Project Wide Gravel Wheels v2: A Tire Swap & Impressions

 The last time I posted on the Project Wide Gravel Wheels v2 (PWGWv2) I mentioned that I wasn't all that impressed by the results I saw with a 700 X 42mm Resolute mounted up on the 30.5mm internal width Spank rims. I then made mention of possibly trying some wider tires, but not too wide, because if the tire I tried got much above 50mm in width, it wouldn't fit a gravel bike in my stable. The Black Mountain Cycles MCD actually being the only gravel bike that I own which I could even consider trying this idea. 

So, over the weekend I grabbed a set of Cannonball tires which I had tested for Riding Gravel and which are listed as 700 X 47mm in width. (Standard Disclaimer) I popped those onto the Spank rims easily with my newly resuscitated Topeak Joe Blow floor pump. The results were compared directly to the 700 X 47mm Rutland tires which I have mounted to some Spinergy GX wheels which have a 24mm internal rim width. The Cannonballs looked bigger and wider. Not by a little bit either.  

I measured the Cannonball tires on 24mm internal width rims during the Riding Gravel test and at that time they barely crossed the 49mm wide barrier. On the Spank rims? I measured these Cannonball tires out at 50.17mm in width. Whoa! Would they fit the Black Mountain Cycles MCD? I slapped on the rear tire first, because I knew that would be the deciding factor. 

It fit!

For dry use only! There isn't much clearance here!

So, now what? Well, an important factor which I detailed out in the last update on the PWGWv2, (go back to see that via the very first hyperlink in this post), was how a tire's profile can be altered by internal rim width. Too skinny or too wide is too much. How did the Cannonball look? On a 24mm internal width rim, the 700 X 47mm Cannonball was quite rounded. I felt that this was to the tire's detriment on looser surfaces. Now with the Cannonball tires on the 30.5mm internal rim width Spank rims, the profile of the tire is predictably flatter, since as the bead of each side of a tire casing gets further apart, the crown of the profile of the tire flattens out. This occurred beautifully on the Cannonball and I think it is an improvement in this instance. 

From Sunday's ride.

So, what about that Rutland in 47mm width? How do I think that would do? This tire tends to be a flatter crowned tire than the Cannonball, so my guess is that a 30.5mm internal rim width would be too much for that tire. It will flatten the crown profile even further, and that would only take away speed and to some extent, handling. 

My take away here is that the PWGWv2 is 'good' in very limited circumstances. It depends upon the tire used, and those tires have to be wider than 45mm. Also, I do not have the proper bicycle to explore the options that would, perhaps, make even more sense than the Cannonball tires do. I would need a bicycle rated for 29"er X 2.4" tires, minimum, to get everything out of these wheels that is there. At that point, these are not really "wide gravel wheels" anymore, so my conclusion from the last update holds true. 700c rims for gravel bikes probably should be in the 24mm-26mm range for internal rim widths so that they will work on gravel bikes using 700 X 38mm-45mm tires. Wider internal rim widths start to degrade a gravel tire's performance, especially on the lower end of the tire width spectrum, and on the wider end, tires may not fit frames anymore. 

Going forward, I plan on ride testing the PWGWv2 with these Cannonball tires and reporting back with a final word and plans for this wheel set's future. 

Project Wide Gravel Wheels v2: A Tire Swap & Impressions

 The last time I posted on the Project Wide Gravel Wheels v2 (PWGWv2) I mentioned that I wasn't all that impressed by the results I saw with a 700 X 42mm Resolute mounted up on the 30.5mm internal width Spank rims. I then made mention of possibly trying some wider tires, but not too wide, because if the tire I tried got much above 50mm in width, it wouldn't fit a gravel bike in my stable. The Black Mountain Cycles MCD actually being the only gravel bike that I own which I could even consider trying this idea. 

So, over the weekend I grabbed a set of Cannonball tires which I had tested for Riding Gravel and which are listed as 700 X 47mm in width. (Standard Disclaimer) I popped those onto the Spank rims easily with my newly resuscitated Topeak Joe Blow floor pump. The results were compared directly to the 700 X 47mm Rutland tires which I have mounted to some Spinergy GX wheels which have a 24mm internal rim width. The Cannonballs looked bigger and wider. Not by a little bit either.  

I measured the Cannonball tires on 24mm internal width rims during the Riding Gravel test and at that time they barely crossed the 49mm wide barrier. On the Spank rims? I measured these Cannonball tires out at 50.17mm in width. Whoa! Would they fit the Black Mountain Cycles MCD? I slapped on the rear tire first, because I knew that would be the deciding factor. 

