Friday News And Views

Image courtesy of Pashley Bicycles

 Pashley Wildfinder: Another "Fargo-Like" Adventure Bike Introduced:

This past Tuesday word came out about Pashley, a UK bicycle brand, and their new Wildfinder adventure bicycle. Sporting a Reynolds 853 DZB frame, this bike is aimed at what Pashley says are "off-grid adventures".  

Featuring suspension corrected geometry for the addition of a suspension fork, this bike also has all the accessory mounts you may need for touring, bike packing, or adventures way off the main path. 

The Wildfinder has clearance for a 29" x 2.4" tire maximum. It is compatible and available with a few different geared drive trains but the Wildfinder has no single speed option native to the design. 

Prices start at $2,595.00 USD for a frame and fork. 

Comments: I find this bike to be a great idea which is probably better executed by others for less money. For instance, the original Adventure Bike, the Fargo, can be had as a frame and fork, (a carbon fork, by the way) at 1K.  Plus the Fargo, as well as others in this category, can handle much larger tires if so desired. The Fargo also is single speed capable in case of emergency, or if an IGH type hub is utilized. Another awesome bike in this category, the Tumbleweed Stargazer, is $1,300.00 for the frame and steel fork. 

I get most others are not using Reynolds tubing, but this is of such a minute relevance it seems silly to bring this up as a nit against other adventure bikes in the category of the Wildfinder. Great idea, a nice bike, but a bit pricey, in my opinion, for what you get.  

Logo courtesy of Life Time Fitness

"The 40"

In the early days of mountain biking one of the toughest parts concerning this, then new, activity for cyclists was finding proper venues to enjoy off-road cycling here in the Mid-West. Obviously, most of the land is put to use for agriculture, so forests and woodlands are few.

One of the earliest opportunities to engage in competitive, off-road riding in this part of the country was started in 1983 in Northwestern Wisconsin and was called the "Chequamegon Fat Tire 40". A local rider named Gary Crandall started the event by promoting it via local ski and bicycle shops and on various cork bulletin boards in grocery stores in his area. 

During the 1980's and early 90's, I used to go on a fishing trip to Northwestern Wisconsin with friends every year starting on Memorial Day Weekend. I recall being in a grocery store in Hayward, Wisconsin, waiting for my friends to check out with our supplies for the week. As I was waiting I scanned the bulletin board on the wall. Grocery stores in those days used to have these cork boards for people to post yard sales on, local services, business via business cards, and posters for upcoming events. Amongst all this chaos was a lined sheet torn from a spiral bound notebook with information on "The Chequamegon Fat Tire 40" with a pen dangling from a pinned string next to it. On this sheet you could write your name and phone number so Gary Crandall could call you and get you on the roster for the event. 

Can you believe that? Well, believe it, because this is how "grassroots" this event used to be. Maybe I saw the first sign up sheet for this event. It had to be one of the first years the event took place, at any rate. They had 27 riders at that first Fat Tire 40, and today Life Time expects a field of over 1,700 riders in "The 40" with another approximately 800 in the "Short and Fat" event, which is a shorter distance. 

My belief is "The 40" kind of represents what happened to gravel events. Say what you will about the event itself, or the course, (many would say the Fat Tire 40 is essentially a "gravel race" anyway), but it is easy to draw parallels to another Life Time event called "Unbound". The 40 has been around over 40 years now and shows no signs of disappearing. Maybe gravel events have a similar trajectory? 

Maybe...

Image courtesy of Fulcrum Wheels

Fulcrum Wheels Announce New, More Affordable Aero Wheel Set:

On Wednesday news came down concerning a new aero wheel set from Fulcrum. Their new Soniq 42 wheels employ the radical "shark tooth" profile which is said to lend more stability in cross-winds. This variable rim height also acts like a deeper section wheel would in calmer air, or in tailwinds/headwinds.  

The section is called "mid-profile" by Fulcrum and amounts to a 42mm height varying to 45mm height along the rim profile. Other features include 24 rounded spokes in each wheel, a 25mm inner rim width, and a claimed tire width compatibility from 29mm to 76mm (!!!) 

Offered in several free hub combinations in 100mm/142mm through axle configuration only at  approximately $1,855.00 USD. 

Comments: The tire width compatibility is laughable. 76 mm is approximately 3 inches, in case you were wondering. Yeah..... That's insane. But otherwise I can see these being on a serious gravel racing set up, or for anyone who rides in windier conditions on the regular. By the way, the sub-1600 gram weight for the pair is not bad, considering the price and size of the rims here.  Probably not a climber's wheel set, but on the plains of the Mid-West, I can see these doing well. 

Maybe more competition will bring the prices down, and perhaps we will see even more aero wheel offerings for gravel in the near future. I still think this is a severely overlooked asset for gravel riding by many gravel riders.  

New Episode Of The Guitar Ted Podcast:

If you have not heard the latest episode of the podcast, the link to Spotify is HERE. You can also find us on Apple Podcasts, and most other podcasting platforms. We appreciate it when you listen!

