that the Bike Bag Dude wanted to replace them! He saw my bike on Facebook with the old set and asked me to throw those old filthy things out! The guy cracks me up, but he is a good dude and many folks agree. BBD bags are top notch and used by many well known ultra-endurance folks and bike packers.

With the close of the rewritten "The Touring Series" posts, I started up another series called "The Story of Guitar Ted", a series to bridge the gap in time between the closing series and when I became a blogger here. That took April and May up to tell, and then I started the "Trans Iowa Stories" posts, which are still running on every Sunday.

In May I was deeply moved and honored by many of you readers and my good brothers, MG and Sam, since you all were instrumental in helping me to get Sam's old Ti Muk. That post, with all the contributor's names, can be found here. One thing I have to say, and that is that all of you are very generous readers when it comes to me and doing kind things for me. I will never forget this, or past efforts on the parts of G-Ted Production readers, to be kind to me in unforeseen ways. Thank you!!

Later on I wrote an article on terms used to describe drop bars for off-road use in "Drop Bar Terms Defined", which also can be found on RidingGravel.com's site.

Many gravel roads in my neck of the woods were like semi-Level B roads up until mid-Summer.

Gravel riding commenced and I was finding lots of dirt and mud instead of dry, dusty limestone. It was all due to a late, heavy Winter with a fast melt, then wet and cool Spring weather. This did not allow for the road beds to heal and the roads were torn up pretty badly well into Summer. I also was noting that dogs seemed to be ganging up on me. It was a consistent enough of a trend to warrant me finally declaring 2019 as "The Year of the Dog". Of course, as soon as I did that, the dog encounters went down and then disappeared altogether.

Next: Summer

Rear View '19 - Spring

March saw the inaugural C.O.G. 100 event which N.Y, Roll and I put on.

  Hello Readers! Once again I am doing the annual retrospective on what went down over the year of 2019. This post will focus on Spring. The previous post covered the Winter season, with two to come,  for a total of four, one each week of December on Thursdays.

Spring: Things kicked off with the inaugural C.O.G. 100 Iowa Single Speed Championships. N.Y. Roll and I put the event on out of Grinnell, Iowa on a wet, cold, and very windy day. We had a great group of enthusiastic riders whittled away by the severe conditions and not many survived to beat the time limitation on the event.

My next big deal came only a week afterward when I did the Renegade Gents Race with my old team for the ninth year in a row. I ended up getting a bad hip pain, likely due to an ill-advised fixed gear gravel ride I did before the event by a couple of weeks which really made my hips sore. In fact, it took most of the Spring and into Summer for the effects of that to go away. So, it resulted in a DNF once again for Team Careless Whispers. Dang it!

Later in April I got a full set of Bike Bag Dude bags to replace a set I had gotten years ago which were so soiled that the Bike Bag Dude wanted to replace them! He saw my bike on Facebook with the old set and asked me to throw those old filthy things out! The guy cracks me up, but he is a good dude and many folks agree. BBD bags are top notch and used by many well known ultra-endurance folks and bike packers.

With the close of the rewritten "The Touring Series" posts, I started up another series called "The Story of Guitar Ted", a series to bridge the gap in time between the closing series and when I became a blogger here. That took April and May up to tell, and then I started the "Trans Iowa Stories" posts, which are still running on every Sunday.

In May I was deeply moved and honored by many of you readers and my good brothers, MG and Sam, since you all were instrumental in helping me to get Sam's old Ti Muk. That post, with all the contributor's names, can be found here. One thing I have to say, and that is that all of you are very generous readers when it comes to me and doing kind things for me. I will never forget this, or past efforts on the parts of G-Ted Production readers, to be kind to me in unforeseen ways. Thank you!!

Later on I wrote an article on terms used to describe drop bars for off-road use in "Drop Bar Terms Defined", which also can be found on RidingGravel.com's site.

Many gravel roads in my neck of the woods were like semi-Level B roads up until mid-Summer.

Gravel riding commenced and I was finding lots of dirt and mud instead of dry, dusty limestone. It was all due to a late, heavy Winter with a fast melt, then wet and cool Spring weather. This did not allow for the road beds to heal and the roads were torn up pretty badly well into Summer. I also was noting that dogs seemed to be ganging up on me. It was a consistent enough of a trend to warrant me finally declaring 2019 as "The Year of the Dog". Of course, as soon as I did that, the dog encounters went down and then disappeared altogether.

Next: Summer

Rear View '19 - Winter

Hello Readers! Once again I am doing the annual retrospective on what went down over the year of 2019. This post will focus on Winter. Subsequent posts will cover the other seasons for a total of four, one each week of December. 

The Winter going into 2019 was odd in that we experienced many days with above average temperatures. This allowed for me to get out during the first two weeks of the month and continue to ride gravel roads. I also added to the "State Of The Gravel Scene" pages with a few posts to kick off 2019.

Then Winter came in and deepened as the month went on. I swapped gravel wheels for fat tire ones and started riding in the woods. Most of the riding was accomplished on the old Ti Muk which was an awesome rig. As the season wore on, I was asked to speak at the Iowa Bicycle Conference in Des Moines. That was a first for me.

