Rear View 2012: The Last Third

September kicked off with the weather still pretty dry, but the heat had backed off a wee bit at least. Still, the effects of all that dryness were everywhere to be seen, and the gravel roads and dirt trails were crazy dusty and cracked.

Well, I was in the throes of trying to get two things accomplished before Interbike. One was getting my Clement USH tires to set up tubeless. After weeks, (literally), of trying, it finally did happen. However; the other deal was not going as fast as I wanted it to go. Getting everything together for a sub 24hr overnight bikepacking gig sounded easy, but it turned out to be something that took too long.

I went to Las Vegas again, for the last Interbike in the Sands Convention Center. It was a good show, by most accounts, and I did get around to see almost everyone I wanted to see. Big trips always kind of freak me out though, so I was super happy to set foot back in Iowa afterward and find out it was in the 50's and raining. Whew! Fall was showing up after a long, dry, hot summer.

The bikepacking thing was just coming together when illness struck our household and I had to put all those plans on hold to take care of things that needed done at the time. By the time everyone was well again, it was November and too cold to really do anything with the warm weather gear I had accumulated to use for this. Next year.....

One really cool thing I got to do in this period was to ride in the Moonlight Metric. Craig, one of the guys who had been showing up off and on for the 3GR's was putting this on, and I went down with Robert, (another 3GR rider), and we got our night time gravel on.

A crazy moon over Iowa in October

It was super dusty! The worst dust I'd ever seen out riding gravel roads day or night. The dirt B Maintenance roads were like cocoa powder 4 to 5 inches deep. Weird stuff! But this was a very fun and enjoyable ride I won't soon forget. Craig hosted a great ride with an after party that featured enough to eat and drink for five times the amount of folks that did show up. Very awesome and very much appreciated.

That was my last big organized event for the year. Closing out October, I was very busy getting testing and reviewing done on several things while still doing the weekly 3GR events. The gravel Saturdays were a favorite part of my week, and even though I had days where it was hard to get out of the sack to do those rides, I miss them now a lot. 3GR went up into November before I shut it down for the season. These rides will pick back up again in the spring.

The next big deal on the horizon was registration for Trans Iowa V9. It started in early November with the Finishers claiming their spots, then the Veterans, then finally the Rookies got their shot.

The registration was "okay" from my standpoint. I got some nice things, which I appreciate, but what I really mean is the registration has lost a bit of the frenzied atmosphere it used to engender in years past. Hmm.....probably has something to do with how I've tweaked it out these days, so I can only blame myself!

I decided to allow 120 registrants this time and the roster did fill up, so we'll see how many are left when I toot the horn at 4am April 27th, 2013. Usually there is a precipitous fall off in roster population before any Trans Iowa occurs.

Another surprise came in mid-November when I learned that the documentary film about Trans Iowa V7 called "300 Miles of Gravel" won a regional Emmy for "Best Sports Programming- One Time Event". That was kind of exciting to learn that I was a part of an Emmy winning project. In other T.I. related goings on, the recon was completely finished by December when in two separate shots, Jeremy and I got it done. It was the quickest, easiest recon of a Trans Iowa course yet.

Winter....what?

December arrived and I sort of held my breath thinking Winter would hit at any minute. The first couple of weeks went by and I snuck in several "last rides" for the year before a big blizzard, the first in several years, hit and dumped a ton of snow all in one hit.

I signed on for another Triple D event, and commenced training even before the snows came. All the family birthdays, Christmas, and my up coming 14th wedding anniversary were all consuming parts of my time and mind in this period, but it has all been pretty good this season.

Looking Ahead: So, that's that. 2012 is shot and another year is about to begin. I have lots of things gelling around in my mind that are fun, exciting possibilities for 2013, but ya know what? I'll likely get swept away in a totally different, fun, and exciting direction than I think I will. We'll see, won't we?

