Rear View 2023: Winter's Beginning

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 was five Rear View posts looking back on Winter's End, Spring, Summer, Fall, and this one, Winter's Beginning. I'll also have a post looking ahead at 2024 tomorrow. Enjoy the look back and thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

November came in with a cold blast and that was the end of the warmer than usual weather for Fall. Coats came out, long sleeves, and tights, and where are all my gloves at?! Typical Fall/early Winter issues here at G-Ted Headquarters! 

I got in some rambles on the single track in the Green Belt. I found Marky-Mark trail in good repair, and I even got in a few gravel rides. Temperatures bounced back up into the 60's again for a bit, but by mid-month things were cooling back down and we had some breezy days. 

My focus was set on getting in one more long ride in for 2023. The Turkey Burn was it. I had a day set aside, the bike would be the Fargo Gen I which I hadn't really ridden all year, and the route would be a version of my Four County Tour. Everything was set, but then it all went sideways. 

A view from my Turkey Burn Ride.

 The day after Thanksgiving the weather started going downhill with a big wind and the weekend was positively frigid. I got out on Thanksgiving Day only because our family all had Wednesday off and we celebrated then. Bummer! And I never did ride the Fargo either.  

The weekend right after Thanksgiving we got our first snow. A few days later it melted!

In a cruel twist of irony the weekend after Thanksgiving was Sunny and decently warm for December. The snow we had gotten was all melted, and so I could have ridden a longer ride, except that I was busy anyway. Oh well!

The blog always goes nuts  for most of the month of December with my "Rear View" posts and posts about the bikes from the year. So, as a result, I don't get in much of what is going on, and quite frankly, after deer shotgun season starts for those first two weekends in December, I really don't want to be out in the country at all. By the time that is over with I have a big birthday stretch where my wife and daughter have birthdays two days apart from each other. Then a week later it's Christmas, and January 2nd will be my 25th wedding anniversary. So, riding times get taken up by lots of other things. Then you have weather. 

I got my Pirate Cycling League Winter Jacket though, so I better be getting out there to make use of the thing. It is a nice jacket too. I am happy to have it to use. 

The urban cruising and commuting was the main form of cycling throughout the month. I used a combination of my old Ti Muk 2, the Dorado, and I rode the Fargo Gen I around a bit to test those TRP Hy/Rd brake calipers. 

Weather-wise things were mild for December after that initial snow and cold outburst. Then after mid-month it went cold and windy for a day or two, and then back into a milder pattern until Christmas. Is this going to be the Winter where it will all happen starting in February? Big snows, cold, wind, and bad roads until mid-March?

Yeah, that would not surprise me one bit. It has kind of been that way anyway the last few Winters where nothing happens until around New Year's Day. But maybe January will be clear of bad cold and snow too. I hate to root for that on one hand because we need rain and snow. 

Of course, we had 50's for Christmas and myself and the whole family had come down with the flu/head cold thing that has been going around. No riding then, and I felt well and truly awful, as did the others here. It was a Christmas without much cheer, and we went through a LOT of tissues instead of treats. Oh well! At least THAT is over with now!

That wraps up the Rear View for this year. Look for a forward look into 2024 coming up tomorrow!

Rear View 2023: Fall

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 2024 near the end of the month. Enjoy the look back and thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

This past Fall was one of the warmest, longest lasting Fall seasons I can remember. It was also "guest ride" season. I had three rides in September and October that saw old friends and new ask to meet me for a gravel ride. 

Of course, there was some review work to do as well, so there were rides being done to get that part of my work finished up. It was important as I had set a date of December 1st to switch off my contributions to that site. 

The weather couldn't have been a whole lot better for riding, but unfortunately, it lacked a lot in rain, which we desperately need, even now. That said, the clear skies and nice temperatures were a treat and many rides were done in the months of September and October.

September 4th looked more like October 4th due to the drought.