It fit!

For dry use only! There isn't much clearance here!

So, now what? Well, an important factor which I detailed out in the last update on the PWGWv2, (go back to see that via the very first hyperlink in this post), was how a tire's profile can be altered by internal rim width. Too skinny or too wide is too much. How did the Cannonball look? On a 24mm internal width rim, the 700 X 47mm Cannonball was quite rounded. I felt that this was to the tire's detriment on looser surfaces. Now with the Cannonball tires on the 30.5mm internal rim width Spank rims, the profile of the tire is predictably flatter, since as the bead of each side of a tire casing gets further apart, the crown of the profile of the tire flattens out. This occurred beautifully on the Cannonball and I think it is an improvement in this instance. 

From Sunday's ride.

So, what about that Rutland in 47mm width? How do I think that would do? This tire tends to be a flatter crowned tire than the Cannonball, so my guess is that a 30.5mm internal rim width would be too much for that tire. It will flatten the crown profile even further, and that would only take away speed and to some extent, handling. 

My take away here is that the PWGWv2 is 'good' in very limited circumstances. It depends upon the tire used, and those tires have to be wider than 45mm. Also, I do not have the proper bicycle to explore the options that would, perhaps, make even more sense than the Cannonball tires do. I would need a bicycle rated for 29"er X 2.4" tires, minimum, to get everything out of these wheels that is there. At that point, these are not really "wide gravel wheels" anymore, so my conclusion from the last update holds true. 700c rims for gravel bikes probably should be in the 24mm-26mm range for internal rim widths so that they will work on gravel bikes using 700 X 38mm-45mm tires. Wider internal rim widths start to degrade a gravel tire's performance, especially on the lower end of the tire width spectrum, and on the wider end, tires may not fit frames anymore. 

Going forward, I plan on ride testing the PWGWv2 with these Cannonball tires and reporting back with a final word and plans for this wheel set's future. 

Project Wide Gravel Wheels v2: Update

 Okay, it's been a while since my last update and I wanted to bring this up to speed with those who may have been wondering what is up on the PWGWv2 thing. My last update was directly after I got the wheels built and tires mounted which you can go back and see if you want by clicking this link. 

First off- a correction: I mentioned that the Resolute tires looked narrower than the ones on my Spinergy GX wheels. Well, that was because those tires on the Spinergy wheels were NOT Resolutes! They are the very similar looking Teravail Rutland 700 X 47mm tires! Those were covered in gravel dust and so I didn't see the patch on the side wall telling me they weren't WTB tires. My bad. Sorry for any confusion that may have caused. 

Secondly, the Resolutes I put on the Spank rims went on with much difficulty. Not so much in the initial mounting, but in seating the bead into the bead socket of the rim. See, Spank uses a sort of serrated bead socket designed to hold the tire there when you choose to ride with low pressures. That in turn makes the bead not want to sit into the side of the bead socket so well. I had a devil of a time seating the tire correctly, and since then I have noted something else which I believe is related to that rim's bead socket feature. 

The Resolutes now measure at right at about 45mm. A full 3mm wider than they should. At first, that was not the case. They measured around 43+mm. I think the beads are now pushed outward all the way and that in turn has given me the results I was hoping for here. Anyway, I still haven't ridden the dang things yet! 

That's because I have had a few other things in the hopper to do first. And....it may be a while before I get to this. Gravel Worlds has taken priority now and doing anything else with wheels and tires is off the radar for the time being. But that said, I have gotten the front hub converted to 12mm through axle and these wheels are ready to go right now. I'll be getting them ridden as soon as I can. 

I'll likely also be swapping over the Teravail 47mm tires at some point to see what these rims do to those tires, and afterward if they will fit anything I own! The only bike that has a chance is the Black Mountain Cycles MCD, I reckon. So, stay tuned! More on this project will be coming soon and after many miles, an analysis of what I think about such a wide rim on a gravel bike.

Project Wide Gravel Wheels v2: Update

 Okay, it's been a while since my last update and I wanted to bring this up to speed with those who may have been wondering what is up on the PWGWv2 thing. My last update was directly after I got the wheels built and tires mounted which you can go back and see if you want by clicking this link. 

First off- a correction: I mentioned that the Resolute tires looked narrower than the ones on my Spinergy GX wheels. Well, that was because those tires on the Spinergy wheels were NOT Resolutes! They are the very similar looking Teravail Rutland 700 X 47mm tires! Those were covered in gravel dust and so I didn't see the patch on the side wall telling me they weren't WTB tires. My bad. Sorry for any confusion that may have caused. 