2012 was a banner year for this blog, by the way. More hits, more readers, and the second highest post count I've ever had for a one year period. First- thank you to each and everyone of you that has ever landed here and read anything. I appreciate it very much, and I am humbled by that fact. Secondly, I guess I still like to write a lot, eh? That was one of the main reasons for firing up this blog in the Spring of 2005 in the first place. Onward then.....

Happy New Year!

Rear View 2012: The Last Third

September kicked off with the weather still pretty dry, but the heat had backed off a wee bit at least. Still, the effects of all that dryness were everywhere to be seen, and the gravel roads and dirt trails were crazy dusty and cracked.

Well, I was in the throes of trying to get two things accomplished before Interbike. One was getting my Clement USH tires to set up tubeless. After weeks, (literally), of trying, it finally did happen. However; the other deal was not going as fast as I wanted it to go. Getting everything together for a sub 24hr overnight bikepacking gig sounded easy, but it turned out to be something that took too long.

I went to Las Vegas again, for the last Interbike in the Sands Convention Center. It was a good show, by most accounts, and I did get around to see almost everyone I wanted to see. Big trips always kind of freak me out though, so I was super happy to set foot back in Iowa afterward and find out it was in the 50's and raining. Whew! Fall was showing up after a long, dry, hot summer.

The bikepacking thing was just coming together when illness struck our household and I had to put all those plans on hold to take care of things that needed done at the time. By the time everyone was well again, it was November and too cold to really do anything with the warm weather gear I had accumulated to use for this. Next year.....

One really cool thing I got to do in this period was to ride in the Moonlight Metric. Craig, one of the guys who had been showing up off and on for the 3GR's was putting this on, and I went down with Robert, (another 3GR rider), and we got our night time gravel on.

A crazy moon over Iowa in October

It was super dusty! The worst dust I'd ever seen out riding gravel roads day or night. The dirt B Maintenance roads were like cocoa powder 4 to 5 inches deep. Weird stuff! But this was a very fun and enjoyable ride I won't soon forget. Craig hosted a great ride with an after party that featured enough to eat and drink for five times the amount of folks that did show up. Very awesome and very much appreciated.

That was my last big organized event for the year. Closing out October, I was very busy getting testing and reviewing done on several things while still doing the weekly 3GR events. The gravel Saturdays were a favorite part of my week, and even though I had days where it was hard to get out of the sack to do those rides, I miss them now a lot. 3GR went up into November before I shut it down for the season. These rides will pick back up again in the spring.

The next big deal on the horizon was registration for Trans Iowa V9. It started in early November with the Finishers claiming their spots, then the Veterans, then finally the Rookies got their shot.

The registration was "okay" from my standpoint. I got some nice things, which I appreciate, but what I really mean is the registration has lost a bit of the frenzied atmosphere it used to engender in years past. Hmm.....probably has something to do with how I've tweaked it out these days, so I can only blame myself!

I decided to allow 120 registrants this time and the roster did fill up, so we'll see how many are left when I toot the horn at 4am April 27th, 2013. Usually there is a precipitous fall off in roster population before any Trans Iowa occurs.

Another surprise came in mid-November when I learned that the documentary film about Trans Iowa V7 called "300 Miles of Gravel" won a regional Emmy for "Best Sports Programming- One Time Event". That was kind of exciting to learn that I was a part of an Emmy winning project. In other T.I. related goings on, the recon was completely finished by December when in two separate shots, Jeremy and I got it done. It was the quickest, easiest recon of a Trans Iowa course yet.

Winter....what?

December arrived and I sort of held my breath thinking Winter would hit at any minute. The first couple of weeks went by and I snuck in several "last rides" for the year before a big blizzard, the first in several years, hit and dumped a ton of snow all in one hit.

I signed on for another Triple D event, and commenced training even before the snows came. All the family birthdays, Christmas, and my up coming 14th wedding anniversary were all consuming parts of my time and mind in this period, but it has all been pretty good this season.