My first guest rider was Jason Boucher. I hadn't seen him in years and I hadn't ridden with him even longer than that. He dropped in from Minneapolis, we spent the morning riding, and then we hit up a downtown Waterloo Mexican restaurant. It was an awesome day and a highlight of my year. 

Jason Boucher's custom built flat bar gravel bike at the "Big Rock".

The rest of September went on without much of anything noteworthy happening and then early in October I was contacted by a newer friend of mine from Waterloo here who wanted to take some images of me riding on a gravel road, and to just hang out as well. Josh and I actually had already done another gravel ride back in June.

This time we did a bit of an adventure up Ford Road and I discovered that the Ford Road cut-off to the Washington-Union Access was opened up again. That's something I have to get back to and check out further. 

Following Josh up out of Ford Road Access.

The weather started to cool off more toward the end of October, but it was not unbearable and I had another guest ask to meet me for a ride later in October. This time it was a repeat visitor from about the same time last year. Ben Morris, from Madison, Wisconsin, came down and we did a foray out toward Petrie Road's Level B Road section. 

Ben Morris cruising South of Waterloo.

The end of the month came and we were still experiencing some pretty decent weather. The review work, the guest rides. and work kind of erased any chances of me getting in a big ride. I ended up putting a couple ideas on mothballs, again, but hopefully there is always next year.

As November approached I started focusing on the Turkey Burn idea and maybe, hopefully, one more chance at a long ride in 2023. 

Next: Winter Begins.

Rear View 2023: Top Ten Posts Of 2023

Every year of late I have been looking back at the Top Ten posts here on the blog. Last year's Top Ten can be seen HERE. I thought it was another fun way to look back over the year via the perspective of what caught the reader's attention here. 

 I thought it would be fun to rank the Top Ten posts again. This time from the blog during the calendar year 2023. 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: GCHoF 2023: Inductees & Comments - June 3rd, 2023 -

This was a post from my reports on going to the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. The 2023 class was an interesting one and in this post I gave my comments on each person. And then the "thing" category, which was a surprise to most there, which was the Salsa Cycles Chaise Lounge. The "Gravel Icon" category will be noted again for 2024. What will it be this time? Who knows..... Apparently a lot of you folks were interested to read my take on the GCHoF Class of 2023. You can read this post HERE. 

#9: Entry Fees Up - January 26th, 2023 - 

This post was done after I did some research into what gravel event fees were for 2023 events. A small survey of events was done according to my criteria. Then I showed my results and gave some commentary on them. This post stirred up the bee hive! It's probably why it got enough hits to show up on the Top Ten list this year. This post can be seen HERE. 

#8: Country Views: Smoke, Dogs, & Wind - April 8th, 2023 -

Last year I had a few "Country Views" posts hit this list. But this year this post from early in April was the only Country Views post to come close to being in the Top Ten. Maybe it made it because I had "Dogs" in the title. Or maybe "Smoke". You never know what "The Algorithm" will pick up on! You can read this post HERE.  

#7: A Search For "Gravel" Geometry Part 2: Myths & Traditions, September 20th, 2023 -

I ran a series of posts concerning the background and history of geometry for gravel bicycles. This particular post in the series received more than three times the hits that the rest of the series posts did. I would imagine that some ruffled feathers may have posted links on a forum somewhere that drove the numbers for this particular post higher. You can see this post HERE. 

#6: A Search & Rescue Mission - April 4th, 2023:   

This one was a spiritual journey aboard my Dorado Sherpa in the mist to find a pair of eyeglasses. You can see this post HERE. 

#5: Velo Orange Utility Bar & Utility Rack Review - June 24th, 2023:

This, along with the next two posts in the countdown, were about the Velo Orange Utility Bar and Utility Rack. Velo Orange linked to all three of these posts on their social media and on their site. Obviously it drove the traffic to those posts! You can read the review HERE. 

#4: Velo Orange Utility Bar & Rack - May 18th, 2023:

This short little blurb about the Utility Bar and Rack drew an unprecedented amount of views. It is a bit of a mystery why that is, but as I said, it very well may be because of Velo Orange's pushing the post on their end. You can read the post HERE.