Secondly, the Resolutes I put on the Spank rims went on with much difficulty. Not so much in the initial mounting, but in seating the bead into the bead socket of the rim. See, Spank uses a sort of serrated bead socket designed to hold the tire there when you choose to ride with low pressures. That in turn makes the bead not want to sit into the side of the bead socket so well. I had a devil of a time seating the tire correctly, and since then I have noted something else which I believe is related to that rim's bead socket feature. 

The Resolutes now measure at right at about 45mm. A full 3mm wider than they should. At first, that was not the case. They measured around 43+mm. I think the beads are now pushed outward all the way and that in turn has given me the results I was hoping for here. Anyway, I still haven't ridden the dang things yet! 

That's because I have had a few other things in the hopper to do first. And....it may be a while before I get to this. Gravel Worlds has taken priority now and doing anything else with wheels and tires is off the radar for the time being. But that said, I have gotten the front hub converted to 12mm through axle and these wheels are ready to go right now. I'll be getting them ridden as soon as I can. 

I'll likely also be swapping over the Teravail 47mm tires at some point to see what these rims do to those tires, and afterward if they will fit anything I own! The only bike that has a chance is the Black Mountain Cycles MCD, I reckon. So, stay tuned! More on this project will be coming soon and after many miles, an analysis of what I think about such a wide rim on a gravel bike.

Country Views: Hero Gravel

Escape Route: Burton Avenue North.

 How does the saying go again? If March comes in like a lamb it is supposed to go out like a lion? Something along those lines. I must say- if the beginning of March is any indication of how the end of the month will be, the end is going to be bad! Seriously. The beginning of March has been stellar. The best I can remember. 

And the gravel roads- so far- have held up on that end as well. "Hero Gravel", is what we coined it years ago now. That comes from the old mountain biker descriptor for primo dirt conditions. Conditions so smooth and tacky that anyone could corner like a hero. Thus "hero dirt". Ah......anyway......

The day was spectacular, blue skies for miles, maybe a breeze from the Southeast, but it was no big deal, really. The roads- wow! So fast and smooth it was like pavement. Maybe a few potholes and ripple-like bumps here and there, but this was the smoothest I've seen the roads in a long time. Dry too! Really dry. A very unusual start to the riding season. So good that I keep wondering when it will all go to pot and we will get slapped back into reality again. I'm sure that day is coming! 

So, it was way up into the 40's again, and we've seen the snow get burned off by the high-riding Sun so fast that I can no longer in good conscious call this "Winter" anymore, so I broke out the first use of "Country Views" for 2021. Unless March goes out like a lion and we see a return to Winter, it'll be "Country Views" until Fall. 

 

Just North of Waterloo on Burton Avenue. These shrubs are blushing red against the leftover snow.

Burton eventually turns into a gravel road. This is "hero gravel" and it was like this for miles.

This time I was on the pink MCD from Black Mountain Cycles. It has those bars on it now that I am testing that I can't say anything about yet. Very soon..... Stay tuned. Anyway, the MCD has those big 700 X 47mm Teravail Rutlands on there now which I like. I figured that I'd need a wide, higher volume tire to deal with the mucky, soft post-Winter conditions, but so far I have not needed that characteristic of the big Rutlands. Nor have I really needed the fenders. I mean- it's nice to not have to worry about water spray, but I could have navigated what I've had to deal with, so far, without fenders. 

Like I said- every road was like this. Total hero gravel.

 

Rare tree lined gravel just North of Cedar Falls on Mount Vernon Road.

 

I had to stop for a 'nature break' and that always is a logistical nightmare on the prairies when the crops are gone. Well, I finally found a suitable spot near where a high-tension electrical wire went across the road. As I stood there to relieve myself, I could hear a faint, low frequency humming. It was coming from the pole holding the wires up near me. After I finished, I ventured over to the pole carefully and leaned in to put my ear as near to the wooden pole as I dared without touching it. I could distinctly hear the tones, and then I noticed that the entire pole was vibrating when I touched it with my gloved hand. Crazy! 

Anyway, I got going again and I eventually went West on Bennington Road over to Leversee Road and South to Mount Vernon Road. My aim was to get into Cedar Falls and maybe visit Andy at the shop. Then I could tool on over to where I live through the cities. My way back into Cedar Falls was going to be on this little known chunk of gravel called Strayer Road. Well, unfortunately the city or county must have chip sealed that road in 2020. Too bad! Another gravel road lost.......

Other than that bummer, it was a great ride.

Country Views: Hero Gravel

Escape Route: Burton Avenue North.