Looking Ahead: So, that's that. 2012 is shot and another year is about to begin. I have lots of things gelling around in my mind that are fun, exciting possibilities for 2013, but ya know what? I'll likely get swept away in a totally different, fun, and exciting direction than I think I will. We'll see, won't we?

2012 was a banner year for this blog, by the way. More hits, more readers, and the second highest post count I've ever had for a one year period. First- thank you to each and everyone of you that has ever landed here and read anything. I appreciate it very much, and I am humbled by that fact. Secondly, I guess I still like to write a lot, eh? That was one of the main reasons for firing up this blog in the Spring of 2005 in the first place. Onward then.....

Happy New Year!

Rear View 2012: The Middle Third

Looking at the middle part of the year, I am reminded that I put in a lot of riding this year. The big push came from the 3GR. That is a ride I started on Friday evenings, but moved to Saturday mornings after a few Friday runs at it.

The moniker stands for "Gravel Grinder Group Ride". Three "g's" and an "r"- get it? Ha.......well then... Anyway, besides my attempt at a clever name, the ride eventually became a success, although I wasn't sure about that a few weeks into it.

It ended up proving to be more than just a way for me to get better fitness. It became a way for me to get to know some guys and gals better and I hope that they all got something out of it in that regard as well.

There were fat bikes ridden a few times, and I even got a few folks out for their very first gravel grinders. A couple folks even signed up for Trans Iowa V8 because of this ride, at least in part, so that's pretty cool. In the end, I was in a groove and looked forward to Saturday rides. I probably became a better rider for it, and I had a ton of fun doing it.

Towards the end of May one of those niggling failures in riding was put to rest when I ascended the hills, and in particular, one hill, on the way south out of Traer on an older gravel route I used to do a lot. The big fail always came at "Frank Brothers Hill", so called because of the mail box at the top of the climb with that name on it. Oh....and this had to be done on a single speed. 

Well, I overcame that challenge, finally, and on a tough day with a stiff head wind on fresher gravel. 

June came, it got real hot and dry, and I was busy trying to get ready for two things: One was a Salsa Cycles Demo Tour appearance at the end of the month, and the other was the "Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational", which would happen in mid-July.

GTDRI 2012: Image by C. Matthias

I also got the old Fargo back up and running again. It had been awhile since I had been using it on any kind of "regular" basis. In fact, some parts had been pilfered from it for other builds. That wasn't cool, because I really like that rig, so I got it back out on the gravel roads this summer.

The Salsa Demo went really well and I got a lot of good feedback from it. I think this is definitely something we'll be doing again.

The weather continued to be beastly hot, and it looked as though things were getting a bit too dry, but no end was in sight. We got progressively dirtier on every 3GR ride, which a few I did on my own in this stretch.

The real kicker came in mid-July though as we set off from Grinnell on the GTDRI. It was a 120 mile course with lots of challenges awaiting us. 9 guys showed up to start, and 6 of us finished. But not before it went from 57°F to 104°F and not before we were rained on, did a "C Maintenance Road", and many B Roads as well. It was a big milestone for me, since I don't usually do very well at all in that sort of heat. In fact, it was a very "Dirty Kanza"-like heat that day, just without the extreme of the wind thrown in.

Summertime is Saddledrive time for QBP, and their brands- Salsa Cycles and Surly. Big news came out of that, and one of the things I pontificated upon got me into some passionate discussions with certain individuals close to a certain gravel road bike project, (specifically, the Warbird). Be that as it may, (I still hold to my concerns on that rig), the news was awesome and excitement abounded for the new fat bikes and Surly's new Krampus 29+ model.

Two friends on gravel: What could be better?

In August things continued to be hot, there was a fat bike 3GR, and I went to a Salsa Cycles Demo in Minnesota while making a side trip to visit Ben and Jason on a gravel ride. It had been way too long since we all had ridden together. A memorable ride, as well, since we had to push Ben about 7 miles after he whacked his derailleur. Good times!

