Rear View 2022: Top Ten Posts Of 2022

 Last year I posted concerning the top posts of the past year. I thought it was another fun way to look back over the year via the perspective of what caught the reader's attention here. 

So, I thought it would be fun to rank the Top Ten posts from the blog during the calendar year 2022. These posts are ranked according to what Blogger stats tell me were the most read posts of the year. 

I'll start with #10 and work up to #1. Each post will be linked so you can go back and read it if you so choose. Then I will comment a bit on each post. 

 #10: Two Things For Today 

This made the top ten, which really surprised me because this was just a really disjointed post about two completely different subjects. I almost dubbed it a "Randomonium" post, but I only had two things to discuss, so there ya go- That's how the post was entitled. 

The Specialized gravel bike has since been panned pretty hard by those on social media, and as far as the article I linked and discussed, well, that has been a hot topic of discussion all year. I'm not sure which part of the article drove the numbers here, but judging from the comments, I'd say it was the bike in this case.  

#9: (Tie) Country Views: Focusing On The Good & Not The Bad and Country Views: Red, White, & Blue Ride

Now this was a complete surprise to me for this year. Not only has a "Country Views" post never been on the Top Ten Posts list before, but I also have never had two posts tie each other for views. 

I guess I shouldn't be surprised though, because I have heard from several of you readers that have told me that these posts are some of your favorites that I write up. (See the end of the "Top Ten Posts of 2020" for a reference) While that may have always been true for many of you, I am guessing that many more of you are deciding that is the case as well, because the numbers of views has been going higher for these posts. 

#8: Trans Iowa Stories: Acknowledgements & Credits

Posting a single view more than the two tied at #9, this was the only Trans Iowa related post to have ever made this Top Ten List. Not all that surprising since none of the Trans Iowa Stories posts ever drew that many views. But this one? It out-did the others by six times the views on average. Why? I wondered about that for several weeks as I saw the numbers for this post climb. 

I think, and this is only a guess, that this particular post was a synopsis of the entire series. A 'condensed history', if you will, and I feel that my listing of all the important checkpoint towns was somewhat interesting for many of you. (Note: We went through many more towns and villages than what I listed there.) Obviously all the names associated with the event was another interesting point for many, I would think.

But whatever! It sticks in as the #8th most read post of 2022.  

#7: Country Views: Boulders, Flowers, & Birds 

Another Country Views post! Again, a Summer post and I noted that the the three Country View posts that made this year's list were all in the Summertime of 2022. Did that make a difference? I don't understand, really, so who knows?

This would end up being the highest drawing post of its type for 2020, but all three were within four views of each other! how odd is THAT?!  

#6: A Comparison & Contrast: GPS Computer Experiences

Uggh! Okay, I admit up front that I have issues with interfacing with 'technology'. (Just ask Mrs. Guitar Ted) So, when it comes to GPS computers for cycling, my experiences perhaps are not all that representative of the masses. That said, I feel that a lot of technology misses the boat when it comes to user experiences, and this is not limited to cycling computers. 

So, this post must have resonated with a lot of you out there as well,since it slots in at #5 for the most read posts of 2022.  

#5: Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame: The Induction & After-Party

Not much of a surprise here, as the GCHoF thing was the biggest thing that happened to me all year, and obviously it was of great interest to my readers as well. Makes sense to me that this would end up on the list somewhere. 

This day was a really surreal experience, and even after six months, I find it hard to believe it happened. I still have trouble contextualizing this deal. What does being in this organization or being recognized in this way even mean for me? I don't know. 

So, while it was indeed the "biggest thing" to have happened to me all year, I also think it is "not that life-changing" either. At least, not yet it hasn't been. So, I have mixed feelings about it all right now. But the experience's documentation ranks as #5 on the most read posts for 2022. 

#4: Guitar Ted's Massive, Huge Flared Drop Bar Review 

Flared drop bars have been a subject for posts on my blog since the early days of blogging here. I figured that there might be some interest in my collection of flared drops and the history of this type of handle bar since the year 2000.  

I had fun doing the post and it would seem that, judging by the numbers this post is still drawing, that readers find it interesting. I would not at all be surprised that later on this would end up becoming #2 or perhaps even #1 on this list in the years and months to come, but for now it resides at a solid #4 on this list.

#3: A Twofold Anniversary: The Story Of The Warbird & A Disclaimer

Appearing as the number three most read post for 2022 is this one that I had been anticipating on writing for quite sometime. The whole "gloppy dollops" thing comes up a lot when I write my opinions for this blog. I knew that the ten year anniversary of the beginning of that disclaimer's usage was coming up this year. I figured that the story behind all of that would be of interest to many of you readers. I guess I was correct in thinking that.

But I also think that a lot of people have forgotten what the original Warbird model was all about, so the telling of that part of this story may have been the actual draw here. Just think what may have happened had Salsa decided to offer a Warbird back then in steel instead of aluminum and if they had allowed for bigger tires. I think the whole trajectory of the gravel scene may have been altered had that happened.

