Gear Review From The TITRR & Final Thoughts

With the outcome of my ride so heavily influenced by weather and my fitness level, it may not make a lot of sense to delve into the gear, on the surface of it. However; I wanted to look at what I used and give my opinion on how it worked, and what could I have done better or worse.

I'll also give a few final thoughts on the matter of the Tree In The Road Ride. Then I'll move along to other things.

Okay, so let's dig in. My first thoughts were about the bike. I used the Singular Gryphon Mk3. This was, by far, it's biggest ride I've done on it so far. "Big" as in the level of importance and the difficulty level of the ride, which was pretty "big",in my opinion. 

I chose the Gryphon because MG wanted to see it, on the one hand, but I had my reasons for why I thought this bike would be a great choice. First of all, I knew it would be a comfortable bike, and not just because of the poofy, 29 X 2.8" Teravail tires. I had put the rare Luxy Bar on it, which is the friendliest bar for my upper body there is, I put Redshift Sports Cruise Control grips on the bar, furthering its potential for comfort.

The cherry on top of all this was the Redshift Sports ShockStop stem. With the front end addressed, I went with some tried and mostly true seating components. First up, I used a titanium Salsa Cycles Regulator seat post. These are strong enough, but not so stiff, and this combination is perfect on gravel. Some carbon posts are nice, yes, but when you want something that likely will not break, titanium is a good choice. Suspension seat posts are okay, but almost every one I try has too much give, and honestly, it drives me nuts after a while, so they come off and the titanium post goes back on.

The saddle was the Brooks Cambium, and usually those are "okay" with me. I was going to tilt the nose down slightly before the ride, but you know you should never mess with your saddle right before a big ride, right? So I didn't. With these bits I was pretty convinced I'd be alright. 

And in practice I could not have been happier. Everything worked really well. In the future I would try that saddle tilt, and maybe a new, zero-offset titanium seat post. The reach on this bike is juussst a bit much yet. 

The gearing was spot-on. I never wanted a deeper gear, and the front derailleur worked great. I did drop the chain once, so I could maybe add a chain watcher or look at my derailleur stop and adjust this bit again.

Despite my running a 3 X 9 speed set up, which would be considered antique by today's standards, I can say I would not go back to a 1X on this bike, since this is what the Singular is designed to have. Call me crazy, but the wonky chain line in lower gears on 1X set ups is something I do not like the feel of while riding.

If I could, I think I'd get a shorter crank arm length than the 175mm arms on the Gryphon currently. My thinking is that 170mm cranks would work a bit better.

The wheels were fine, and the big tires were stable and grippy, but I cannot help but feel these were overkill and that the weight of this assembly was unnecessarily heavy for such a climb-heavy course. I probably will think long and hard about getting a separate, lighter wheel set with lighter, narrower tires mounted on it for a ride like we did Saturday. Or......just choose another bike I have. 

The Black Mountain Cycles MCD would have probably been my alternative here. I have an XTR 11-40T 11 speed cassette I could have used with it's Spinergy wheel set which would have made the climbs fine and the bike would have been lighter. The wheel set has 700 X 50 WTB Resolutes on it as well, so grip should have bee good also.

I also could have shoe-horned in one of my carbon wheel sets for an even lighter alternative. Then another way I could have gone was with my Fargo Gen I.

The trouble there would be that it is still almost as heavy as the Gryphon and I have 180mm cranks on it as an experiment! I do have a fairly light wheel set for it, but I just don't have time to swap everything around on that bike just for one ride.

Finally, I could have brought my lightest bike, the Noble GX5, but being a 1X, the gearing is limited unless I convert to a mullet set-up using a lot lower geared cassette. Again, a lot of faffing around for one ride. So, the Gryphon, while not being the lightest choice, had the gearing and the comfort bits covered. 

In terms of my kit I was completely satisfied. I wore an old Showers Pass wool "shirt"/jersey thing which they no longer offer, sadly. Mine is about due for the bin soon and I cannot find anything like it with real rear jersey pockets and a loose fitting cut to it. Underneath was a base layer from Endura. I wore some lightweight, Summer season GORE bibs, and those were perfect. The Mint socks and Shimano shoes were great, along with my bandana and new Trek Circuit helmet.

The Wahoo Elemnt ROAM was a curse and a blessing. Maybe it is me. Maybe not, because others were experiencing GPS issues also. But when Life throws a curve ball into your route out of the gate, (a freight train, in this instance), and the GPS goes berserk, and it gets worse from there? Yeah..... I'm still not impressed with turn-by-turn functionality.

However; I did like the Climb notification and how the climb was broken down on the screen for me. This is a help, and knowing what to expect helped me meter out effort in a way I was not able to do without a GPS unit with this feature. So, on a ride like this, where climbing was a seemingly constant thing, I appreciated the Wahoo.

If I could criticize the Climb feature at all it would be when I was on a climb it did not recognize for whatever reason. There were more than a few where I felt I could have used the feature and it was not automatically popping up on screen for me.