 How does the saying go again? If March comes in like a lamb it is supposed to go out like a lion? Something along those lines. I must say- if the beginning of March is any indication of how the end of the month will be, the end is going to be bad! Seriously. The beginning of March has been stellar. The best I can remember. 

And the gravel roads- so far- have held up on that end as well. "Hero Gravel", is what we coined it years ago now. That comes from the old mountain biker descriptor for primo dirt conditions. Conditions so smooth and tacky that anyone could corner like a hero. Thus "hero dirt". Ah......anyway......

The day was spectacular, blue skies for miles, maybe a breeze from the Southeast, but it was no big deal, really. The roads- wow! So fast and smooth it was like pavement. Maybe a few potholes and ripple-like bumps here and there, but this was the smoothest I've seen the roads in a long time. Dry too! Really dry. A very unusual start to the riding season. So good that I keep wondering when it will all go to pot and we will get slapped back into reality again. I'm sure that day is coming! 

So, it was way up into the 40's again, and we've seen the snow get burned off by the high-riding Sun so fast that I can no longer in good conscious call this "Winter" anymore, so I broke out the first use of "Country Views" for 2021. Unless March goes out like a lion and we see a return to Winter, it'll be "Country Views" until Fall. 

 

Just North of Waterloo on Burton Avenue. These shrubs are blushing red against the leftover snow.

Burton eventually turns into a gravel road. This is "hero gravel" and it was like this for miles.

This time I was on the pink MCD from Black Mountain Cycles. It has those bars on it now that I am testing that I can't say anything about yet. Very soon..... Stay tuned. Anyway, the MCD has those big 700 X 47mm Teravail Rutlands on there now which I like. I figured that I'd need a wide, higher volume tire to deal with the mucky, soft post-Winter conditions, but so far I have not needed that characteristic of the big Rutlands. Nor have I really needed the fenders. I mean- it's nice to not have to worry about water spray, but I could have navigated what I've had to deal with, so far, without fenders. 

Like I said- every road was like this. Total hero gravel.

 

Rare tree lined gravel just North of Cedar Falls on Mount Vernon Road.

 

I had to stop for a 'nature break' and that always is a logistical nightmare on the prairies when the crops are gone. Well, I finally found a suitable spot near where a high-tension electrical wire went across the road. As I stood there to relieve myself, I could hear a faint, low frequency humming. It was coming from the pole holding the wires up near me. After I finished, I ventured over to the pole carefully and leaned in to put my ear as near to the wooden pole as I dared without touching it. I could distinctly hear the tones, and then I noticed that the entire pole was vibrating when I touched it with my gloved hand. Crazy! 

Anyway, I got going again and I eventually went West on Bennington Road over to Leversee Road and South to Mount Vernon Road. My aim was to get into Cedar Falls and maybe visit Andy at the shop. Then I could tool on over to where I live through the cities. My way back into Cedar Falls was going to be on this little known chunk of gravel called Strayer Road. Well, unfortunately the city or county must have chip sealed that road in 2020. Too bad! Another gravel road lost.......

Other than that bummer, it was a great ride.

Country Views: Knee High Corn

The river is high!

Wednesday started out beautifully. It was cool, for July, and not very humid. The Sun was riding high in the sky, and the wind wasn't too bad either. To add to that, I was weary of The World. My soul was spent and I couldn't look at all the ugliness anymore. So, it was time to get outta the city and into the country. I was hoping to get recharged a bit.

I'm not one that can handle a lot of stressful stuff, and I've already mentioned that big city life isn't for me. Heck, even where I live is almost more than I can handle many days. Again- I admire anyone that can deal with big urban areas and even more so if you can handle what is happening these days with grace. I'm overwhelmed by it all. I needed to unplug for a bit. So, I figured why not bag some more roads in my quest to ride every gravel road in Black Hawk County? I stared at a map to get things burned into my brain, and by 10:00am I was on my bike and gone.

I decided to use the Black Mountain Cycles MCD since it was the bike set up with the Teravail Rutland 700c X 47mm tires I am testing for RidingGravel.com. The route I had intended on using took me along the Cedar River via bike paths. Since we had over 4" of rain the other day, everything is getting flooded if it lies low enough, or if it is a waterway. I didn't know the lay of the land where I was heading, so I knew there was a possibility for me to have to truncate my route. It almost happened going out on the bike path! The river was so high that many bridge under-passes were blocked, but fortunately I got through other ways. That was good and eventually I found myself on the outskirts of Evansdale, Iowa looking for a turn-off from the old four lane Highway 20 route.

This is a shoulder, or a gravel road with a pesky paved side path, depending upon your outlook. 