But it didn't, so that's the story and I'm sticking to it! 

#2: More Cleaning Up & A Favor To Ask

Well, you never know what people will read here, and this post is evidence of that as it was a pretty random post to end up at #2 for 2022. I was writing about having a big scrap pile to wade through at the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective, which was my brand new job at that time in February when I posted this one. 

But apparently the donation of a Sarto carbon fiber frame and fork was the draw for this post. I have no reason to believe that it wasn't, because the first part of the post was pretty mundane. I will tell you that we ended up selling the frame and fork for a song, so if you did not contact me about that, and thought maybe you should have, well.....you should have! 

Anyway, I feel like this is a very strange post to have ended up so high on the list, or to be on it at all. Weird! 

#1: The Bicycle Retail & Service Model Is Ripe For Disruption

And with the #1 slot, this post was - by far and away - the top read post here all year long.  I'll be honest here and tell you that I am immensely proud that this post ended up #1. It also - again - points out the absurdity of the previous #2 post being #2. Yeah.....it makes no sense to me! 

 But back to the post at hand here- This post is important, and not because I wrote it, but because it is pretty much going to be reality. I really don't think that is 'my opinion' either. Something has to give, and I feel that if all the things I detailed out in that post come true, and at the same time we take off a laser focus on automobile infrastructure and importance, we could literally change the world. 

Wouldn't THAT be cool? 

To Summarize 2022's Posts: Overall 2022 has seen bigger numbers for views here. Typically a post scores a certain amount of views, and has for several years here, but for whatever reasons, 2022 saw an uptick. I also can tell you that all the posts on this year's Top Ten List outperformed, on average, any of the rest of the year's posts by 3 to 4 times. 

Looking at all of that, 2022 was a banner year here on Guitar Ted Productions, and all of those views and successes are due to you, the readers. 'Thank you' doesn't even come close to expressing the gratitude I have for your patronizing this site throughout 2022 and for all the years this blog has existed. But that's all I have other than my promise to all of you that I will do my level best in 2023 to keep up the standards I have set, and hopefully higher, for my work here. 

Stay tuned for a look at what I think is to come for 2023.

Rear View 2022: Top Ten Posts Of 2022

 Last year I posted concerning the top posts of the past year. I thought it was another fun way to look back over the year via the perspective of what caught the reader's attention here. 

So, I thought it would be fun to rank the Top Ten posts from the blog during the calendar year 2022. These posts are ranked according to what Blogger stats tell me were the most read posts of the year. 

I'll start with #10 and work up to #1. Each post will be linked so you can go back and read it if you so choose. Then I will comment a bit on each post. 

 #10: Two Things For Today 

This made the top ten, which really surprised me because this was just a really disjointed post about two completely different subjects. I almost dubbed it a "Randomonium" post, but I only had two things to discuss, so there ya go- That's how the post was entitled. 

The Specialized gravel bike has since been panned pretty hard by those on social media, and as far as the article I linked and discussed, well, that has been a hot topic of discussion all year. I'm not sure which part of the article drove the numbers here, but judging from the comments, I'd say it was the bike in this case.  

#9: (Tie) Country Views: Focusing On The Good & Not The Bad and Country Views: Red, White, & Blue Ride

Now this was a complete surprise to me for this year. Not only has a "Country Views" post never been on the Top Ten Posts list before, but I also have never had two posts tie each other for views. 

I guess I shouldn't be surprised though, because I have heard from several of you readers that have told me that these posts are some of your favorites that I write up. (See the end of the "Top Ten Posts of 2020" for a reference) While that may have always been true for many of you, I am guessing that many more of you are deciding that is the case as well, because the numbers of views has been going higher for these posts. 

#8: Trans Iowa Stories: Acknowledgements & Credits

Posting a single view more than the two tied at #9, this was the only Trans Iowa related post to have ever made this Top Ten List. Not all that surprising since none of the Trans Iowa Stories posts ever drew that many views. But this one? It out-did the others by six times the views on average. Why? I wondered about that for several weeks as I saw the numbers for this post climb. 

I think, and this is only a guess, that this particular post was a synopsis of the entire series. A 'condensed history', if you will, and I feel that my listing of all the important checkpoint towns was somewhat interesting for many of you. (Note: We went through many more towns and villages than what I listed there.) Obviously all the names associated with the event was another interesting point for many, I would think.

But whatever! It sticks in as the #8th most read post of 2022.  

#7: Country Views: Boulders, Flowers, & Birds 

Another Country Views post! Again, a Summer post and I noted that the the three Country View posts that made this year's list were all in the Summertime of 2022. Did that make a difference? I don't understand, really, so who knows?

This would end up being the highest drawing post of its type for 2020, but all three were within four views of each other! how odd is THAT?!  

#6: A Comparison & Contrast: GPS Computer Experiences

Uggh! Okay, I admit up front that I have issues with interfacing with 'technology'. (Just ask Mrs. Guitar Ted) So, when it comes to GPS computers for cycling, my experiences perhaps are not all that representative of the masses. That said, I feel that a lot of technology misses the boat when it comes to user experiences, and this is not limited to cycling computers. 