Another annoyance was the way the Wahoo was always on the turn-by-turn map screen and would not show me time of day, mileage total, or elevation. I probably could have switched over to a different page for this, but I was not willing to mess with the unit thinking I'd best leave well enough alone. I still like having the Wahoo over anything else I've yet tried, but this thing is far from perfect. 

Final Thoughts on the Tree In The Road Ride:

I had been looking forward to this ride for months and thanks to N.Y. Roll, it was something that came true for me. Without his assistance and care, I would not have ever had a chance at getting out of town for any kind of a ride. So, thanks to N.Y. Roll, this was a success.

My son's health issues and my wife having car trouble over 200 miles from home on Friday nearly derailed this ride for me. I am glad neither thing did, and both things seem to be either resolved, or on their way to being so. But that was close! 

We had a bad draw on weather. The only thing which could have been worse would have been severe storms and rain. But you cannot choose your weather, so it was what we had to work with.

Then also I could have been in better shape, but as it turned out, I think a few of the others, at least, were happy the route was cut short. So, while I have some disappointment in my self, and in not completing the planned route, I am somewhat consoled by  how others were seemingly satisfied.

I was so glad I finally had the chance to ride in this portion of Iowa. As Jason Boucher said several times during the ride, he was always looking at the terrain around Atlantic on his way to other destinations and longing to follow those white gravel ribbons over the rolling hills he was seeing from his vehicle. Now he has done this, and so have I.

I cannot recommend Atlantic, Iowa and the surrounding area to ride and visit strongly enough. As Steve Fuller told me, "Atlantic is just big enough to have decent services". But it still has the distinct small-town Iowa flavor. Plus those hills and the views are as good as anything I've experienced in Iowa or in many other Mid-Western states, for that matter.  

Image by N.Y. Roll

I regret the Frys had experienced the accident coming home. I wish this would not have happened.  I have always been worried about everyone else's travels and experiences connected to my rides, so this hurt me. But my main concern is for Robert and Cary's well being and restoration. Similarly I was bummed for Dan Buettner who missed out joining our group by a handful of minutes. 

I was filled to the brim with happiness and joy from being able to see my friends and to ride with them. So, thank you to all who made the trip out and back. You all made me very happy. 

Now it is time to move on.

I have a ride planed for the 4th of July, as I am wont to do every 4th. Besides this, I may get out on something big and adventurous later in the year, but more than likely I will be plying the gravel roads of Black Hawk, and maybe a couple of other counties, for the remainder of 2025.  There are still things to get done on the bike....

The Tree In The Road Ride Report: Technical Snafu's & Heat

Image by N.Y. Roll

 The route for the Tree In The Road Ride was originally laid out by Rob Evans who is from Nebraska. He would have been on this ride but for a prior commitment to doing the Coast to Coast ride in Michigan. Rob snagged a nice 3rd place single speed category finish in the 200 mile event. Congrats Rob!

Well, I had sent Rob's original GPS file over to Sarah Cooper who was somewhat knowledgeable on the area. She made a few revisions and sent the route back to me and this was the route I shared with the attending riders. I actually did not download the route myself until Friday, so I had the same route as everyone else.

Supposedly...

 Well, this will crop up later, but we had to get out of town first. There was some confusion as to where to turn as some were getting prompted at one point to go left while I and some others were getting prompted to go right into an ag businesses drive. We ended up heading North, (the direction we should have been going) and hit our first surprise of the day.....

Sorry! I forgot to check the train schedule!

Some riders opted for shade while others respected the train by standing back further. 

Uggh! A train. We heard movement and the spooling up of the diesel motor. This made us think the train would be moving soon. What we did not realize was there were two tracks side-by-side, and the train we heard moving was on the opposite side of the stationary train were were looking at.

Time to find a way around!

Around the train and heading North out of town.....finally!

 By this time the Wahoo is beeping and squawking away at an alarming pace. Apparently the little droid was upset, but I had no time to read its epithets or take any commands from it as I was following wheels hard now. Later on the little devil-machine would get revenge. 

Once the train was cleared we found ourselves on the State highway heading north, hoping to intersect our course which should have crossed the highway a mile or so down this road. It did, and we turned East and immediately onto a slowly climbing bit of aggregate which gave way to the first gravel of the day.

 

Barns For Jason #1

These hills were not anything like I've been on for a long time. We do not have climbs like this around my local area. The grades were not terrible, but the climbs were typically a lot longer and steeper than they are here. The gravel itself wasn't terrible. Maybe a bit sandier than what we have around here, but as MG said later, it allowed the bigger chunks to be pushed down and where car tracks were it was fairly solid.

Needless to say, I wasn't prepared for hills like these, and especially not on a day when the temperature adjusted for humidity was over 100°F. My Wahoo recorded a max temperature of 105°F, which could be debatable, but it did feel like that at times. 

While the climbing was relentless, the views were spectacular

Look closely and you can trace the road rolling up over the hills into the horizon line. 

