Events

My riding plans are about as shoddy and reliable as this. Image courtesy of Rob Evans.

I know.... I have a checkered record when it comes to making riding plans. so, take the following with a grain of salt and don't be surprised if none of it happens. Although, I'm pretty sure something will happen. It's just that a lot of these things are outside of my control, so I cannot say with a high degree of certainty that any one of the following is a "sure thing" for my ride calendar. 

Secondly, since the announcement of the 2025 class of GCHoF inductees was going to influence my plans this year, I had to wait until Monday to start putting some wheels in motion. I mentioned this first event at the end of last year here. but now I can speak a bit more clearly on what might be happening. 

It is a tentative plan to hold another Victory Ride, much like the event held last year which you can read about HERE. This time the location will be somewhere in the Flint Hills of Kansas.

From the 2024 Victory Ride

The date is to be determined, but right now I am thinking that a trip to the Flint Hills in Spring sounds a heck of a lot more comfortable than one in Summer. So, with the information I have now, this looks like an event that will happen sometime from late April to maybe mid-May. 

Again, I am not organizing this, but when I find out more, I will post it here. Some of this may be determined according to when I can find transportation to said Flint Hills. (Remember - I don't have a vehicle anymore) I may have to rent a car. I don't know at this point. Stay tuned..... 

Since the news of Jason Boucher's Fargo series, I have text-chatted with Jason and he floated an idea for a Fargo Reunion Ride. This has not happened for several years and the last one was pretty notable for several reasons! I wrote about that HERE , HERE, and HERE. 

November, 2016. The last Fargo Adventure Ride.

The last Fargo Adventure Ride was in 2016  in November. I was signed up to ride in the inaugural Spotted Horse gravel race, but I nixed that idea when this popped up as a choice in late October that year. While I never ended up doing a Spotted Horse, and I do have a twinge of regret regarding that fact, I am super happy I made the choice to do the Fargo Adventure Ride instead. 

So, being the nutcase about the Gen I Fargo that I am, and being that every adventure on this bike I have has been a memorable one, I will definitely do everything in my power to attend another Fargo themed ride whenever that might be. 

I cannot stress enough that this is an idea, and that I am not the organizer. IF it happens I am going. But as of now, it is a big IF, and it could conflict with the Victory Ride or any of a hundred things, so ya know..... Just stick that idea under your hat for the time being. It is merely a possibility. 

From the 2023 Guitar Ted Death Ride.

Last year I didn't get a really long ride in at all. And.....it may not happen this year either. But I am going to try, and if I do get something in, it will be this year's Guitar Ted Death Ride for 2025. 

I used to invite people to join me on this, and I'm not saying that will never happen again. I did also say I retired from event production and promotions though, so doing the Invitational part kind of goes against that declaration. 

Look.....I'm just trying to be a man of my word. If I "un-retire" you'll all be the first ones to know here. So, the Guitar Ted Death Ride is a solo gig for now. 

I probably will look for any open window to do this and if things align properly, (a day with no responsibilities, the right weather, fitness looks okay), then it will happen at the time it happens. I was stymied for much of last year so I designated the Victory Ride as my 2024 "Death Ride". Cheap and easy choice, I know, but that was how the year shook out. 

Then there are three more riding events for 2025 I have loosely penciled in to try to get done before Winter 2025/26. In no particular order:

N.Y. Roll/Guitar Ted "Fun Ride":

N.Y. Roll and I have bounced around an idea for a group ride somewhere in Iowa this Summer. Could be a ride to "The Tree In The Road". Could be something around here. It also may not happen. We'll see....

The Virtual Turkey Burn Ride: 

Of all my ideas, this and the Victory Ride have the best chances of actually happening. Hopefully the weather is not as frigid as it was for the 2024 version here! The high amount of world-wide feedback I got for this idea makes it a no-brainer to do again. Plus, I suppose it is about as close to an event production as a retired event promoter can get to without actually promoting an event. 

Or something.......