A new-to-me gravel road named Conrad Road. It probably is going to end up getting paved soon.

The first thing I needed to do was find my way to Conrad Road, which is a little over a mile long. It is just Northeast of Evansdale and when I reached it, I saw that there are signs this road is getting paved soon. There were bright, shiny fire hydrants at regular intervals in the South ditch, which tells me that this strip of land between Conrad Road and the old highway is getting developed into housing soon. Bummer! There are already some residents living out there. I cannot imagine that trading their peaceful rural existence for pavement and housing crammed into small lots is going to be an "improvement", but what-ev's. Follow the money. It is all about land developers and property taxes these days. Damn the rich farmland, Nature, and Peacefulness to hell, I guess. Sad!

The corn will be replaced with those roofs in the distance and a lot of pavement soon, I'm betting.

Barns for Jason #1

Conrad Road petered out on a paved road which I was obliged to ride on the shoulder of to Osage Road and then Eastward. This was all new to me. I recall years ago, before Osage Road was paved from the West out to this intersection, that it was gravel, and I got caught out on it riding a road bike. I ended up pinch-flatting that day. Once I reached this intersection with the North-South blacktop I remember being soooo relieved! Ha! Now I avoid pavement at all costs and relish the chance to see any gravel road I can by bicycle. How things have changed for me over the years!

Barns for Jason #2

Barns for Jason #3

Osage Road was pretty fast! The gravel had been beaten down to a point that it totally reminded me of Southeastern Minnesota roads. Sandy-ish and gritty. The hills were really gentle too, and I had a decent tailwind. Of course, I felt like a hero going East. That lasted until I had to turn South where Osage Road went back to pavement just before that road ran Eastward out of Black Hawk County and to the town of Jesup.

I did note that the corn was knee-high or taller out this way already. Pretty incredible when I think about how corn just South of town was barely canopied last weekend. Of course, it is entirely possible that corn is also knee-high by now. This hybrid, genetically modified corn grows so fast it is unbelievable.

Barns for Jason #4- The Old and The New

Barns for Jason #5

Once I reached the end of Osage Road, it was South on South Holgate Road to Dubuque Road where the next gravel south was offset from Holgate to the West just a bit and called Garling Road instead. I have to say that Black Hawk County might possibly have the most complicated naming scheme for roads of any county in the State of Iowa. Many are named after notable pioneers of the area, so they have historical significance, but keeping these all straight if you are an emergency responder must be difficult.

For instance, Garling Road dumps you out on an East-West gravel road alternately called Birdland Drive and Young Road. It's marked "Young Road" on the signage out in the country, but maps carry both names. I have no idea what the story is on that. At any rate, I went East to where the gravel truncates and turns to pavement a couple miles outside of Jesup, Iowa, and then I doubled back for the final gravel run-in to the city.

Wild day lilies are starting to pop in the ditches now.

A fat cow wades in some flooded pasture alongside Young Road.

Of course, there are all kinds of truncated roads and stubs of roads out here that I'll have to come back and tediously go back and forth over to get them "bagged" on my quest to ride all the gravel in the county. So, I'll be back out this way again soon, I hope. It actually is a decent little loop, and it isn't all that difficult to get out this way in reality.

Barns for Jason #'s 6,7, and 8.

Leaning against a gated Level C road looking West up Young Road

By the time I was heading back West, the wind had come up and the clouds with it. There was rain brewing, and I knew that the forecast had said that around 2:00pm it was supposed to be kicking in. That's the big reason why I couldn't be messing around bagging bits of road Wednesday. I just headed as fast as I could against that wind back towards the city.

I'll be back out this way again soon. Stay tuned......

Country Views: Knee High Corn

The river is high!

Wednesday started out beautifully. It was cool, for July, and not very humid. The Sun was riding high in the sky, and the wind wasn't too bad either. To add to that, I was weary of The World. My soul was spent and I couldn't look at all the ugliness anymore. So, it was time to get outta the city and into the country. I was hoping to get recharged a bit.

I'm not one that can handle a lot of stressful stuff, and I've already mentioned that big city life isn't for me. Heck, even where I live is almost more than I can handle many days. Again- I admire anyone that can deal with big urban areas and even more so if you can handle what is happening these days with grace. I'm overwhelmed by it all. I needed to unplug for a bit. So, I figured why not bag some more roads in my quest to ride every gravel road in Black Hawk County? I stared at a map to get things burned into my brain, and by 10:00am I was on my bike and gone.