I had a bit of fun when I saw an article I had penned printed in "Dirt Rag". It was about the history of the modern 29"er. A longer version of the idea is available if you look under the header here and click the link to the "Beginnings Of The Modern 29"er A History" page. The page will have a lot more detail than the DR piece, but you'll get the same idea, I hope.

I started a couple of "sagas" in terms of projects. One got finished, the other got derailed. My tubeless Velocity A23/ Clement USH experiment started, and so did a bikepacking project. I'll get into those things and more in my last third of 2012 report tomorrow.

Otherwise the next big deal on the horizon was Interbike and oh yeah.....in early August I announced that I'd be doing this silly little event again in 2013 called Trans Iowa. Preparations started in earnest soon after...

Rear View 2012: The Middle Third

Looking at the middle part of the year, I am reminded that I put in a lot of riding this year. The big push came from the 3GR. That is a ride I started on Friday evenings, but moved to Saturday mornings after a few Friday runs at it.

The moniker stands for "Gravel Grinder Group Ride". Three "g's" and an "r"- get it? Ha.......well then... Anyway, besides my attempt at a clever name, the ride eventually became a success, although I wasn't sure about that a few weeks into it.

It ended up proving to be more than just a way for me to get better fitness. It became a way for me to get to know some guys and gals better and I hope that they all got something out of it in that regard as well.

There were fat bikes ridden a few times, and I even got a few folks out for their very first gravel grinders. A couple folks even signed up for Trans Iowa V8 because of this ride, at least in part, so that's pretty cool. In the end, I was in a groove and looked forward to Saturday rides. I probably became a better rider for it, and I had a ton of fun doing it.

Towards the end of May one of those niggling failures in riding was put to rest when I ascended the hills, and in particular, one hill, on the way south out of Traer on an older gravel route I used to do a lot. The big fail always came at "Frank Brothers Hill", so called because of the mail box at the top of the climb with that name on it. Oh....and this had to be done on a single speed. 

Well, I overcame that challenge, finally, and on a tough day with a stiff head wind on fresher gravel. 

June came, it got real hot and dry, and I was busy trying to get ready for two things: One was a Salsa Cycles Demo Tour appearance at the end of the month, and the other was the "Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational", which would happen in mid-July.

GTDRI 2012: Image by C. Matthias

I also got the old Fargo back up and running again. It had been awhile since I had been using it on any kind of "regular" basis. In fact, some parts had been pilfered from it for other builds. That wasn't cool, because I really like that rig, so I got it back out on the gravel roads this summer.

The Salsa Demo went really well and I got a lot of good feedback from it. I think this is definitely something we'll be doing again.

The weather continued to be beastly hot, and it looked as though things were getting a bit too dry, but no end was in sight. We got progressively dirtier on every 3GR ride, which a few I did on my own in this stretch.

The real kicker came in mid-July though as we set off from Grinnell on the GTDRI. It was a 120 mile course with lots of challenges awaiting us. 9 guys showed up to start, and 6 of us finished. But not before it went from 57°F to 104°F and not before we were rained on, did a "C Maintenance Road", and many B Roads as well. It was a big milestone for me, since I don't usually do very well at all in that sort of heat. In fact, it was a very "Dirty Kanza"-like heat that day, just without the extreme of the wind thrown in.

Summertime is Saddledrive time for QBP, and their brands- Salsa Cycles and Surly. Big news came out of that, and one of the things I pontificated upon got me into some passionate discussions with certain individuals close to a certain gravel road bike project, (specifically, the Warbird). Be that as it may, (I still hold to my concerns on that rig), the news was awesome and excitement abounded for the new fat bikes and Surly's new Krampus 29+ model.

Two friends on gravel: What could be better?