The Redemption Tour:

A two-day bikepacking trip on gravel that will have a lot of personal meaning for myself. That is if I can make this happen. This has been on my radar for three years already, with everything all ready to go, and it still has not happened. I have to make time for this....

So, there you have it. Some super-vague, definitely maybe, probably vaporware events that may or may not happen for me in 2025. Stick around for the excuses, stay tuned for any surprise happenings!

Rearview 2024: Second Quarter

  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 four Rear View posts looking back on the year in quarters. I'll also have a post looking ahead at 2024. Enjoy the look back and thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

As April kicked in here at Guitar Ted Productions, so did the review work! The move off from Riding Gravel was expected to a be marker for a decline in reviews that I would be offered to do, but it did not seem that there was much fall-off in that area at all. I was surprised by the amount of products I reviewed during this period when I did my research for this post.

Here is a listing of the products I wrote about during the second quarter of 2024:

• Ritchey Design SuperLogic Carbon Venture Handlebar
• Velo Orange Burrito Supreme Handlebar Bag
• Ortlieb Fuel Pack & Top Tube Bags
• Redshift Sports ShockStop Pro seat post
• Redshift Sports Top Shelf Bar
• Camp Snap Camera
• Velo Orange Mojave Bottle Cage
• Caterpy Laces
• Effetto Mariposa Shelter frame protection tape
• Equipt Sardine Multi-Tool

And of course, I reviewed my Honeman Flyer single speed gravel bike I had made by King Fabrications. So, there was a LOT going on there. Probably more than I had going on while I was with Riding Gravel for those three months, which I found really surprising. 

It also bears mentioning that many of these reviews garnered record viewing numbers. You'll see this manifested when I post my "Top Ten Posts of 2024" article later in the month here. So, while my assumption that leaving Riding Gravel would hurt my reviewing side of writing, (which I was totally fine with, if that happened, by the way), it did not decrease as expected. In fact, as I said, I may have actually been busier than ever.  

Articles of note on the blog for the second quarter included my news of the introduction of Shimano's 12 speed Di2 GRX group. News came out concerning Gravel Worlds changing venues. I also announced my 20th Anniversary year of looking back on the history of this blog. That will wrap up in May next year when the 20th anniversary happens. I announced my "official" reasons for departing Riding Gravel. Then finally, on a sadder note, I received news of the death of Trans Iowa supporter, volunteer, image maker extraordinaire, and friend, Wally Kilburg. I wrote a eulogy in response here on the blog.

(L-R) Bobby Kennedy, GT, Curt Young

A few trips happened during this period. One was to Des Moines to visit the Des Moines Street Collective and Bobby Kennedy. Bobby's work there is similar to what I do at the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective. One of the CVBC's board members, Curt Young, and I went down to Des Moines to pick up some extra bikes the Street Collective needed to move on. It is always fun to visit there and Bobby is a great guy to catch up with over a cup of coffee.

Then it was off to Emporia, Kansas with Mrs. Guitar Ted to take in another induction ceremony at the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame. I got another ride in there and caught up with many of my gravel riding friends there as well.

Probably the highlight of the trip was meeting with Japanese journalist, Taiki Sakamoto. Getting to contribute to the publication Sakamoto-san works for was a true honor!

Finally there was the Victory Ride in June which I was really floored by. Warren Weibe was the organizer and the route was planned by N.Y. Roll. We even had "bandit" spray can t-shirts being made to commemorate the ride in the parking lot afterward. So cool! 

I was able to write up several "Country Views" posts over this period as well, so I was getting out there and riding, which was a good thing. It was a busy second quarter of 2024! Stay tuned for what the third quarter of 2024 brought next week in my Rear View 2024 series.

People Of 2024: Rob Evans

  In my travels and life during the year, I have been blessed to be supported, befriended, and on occasion visited by some pretty awesome folks. Sometimes I visited them. (Hopefully they were equally blessed!) I wanted to take some extra space to recognize and celebrate these people at the end of the year. I hope you gain some insight and appreciation for what these people mean to me this year and beyond. 