We stopped a few times along our 18-ish mile trek to reach the Tree In The Road, I was sweating bullets and was in and out of my granny gear often. I was questioning my ability to tackle this course on such a day. Especially as under-prepared as I was for the hills and heat.

Along the way to the Tree, we came up on a nice patch of shade at the top of a hill adjacent to a farm. The cooler air was wonderful there. Then two trucks approached with the first driver rolling down his window to ask us what we were up to. The second truck came to a stop behind it. After some friendly chit-chat, the first truck moved down the road and turned into a driveway about 25 yards away from us. The second truck revved its motor and did a subtle "angry acceleration" away from the scene, on down the road. Apparently the second truck's driver was annoyed! We  found this humorous as the first driver came back to us, stated he was willing to offer us water, but his well was broken. So, he could have moved out of the way, but clearly, there was something more going on there than we knew!

We crested a hill and there it was!

Heading down to take in the shade of the Tree In The Road. Image courtesy of Matt Wills

Finally we reached the Tree. I thought it was taking forever to get there, and I probably felt this way due to our frequent stops to cool down. I was blaming myself, and I felt bad for how I was riding. On the last few miles to the Tree, I developed some pain in my left hip flexor, and when I dismounted the bike at the Tree, I nearly went into full cramp mode. I knew the whole 70 mile route was not a good idea for me to try and tackle at this point.

The graffiti on this tree is unfortunate. I guess we cannot have nice things in this world. 

As I relaxed in the shade of the Tree I made the suggestion that I should likely be leaving the route as planned when the group reached Exira, several more miles up the course. There the return route came very close to the outgoing route, and it was a paved bike path, very level, and shaded in spots. I reckoned it would be best for me to take this back to Atlantic and cut the ride short for myself.

To my complete surprise Cary Fry and Kat both immediately said they wanted to join me in this option. They both mentioned the heat and climbing as being quite enough. Then attention turned to whether we would cut out the Level B section, or go onward and include it.

After a bit of discussion, four chose the "adventure route" while I and the Frys along with Kat went straight North. The plan was to meet sometime after the original route intersected the cut-off I was taking. This sounded all well and good, that is until technology went haywire again.

This corner was where things got crossed up due to GPS issues. 

A bit of Chicory along this stretch to cheer me up this long grinder of a climb. 

As we approached a "T" intersection, we noted the route on our GPS told us to go Left, and turn Right in a few hundred feet again to continue Northward. In fact, we should have turned Right, and continued for another mile before turning Left and going North. The four followers went down the Level B road, but were rebuffed at a blockade of the road made up of a wall of railroad ties and a "Dead End" sign. They turned around, went back to the Tree, and followed us up North behind us. However, at the "T" they were prompted to turn Right, which was the correct direction.

Barns For Jason #2

This Shetland pony was wondering what we were doing out on this road. So were our other four companions!

After we made the wrong turn, we turned North at the next opportunity, went a mile, or so, and then were being prompted to turn Right. Here we decided to stop and wait for the chasers. We sat for at least 20 minutes and then.... MG finally called and asked what road we were on. We tried to describe what road we were on, but it was confusing to MG, and no wonder, our information did not match what he was being fed. MG said they were going to try and catch us, as at this point we all believed their group was behind the one I was in.

Look! Another grinder of a climb! Great!

Barns For Jason #3

Finally, after we had been riding for another several miles, MG called and asked how far we were from Exira. I stated I thought it looked like we were about six or so miles out. MG then stated their group was only three miles away from Exira and that our track must have been wrong. I couldn't make sense of this as our GPS units, all four of them, were telling us we were on track. MG said their group was tuckered out having tried to catch us, so they were going to chill out for a bit. Meanwhile we plugged along'

Suddenly I noted a turn coming up on my Wahoo's screen. The GPS was saying I would be taking a slight angled turn to the Left. I couldn't make out where the intersection was as I scanned the grassy ditch for signs of a road. Then I saw it. A gated C Level road all grown over with tall grasses. Surely this was the evidence I needed to tell me the GPS had led us astray. Then about a quarter of a mile later the track fizzled out and the Wahoo went into rerouting mode to take us exactly where MG and the others were patiently awaiting our arrival.

The descent into Exira was exhilarating, fast, and long!

 Once we had rejoined the two groups, we were off on a speedy descent into the town of Exira. I ended up off the back and when I came into town I was dragging. I was smoked. My legs were tired, I was super-heated and working hard was not an option. I spun the cranks and toodled along the best I could. Following the track I was hoping I would find the group, then I heard a whistle. 

It was N.Y. Roll looking for me. I had just passed the intersection where I should have been prompted to turn Right, but this did not happen. That is, until I turned around, and hey! The information popped up on the screen to turn Left, as I was now going back the other direction. Fickle technology, I'll tell ya! Not to be trusted.

I knew I should have made myself cue sheets!  

 

The bike path was shaded for the majority of the length we were on it. 

A last beautiful vista before the end.