So, this post must have resonated with a lot of you out there as well,since it slots in at #5 for the most read posts of 2022.  

#5: Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame: The Induction & After-Party

Not much of a surprise here, as the GCHoF thing was the biggest thing that happened to me all year, and obviously it was of great interest to my readers as well. Makes sense to me that this would end up on the list somewhere. 

This day was a really surreal experience, and even after six months, I find it hard to believe it happened. I still have trouble contextualizing this deal. What does being in this organization or being recognized in this way even mean for me? I don't know. 

So, while it was indeed the "biggest thing" to have happened to me all year, I also think it is "not that life-changing" either. At least, not yet it hasn't been. So, I have mixed feelings about it all right now. But the experience's documentation ranks as #5 on the most read posts for 2022. 

#4: Guitar Ted's Massive, Huge Flared Drop Bar Review 

Flared drop bars have been a subject for posts on my blog since the early days of blogging here. I figured that there might be some interest in my collection of flared drops and the history of this type of handle bar since the year 2000.  

I had fun doing the post and it would seem that, judging by the numbers this post is still drawing, that readers find it interesting. I would not at all be surprised that later on this would end up becoming #2 or perhaps even #1 on this list in the years and months to come, but for now it resides at a solid #4 on this list.

#3: A Twofold Anniversary: The Story Of The Warbird & A Disclaimer

Appearing as the number three most read post for 2022 is this one that I had been anticipating on writing for quite sometime. The whole "gloppy dollops" thing comes up a lot when I write my opinions for this blog. I knew that the ten year anniversary of the beginning of that disclaimer's usage was coming up this year. I figured that the story behind all of that would be of interest to many of you readers. I guess I was correct in thinking that.

But I also think that a lot of people have forgotten what the original Warbird model was all about, so the telling of that part of this story may have been the actual draw here. Just think what may have happened had Salsa decided to offer a Warbird back then in steel instead of aluminum and if they had allowed for bigger tires. I think the whole trajectory of the gravel scene may have been altered had that happened.

But it didn't, so that's the story and I'm sticking to it! 

#2: More Cleaning Up & A Favor To Ask

Well, you never know what people will read here, and this post is evidence of that as it was a pretty random post to end up at #2 for 2022. I was writing about having a big scrap pile to wade through at the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective, which was my brand new job at that time in February when I posted this one. 

But apparently the donation of a Sarto carbon fiber frame and fork was the draw for this post. I have no reason to believe that it wasn't, because the first part of the post was pretty mundane. I will tell you that we ended up selling the frame and fork for a song, so if you did not contact me about that, and thought maybe you should have, well.....you should have! 

Anyway, I feel like this is a very strange post to have ended up so high on the list, or to be on it at all. Weird! 

#1: The Bicycle Retail & Service Model Is Ripe For Disruption

And with the #1 slot, this post was - by far and away - the top read post here all year long.  I'll be honest here and tell you that I am immensely proud that this post ended up #1. It also - again - points out the absurdity of the previous #2 post being #2. Yeah.....it makes no sense to me! 

 But back to the post at hand here- This post is important, and not because I wrote it, but because it is pretty much going to be reality. I really don't think that is 'my opinion' either. Something has to give, and I feel that if all the things I detailed out in that post come true, and at the same time we take off a laser focus on automobile infrastructure and importance, we could literally change the world. 

Wouldn't THAT be cool? 

To Summarize 2022's Posts: Overall 2022 has seen bigger numbers for views here. Typically a post scores a certain amount of views, and has for several years here, but for whatever reasons, 2022 saw an uptick. I also can tell you that all the posts on this year's Top Ten List outperformed, on average, any of the rest of the year's posts by 3 to 4 times. 

Looking at all of that, 2022 was a banner year here on Guitar Ted Productions, and all of those views and successes are due to you, the readers. 'Thank you' doesn't even come close to expressing the gratitude I have for your patronizing this site throughout 2022 and for all the years this blog has existed. But that's all I have other than my promise to all of you that I will do my level best in 2023 to keep up the standards I have set, and hopefully higher, for my work here. 

Stay tuned for a look at what I think is to come for 2023.

Rear View 2022: Top 12 Images Of 2022

 The 12 best images from the blog for 2022 as chosen by me, Guitar Ted. All decisions are final! (HA!) Not that this is a contest, but I have my opinion which may or may not align with yours. Here they are listed in order from January onward and a couple may have some commentary to go with them. Enjoy! 

January: A birthday ride on my Blackborow DS

February: Drift hunting East of Waterloo on the BMC MCD

March: Visiting "The Big Rock" of Big Rock Road on the Tamland Two

April: Was this the last go-round for the "Careless Whispers"? I'm not sure yet...

May: Solo ride. Late planting.

June: N.Y. Roll organized a "Hall of Fame" ride to honor my GCHoF induction.

July: Day lillies in full-force on Young Road at Canfield Road.

August: Looking East down Bennington Road.