Rob Evans (R) and I at Mid-South in March of 2024

First of all, I know this one will come as somewhat of a shock to Rob because he is a regular reader here. (Don't spit out yer coffee, Rob!) 

Anyway, as I stated, Rob is a regular reader here, and I am super grateful for that. However; Rob has been a big supporter of rides I have put on in the past. He was, and is always, very welcoming to me wherever he runs across me. Like at Mid-South, above, Rob grabbed me for an image.  I think he shouted me out several more times, basically whenever he saw me, which was really nice of him.

Mass chaos at Mid-South's oasis. Rob Evans saved my bacon here!

In fact, had it not been for Rob, and the group he was with, Mid-South would have been a lot more miserable than it was. Not that Mid-South was miserable, just that it would have been without Rob's help. Since I had to throw everything for that trip together in a frenzy, I really did not do my due diligence in regard to researching the necessary tactics to complete the event's half distance. So, when I arrived at a mid-course oasis, I had no resupply waiting, or planned.

In steps Rob, who spied me in the throng of cyclists, waved me over, and offered me the opportunity to take from their spread of goodies. I'll tell ya what, those cookies hit the spot and likely saved the day for me. Had this been all Rob had done for me in 2024, it would have been enough to land him here on this list, but there was more. 

Rob taking a picture of the frying pan in Brandon, Iowa during the Victory Ride in June.

Another person who will be showing up in this series, Warren Weibe, set up a ride in June for me to enjoy called the Victory Ride. I did not know who might show up. I figured maybe a few local riders would enjoin in the festivities. I was correct to think this would be true, but what I did not count on was Rob showing up from Nebraska and him bringing his friends with him. This is a several hours long trip, by the way, just to show up for a group ride.

So, not only did I get to see Rob again, ride with him again, but I met some new folks in the process and gained new friends. This was unexpected and awesome. So, a bonus for me and a definite improvement on 2024 was being able to have Rob be a big part of my cycling life. Thank you, Rob!

The Victory Ride Report: Experience 'Murca

Image by Rob Evans

One thing about rural Iowa that might be not so unique, but maybe not very well realized, is that it is a place where political leanings are typically far right of center. Funny thing is, if you can get past the veneer of that, people are genuinely very kind and giving. 

It's easy to lean on popular characterizations of people and judge the book by its cover. That's the cool thing about gravel riding. You might be rubbing shoulders with a conservatively leaning rider, and you may be a liberal in your views, but when we ride together, does any of that really matter? Generally speaking, it has been my experience that no- it does not matter. What does matter is treating each other with kindness and empathy. When we do that, and it seems to happen more naturally and commonly with gravel rides and people, it is a beautiful thing. 

I'll circle around back to this later....

We rode through the middle of Vinton's Farmer's Market!

Stopping to gather up the tribe.

While we were in Vinton the wind finally came up as advertised out of the Southwest. Good thing we were heading mostly Northward now! I was riding alongside Warren for much of this stretch and we had a nice chat. It also started spitting rain about this time. 

The skies were looking a tad bit less friendly for a bit there.

This section of the ride was less hilly, twisty, and was out in the open more. Much more like what I am used to than what we rode in the morning. I enjoyed rolling some miles with Warren and the rain drops, while intermittent, never materialized into an outright rain. 

The weather was actually about as good as we could have hoped for, and the wind was a bonus for the time being. I was feeling fine and rolling along at a steady pace. My gear (40T X 20T) was a bit lower than the others had, (Yes, there were more single speeders), and so my speed in the flats was not as high at my lazy cadence as theirs was. 

Then there was THIS hill!

Rolling into Brandon

There was one last brutal hill. Rob said he registered 17.5% for a grade on that one. All I know is that more than a few of us walked it. No shame when you are riding a single speed. Walking should be a part of your riding if the hills are steep and you have a single speed. 

Because you just have to, right?