#3: Going Flat: Velo Orange Utility Bar & Utility Rack - May 10th, 2023:

This was the initial post on the Utility Bar and Rack which came out of my deciding to run the Karate Monkey as a flat bar bike again after many years of it being fitted with a drop bar. You can read this post HERE. 

#2:When Gravel Was Trying To Find Its Way, The Cross Check Helped It Get There - October 4th, 2023:

If it hadn't been for the top post of 2023, this would have been the #1 cycling related post of the year by a long shot. Surly Bikes decided to discontinue the venerable Cross Check model after a 24 year run. This post details why I think this bike deserves a place in the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame. You can read this post HERE. 

#1: The Six String Side: Roland Jazz Chorus JC40 Amplifier - January 14th, 2023:

A huge surprise to me, but this post took on a life of its own during 2023. The links back to that post must exist on some music/gear page because the post gains about 10 - 20 views per week, right up to this very time! Heck, maybe I oughta be a music gear reviewer. Ha! This amplifier was my 2022 Christmas gift and my 2023 Anniversary gift all rolled into one. I decided to write up the review thinking it might get a few looks. I hadn't ever dreamed that anyone would find that review and spread it to wherever it got linked at. You can read the amplifier review HERE. 

Comments: So I think this year's posts on this list were greatly affected by outside influences. It's hard for me to peel out those influences to see what you, the actual day-to-day blog readers really liked. That said, these posts listed here represent hit counts multiple times that of the average daily count here. Not all ten were driven up by algorithms, I wouldn't think, but perhaps they all were. 

At any rate, I assume that "real" people were looking at the blog and even with a conservative view to these numbers, the views were up from 2022. Noticeably higher counts on all the posts on the list, and most days on the blog, there were more people checking in. 

What will 2024 bring? Can the end of 19th year of the blog in May and the start of the 20th year measure up against the growth over the last several years? We will see.....

As always, thank you for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

Rear View 2023: 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 2024 near the end of the month. Enjoy the look back and thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!  

Note; Throughout December there will be a lot of double-post days. Scroll back to make sure you haven't missed anything!

Right off the bat it was time to go to Emporia, Kansas to do the whole Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame induction, and specifically, a "Hall of Fame  Ride" where some of us were going to ride out to meet another group that was riding in from Lawrence, Kansas. I took the pink BMC MCD bike, but more importantly, I took Mrs. Guitar Ted along with me. 

I almost never have mixed my "gravel life" with the rest of my life, but I thought that this would be a good time for Mrs. Guitar Ted to see why people have made such a fuss about me and have put me in a hall of fame. So, we traveled down there with the intentions that she could do some exploring and whatever on her own while I did this ride deal. then we'd go to the induction, the after-party, and then on home. the next day. 

But once again, plans never turn out the way that you think they will. There was a big storm on one of the nights out for the Lawerence cycling group, so they bailed on the plans to stay at a remote campground and came straight to Emporia. That meant we did not have to meet anyone to go on this ride. The itinerary changed to that of being more of a group ride with a short course South of the town. This may or may not have caused a certain chance meeting between old friends.

I never would have guessed that after a decade or more I'd meet Jeff Kerkove on Commercial Street in Emporia Kansas!

I ran into my co-conspirator in Trans Iowa, my old co-worker at the bike shop, and long-lost friend, Jeff Kerkove on the street in Emporia as he had decided to show up for the Hall of Fame Ride. He was in town for the upcoming demo and race happening that week and weekend. Of course, I am speaking of Unbound. 

And what is more, I actually got to ride with Jeff again, which hadn't happened in probably fifteen years or more. So, we actually had a nice chat, and it was great to reconnect with him after all this time, and especially over a gravel event. An event which we influenced the beginning of. Kind of surreal when I think about that.....