September: It was unusually dry

October: From the 'annual Fall Green Belt ride' I do

November: A rare day out in the country

December: Recording a podcast at N.Y. Roll's home.

That's a wrap on the images from the blog for 2022! As always, thank you for checking these out and for stopping by at Guitar Ted Productions.

Rear View 2022: Top 12 Images Of 2022

 The 12 best images from the blog for 2022 as chosen by me, Guitar Ted. All decisions are final! (HA!) Not that this is a contest, but I have my opinion which may or may not align with yours. Here they are listed in order from January onward and a couple may have some commentary to go with them. Enjoy! 

January: A birthday ride on my Blackborow DS

February: Drift hunting East of Waterloo on the BMC MCD

March: Visiting "The Big Rock" of Big Rock Road on the Tamland Two

April: Was this the last go-round for the "Careless Whispers"? I'm not sure yet...

May: Solo ride. Late planting.

June: N.Y. Roll organized a "Hall of Fame" ride to honor my GCHoF induction.

July: Day lillies in full-force on Young Road at Canfield Road.

August: Looking East down Bennington Road.

September: It was unusually dry

October: From the 'annual Fall Green Belt ride' I do

November: A rare day out in the country

December: Recording a podcast at N.Y. Roll's home.

That's a wrap on the images from the blog for 2022! As always, thank you for checking these out and for stopping by at Guitar Ted Productions.

Rear View 2022: Fall And Beginning Of Winter

Hello! it's time again to review the year on Guitar Ted Productions. The "Rear View" has been a staple of the blog since almost the very beginning. This year there will be five Rear View posts looking back on Winter's End, Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter's Beginning. I'll also have a post looking ahead at 2023 near the end of the month. Enjoy the look back and thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

October: I started out the month doing a bit of camp stove testing which led to a great little ride where I stopped and made myself some coffee. I hadn't done anything like that in probably ten years or more, and it was fun. I may have to reprise that during Winter from the platform of a fat bike. 

Riding was sparse. The schedule hadn't changed and it was supposed to have done that in August, which would have opened up the possibility of using a couple other weekdays as options for longer rides. 

When I did get out I was testing/reviewing something for RidingGravel.com, so it wasn't all just for fun, besides that coffee ride and a Fall ride which I do every year to see the Fall colors in the Green Belt. They weren't that great this year, but elsewhere in the community Fall colors were spectacular for 2022. Go figure...

Coffee with a view. I'll try to do more of this in the future.

Podcasting with N.Y. Roll kept on being done and we were using his home to podcast from, which worked out well enough. Later in the month I started looking for a new light unit for the Ti Mukluk and I ended up with a new Schmidt Edelux II which I sourced from Angry Catfish in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

November: Well, due to sickness at the end of the month, a turn for the worse in weather mid-month, and the aforementioned scheduling issues, I got even less riding in than ever. The work on bicycles kind of took up some of that time I would have otherwise been riding. I got the light all buttoned up for the Ti Mukluk and later in the month I did a refresh on the Gen I Fargo. Otherwise it was all work, rest, and hardly any play for me. It made for a not-very-exciting month, in terms of riding, for the blog. I did manage to get out of town once early in the month during our first bout with snow to gather bikes from WeCycle in Ames for the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective. Again, more podcasting was done with N.Y. Roll at his home. 

A day out....finally! This was the last day of decent weather and the first day I felt well enough to ride in December.

December: The month of November ended, as told already, and the beginning of December kicked off with me having a pretty bad head cold. It was one of those deals that kept me off the bike for a good three weeks, at least as far as any adventuring was concerned. I did continue to commute by bicycle to work and back. I put on another Cold Weather Clinic at the Collective the second week of the month. I got a couple good podcast recordings up, so the new production/distribution scheme is working well so far. Finally, around the middle of the month I felt well enough to get a last ride out in the country done before Winter roared in and shut everything down for the last two weeks of the month. 

The set-up for Winter on the Blackborow DS.

In fact we reached "Deep Winter" a bit early with a big storm that sent temperatures plummeting to well below zero for over 48 hours. That hasn't happened in a while! And now it is headed to the 40's and rain? What a year in weather!

Blog Stuff: I did get a lot of good reactions from posts I wrote during this time period. I did a "How-To" for rear derailleur adjustments. I also wrote a couple of opinion pieces, on gravel racing, of course, that were well received. I shared my cold weather riding tips which was a thing prompted by a cold weather riding clinic I did in November for the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective. News was posted about the nominations for the next class of the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame, which was opened for the month of November. 

I announced another Virtual Turkey Burn Ride challenge which, due to that aforementioned wicked head cold, I could not participate in! But I did get one submission from Spain, which blew me away. But only two people submitted ride reports, which kind of was a disappointment. Of course, the year closed out with all of this End Of Year nonsense! Don't worry. I'll be back on track in January again. 