The story

Of course, we all had fun with "Iowa's Largest Frying Pan" and we took several pictures there. Once that was done, I asked about refilling a water bottle for the last 10 - 12 miles of the route. I was told we should go to the CVNT trailhead in Brandon where there was a restroom. However; if that did not pan out, there was a bar in Brandon we could check out. 

Warren said just then that if all I needed was some water, he had that and to spare. So we filled my water bottle and when we were done I turned around and no one was there. I had no idea which way they may have gone either. 

It isn't a "real bar" in Iowa unless it has one of these in it.

 

'Murca: Part 2

Well, we wandered around a bit but we found the group and so that feeling of dread and of being left behind was but a fleeting memory. The shelter at the trailhead proved fruitless so we went to the bar. Several were quite ready for a libation. So we marched in.

Remember what I said at the top about how we judge each other too quickly based upon stuff that doesn't matter? Well, when we came in we saw two - what I assumed to be locals - sitting at a booth chatting up the female bartender. We definitely got the stink-eye. These two didn't stick around long after we came in. Well, we mostly, I think, were on our best behavior and were pleasant and spent money there. So, the bartender was cool with us. And in the end, we all ended up getting along just fine, wishing each other a good day when we left. 

Pounding out the final miles on the Cedar Valley Nature Trail

A final "Barns For Jason".

As we were getting ready to leave, it was apparent that we were going to be facing a strong headwind if we rode the planned route. It was suggested that we could take the CVNT instead, which was more direct and tree-shrouded for most of the run back to Brandon. There was a bit of debate and no one wanted to make a call, but it was apparent that the sentiment for going straight back on the CVNT was strong. So, I made the call. Everyone sighed a sigh of relief. Besides, it was almost raining at this point. 

The trail was being worked on. The construction was ongoing, but as it was a weekend, no work was being done. The trail surface varied from smooth, compressed dirt to asphalt freshly laid and was peppered with various concrete water crossings, or mini-bridges. These were often marked by their meeting with the asphalt by a 'step-up' or 'step-down' of an inch or more since the last layer of asphalt hadn't been laid yet. Every road crossing had two "Road Closed" signs to navigate around. There was caution tape across the trail in many spots as well. So in other words, there were plenty of obstacles in the way.

We saw a lot of cyclists for this more remote portion of the CVNT. I was impressed by this. Then we came upon a transition from a gravel road crossing, of which there were many, to the trail again and having to negotiate a "Road Closed" sign which was barring entrance to the trail. I dropped my wheels down into the softer dirt alongside some freshly paved asphalt, had my front wheel wash out to the left, and subsequently was dumped off my bicycle to the right, smashing my knee into the paved surface, and then rolling across to a stop. 

I had few strawberries on my knee but no other damage to body or bicycle. With a little assistance from the others, I was up and running again.

Making the post-event t-shirts in the parking lot.

A finished product

When we returned Warren got out his t-shirt making supplies and everyone that brought out a t-shirt to be spray painted got a t-shirt done up right there in the parking lot! By the way, I didn't have time to get myself a proper t-shirt for this black logo, so Warren sent the template home with me. 

Image by Rob Evans

We then walked over to the local coffee shop, which honestly rivals anything I've seen in any big town, and sat in the beautiful outdoor patio area. We chatted for a bit, and then around 4:00pm we said our good-byes and departed from each other back to our homes again. 

N.Y. Roll quipped as he dropped me off back in Waterloo, "I think that was a success", and he isn't wrong. It was great. I received many compliments on the area, the ride, and how the day went. We had requests to do that again. So, if you have that sort of feedback, yeah, I'd say we did good. We? Naw.... Not me! I just showed up and rode this. Warren Weibe and N.Y. Roll are the guys to thank here. 

Will we ever do this again? We will do something. We will hold a ride like this but maybe somewhere else, or maybe......I don't know. We did the "Hall of Fame Ride" in 2022. We did the "Victory Ride" this
year. I can't make any promises, but if something happens, I hope that it is like this ride, and I'll tell you about it here first. 