At Exira's Caseys, N.Y. Roll bought me a Sponge Bob Squarepants bomb-pop ice cream treat and some Pedialyte. This hit the spot! The group made no effort to split and continue on the original route. Everyone saddled up and headed toward the cut-off instead. We then took off on the bicycle path heading South. We split into two groups again anyway, with myself following the wheels of MG, MW, and Jason. We  made a few stops to rest and then we hit the gravel again for the final push back into Atlantic.

 

By this time I was in a world of suffering such as I have not experienced in a long time. I was tired, hot, and everything hurt in my limbs. Strangely enough, my hands, feet, and rear end were just fine. My mind was clear. I wasn't having any headaches or weird stuff happening at all. The extremes between these two things - the hurting and the normality - were very strange to me. 

 

I rolled back into town alone. I remembered the Downtowner, the lush trees, and the shade behind the cafe with the outdoor seating. I made up my mind just to get there and find a seat, sit down, and try to chill out. Finally I arrived, grabbed a chair, and not much later I texted N.Y. Roll to let him know where I was at. He arrived not long afterward, as did the Frys and Kat. 

 

Since the Downtowner was closed, we went back to the Rancho Grande and we all had something to eat. The stories were great and just hanging out with these fine people was fantastic. But as everything must do, this all came to an end.

 

We said our goodbyes. My heart is full and although I feel responsible for some of the things with the route and my riding, it was all good. I think everyone enjoyed how it came out in the end. N.Y. Roll then drove me back home, and when I arrived I had another meal with my family. What a day! I am very blessed!

 

Notes: I found out on Monday that the Frys were involved in an accident on I-80 on their return trip home. Apparently slowed traffic and an inattentive driver caused them to be rear-ended. Both Cary and Robert are okay, but their car and bicycles were damaged. Hoping for a quick resolution and full-restoration to this incident for the Fry's. I'm sorry this happened. 

 

I also heard Monday from Dan Buettner who arrived after we had left for the ride from Atlantic. I am sorry we did not meet up and I regret he was not a part of this group. We heard a report of a single rider behind us from a local. Some of us had spotted him as well behind us, but we thought he was a local out for a ride. I am so sorry we did not connect!  

 

I hope you enjoyed the report. Thank you for reading Guitar Ted Productions! 

Tree In The Road Ride Report: Pre-Ride Festivities

Image by N.Y. Roll

 The long awaited Tree In The Road Ride occurred on Saturday. This report will start out with happenings from Friday and this will be a two-part report. Today will deal with everything leading up to the ride.

Any ride like this I am involved with putting together usually has at least one surprise attendee. This ride was no exception. The surprises started out on Thursday when Tom, a local rider contacted me via email to say he was coming to ride. Then on Friday morning, I received a text from Jason Boucher who said he was coming.

Okay then! Two surprises! But then on the way out, I received a an email from Tom stating he wasn't coming as he had crashed his bike and was a little torn up from the spill. Now we're down to one surprise rider. But this was fine. I was going to be happy if anyone showed up for this ride besides N.Y. Roll and I.

Ready for the load-out on Friday

 See, I almost did not get to go on this ride at all. My son fainted at work on Wednesday and was hospitalized. They ran a battery of tests on him which all came back negative, thankfully, but I had to sit with him all afternoon on Thursday waiting for his all-clear. Had something been more serious I would have had to have called off the ride altogether.

But I was able to go, and N.Y. Roll stopped to collect me and my things Friday afternoon and we were off on our trip down to Atlantic, Iowa. Along the way we stopped to drop off Morgan, N.Y. Roll's girlfriend, and then we went along back roads through little small Iowa villages with names like "Lyle" and "Jamaica".  Eventually we came into Atlantic.

We checked into the Rock Island Inn and Suites, (recommended), and then went in search of some evening meal fare. We were directed to check out the Rancho Grande by the staff of the motel, so this is what we did.

I'm not sure if saying this was "fast food" in the sense of how little time it took to be served, is fair, because the food wasn't "fast food" fare. It was really pretty good. But N.Y. Roll and I were amazed at how quickly we were served. It took about 50 minutes from the time we walked in the door to when we left! We didn't even have time to eat one basket of chips!

Then we repaired back to our room and I received a text from Jason asking about where I thought we should go for coffee. He also asked about when we were getting into Atlantic. We then realized he was at the same motel, and had a room right across from us!

So, Jason stopped by and we had a nice chat for a bit. Then he bid us goodbye as he needed to eat and get something from the local grocers. Meanwhile, we settled on going to the Downtowner Cafe on Chestnut Street in Atlantic for our morning coffee. It is located in an old hotel. They were one of the only choices which opened before 8:00am. Most other places opened at 8:00am and this was too late for us as we wanted to get going by then.  

Sunrise over Atlantic, Iowa on Saturday, June 28th, 2025.

 You know it is going to be a brutal, hot day when the Sun comes up in a hazy sky and you are already feeling hot and sweaty at 6:30am. This was when we arrived downtown in Atlantic to meet up with Jason and get some coffee.