I decided to use the Black Mountain Cycles MCD since it was the bike set up with the Teravail Rutland 700c X 47mm tires I am testing for RidingGravel.com. The route I had intended on using took me along the Cedar River via bike paths. Since we had over 4" of rain the other day, everything is getting flooded if it lies low enough, or if it is a waterway. I didn't know the lay of the land where I was heading, so I knew there was a possibility for me to have to truncate my route. It almost happened going out on the bike path! The river was so high that many bridge under-passes were blocked, but fortunately I got through other ways. That was good and eventually I found myself on the outskirts of Evansdale, Iowa looking for a turn-off from the old four lane Highway 20 route.

This is a shoulder, or a gravel road with a pesky paved side path, depending upon your outlook. 

A new-to-me gravel road named Conrad Road. It probably is going to end up getting paved soon.

The first thing I needed to do was find my way to Conrad Road, which is a little over a mile long. It is just Northeast of Evansdale and when I reached it, I saw that there are signs this road is getting paved soon. There were bright, shiny fire hydrants at regular intervals in the South ditch, which tells me that this strip of land between Conrad Road and the old highway is getting developed into housing soon. Bummer! There are already some residents living out there. I cannot imagine that trading their peaceful rural existence for pavement and housing crammed into small lots is going to be an "improvement", but what-ev's. Follow the money. It is all about land developers and property taxes these days. Damn the rich farmland, Nature, and Peacefulness to hell, I guess. Sad!

The corn will be replaced with those roofs in the distance and a lot of pavement soon, I'm betting.

Barns for Jason #1

Conrad Road petered out on a paved road which I was obliged to ride on the shoulder of to Osage Road and then Eastward. This was all new to me. I recall years ago, before Osage Road was paved from the West out to this intersection, that it was gravel, and I got caught out on it riding a road bike. I ended up pinch-flatting that day. Once I reached this intersection with the North-South blacktop I remember being soooo relieved! Ha! Now I avoid pavement at all costs and relish the chance to see any gravel road I can by bicycle. How things have changed for me over the years!

Barns for Jason #2

Barns for Jason #3

Osage Road was pretty fast! The gravel had been beaten down to a point that it totally reminded me of Southeastern Minnesota roads. Sandy-ish and gritty. The hills were really gentle too, and I had a decent tailwind. Of course, I felt like a hero going East. That lasted until I had to turn South where Osage Road went back to pavement just before that road ran Eastward out of Black Hawk County and to the town of Jesup.

I did note that the corn was knee-high or taller out this way already. Pretty incredible when I think about how corn just South of town was barely canopied last weekend. Of course, it is entirely possible that corn is also knee-high by now. This hybrid, genetically modified corn grows so fast it is unbelievable.

Barns for Jason #4- The Old and The New

Barns for Jason #5

Once I reached the end of Osage Road, it was South on South Holgate Road to Dubuque Road where the next gravel south was offset from Holgate to the West just a bit and called Garling Road instead. I have to say that Black Hawk County might possibly have the most complicated naming scheme for roads of any county in the State of Iowa. Many are named after notable pioneers of the area, so they have historical significance, but keeping these all straight if you are an emergency responder must be difficult.

For instance, Garling Road dumps you out on an East-West gravel road alternately called Birdland Drive and Young Road. It's marked "Young Road" on the signage out in the country, but maps carry both names. I have no idea what the story is on that. At any rate, I went East to where the gravel truncates and turns to pavement a couple miles outside of Jesup, Iowa, and then I doubled back for the final gravel run-in to the city.

Wild day lilies are starting to pop in the ditches now.

A fat cow wades in some flooded pasture alongside Young Road.

Of course, there are all kinds of truncated roads and stubs of roads out here that I'll have to come back and tediously go back and forth over to get them "bagged" on my quest to ride all the gravel in the county. So, I'll be back out this way again soon, I hope. It actually is a decent little loop, and it isn't all that difficult to get out this way in reality.

Barns for Jason #'s 6,7, and 8.

Leaning against a gated Level C road looking West up Young Road

By the time I was heading back West, the wind had come up and the clouds with it. There was rain brewing, and I knew that the forecast had said that around 2:00pm it was supposed to be kicking in. That's the big reason why I couldn't be messing around bagging bits of road Wednesday. I just headed as fast as I could against that wind back towards the city.

I'll be back out this way again soon. Stay tuned......

Saturday News And Views

New 520% range SRAM Eagle

A rare SN&V featuring some late-breaking news that didn't fit into the FN&V. Enjoy!

SRAM Announces Tweaked Eagle With Wider Range:

SRAM tweaked its flagship Eagle offerings and debuted them Thursday of this past week. Now with an increase to a 52T rear cog, the claimed range overall for the cassette is a whopping 520%.