GT holding Erik Mathy's camera in Emporia, KS Image by Karen Jarchow

One Final Look Back...... As I was doing all of this "End of Year" stuff I came across my post about traveling down to the induction ceremonies for the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame. Besides all of that being such a strange experience, the following quote made me think: 

 "What a crazy day! What a crazy life! What would the evening bring? Well, I was ready to get on with the thing, so I jumped up and headed out on my own two feet. All the time being alone there. It just felt really weird. Did anyone really care? I felt a little bit like this was going to be kind of a bummer ride."

 This made me think about how none of the things I do - or that anyone does - in Life mean squat without people to share it with. Had no one interacted with me that evening, it would have really been a depressing evening, I mean- who really cares about a hall of fame for gravel and whether or not I am in it?

What matters then? That we have relationships with each other. That we show we care about those people we have relationships with. It matters how we all get along and encourage each other. That happened that night in Emporia, thankfully, and I came away with a full heart.

And I need to thank all of you. Those of you that come back again and again to read this blog. I thank you and encourage you today. Without the feedback and responses I get from you dear readers, this would seem like something that didn't matter, this blog. And it doesn't, but the relationships and the ways we have connected here do mean a lot. 

Thanks for reading.

Merry Christmas!

Guitar Ted

Next Saturday: A Look Forward

Rear View 2022: Fall And Beginning Of Winter

Hello! it's time again to review the year on Guitar Ted Productions. The "Rear View" has been a staple of the blog since almost the very beginning. This year there will be five Rear View posts looking back on Winter's End, Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter's Beginning. I'll also have a post looking ahead at 2023 near the end of the month. Enjoy the look back and thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

October: I started out the month doing a bit of camp stove testing which led to a great little ride where I stopped and made myself some coffee. I hadn't done anything like that in probably ten years or more, and it was fun. I may have to reprise that during Winter from the platform of a fat bike. 

Riding was sparse. The schedule hadn't changed and it was supposed to have done that in August, which would have opened up the possibility of using a couple other weekdays as options for longer rides. 

When I did get out I was testing/reviewing something for RidingGravel.com, so it wasn't all just for fun, besides that coffee ride and a Fall ride which I do every year to see the Fall colors in the Green Belt. They weren't that great this year, but elsewhere in the community Fall colors were spectacular for 2022. Go figure...

Coffee with a view. I'll try to do more of this in the future.

Podcasting with N.Y. Roll kept on being done and we were using his home to podcast from, which worked out well enough. Later in the month I started looking for a new light unit for the Ti Mukluk and I ended up with a new Schmidt Edelux II which I sourced from Angry Catfish in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

November: Well, due to sickness at the end of the month, a turn for the worse in weather mid-month, and the aforementioned scheduling issues, I got even less riding in than ever. The work on bicycles kind of took up some of that time I would have otherwise been riding. I got the light all buttoned up for the Ti Mukluk and later in the month I did a refresh on the Gen I Fargo. Otherwise it was all work, rest, and hardly any play for me. It made for a not-very-exciting month, in terms of riding, for the blog. I did manage to get out of town once early in the month during our first bout with snow to gather bikes from WeCycle in Ames for the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective. Again, more podcasting was done with N.Y. Roll at his home. 

A day out....finally! This was the last day of decent weather and the first day I felt well enough to ride in December.

December: The month of November ended, as told already, and the beginning of December kicked off with me having a pretty bad head cold. It was one of those deals that kept me off the bike for a good three weeks, at least as far as any adventuring was concerned. I did continue to commute by bicycle to work and back. I put on another Cold Weather Clinic at the Collective the second week of the month. I got a couple good podcast recordings up, so the new production/distribution scheme is working well so far. Finally, around the middle of the month I felt well enough to get a last ride out in the country done before Winter roared in and shut everything down for the last two weeks of the month. 

The set-up for Winter on the Blackborow DS.

In fact we reached "Deep Winter" a bit early with a big storm that sent temperatures plummeting to well below zero for over 48 hours. That hasn't happened in a while! And now it is headed to the 40's and rain? What a year in weather!

Blog Stuff: I did get a lot of good reactions from posts I wrote during this time period. I did a "How-To" for rear derailleur adjustments. I also wrote a couple of opinion pieces, on gravel racing, of course, that were well received. I shared my cold weather riding tips which was a thing prompted by a cold weather riding clinic I did in November for the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective. News was posted about the nominations for the next class of the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame, which was opened for the month of November. 

I announced another Virtual Turkey Burn Ride challenge which, due to that aforementioned wicked head cold, I could not participate in! But I did get one submission from Spain, which blew me away. But only two people submitted ride reports, which kind of was a disappointment. Of course, the year closed out with all of this End Of Year nonsense! Don't worry. I'll be back on track in January again. 

GT holding Erik Mathy's camera in Emporia, KS Image by Karen Jarchow

One Final Look Back...... As I was doing all of this "End of Year" stuff I came across my post about traveling down to the induction ceremonies for the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame. Besides all of that being such a strange experience, the following quote made me think: 

 "What a crazy day! What a crazy life! What would the evening bring? Well, I was ready to get on with the thing, so I jumped up and headed out on my own two feet. All the time being alone there. It just felt really weird. Did anyone really care? I felt a little bit like this was going to be kind of a bummer ride."