In August things continued to be hot, there was a fat bike 3GR, and I went to a Salsa Cycles Demo in Minnesota while making a side trip to visit Ben and Jason on a gravel ride. It had been way too long since we all had ridden together. A memorable ride, as well, since we had to push Ben about 7 miles after he whacked his derailleur. Good times!

I had a bit of fun when I saw an article I had penned printed in "Dirt Rag". It was about the history of the modern 29"er. A longer version of the idea is available if you look under the header here and click the link to the "Beginnings Of The Modern 29"er A History" page. The page will have a lot more detail than the DR piece, but you'll get the same idea, I hope.

I started a couple of "sagas" in terms of projects. One got finished, the other got derailed. My tubeless Velocity A23/ Clement USH experiment started, and so did a bikepacking project. I'll get into those things and more in my last third of 2012 report tomorrow.

Otherwise the next big deal on the horizon was Interbike and oh yeah.....in early August I announced that I'd be doing this silly little event again in 2013 called Trans Iowa. Preparations started in earnest soon after...

Rear View 2012: The First Third

Yes readers- it is that time again. The annual year end review.

2012 started off with the continuing "non-winter" conditions that allowed for a glorious day of Trans Iowa V8 recon in Southern Iowa. It was a huge break to be able to get away and have gotten almost the entire recon done after an initial 170 miles had been knocked out previously in Fall of 2011. I found all but about the last 20 or so miles of the course that day, and then was able to move on to doing cue sheets.

The next big deal for me was doing the Triple D Winter Race, (which I am scheduled to do again next month.) I was wondering if I would be taking a mountain bike, but a few days before the event, Winter actually showed up and dumped out a fair amount of snow, which made the course a true winter course. I went with By-Tor, the Titanium Mukluk, and scored a finish at 22nd place. It was a great learning experience and I am looking forward to this next one.

Then the annual Frostbike trip happened again. I went to Northfield, Minnesota, hooked up with Ben and other regular characters, and went back to do some hot laps inside of Mike's Bikes. Frostbike itself was a good event, as always, and it was fantastic to hang with old friends and new at the show.

Later in the month of February I was scheduled to attend CIRREM and try my hand at that event again. Unfortunately, circumstances prevented my getting there and riding. That was a bit of a bummer. Winter had started to fade in a big hurry by this time and sloppy, wet conditions prevailed. I still got in several wet, mushy fat bike rides and started to ride some gravel by early March.

 Then it was off to El Paso, Texas again where I visited family and rode some killer off road trails in the Chihuahuan Desert at Franklin Mountain State Park. 

The desert is an awesome place to ride, and it didn't disappoint, but the best was the last ride where I took a look at the East side of the mountain where I had never ridden before. It was an eye opener! The trails over there are so much more flowy, and burned in much better than the West side trails are.

The weather was perfect, until our last full day there when we experienced a full on dust storm, which is not unlike a blizzard in Iowa, only warmer, with sand!

March then closed out with a full recon of Trans Iowa V8's course by the cue sheet drafts. We found a few mistakes, and one closed down section of road! I came back with some minor work to get the cues straightened out, but then got squared away with near perfect cues for the event. Printing ensued, and by mid-April cue sheets were all done and ready to go.

Then with all the Trans Iowa preparations going on, I took some time out to do what has become one of my favorite events I've taken part in, The Renegade Gents Race.

It's a different gravel grinder in that you compete on a team of five riders. All riders must start, go through a checkpoint, and finish together, team time trial style. Teams are handicapped based on the promoters decision on who has the weakest team. Slower teams go first, final starters are the fast guys. I think there were 29 teams in 2012's running of this event!

It was a lot of fun to get hooked up with the same four guys as last year, and just as we were about to head out, we got a full on dump of heavy rain to ride into. That cleared up after a bit, but it was a soggy, gray, chunky, windy event. Still, we all had a lot of fun, and I think we didn't do too badly. At least we beat the fat bike team!