First impression? That looks like a Mega-Range cassette cog slapped onto a 10-42T 11 speed cassette. And.......that's pretty much what it is. That's marketing, and marketing is what SRAM is all about. They win on that front everytime. But keep in mind, this is a 10 tooth jump to that 52T cog. SRAM had to do some engineering to get that to work, because they had reached the physical limitations of their old design for rear derailleurs.

Chain wrap has never been great on SRAM mtb groups. Once rear cog sizes swelled to above 42T, their way of doing the upper jockey wheel to cassette cog clearance was not working well. Mechanics complained about how the system was finicky, consumers complained about not being able to do certain things they used to be able to do with older drive trains. (Back pedaling being the main one) Part of that is the nature of 1X, but SRAM design was also at fault.

So, SRAM addressed this by altering the rear derailleur geometry so that the derailleur wraps the chain more around the bigger cogs. They also reduced the distance of the upper jockey wheel to the larger rings. This should have the effect of producing a more stable drive train, smoother low gear shifts, and keep the chain on if you back pedal. Note- it should do these things. 

There still is that massive 10 tooth jump from the 42T to the 52T. That's going to be a challenge under tension. That chain line with a wrapped chain in the bigger cogs should also prove to be strange in other ways. Wear for one. I'll be interested to see one of these in the future.

A 'one-and-done'? Possibly.....

Iowa's Ride Director Abandons Ship For Arizona Ride:

Last year a big shocker concerning former RAGBRAI director, T.J. Juskiewicz, happened when T.J. and his crew left RAGBRAI to form a competing ride dubbed "Iowa's Ride". This left a sort of 'civil war' between groups raging as to which ride to do, because at first these rides were to happen simultaneously. Then cooler heads ruled the day when Iowa's Ride decided to move to the week before RAGBRAI and an uneasy truce was struck between the competing rides. Of course, the COVID-19 deal threw a wrench in everyone's plans when both rides ended up being cancelled for 2020.

Now a new bombshell. On Thursday, an article appearing on the "Little Village" site, a news source for the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids region, stated that T.J. Juskiewicz had resigned from Iowa's Ride to take a position as executive director of El Tour de Tucson, as reported in the "Arizona Star", a major morning news paper serving Tuscon and the surrounding area.

It was not clear what the future of Iowa's Ride might be after 2021, but Juskiewicz did allude to the ride being held next Summer and said he planned on being there to do it in Iowa on the originally proposed route.

Comments: With '2020 Is Cancelled' dealing a blow to the as-yet-to-be-ridden Iowa's Ride, and RAGBRAI holding the 'tradition card', all this hullabaloo is not helping Iowa's Ride, nor its credibility, which was largely on the shoulders of Mr. Juskiewicz. One has to wonder if Iowa's Ride will happen at all now. And the future? Yeah..... I suppose anything is possible, but with the pandemic still unchecked and with a future unknown, does any of this even matter? Hard to say.....

Teravail Rutlands in 700c X 47mm size.

Poofy Tires Are Fun!

I think it was Steve Fuller who said something to the effect that a 38mm wide tire for gravel used to be considered big, but now anything below 42-43mm is too small. He mentioned 700c X 45mm as being 'normal' size for gravel travel now. We were musing on tires during our ride last weekend.

It is that way, isn't it? When you find the joy in riding a bigger volume tire, preferably tubeless, at a decent, low-ish pressure, well, it is awful hard to convince yourself that going narrower is better, and of course- it isn't better. It certainly isn't more fun! That's for sure.

But getting yourself to allow for the possibilities of 'wider is better' is not easy. I remember when WTB introduced the Riddler at 45mm wide and I thought, "Wow! That's maybe too big!" And now I look at that tire and shrug my shoulders. "No biggie!". Just an average tire these days. Isn't that odd?

So when I heard about Teravail's 700 X 47mm offerings, well.....I had to try that out! And now that I have, just a wee bit, I have to say, "Man! Those are sweet tires to ride!" The cushy width, the fast speed, and the more capable volume of those tires is amazing. And they are really fast. It isn't just me talking. I proved it on my roll-out test Thursday, into a head wind, and they out rolled several narrower tires I have tried. Impressive!

These wider tires are really getting quite good, and that is addictive. I just cannot see myself riding 40's, or even anything narrower anymore. Why? They ride worse and are not as stable. I'm with Steve on this matter. Wider, higher volume tires are just plain more fun.

Saturday News And Views

New 520% range SRAM Eagle

A rare SN&V featuring some late-breaking news that didn't fit into the FN&V. Enjoy!