The Downtowner Cafe is a time-capsule of a joint located in a very well kept old motel building on Chestnut Street in Atlantic. In fact, the entire downtown area is really neat. Atlantic somehow escaped the curse of Walmart and has retained its down town which was well kept, clean, and had many old-growth, mature trees lining the street on each side.

Inside the cafe we found a neat diner with food on offer. So we had breakfast as well. I am really glad we skipped the continental breakfast offered at our motel. This was a much better experience and the food was very good. While we were there, I noted the cafe had an outdoor seating area. This will be an important note for later in this tale. 

Eventually Jason showed up and when he had finished we heard from Matt and Matt. (Yes - there were two Matts) They had just arrived. We went up to meet them at the City square several blocks away. There we gave our greetings and hugs all around. It was great to see MG again after so long and MW was a great treat as I haven't seen or spoken with him in forever, it seems.

Round about this time I learned of the "real" surprise attendee of the event, Kat, who had texted N.Y. Roll that she was going to be there very soon. Along with the local to me couple, the Fry's, this made our group of eight riders a nice bunch. 

The "staging area" at the municipal square. 

 

Jason Boucher's custom titanium Meriweather as seen at the Downtowner Cafe. 

We had to get the group all in one place so we had to gather up the Fry's at the "official start" point in the Mexican restaurant's parking lot, Then we had to go back and meet up with Kat who was a tad bit late. She was parked at the City square park. Whew!

A little back-and-forth there. A few words to thank everyone for showing up, and we were off! What would the ride be like with this heat and humidity? We really had no clue, and speaking of surprise attendees to the ride, there was more in store for us in terms of 'surprises' to come after the start. 

Tomorrow: Part Two of the Tree In The Road Ride Report. 

Friday News And Views

Image courtesy of Feedback Sports

 Feedback Sports Shows New Pro Air Lift, Pnuema CC Floor Pump:

Feedback Sports (Formerly Ultimate Stands) announced a new workstand for consumers with air-lift capabilities. The stand is activated by a floor pump. The stand can lift any bicycle up to 100lbs. When the work has been completed, the foot pedal on one of the workstand legs can be depressed to gently let the bike back down again. 

The Pro Air Lift will be available in late autumn for a price of $725.00 USD.

Also, the Pnuema CC floor pump is a new offering from Feedback Sports which can be pressurized to aid in mounting tubeless tires, or at the flip of a switch, be used as a standard high-pressure floor pump.  

The new floor pump will also be available in late autumn at a price of  $150.00 USD. 

Comments: The workstand is a bit pricey, but for some context here, I have had an Ultimate repair stand, *Feedback Sports old name) for over two decades. I finally wore out the clamp mechanism, and Feedback still offers the part I need to get it back going, so when it becomes available, I will have my portable workstand back going again. So, I think the new workstand is certainly worth the money if you do your own repairs and maintenance on heavy bikes like cargo bikes, e-Bikes, full suspension bikes, and the like. 

New Episode Dropped!

The latest Guitar Ted Podcast episode just dropped. In this one N.Y. Roll and I talk about the Continental Terra Adventure 700 X 45mm tires, the new Vittoria Peyote 29" X 2.4" tires, the new Maxxis Reiver, and more. 

We discuss the Rene Herse TPU tubes, and talk a little about TPU tubes in general. Then we get on to discussing the new Shimano GRX wireless group.

That is about when things went sideways. See, Mabel the Rhodesian Ridgeback got rowdy and would not settle down. We tried talking more, but we finally had to shut the episode down because she was getting out of hand.

Give this one a listen, and you can find the episode on most any podcast platforms, but here is the Spotify link in case you want to hit this up now. Listen HERE.

If you would, please recommend the podcast to friends, leave reviews, if you can, and help us out with the channel. We appreciate it very much!

When it says "uncomfortably humid"  Yeah...

Tree In The Road Ride Tomorrow!

Tomorrow I will be doing the Tree In The Road Ride. It is a free to join, group ride, no one left behind type deal. If you've been reading here regularly you are aware of this ride, so I won't get to far in the weeds about it here.

The forecast is brutal. Of course it is! Any ride I am a part of in Summer features stupid amounts of humidity, no matter what Summer month I choose. So, yeah..... I expected no less. 

Well, I'll just try to have fun no matter what. I expect the people who show up will be like-minded. Speaking of, I know of six others besides myself and N.Y. Roll who are planning to attend. I'm sure there will be a surprise or two.

Look for a full recounting of the sweat-filled, fun ride coming up Monday. 

Image courtesy of Trek Bicycles

Gen 3 Checkpoint ALR Announced By Trek:

The third generation of the Checkpoint in aluminum brings several new details to Trek's budget friendly gravel bike.

Now with tire clearance up to 700 X 50mm (without fenders, 42mm with fenders), and a T-47 bottom bracket, the Checkpoint ALR Gen 3 looks to be a good value for those who don't want carbon, or cannot afford it.