Funny, but I think that was the last major rain before Trans Iowa V8, which had 67 starters this year. The event was marked by bookends of rain and a heavy East wind. Fresh gravel at the end, and a surprise B Road played hell with a few of the riders, but the event saw 19 finishers and a few came in outside the time limit as well. Commentary post race was very positive, and as you all know by now, T.I.V9 is set to happen again next April.

That takes us to the end of the first third of 2012 when I started doing the weekly 3GR. Summer came, it got hot. Gravel and dirt was ridden, and more. Stay tuned....

Rear View 2012: The First Third

Yes readers- it is that time again. The annual year end review.

2012 started off with the continuing "non-winter" conditions that allowed for a glorious day of Trans Iowa V8 recon in Southern Iowa. It was a huge break to be able to get away and have gotten almost the entire recon done after an initial 170 miles had been knocked out previously in Fall of 2011. I found all but about the last 20 or so miles of the course that day, and then was able to move on to doing cue sheets.

The next big deal for me was doing the Triple D Winter Race, (which I am scheduled to do again next month.) I was wondering if I would be taking a mountain bike, but a few days before the event, Winter actually showed up and dumped out a fair amount of snow, which made the course a true winter course. I went with By-Tor, the Titanium Mukluk, and scored a finish at 22nd place. It was a great learning experience and I am looking forward to this next one.

Then the annual Frostbike trip happened again. I went to Northfield, Minnesota, hooked up with Ben and other regular characters, and went back to do some hot laps inside of Mike's Bikes. Frostbike itself was a good event, as always, and it was fantastic to hang with old friends and new at the show.

Later in the month of February I was scheduled to attend CIRREM and try my hand at that event again. Unfortunately, circumstances prevented my getting there and riding. That was a bit of a bummer. Winter had started to fade in a big hurry by this time and sloppy, wet conditions prevailed. I still got in several wet, mushy fat bike rides and started to ride some gravel by early March.

 Then it was off to El Paso, Texas again where I visited family and rode some killer off road trails in the Chihuahuan Desert at Franklin Mountain State Park. 

The desert is an awesome place to ride, and it didn't disappoint, but the best was the last ride where I took a look at the East side of the mountain where I had never ridden before. It was an eye opener! The trails over there are so much more flowy, and burned in much better than the West side trails are.

The weather was perfect, until our last full day there when we experienced a full on dust storm, which is not unlike a blizzard in Iowa, only warmer, with sand!

March then closed out with a full recon of Trans Iowa V8's course by the cue sheet drafts. We found a few mistakes, and one closed down section of road! I came back with some minor work to get the cues straightened out, but then got squared away with near perfect cues for the event. Printing ensued, and by mid-April cue sheets were all done and ready to go.

Then with all the Trans Iowa preparations going on, I took some time out to do what has become one of my favorite events I've taken part in, The Renegade Gents Race.

It's a different gravel grinder in that you compete on a team of five riders. All riders must start, go through a checkpoint, and finish together, team time trial style. Teams are handicapped based on the promoters decision on who has the weakest team. Slower teams go first, final starters are the fast guys. I think there were 29 teams in 2012's running of this event!

It was a lot of fun to get hooked up with the same four guys as last year, and just as we were about to head out, we got a full on dump of heavy rain to ride into. That cleared up after a bit, but it was a soggy, gray, chunky, windy event. Still, we all had a lot of fun, and I think we didn't do too badly. At least we beat the fat bike team!

Funny, but I think that was the last major rain before Trans Iowa V8, which had 67 starters this year. The event was marked by bookends of rain and a heavy East wind. Fresh gravel at the end, and a surprise B Road played hell with a few of the riders, but the event saw 19 finishers and a few came in outside the time limit as well. Commentary post race was very positive, and as you all know by now, T.I.V9 is set to happen again next April.

That takes us to the end of the first third of 2012 when I started doing the weekly 3GR. Summer came, it got hot. Gravel and dirt was ridden, and more. Stay tuned....