SRAM Announces Tweaked Eagle With Wider Range:

SRAM tweaked its flagship Eagle offerings and debuted them Thursday of this past week. Now with an increase to a 52T rear cog, the claimed range overall for the cassette is a whopping 520%.

First impression? That looks like a Mega-Range cassette cog slapped onto a 10-42T 11 speed cassette. And.......that's pretty much what it is. That's marketing, and marketing is what SRAM is all about. They win on that front everytime. But keep in mind, this is a 10 tooth jump to that 52T cog. SRAM had to do some engineering to get that to work, because they had reached the physical limitations of their old design for rear derailleurs.

Chain wrap has never been great on SRAM mtb groups. Once rear cog sizes swelled to above 42T, their way of doing the upper jockey wheel to cassette cog clearance was not working well. Mechanics complained about how the system was finicky, consumers complained about not being able to do certain things they used to be able to do with older drive trains. (Back pedaling being the main one) Part of that is the nature of 1X, but SRAM design was also at fault.

So, SRAM addressed this by altering the rear derailleur geometry so that the derailleur wraps the chain more around the bigger cogs. They also reduced the distance of the upper jockey wheel to the larger rings. This should have the effect of producing a more stable drive train, smoother low gear shifts, and keep the chain on if you back pedal. Note- it should do these things. 

There still is that massive 10 tooth jump from the 42T to the 52T. That's going to be a challenge under tension. That chain line with a wrapped chain in the bigger cogs should also prove to be strange in other ways. Wear for one. I'll be interested to see one of these in the future.

A 'one-and-done'? Possibly.....

Iowa's Ride Director Abandons Ship For Arizona Ride:

Last year a big shocker concerning former RAGBRAI director, T.J. Juskiewicz, happened when T.J. and his crew left RAGBRAI to form a competing ride dubbed "Iowa's Ride". This left a sort of 'civil war' between groups raging as to which ride to do, because at first these rides were to happen simultaneously. Then cooler heads ruled the day when Iowa's Ride decided to move to the week before RAGBRAI and an uneasy truce was struck between the competing rides. Of course, the COVID-19 deal threw a wrench in everyone's plans when both rides ended up being cancelled for 2020.

Now a new bombshell. On Thursday, an article appearing on the "Little Village" site, a news source for the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids region, stated that T.J. Juskiewicz had resigned from Iowa's Ride to take a position as executive director of El Tour de Tucson, as reported in the "Arizona Star", a major morning news paper serving Tuscon and the surrounding area.

It was not clear what the future of Iowa's Ride might be after 2021, but Juskiewicz did allude to the ride being held next Summer and said he planned on being there to do it in Iowa on the originally proposed route.

Comments: With '2020 Is Cancelled' dealing a blow to the as-yet-to-be-ridden Iowa's Ride, and RAGBRAI holding the 'tradition card', all this hullabaloo is not helping Iowa's Ride, nor its credibility, which was largely on the shoulders of Mr. Juskiewicz. One has to wonder if Iowa's Ride will happen at all now. And the future? Yeah..... I suppose anything is possible, but with the pandemic still unchecked and with a future unknown, does any of this even matter? Hard to say.....

Teravail Rutlands in 700c X 47mm size.

Poofy Tires Are Fun!

I think it was Steve Fuller who said something to the effect that a 38mm wide tire for gravel used to be considered big, but now anything below 42-43mm is too small. He mentioned 700c X 45mm as being 'normal' size for gravel travel now. We were musing on tires during our ride last weekend.

It is that way, isn't it? When you find the joy in riding a bigger volume tire, preferably tubeless, at a decent, low-ish pressure, well, it is awful hard to convince yourself that going narrower is better, and of course- it isn't better. It certainly isn't more fun! That's for sure.

But getting yourself to allow for the possibilities of 'wider is better' is not easy. I remember when WTB introduced the Riddler at 45mm wide and I thought, "Wow! That's maybe too big!" And now I look at that tire and shrug my shoulders. "No biggie!". Just an average tire these days. Isn't that odd?

So when I heard about Teravail's 700 X 47mm offerings, well.....I had to try that out! And now that I have, just a wee bit, I have to say, "Man! Those are sweet tires to ride!" The cushy width, the fast speed, and the more capable volume of those tires is amazing. And they are really fast. It isn't just me talking. I proved it on my roll-out test Thursday, into a head wind, and they out rolled several narrower tires I have tried. Impressive!

These wider tires are really getting quite good, and that is addictive. I just cannot see myself riding 40's, or even anything narrower anymore. Why? They ride worse and are not as stable. I'm with Steve on this matter. Wider, higher volume tires are just plain more fun.