Trek has always had an interesting way of doing geometry for their bicycles. The new generation of the Checkpoint ALR is no different. Looking at the charts, the typical size Large/58cm choice I would generally choose is not correct, as Trek has inserted a "M/L" (Medium-Large) into the sizing which more closely reflects what I would fit on. Additionally, Trek varies the head tube angle across the sizing range, which is somewhat uncommon these days. Not that it is rare, but I do not see this being done as often as I used to see it.

Besides the geometry, the Checkpoint ALR features full internal routing, a full-carbon fork, triple-boss mounts on the seat tube, and a pair of those on the inner side of the down tube, while underneath the down tube is a standard pair of mounting points. The fork has triple bosses on either leg. There is also a bolt-on top tube bag mount with what looks like bolt-on top tube inner frame bag mounts as well. A chain guide, through axles, seat collar round out the offerings on the frame set. Of course, several build levels are offered as well ranging from about $1,400.00 to $2.500.00 USD. The frame only is $1,099.00.

Comments: I kind of like this. It has many carbon frame features without the stupid expensive price. If I were to get a M/L frame set, I would be a tiny bit disappointed in the slightly steep (for 2025 gravel bikes) 72.2° head angle. And does the chart say 72.8° for the seat tube angle? Why yes, it does. That's odd. 

At any rate, this is a very interesting offering by Trek.

Image courtesy of SILCA

SILCA Announces New Shock Pump:

I haven't had to deal with shock pumps for sevral years, but I used to note many of what was available for shock pumps back then were terrible. Some were "okay" and these often included top name brands like Fox or Rock Shox. The landscape for shock pumps was dismal. Apparently SILCA seems to think so as well

This new shock pump SILCA offers has several details and features I have never seen on a shock pump. Plus it is only $125.00 and is rebuildable. If it is also somewhat durable, well then.... Why buy anything else? I have no endorsement from SILCA nor do I get any benefit from mentioning their products, but more often than not, their stuff, especially within the pump field, is really nice. 

I don't much have a need for a shock pump, but if I had a 7K full-sus MTB this would be the pump I would want for setting a bike like that up. 
 

That's it for this week! Have a fantastic weekend and ride those bicycles!
 

Tree In The Road Ride: Final Preparations

Okay, so a few more days and this ride will happen. Time to get some final preparations done and hope for the best. I also will have a bit of information on the ride going in as it concerns weather and rain near the end of the post here, so stay tuned for the information if you are planning on attending this gravel party.

I was really hoping to get a big, multi-hour ride in about a week ago but those plans all went haywire for several reasons and well...... I will be riding at least twice as long as I have for about a year now, if I make it. We'll see. Spin for the win, or something.... 

In other preparation news I realized while riding the Gryphon last week that the sealant hasn't been checked in quite some time. So, I am getting this task done and I'll just throw a little more in if need be.

Counterweight

 I also contemplated nutrition for the ride. I still have not arrived at exactly what it is I will be bringing, with the exception of ordering some Elete electrolyte product. Hopefully it gets here before Friday! I cruised the natural foods aisle in my local HyVee grocery store this past weekend and I did not see anything I used to see there. Bummer! So, I'm still on the lookout for something like the almond butter packets I used to use and pemmican bars I used to use.

At any rate, while contemplating what to purchase to stuff in the pie-hole during the ride, I realized I might want to employ one of my fine Bike Bag Dude Chaff Bags. (Basically a feed bag thing)  I have two purple ones and I decided to go with just the one for now. It kind of matches my Cedaero top tube bag Mrs. Guitar Ted bought it for me while we were in Emporia last year for the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame gig. 

Those Velcro straps are hard to get on with this shorty-stem I'm using here!

I have to download the route into my Wahoo Elemnt ROAM this week, make sure the gizmo is charged up to 100%, and after that I just need to pack up some clothes and go. I'll be using my SILCA travel bag, (out of production) to pack up my stuff. I hope I don't forget my helmet and shoes, but since this pack has specific places for this stuff, I probably won't. 

 Okay....enough about me! Let's take a look at the weather that may be affecting the Tree In The Road Ride. As of this writing there looks to be a chance of light rain or a thunderstorm in the morning. Chances for rain fall off for the afternoon. Winds should be light at around 7 - 10mph out of the Southeast with gusts up to 18mph. The high will be about 86° F and it will be quite humid. 

Keep in mind N.Y. Roll and I are planning to ride unless the weather is severe, or if it is raining hard to begin with. Chances are about 50-50 for rain in the morning. So, we'll be playing it by ear. What we won't be playing by ear is taking chances on the Level B road after the Tree In The Road. With rain falling nearly every day this week I think it will be best if we bypass that section which will cut of a couple of miles or so from the original route. The re-route is an easy one: We'll go straight North from the Tree and rejoin the course a couple of miles North of the Tree intersection. 

I have received one more commitment to this ride so as of now I know of four others who are showing up. This makes six total, and I would not be surprised to see six more, which would be about average for any group ride I am involved with. Maybe I'll be surprised.... 