 This made me think about how none of the things I do - or that anyone does - in Life mean squat without people to share it with. Had no one interacted with me that evening, it would have really been a depressing evening, I mean- who really cares about a hall of fame for gravel and whether or not I am in it?

What matters then? That we have relationships with each other. That we show we care about those people we have relationships with. It matters how we all get along and encourage each other. That happened that night in Emporia, thankfully, and I came away with a full heart.

And I need to thank all of you. Those of you that come back again and again to read this blog. I thank you and encourage you today. Without the feedback and responses I get from you dear readers, this would seem like something that didn't matter, this blog. And it doesn't, but the relationships and the ways we have connected here do mean a lot. 

Thanks for reading.

Merry Christmas!

Guitar Ted

Next Saturday: A Look Forward

Rear View 2022: Summer

 Hello! it's time again to review the year on Guitar Ted Productions. The "Rear View" has been a staple of the blog since almost the very beginning. This year there will be five Rear View posts looking back on Winter's End, Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter's Beginning. I'll also have a post looking ahead at 2023 near the end of the month. Enjoy the look back and thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

July: Well, Summer was in full swing and I had begun to try to reckon with my newfound schedule for work and life. It was a balance that left little time for riding big rides, and so it was that I was popping off many 3-ish hour rides or shorter than that on gravel around Black Hawk County. 

Despite having gotten reimbursed for travel expenses to Emporia, Kansas for the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame trip, the organization did not cover all my expenses, and I had spent my budget for travel for 2022 already, plus I was tapped out on being able to request days off for some time. That meant that I hung around this area the rest of 2022. But I did get out of town on a couple of occasions anyway.

On the work side I was able to visit Des Moines and their Street Collective where we gathered about 60 bicycles to bring back to refurbish and sell at the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective. That was fun and I finally got to meet Bobby Kennedy who puts on gravel events in Utah, where he used to live. Bobby is now the director of the Street Collective. 

I received a group set from Shimano, the GRX Limited, which is silver anodized. This happened as a result of the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame thing. Not directly, but through a chance meeting and conversation with a certain individual who shall remain nameless. The gift was generous and I have enjoyed having the parts on my Standard Rando v2. 

I also was struggling with the Hammerhead Karoo 2 and trying to work through that deal, which was very frustrating. I also was starting to get more things to review for Riding Gravel, which made the Summer fly by as I was busier doing review stuff again.

A visit to the German/Pioneer Cemetery in July

August: This was a busy month with reviewing, riding, and I got to get out of town again near the end of the month with N.Y. Roll. Things started out with the first test rides with the new GRX Limited group installed on the Standard Rando v2. then I was tinkering around with this idea for a tour at the end of the month using the pink MCD bike and the Old Man Mountain Elkhorn Rack I was testing at that time. 

That prompted me to dig out my old penny stove, cooking kit, and camping gear. I did a test firing of the stove and it was going to work out with a few tweaks. I even got out all the old tent stuff and remembered how to put it up. I was actually a bit impressed with myself after that! 

I had a bottom bracket go bad in the Ti Muk 2 so that kicked off a maintenance thread on the blog detailing what I did to get that up and running again. Unfortunately, a head light on the dynamo system went down and prolonged getting that done until later in the Fall. 

The other time I got out of town this past Summer? That was a ride with Dave Pryor, a guest I've had on the Riding Gravel Radio Ranch several times. N.Y. Roll accompanied me and we rode on some fine Linn and Johnson County gravel. 

It was nice to explore some Linn and Johnson County gravel in August

September: The schedule was even worse from the standpoint of work and life balance for September and any and all thoughts of long, multi-hour rides in the country were quickly fading along with the shorter days. Harvest started during this month and it just seemed like the whole year was closing down very quickly in terms of riding plans. 

I did get several rides in, but I missed a lot of great days of riding due to my schedule and it was the driest September on record for years and years. I was a bit bitter about it, but I kept plugging along. 

Reviews wound up and new things came in to take the place of the old stuff. Tires and tools, and more stuff than that rolled into the G-Ted Headquarters where I got busy and tried to get time to ride the stuff. The highlights here were the Shimano GRX Carbon wheels and the WTB Vulpine tires. 

The first header for the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational page designed by Jeff Kerkove.

Blog Stuff: I ended the "Trans Iowa Stories" series in July and kicked off the next series on Sundays called the "GTDRI Stories". I also wrote my final review on that wretched Hammerhead GPS device and I gave a good review on Embark's "Good Energy" gel. I also did a few repair and maintenance posts for tubeless tires and gave some history on a few old gravel events I had done back in the past in my "Gravel History With Guitar Ted" posts. 

Not directly related to this blog, but I also made a major change in how the Riding Gravel Radio Ranch podcast was produced and distributed in early September. there was a possibility hinted at which might include separate podcasts under the Guitar Ted Productions banner.