I also was a guest on the "Gravel Family Podcast"

Anyway, the evening was fun and I think Mrs. Guitar Ted had fun meeting all the gravel crazies. The next day we were thinking about breakfast and a trip home, but then I was offered the chance to be interviewed by the hosts of the "Gravel Family Podcast", so that happened. 

This was right on Commercial Street and it was beginning to become a scene due to all the hoopla surrounding Unbound. I wasn't sad to leave, I'll be honest, because that event has grown to become a beast. Just too big - too much. Not my bag. 

Anyway, we came back from there to a spat of rain, but then it was pretty much a month of wild fire smoke. Somehow I got a few rides in, when the air cleared out on rare occasions, but I know I missed a ton of riding opportunities due to the smoke.

Once July kicked into gear we had a round of rainy days again, and I was a bit put out because we had missed so much of the riding time we normally get due to the smoke, and now rain. But I shouldn't have been cross about it because it was the last good rains we got for the rest of the year. This drought has been brutal here and we still aren't out of it yet as I write this. 

Checking the air quality monitor was an everyday thing here for about a month or so.

 July went then to a very dry, dusty scene and riding commenced again as I had the opportunities. reviewing stuff was in high gear again, and I had a few plans for some bigger rides. Only one of which ever happened. One was thwarted when Mrs. Guitar Ted had a flat tire I needed to fix, but that was probably good, since it was about 100° that day anyway. The other one I had planned did happen. That was in August when I got back to doing the 2020 GTDR ride route again. 

Gathering bikes for the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective on a hot, smoky day.

The effects of the drought were severe. This was taken in late August near LaPorte City Iowa.

That attempt at the Guitar Ted Death Ride was a success but a modified one due to construction which sent me off-course and on to roads I was unfamiliar with. That actually made the ride more fun, to be honest. So, with 80+ miles there, that ride turned out to be the longest of 2023. 

I was hopeful that now that we had no wildfire smoke and the rains had ceased that I would get that last big ride in during September, but we will see how that panned out in the next Rear View.

Next: Fall

Rear View 2023: Top 12 Images Of 2023

 The 12 best images from the blog for 2023 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! 

The hoar frost was incredible for my birthday ride in January.

February: The Cedar River was clear of ice in February

Brown Season. March 2023

A large "controlled burn" occurred at the corner of Quarry Road and Aker during April 2023

May: A heavy carpet of fresh gravel South of Waterloo. May 2023.

Tama County gravel on a rare, free of wildfire smoke day in June 2023

July: Despite drought conditions, the wildflowers in July were awesome. Chickory seen here on Quarry Road

At the crack of dawn during the Guitar Ted Death Ride in August.

September 2023

Ben Morris joined me again for a gravel ride in October of 2023.

November: A meadow on the Washington-Union Access Trail during the Turkey Burn 2023.

Getting ready for Winter riding in December

Bonus: Jason Boucher's shot from our ride in September. Note the driver of the truck is waving at me.

That's a wrap on my best images from 2023. I hope that you enjoyed that. I will be snapping off images again throughout 2024 as long as I am able. I look forward to that. Stay tuned....

Rear View 2023: 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 2024 near the end of the month. Enjoy the look back and thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

 The beginning of April for the last decade-plus has been mostly marked by my participation in the Gents Race. The team I have been a part of has been participating in this event since 2011 and I have been on the ride every year with the exception of 2020. 

This is a great gravel event. I have loved it for years, and now it has become something of a reunion with regard to those guys that have been on the team all these years. I never see them unless it is at the Gents Race, and that is also true for many who are not on my team, but have entered this event along with me for many years. A "gathering of the tribe", if you will, and when it is over, I go my way and they all go theirs and maybe we'll see each other gain next time. Maybe not..... 

My teammates on the "Careless Whispers" team at the Gents Race in April.

Afterwards I was doing several gravel rides to get stuff reviewed and also to test out my brand new Singular Cycles Gryphon Mk3 which I had got together finally in March of this year. I was really very pleased with the bike and how it all came together. Which was a good thing since I bought the frame and fork sight unseen and waited a little over a year to get it! 