That'll do it for pre-ride info. Maybe I'll see ya out there. If not, expect a report on Monday next week.  

Tree In The Road Ride: Route Info

 The Tree In The Road Ride, happening on June 28th at 8;30 am from Atlantic, Iowa, will leave from the parking lot behind a Mexican restaurant on the corner of IA HWY 6 and Hickory Street. For more on this ride go back to my last update on June 1st which has links to all the other previous posts on this ride. (LINK)

In this update I will share the route link and talk a bit about parking, what the route will be like from data I've checked, and contingencies for weather related circumstances.

Parking: I do not know how many people will be showing up for this ride. It is not a ride which has any organization, so there is no registration, and YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN ADVENTURE if you show up to ride a bicycle at the same time in the same place as I do. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU. This goes for parking as well. And since I don't know how many cars will show up, and since the ride starts in a restaurants parking lot, I suggest you park in random places on the street or wherever you feel comfortable parking at. Make a bad decision and you may get towed, get a ticket, or maybe worse. I don't know and this is going to be something you have to figure out for yourselves. 

Route: The planned route I am riding is 74 miles or so. Here is a Ride With GPS link for this route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/50514296  There are not going to be cues handed out, so if you prefer to navigate by cues, or have cue sheet back up, then you'll have to make your own. 

Route Details: I've taken some time to delve into some climbing data for this route. Climbs in this area tend to be longer than they are around the rest of the state. I counted 10 climbs of over 100 feet elevation gain. (I know.....mountain climbs measure in much more gain at times.) These ten climbs account for 1,512 feet of gain which is just over half of the ride total given by RWGPS for the entire route. There are four other climbs equaling 300 feet of gain. Most of this is all on the front half of the route since a large chunk of miles coming back is on paved bicycle path. (Approximately 21 miles) 

 

What this means is that if you decide to ride this route you'd better bring your climbing legs and a bike that has a gear to climb in, (or three!). Now, we are stopping for stragglers and we will be making various stops along the way, (see previous updates), so this is by no means a "race", or even a fast paced group ride. N.Y. Roll and I are taking this in as a tour of sorts.

 

Attendance: As of this writing I only know of three other folks coming to try this out besides N.Y. Roll and myself. Judging from past rides I've been a part of like this. I'd expect anything from around six to ten or as high as twenty-five riders. But again, I have absolutely no idea who is showing up beyond a few who have told me already that they plan on showing up. 

 

Weather: Right now this ride looks to occur in typically hot and humid weather. However; in case of inclement weather or if some kind of weather event presents itself during the ride, N.Y. Roll and I will be cutting the route short, or making necessary changes to assure our safety. You probably should have a plan for yourself if you decide to ride this route. 

 

That's probably it for updates on this ride for us. We have a motel room reserved in Atlantic for the evening before the ride. If you happen to be around, and want to meet up, let me know. Otherwise I'll probably not post again on this ride until afterward. I may make a mention in the FN&V about any interesting tidbits related to the ride, if need be.

 

Questions? Comments? Hit me up....  

Two Things

Karolina Migon wins the Women's Elite 200 (Image courtesy of Life Time)

Thoughts On Unbound 2025: 

Well, Unbound is over for another year with record-setting results. I went back and read my reactions to last year's Unbound and you know what? I could almost copy and paste the entire article again. 

So, instead of rehashing the same ol' stuff again, I decided to look at a few other resources for my take on the event, since the Elite/Pro story is not really all that different.  Yes, there were some differences. There was no big sprint finish in the Women's field as Karolina Migon rode everyone off her wheel with around 50 miles to go. There were 20 more women and a few more men in the Elites this time, but the percentages of Elites to "regular folks" was still really lopsided toward the amateurs and the coverage was all about the Elites.

Now, what was interesting was the reaction to what cannot be described as anything but a media blitz on Friday before the event. Folks online were posting a lot of "I'm getting tired of this" sentiments, and while this might be seen as "negative" I read as "fatigue" when it comes to how the cycling media covers this stuff.  As one poster opined: "If I see another 'bike check' so help me...." They weren't wrong either as the tech side was hammered on pre-Unbound while true, engaging story lines were largely missing.

The other thing I saw which I found interesting was a post from an Emporia resident who opined  concerning how the event had changed since the DK200 days. There was mention of the finish line chute, as they run it now with segregated chutes for Pro/Elite and everyone else, as being something which lessened the experience for this person.

The DK200 used to have a tagline which went something like "Everyone is a Rock Star" which spoke to the experience the early organizers tried to give each and every rider. The common finish line chute, with cheering fans which were there for first place through till the bitter ends of the field, are now more focused on where Unbound places the spotlight. Obviously, a huge focus shift to Elites has taken the shine off the ordinary rider, and it would appear some people are noticing this.