I also posted two posts in January which have become requested posts by readers since. The "How I Clean My Bicycles" post led to the "How I Keep My Drivetrain Clean" post the following day. Later on in March I answered questions prompted by those two posts.

February was the record breaking, most snow fallen in Waterloo EVER month, so you can imagine that not a lot of riding got done. That was okay because we were busy trying to get the final touches done for the inaugural C.O.G. 100 event which was to take place the following month at the end of that month.

The C.O.G. 100 special run jerseys.

We also released details on how folks could get their own C.O.G. 100 jersey. The jersey differed from the championship jerseys in that we used a different color and the "SS Champ" designation was not on this version of the jersey. If the "kernel" in the jersey looks familiar it is because we took the iconic Iowa State Patrol's insignia and modded it for our use.

N.Y. Roll and I also collaborated on and ran the second "Iowa Gravel Expo/Bike Party" at a local joint. We featured several Iowa based gravel event promoters who came to tell the gathered folk about opportunities to get into events in Iowa over the Spring, Summer, and Fall of 2019. I think it went over really well and we were encouraged to do it again in 2020. Details will be posted here soon.

Between work and shoveling copious amounts of snow, I managed to get in a couple of fat bike rides. But mostly I ended up just doing some work on the events calendar for Riding Gravel and waiting for March, which I was hoping would be a lot better for riding. Plus, N.Y. Roll and I were nervous about snow for the C.O.G. 100, or more likely, soft, muddy roads.

March kicked off with a snowy, messy recon of the C.O.G. 100 course. It was a successful recon, and all we had to do after that point was to get cues printed up and get the riders to Grinnell so we could put the event on. The snow started melting then, and within two weeks, it was almost all gone. This quickly melting snow saturated the ground and roads with water making for some epic "slop season" riding.

Just before the "official" end of Winter, N.Y. Roll got me out on a mixed surface ride that featured riding on top of frozen snow drifts and across icy patches with my pink MCD shod with 650B X 47 Venture tires. The tires did great, more than I expected, but it was still a sketchy ride! It was great to get back on the bike after being shut in for about three weeks or so by all the snow and constant icy run-off in the first two weeks of March.

Next week: Spring

Rear View '19 - Winter

Hello Readers! Once again I am doing the annual retrospective on what went down over the year of 2019. This post will focus on Winter. Subsequent posts will cover the other seasons for a total of four, one each week of December. 

The Winter going into 2019 was odd in that we experienced many days with above average temperatures. This allowed for me to get out during the first two weeks of the month and continue to ride gravel roads. I also added to the "State Of The Gravel Scene" pages with a few posts to kick off 2019.

Then Winter came in and deepened as the month went on. I swapped gravel wheels for fat tire ones and started riding in the woods. Most of the riding was accomplished on the old Ti Muk which was an awesome rig. As the season wore on, I was asked to speak at the Iowa Bicycle Conference in Des Moines. That was a first for me.

I also posted two posts in January which have become requested posts by readers since. The "How I Clean My Bicycles" post led to the "How I Keep My Drivetrain Clean" post the following day. Later on in March I answered questions prompted by those two posts.

February was the record breaking, most snow fallen in Waterloo EVER month, so you can imagine that not a lot of riding got done. That was okay because we were busy trying to get the final touches done for the inaugural C.O.G. 100 event which was to take place the following month at the end of that month.

The C.O.G. 100 special run jerseys.

We also released details on how folks could get their own C.O.G. 100 jersey. The jersey differed from the championship jerseys in that we used a different color and the "SS Champ" designation was not on this version of the jersey. If the "kernel" in the jersey looks familiar it is because we took the iconic Iowa State Patrol's insignia and modded it for our use.

N.Y. Roll and I also collaborated on and ran the second "Iowa Gravel Expo/Bike Party" at a local joint. We featured several Iowa based gravel event promoters who came to tell the gathered folk about opportunities to get into events in Iowa over the Spring, Summer, and Fall of 2019. I think it went over really well and we were encouraged to do it again in 2020. Details will be posted here soon.

Between work and shoveling copious amounts of snow, I managed to get in a couple of fat bike rides. But mostly I ended up just doing some work on the events calendar for Riding Gravel and waiting for March, which I was hoping would be a lot better for riding. Plus, N.Y. Roll and I were nervous about snow for the C.O.G. 100, or more likely, soft, muddy roads.

March kicked off with a snowy, messy recon of the C.O.G. 100 course. It was a successful recon, and all we had to do after that point was to get cues printed up and get the riders to Grinnell so we could put the event on. The snow started melting then, and within two weeks, it was almost all gone. This quickly melting snow saturated the ground and roads with water making for some epic "slop season" riding.

Just before the "official" end of Winter, N.Y. Roll got me out on a mixed surface ride that featured riding on top of frozen snow drifts and across icy patches with my pink MCD shod with 650B X 47 Venture tires. The tires did great, more than I expected, but it was still a sketchy ride! It was great to get back on the bike after being shut in for about three weeks or so by all the snow and constant icy run-off in the first two weeks of March.

Next week: Spring