Getting the Gryphon out on the gravel was a highlight of my Spring.

Then it was on to getting ready to go to Emporia, Kansas again for the 2023 Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame induction and goings on. That will get covered in my next segment, but I was wanting to be in good shape for a ride which was planned and I wanted to take a few rides on my chosen bike, the pink BMC MCD. 

Portents of things to come. Lots of fresh gravel and dust. The ongoing drought in Iowa is still not over in December here.

The whole Spring time lead-up to the trip to Emporia was preceded by my swapping over the Karate Monkey to a flat bar set up. This was done to accommodate the review of the Velo Orange Utility Bar and Utility handlebar. After I got everything lined up for the bike, hand grips, a bag, some custom fabbed mounting hardware, I then had an errand to run with the bike. 

The Karate Monkey in flat bar mode on a gravelly errand.

The Gravel Cycling Hall of fame wanted each previous inductee to bring a jar of local gravel to eventually be put on display at wherever they end up getting a brick and mortar place to display stuff at. So, I rode out to the corner of Sage Road and Big Rock Road, which to me has always been a place of significance due to the "Big Rock". There I gathered my gravel and stowed it in the handle bar bag for the ride back home. 

I don't know why, but that moment was one of those "kind of a big deal" moments in my life. Here I was, a member of a "hall of fame", riding my first "gravel bike", and gathering that substance that helped get me into that hall in the first place. I stood there for a while and just took the moment in. 

It may not mean anything, but somehow, this was one of the highlights of 2023.

Next: Summer

Rear View 2023: The End 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 2024 near the end of the month. Enjoy the look back and thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

The year kicked off here with unusually cold and windy weather with plenty of snow around. I laid low while the Arctic blast lasted and wrote up my usual "State of the Gravel Scene" posts. 

Things were different as I had to put in time at work on Saturdays which I had started doing the previous year when I was hired at the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective. Which reminds me, January 2023 was the first January in three years that I had a steady income! 

Weather moderated and I actually got out on a ride or two in the country. Plans were formulating for my goals going into the year concerning riding, and writing up newsy bits was a big part of the blog early in the year. 

January also marked a change in the podcasting status. I had taken over the production and publishing duties regarding the old podcast back in late 2022, but in January of 2023 I made the clean break to having the show under my complete control and creative input. "The Guitar Ted Podcast" was announced and we ended up recording 35 episodes in 2023. That's a third of what my previous podcast put out in the span of its nine years of my involvement with it. The old ways of producing the show were clearly holding things up!

By the time of my birthday in January, we had more snow on the ground.

The Renegade Gents race, or as it is known now as - Gents Race - was on again and I started scheming up a plan to get ready for that event. Then it was time to announce the next class of the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame. I was proud to have served as one of the electors for the organization and as an inaugural inductee, the new class made my inclusion in the Hall even more meaningful.

Testing lights on the way home from work late in Winter.

Eventually the snow started melting and I started pushing to get out into the country again on gravel rides. I was a bit amazed by the low snow-pack and lack of towering drifts which are a normal occurrence during a typical Iowa Winter. But not this season! 

This was a portent for what was to come in 2023 as we experienced a severe drought and we reached "Exceptional" drought levels by late Summer.

Grinding out some early Spring miles in Southern Black Hawk County.

Essentially the first part of 2023 was fairly uneventful. I was pumping out podcasts with N.Y. Roll, getting some riding in, and working the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective part time. Things were going well with the job, and I had opportunities to pick up more hours, which helped out tremendously with finances, but the schedule was tripping me up and I was having a hard time wrapping my head around that. Trying to balance family, work, writing, and riding was all a new thing and a different balance than it had been. 

Of course, we were in constant upheaval for three years prior to this, and coming down off that roller coaster was presenting a new way of navigating life. I was not immune to that. Finding new balance with new challenges was demanding some changes be made. I was definitely making some of those. Both outwardly and behind the scenes.

Next: Rear View 2023: Spring