Grip It and Rip It:

As stated earlier, I am choosing the Gryphon Mk3 for the Tree In The Road Ride coming up later this month. I've been doing a few minor tweaks to the bike. Things like de-racking it and streamlining the set up for this 70 mile group ride. One thing I decided to do was to try the Redshift Sports Cruise Control system on this bike.

This system is already on my Gen I Fargo, so I already know what to expect, and it was one of the reasons the Gen I Fargo was one of the two bikes I considered taking on this ride. Since I had a spare kit sitting on the shelf, I decided to throw it on the Gryphon which has Luxy Bars on it and see what I thought.

The Luxy Bar is an odd-duck of a flared drop bar, but it has a couple characteristics which are being picked up on by cutting-edge flared drop bar makers. The Luxy was never considered as an "aero-advantage" handle bar, but recent developments have shown the Luxy could have been a contender in this category today. I wrote a post about this which you can check out HERE. 

With the Gevenalle shifters, I now have a pseudo-aero bar position I can use utilizing the Cruise Control upper portion as a place to rest my forearms.It will be just one more place I can go to and relieve tension and pressure during a longer ride. The lower grips I already know will be a boon to avoiding numb hands. 

Tree In The Road Ride: Update & Bike Choice

 The Tree In The Road Ride is June 28th, 2025 out of Atlantic, Iowa. The details of this ride can be found HERE. Update 1 HERE., Update 2 HERE. Update 3 HERE. 

Time we are starting is 8:30am. We will be there at 8:00am for coffee and chit-chat.

There will be an after the ride hang at some place, but we will likely decide that day just where it will be based upon who is there and interest.

The route file is in one of those updates linked above, in case you want to check that out. Otherwise all you need to know is that this is a free ride, you are responsible for you, and it is in no way supported. You must bring your own provisions and there is no bail-out, sag, or guarantee of fun whatsoever. Bring a good attitude and an appetite for suffering a bit and for a challenge. It is a NO DROP RIDE so there will be many stops and gathering-ups. Don't like the sound of that? Don't come. No big deal to me.

Don't ask questions unless you've checked all the links for answers first. The ride will be cancelled if the weather looks bad. We will ride if the weather is iffy. If any of this bothers you, again - do not come to this ride. 

Now, on to more fun things to talk about, like bikes! 

Singular Gryphon Mk3

So, Matt Gersib asked if I would ride my Singular Cycles Gryphon Mk3. So, of course I obliged him and will be taking this bike to the Tree In The Road Ride. I stripped off the racks for now and as you see it above is how I will be riding it in about a month from now.

I got it out and did a little fine tuning of the set up. I tilted the bars a bit differently, since I had taken them off for a handle bar review and had installed them but never really checked out the set up since. I'm pretty sure I have the handle bars set up spot-on now. I may add those Redshift Sports grip thingies on the extensions. I'll think about that for a bit. It does have a Redshift Sports ShockStop stem on it, by the way. Also, those are the rare Luxy Bars on this bike.

By the way, I should point out that the Singular Gryphon Mk3 does not support a front derailleur natively. So, if you've wondered how this bike has a front derailleur, check out this post HERE. It isn't pretty, but it does work perfectly. I'll take a working part over beauty any day.

I slid the saddle forward all the way, straightened out the levers height-wise, and  straightened out the stem so it is pointing forward, not slightly off to one side. Now it will be time to do a few shake-down rides just to make sure I am not missing anything and I will be good to go.

Tree In The Road Ride: Update

Well, since we had stupid wind, temperatures in the 40's, and now rain, I didn't get a whole lot of time to ride of late. Not out in the country, at any rate. So, how about a Tree In The Road Ride update instead? 

I guess it doesn't really matter what you think, because you are getting it anyway! Ha! In case you were not aware of what this is, please head back to this post and read about the details there. (Follow links back to previous posts there.)

I don't have a whole lot different to share, but there are two bits of information here which should get you squared away for this event coming up in about a month from now. The first is the route, which I think is pretty much going to be what Sarah Cooper gave me which is based off of Rob Evans original route design. The Ride With GPS files and route can bee seen by clicking This Link. Put that into your device for route finding. There will be no cue sheets handed out so if you'd rather navigate old school you'll have to draw up your own.

The Fargo Gen I version 2025 or....

...or the Gryphon Mk3?

The next thing I wanted to share is that we (N.Y. Roll and I) are planning on hanging out a bit post ride, but we have decided to roll back to Waterloo Saturday evening now.  We thought staying two nights is a bit much, and I have to play at church on Sunday.  So we just wanted to put that out there in case anyone had designs on having breakfast with us on Sunday morning. 

Now I am on to bicycle choice, and I've whittled it down to two rigs. The Gen I Fargo and the Singular Gryphon Mk3. I am looking at these bikes from the standpoint of comfort, stability, and both have triple crank sets, which I probably will need. I'm guessing I'll not have had any hill training going into this ride, given how my schedule and the weather have lined up over the past several weeks. And it doesn't look promising for the few weeks I have ahead of this ride.

I guess I'll just have to 'embrace the suck'. Ha!