Next I will get into the final quarter of the year with "Fall And Winter's Beginning".

Rear View 2022: Summer

 Hello! it's time again to review the year on Guitar Ted Productions. The "Rear View" has been a staple of the blog since almost the very beginning. This year there will be five Rear View posts looking back on Winter's End, Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter's Beginning. I'll also have a post looking ahead at 2023 near the end of the month. Enjoy the look back and thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

July: Well, Summer was in full swing and I had begun to try to reckon with my newfound schedule for work and life. It was a balance that left little time for riding big rides, and so it was that I was popping off many 3-ish hour rides or shorter than that on gravel around Black Hawk County. 

Despite having gotten reimbursed for travel expenses to Emporia, Kansas for the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame trip, the organization did not cover all my expenses, and I had spent my budget for travel for 2022 already, plus I was tapped out on being able to request days off for some time. That meant that I hung around this area the rest of 2022. But I did get out of town on a couple of occasions anyway.

On the work side I was able to visit Des Moines and their Street Collective where we gathered about 60 bicycles to bring back to refurbish and sell at the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective. That was fun and I finally got to meet Bobby Kennedy who puts on gravel events in Utah, where he used to live. Bobby is now the director of the Street Collective. 

I received a group set from Shimano, the GRX Limited, which is silver anodized. This happened as a result of the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame thing. Not directly, but through a chance meeting and conversation with a certain individual who shall remain nameless. The gift was generous and I have enjoyed having the parts on my Standard Rando v2. 

I also was struggling with the Hammerhead Karoo 2 and trying to work through that deal, which was very frustrating. I also was starting to get more things to review for Riding Gravel, which made the Summer fly by as I was busier doing review stuff again.

A visit to the German/Pioneer Cemetery in July

August: This was a busy month with reviewing, riding, and I got to get out of town again near the end of the month with N.Y. Roll. Things started out with the first test rides with the new GRX Limited group installed on the Standard Rando v2. then I was tinkering around with this idea for a tour at the end of the month using the pink MCD bike and the Old Man Mountain Elkhorn Rack I was testing at that time. 

That prompted me to dig out my old penny stove, cooking kit, and camping gear. I did a test firing of the stove and it was going to work out with a few tweaks. I even got out all the old tent stuff and remembered how to put it up. I was actually a bit impressed with myself after that! 

I had a bottom bracket go bad in the Ti Muk 2 so that kicked off a maintenance thread on the blog detailing what I did to get that up and running again. Unfortunately, a head light on the dynamo system went down and prolonged getting that done until later in the Fall. 

The other time I got out of town this past Summer? That was a ride with Dave Pryor, a guest I've had on the Riding Gravel Radio Ranch several times. N.Y. Roll accompanied me and we rode on some fine Linn and Johnson County gravel. 

It was nice to explore some Linn and Johnson County gravel in August

September: The schedule was even worse from the standpoint of work and life balance for September and any and all thoughts of long, multi-hour rides in the country were quickly fading along with the shorter days. Harvest started during this month and it just seemed like the whole year was closing down very quickly in terms of riding plans. 

I did get several rides in, but I missed a lot of great days of riding due to my schedule and it was the driest September on record for years and years. I was a bit bitter about it, but I kept plugging along. 

Reviews wound up and new things came in to take the place of the old stuff. Tires and tools, and more stuff than that rolled into the G-Ted Headquarters where I got busy and tried to get time to ride the stuff. The highlights here were the Shimano GRX Carbon wheels and the WTB Vulpine tires. 

The first header for the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational page designed by Jeff Kerkove.

Blog Stuff: I ended the "Trans Iowa Stories" series in July and kicked off the next series on Sundays called the "GTDRI Stories". I also wrote my final review on that wretched Hammerhead GPS device and I gave a good review on Embark's "Good Energy" gel. I also did a few repair and maintenance posts for tubeless tires and gave some history on a few old gravel events I had done back in the past in my "Gravel History With Guitar Ted" posts. 

Not directly related to this blog, but I also made a major change in how the Riding Gravel Radio Ranch podcast was produced and distributed in early September. there was a possibility hinted at which might include separate podcasts under the Guitar Ted Productions banner.

Next I will get into the final quarter of the year with "Fall And Winter's Beginning".

Rear View 2022: Spring

 Hello! it's time again to review the year on Guitar Ted Productions. The "Rear View" has been a staple of the blog since almost the very beginning. This year there will be five Rear View posts looking back on Winter's End, Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter's Beginning. I'll also have a post looking ahead at 2023 near the end of the month. Enjoy the look back and thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

April: The month kicked off with what we all thought was going to be the last Renegade Gents Race, or "Gents Race", as it became to be known as, and this happened during a cold, wet period. The weather was foul to start out with as we had high Northwesterly winds, snow in the ditches yet, and it had rained the night and day before the event. This made the sandy gravel mushy and there were standing pools of water here and there to negotiate. 