Stay tuned..

Victory Ride Report: A Lot To Be Thankful For

Image by Rob Evans

 The Victory Ride is over and this post will be part one of two that covers what happened Saturday. First, I wanted to thank everyone that came out for this ride. It meant a lot to me to have the group show up that did and I appreciated all the kind words about the event and the course that I heard or read later. 

Now, as we went into this ride I had no idea why Warren, who came up with the idea for the event, wanted it to be called what it was called. I promised that I would find out, and here is what Warren told me. He also shared what he wanted the ride to accomplish with this event.

Warren said that he feels that anytime he can get out for a ride that it represents a "victory" for him and he felt that the celebration of riding should be seen as such for us all. Of course, Warren isn't wrong here and I agree that we all should consider every ride - long or short - a victory and a blessing. 

Warren also wanted this event to not be a burden on me, or stress me out in any way. He had wanted to make it simple as could be and was willing to just come up and ride with me on one of my regular routes, if that was what I wanted. But considering that, I felt like there may be some folks that, if word got out that one person or two, (Warren was originally coming up with his nephew) got to ride with me, then some might wonder why the event wasn't opened up to them. So, to avoid any possible hurt feelings, I announced the ride on this blog. 

Finally, Warren wished that this ride would be a kind of "thank you" to me for all the things I have done for others in putting on rides throughout the years. He asked me a couple of times during the ride if my "cup was filled up" with the thanks and gratitude expressed from the riders and from just seeing who showed up. And I have to say, yes. Yes I was feeling that cup filled up. 

Getting ready to roll out.

N.Y. Roll stopped by my house at a little before 8:00am and we loaded up my Honeman Flyer onto his rack and settled in for the short trip to Urbana, Iowa to where the City Hall is at to meet up with whomever was showing up. I knew of a few folks that said they were coming from previous communications. 

Heading out on the Cedar Valley Nature Trail Southward.

First gravel

I was contacted by Rob Evans of Fairbury, Nebraska first. He and Jackie, plus another friend, Dave, would be coming over. Later on Rob mentioned an Omaha area transplant to Waterloo named Justin would be joining us as well. Of course, Warren from Lawrence, Kansas was coming up. Then N.Y. Roll and I from here, plus my old riding friend, Tony, who said he was to join us as well. Later on, a blog reader here named Nathanael, from Vinton, would be joining us for a part of the route. So, that was nine. Were there any 'surprise riders'? 

Well, not really. Kat, a mainly road and mtb riding local, had inquired about the ride via N.Y. Roll, and she did show up. The final rider was Robert, who used to join me on the 3GR group rides back in the day, had done Trans Iowa, and was one of my volunteers for that event. So, we started with a nice group of eleven riders. 

Ridgeline road views are always great in Iowa.

The scenery was great despite the pockmarked pavement here.

This was kind of a sandwich day between a Friday that was utterly perfect weather-wise and a Sunday which was soupy with humidity, rainy, and HOT. Previous forecasts for Saturday had periodic thundershowers, high winds, and temperate weather outside of that. What we got was overcast skies, decent temperatures, okay humidity, and a couple of times we were spit on with rain drops, but it never really rained. The morning wasn't even windy, but the afternoon? Different story. I'll get to that in Part 2. 

Oh yeah! It's Barns For Jason!

Our route took us over the Cedar River a few times.

I'm not really certain what this field is filled with. Box-like structures for...?

Now, I have to say that there were a couple of route-related things that bugged me a bit during the ride. One: Pavement.... I know that in the area we were riding in that pavement is hard to avoid. Fortunately we had some things to look at on a lot of the paved sections, but a few were really busy with traffic and that wasn't fun. (The run into Vinton stands out for me here.) 