I went down to Des Moines the evening before and stayed with Kathy and Steve Fuller at their home. I enjoyed an evening meal out with them and night cap of whisky before hitting the sack. The next day it was cold and brisk in Slater, but back home in Waterloo, it was actually snowing! That turned out to be the last snow of the year for us. 

Once again, one of our Gent's team member fell off due to circumstances of fatigue, and we did not do the entire course. I was fine with that as the nutritional supplement I used made my guts hurt severely. Anyway, we ended on a somber note and I drove part way home in severe pain from that supplement. (LMNT, by the way, not good for me!) And then upon returning home, we find out that wasn't the last Gent's Race after all! 

The Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame: Then right after the Gent's Race I received confirmation on my induction into the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame. This subject pretty much consumed my first six months of 2022 in some form or another. 

Planning my year out was immediately thrown off-kilter by the news of the organization in January, and my being put on notice that I would "likely be inducted into the first class", which meant that making any plans for the first six months of the year were going to hinge upon a big "if" and I didn't get that settled until April. Then it was making plans to be in Emporia by the end of May, first part of June, whenever the induction ceremonies were to happen. 

And all of that was because I had just been hired at a new job where I worked on Saturday's and I wasn't able to just do whatever I wanted on a weekend anymore. So, this whole GCHoF thing was the keystone to my whole cycling life for 2022. 

As it turned out, the Gent's Race, which was non-negotiable as far as my attendance was concerned, was my first Saturday off, and as it fell, the induction ceremonies were on a Thursday evening, so I did not miss work on Saturday! But the trip, being partially subsidized by the GCHoF, still cost me money and that came out of my budget for the year's travel, and well, that was that for that budget! 

Anyway, obviously being a part of the GCHoF is an immense honor and privilege that I do not take lightly. Obviously it was not only a highlight for 2022, but for my life. That's big! But I also wanted to point out that this event also pretty much informed what I was able to do for the entire year in cycling, so that was also a major big deal. I knew that could be the case in January, and I am still feeling the effects of that this December. 

Another direct result of my inclusion into the hall was the announcement of a "Hall of Fame Ride" to be held in my honor in mid-June. So, there was that as well. 

Super-rare for 2022- I actually rode with someone! N.Y. Roll joined me in April for a grinder.

Back to April... Meanwhile the weather was inclement and unsuited for cycling for a couple of weeks. Then it slowly got better, but Spring was tough, and getting out for rides didn't really happen until May approached. The blog was all about the previously mention GCHoF thing, my ongoing Trans Iowa series, and sundry bits like the Guitar Ted Lube-Off, which was happening as Spring moved forward. 

May: More country rides happened. It was beautiful outdoors, but I see that I reported on many of my rides that it was really windy this time of 2022, and so that made riding difficult. I also did not have a ton of reviewing duties coming out of Winter, so I was able to sneak in some rides on non-test mules like my Pofahl Signature Custom single speed and my Ti Muk 2. On the blog I wrote up a massive flared drop bar review of all the old flared drop bars I have here. I also posted a reveal of my purchase of a Singular Cycles Gryphon frame set. The month closed out with news of Shimano's Limited Edition Silver GRX component group.

I was able to ride bikes I normally don't get out on much in the Spring. This one featured my Orange Crush BMC.

June: Well, the whole trip to Emporia to get inducted into the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame was the focus of this time period. That was a solo drive to the city where I have spent many a day riding the Flint Hills over the years. I did not take a bicycle with me on this particular trip, and it was solely focused on the ceremonies. I gotta say, solo driving is still not a lot of fun. 

(L-R) Myself, Instagram cycling influencer Marley Blonski, and fellow inductee Kristi Mohn at the after-party.

The highlight of my time in Emporia was an unplanned adventure with professional photographer, Erik Mathy which happened the day after I was inducted into the GCHoF. I had a blast as we photographed the area South of Emporia on a bright, Sunny late Spring day. But then it was getting back home so I could go to work on Saturday! 

The next big deal of 2022 occurred on June 19th when N.Y. Roll hosted a "Hall of Fame Ride" for me. Several old friends showed up and I met someone new as well. It was a great surprise to see a couple folks and ride with them again. I really was happy with the day and honored to have had this ride put on for this occasion. 

I was honored by these gentlemen;s attendance to the ride N.Y. Roll put on for my induction to the GCHoF.

I was also surprised in June to get a call from THE Gary Fisher. He was wanting to pick my brain about gravel cycling, its origins, where it is going, etc. He was headed to Eurobike and he wanted to be up to date on the gravel cycling trend. I was honored to be a resource for him in that way. 

On the blog I was wrapping up the Lube-Off, the Trans Iowa series, and the final review on that dreaded Hammerhead Karoo 2 cycling GPS computer. That was - by far - the most frustrating thing I've ever reviewed or used in decades for cycling. Maybe ever in my lifetime. Bad doesn't describe my take on that thing. On the good side I introduced my newest guitar, a Stardust model from Sully Guitars Conspiracy Series.

And with that, I moved into July, August, and September. That'll be the next stop on the Rear View for 2022. Stay tuned for that next Saturday.