The other thing was that N.Y. Roll had a different route loaded into his GPS than I, and a few others had. He was the 'ride leader' for the first half of this ride, then after lunch it was more every man for himself. Ha! At any rate, at one point early on, he went Left where our GPS units said to go straight. I know that for the majority of the first half of the route I had no idea where I was at times. That was 'fun', but I'm not sure what 'type' of fun it was! I might be wrong and it could have been just my computer that was glitched because the route file I got out of the Wahoo looked perfectly normal afterward. You know me and computers! We get along so well together. Ha!

Ooo! Rollercoaster!

You got it! Barns For Jason again.

There was a heinous, steep climb up to a rural cemetery we stopped at for a bit. The tree frogs in this section were LOUD! Then we headed onward to a killer 'roller coaster' section that ended up leading to another crazy steep climb. I have to say that there are some real gems of gravel hidden along the Cedar River between Center Point and Vinton. 

A long downhill section started up ahead here.

A woodshed covered in license plates.

I was super thankful that the route went in the direction we were going because there was a downhill section leading to the Cedar River that had to be way over a mile in length. It had twisty-turny roads and it was pretty steep in parts of this section. Not only that, but we were meeting cars and trucks which were kicking up dust and making it hard to see at times. I was glad my brakes worked as they were severely tested several times during this ride. 

This road ran hard along the Cedar River for a bit.

This row of vintage tractors was sitting alongside the road at the top of a long climb.

Up.....down....up again. The road turned this way and that. This was nothing like riding around Waterloo and Cedar Falls, that is for sure! We finally were getting close to Vinton and our run in to town where we had planned to stop at a Casey's convenience store. 

So far, this ride had been pretty spectacular. We stopped often, but we were making good time and got to Vinton in a little over two hours. Not bad for over 25 miles, (due to the route discrepancy, we rode extra miles than had been originally planned). 

This massive cement railway bridge is on a gravel road coming from the South to Vinton.

It seemed like we rode five miles through Vinton alone!

The convenience store hangout was fun and it provided a chance for the eleven riders to get to know each other a little better. I think we stayed there close to an hour, but we got going eventually and were back on the road by Noon. 

And that's just the first half of the ride! Part 2 will be posted tomorrow.

Friday News And Views

Image courtesy of Esker Cycles

 Hey! It's New Bike Day On The FN&V!

Esker Cycles Introduces The Smokey Ti:

Esker introduced a new bicycle on Monday called the Smokey Ti. It is a long travel, hard tail, titanium framed bicycle with signature Esker features. 

Designed around a 160mm travel fork, the Smokey Ti also features Esker's Portage drop outs which can be used to adjust your wheelbase or to set up the bike as a single speed. 

The Smokey Ti has a slack head angle of 64.5° and comes in four sizes. Frames are $2.500.00, and adding a fork to that brings you to $3,100.00. The single speed complete starts at $4.200.00 and geared completes start at $4,500.00. Contact Esker Cycles for more options. 

Image courtesy of Salsa Cycles

Salsa Cycles Updates Stormchaser Model:

Salsa Cycles announced yesterday that the new edition of the Stormchaser is now available. It comes in the traditional single speed issue with a new "Storm Grey" color. This version costs $1,799.00. 

The geared version has an Apex Eagle set up, a Rock Shox Rudy suspension device, and a dropper post, all in a Berry color for $3,199.00. 

The Stormchaser has copious tire clearance, (It will easily take a 700 X 50mm tire), and has the Class 5 VRS stays which give the rider some comfort in the rear end of the bike. The tension for the chain in single speed mode comes via the clever sliding drop outs Salsa developed for this model. 

The Storm Grey single speed. Image courtesy of Salsa Cycles

 There is a frame only option in black as well for $1,249.00. It includes a carbon fiber fork, head set, Stealth Dropper Post routing, abrasion plates, and rack and fender mounts. See your Salsa Cycles dealer for details. 

Image courtesy of Otso Cycles

Otso Cycles Announces Hoot Ti Trail Bike:

Otso Cycles announced on Tuesday of this week that they now have a hard tail, long travel, slacked out mountain bike of their own called the "Hoot Ti". As the name suggests, the frame is made out of titanium. 

The frame features 3D printed titanium drop outs and chain stay yoke. The 65° head tube angle on the Hoot Ti is optimized for 140mm travel fork, but Otso worked with Fox to get a 36mm stanchion version made to increase stiffness and lateral rigidity of this fork. The fork features Fox's new Grip X damper, 44mm offset, and bleeders on the lowers. Otso had Fox make the fork with black lowers and black anodized stanchions as well. 

Otso allows for a 150mm travel fork, but cautions against anything longer than that or shorter than 140mm. They claim the geometry will be altered too much affecting the intended handling of the design negatively.  

The Hoot Ti frame can be had for $3,300.00 with completes starting at $6,100.00. See Otso's website HERE for more details.

Image courtesy of Pilot Cycles

Pilot Cycles Debuts Completely 3D Printed Titanium Frame:

Pilot Cycles asks the question, "Have you ever seen a completely 3D printed road bike?" Well, there it is! Pilot, a Dutch company, have claimed to have made the first rideable, tested road bike made completely out of 3D printed titanium. 

The idea was driven by a desire to find a way to make a more sustainable frame for lightweight purposes than what carbon fiber is, but have it be competitive with carbon in performance. Pilot Cycles claims to have achieved this goal. 

You can read about the details HERE. 

The model is called the Seiren, and Pilot claims that by using titanium in this way, the bike can be tuned for ride quality and performance, just as with carbon fiber. Titanium can obviously be recycled into another titanium product, but recycling is very difficult with carbon fiber. 

Comments: One would suspect also that the titanium frame might be more durable, and in testing this has been the case so far. However; we don't know what "real world" lifespan for 3D titanium is just yet, as far as cycling goes. It's all too new to know this. But again, even if it isn't quite the "forever titanium frame" that your drawn tube titanium is, it can be recycled. 

Image courtesy of Ritchey Design/John Watson

Ritchey Design Announces New P-29 Hard Tail:

Ritchey Design announced yesterday that a newly designed P-29 hard tail frame is now available. Using proprietary triple-butted Logic steel tubing this new frame updates the old P-29 with Boost spacing and a capability to handle a 120mm travel suspension fork or a 500mm axle to crown Boost rigid fork. 

The frame can handle up to a 2.3" 29"er tires (depending upon rim choice) and has stealth dropper routing as well. The color is called "Dirt in Blood" and the frame retails for $999.00USD. 

Comments: This is an interesting 29"er frame and I love a few things about it. First is the color and the name of the color which is pretty cool. But practicality-wise I love that this bike is steel, and that it is so inexpensive. Furthermore; I love that Ritchey sent out a press release showing multiple builds of this frame and a couple used Ritchey drop bars. 

I don't like the tire clearance, but 2.3" is plenty for gravel and single track around here. That said, if I were looking to add a MTB to the Guitar Ted stable of bicycles I would strongly consider this one.

Victory Ride Tomorrow!.

Tomorrow will be the 50+ mile "Victory Ride" which was conceived of by Warren Weibe and facilitated by N.Y. Roll as a ride to celebrate 'something' and myself, I guess..... I'm not sure what this is about, really, other than Warren wanted to come up and spend some time with me on a bicycle ride. Maybe I'll get clarification on that and report back Monday. Oh! Yes, there will be a report here. 

I do "know" of about 10-11 of us that will be planning to show up. You may be coming too? If so, the route file from Ride With GPS is HERE. 

Otherwise I have not much more to say about this here. Of course, it is self-supported, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU!, and NO DROP rules are in effect. There likely will be a 'surprise visitor' rider, and maybe more than one. N.Y. Roll and I have our ideas on who that may be, but tomorrow will tell the tale.

Weather looks.....adventurous. Perhaps there will be some moisture. Hmm..... Stay tuned for the report to see how it all went on Monday. 

Until then, thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions and have a safe and happy weekend. Ride those bicycles!