This latest episode was a fun one for me. N.Y. Roll and I ramble on about several subjects. One in particular I wanted to touch upon here. 

The subject of muddy dirt roads seems to crop up every year lately. Some big gravel event will have a rain event, then the following day, or on following days, an event with muddy roads. Then the typical complaining and grousing about why muddy roads have to be a part of any gravel event. Complaints about "ruined races" or damaged equipment are often seen and heard.

Most gravel racers at the "pointy end" of things are what? Thirty years of age or younger? Let's say the average age is 30. Well, there are 2/3rds of their years with gravel racing history knowledge at their disposal. All VERY public, and VERY accessible. Finding out about "muddy dirt roads" is easy to do. So......who is at fault for a lack of knowledge? 

My mind is boggled by the lack of historical knowledge displayed by most top-flite gravel Pros and semi-Pros. They often seem to be oblivious to any sort of practical decision making skills when presented with difficulties like a muddy dirt road. They definitely often do not know these sorts of roads have featured in gravel events since the beginning of the Modern Gravel era.

Two decades worth of historical information on your specific sport is a treasure trove of information with which one could use to their advantage, but we'd rather obsess over tire widths and aero frames. None of this matters when you come across a muddy dirt road. 

I hope promoters don't cow-tow to the desires of pampered gravel Pros and take these roads out of events in the future. If this does happen, and those types of roads cease to exist in gravel racing, then it will be just one more step toward the road-ification of gravel racing. 

Have a great weekend! Get out there and ride those bicycles!

10th Anniversary Of "The Mud Year".

L-R: GT, Matt Gersib, Andrea Cohen at the DK200 Expo in 2015.
 

Applying Lessons And Support From Friends To Gain Something I Never Imagined -

Ten years ago at the Dirty Kanza 200 it was wet, muddy, and pretty darn extreme. I know folks think the 2023 year was the mud year, but their perspective is probably skewed a bit towards recent events and does not take into consideration the awesomeness that was The Mud Year at this Emporia gravel event.

2015 was a very different time at Emporia than it is now days. Now the event is called "Unbound Gravel". It is owned by Life Time Events, and not run by its founders. It also is an event which has grown exponentially since those days. Now Unbound binds up the entire city. Extending to every nook and cranny, the city cannot escape the effects of the event these days. This simply was not the case ten years ago.

Then it was more of a slight inconvenience, and most Emporia folks were just beginning to notice this gravel cycling thing, which at that point had already been happening there for ten years! A decade of DK200's was a big deal to us who had been there over the years, but what is ironic now is that these days are largely forgotten by Unbound riders of 2025. They have little to no connection to the past gravel days.

If they only knew what was awaiting them.... The start scene. Note the "16" card on the left designating the start area if you felt it would take you 16 hours to finish.

  "The Mud Year" was a turning point in this event's history. It was a spectacle which probably will never be repeated again. It was the day I might have ridden my second longest ride in one sitting I've ever done. (There is debate whether it may have been my longest ride, but this is another tale for another day) You might be surprised to learn I'd ridden in events with worse conditions. This was pretty rough, but if I am honest, wet, cool days are when I ride at my best.

However; I think there are things I saw on that chilly, wet, misty morning which I do not think I'll ever see again. A marching line of humanity with bicycles so long you could not see the beginning or the end of the throng of people,. There were broken bikes with riders nursing their broken dreams trudging through the mire. I saw dozens of derailleurs, in one area the size of ten square yards, smashed into the mud by humans trampling them down as they marched by.  Expensive Di2 derailleurs left in the clay of Chase County. You'd have thought folks would want to salvage them. Actually, Ari Andonopoulos and I had that very thought as we rode by the scene.

Dreams being shattered here.... (Image by Ari Andonopoulos.

 Ari was my riding companion for the first third of the event. He coached me, encouraged me (and others), and he even carried my heavy Fargo while I carried his much lighter Black Mountain Cycles Monstercross bike along those three-plus miles of mud. Ari helped me tremendously in the opening stages of the 2015 DK200, and I will always be in his debt for doing so.

This is what is good about events like this with great adversity. You can forge bonds with people sharing the same or similar experiences. Sure, you may have an attitude which causes you to be very negative about finding yourself in a pickle such as we found ourselves in during the 2015 DK200. This would be totally understandable by most people looking at things from a selfish, monetary-driven, self-imposed results driven viewpoint. But sometimes it might be best to take the "K.C. Franks approach" instead.

That's me on the lower left. Image courtesy of Ari Andonopoulos.

 This approach was something I learned from an art class teacher in Junior College at North Iowa Area Community College. K.C. Franks was an older professor at the time, and he once shared a tenet of his which has been useful throughout my life. He stated the following, and I am paraphrasing for a more broad appeal here:  'When you have a plan, and the plan seems to be going sideways, don't "throw it in the trash". Run with it instead. Go where it seems to be taking you. Find a way to finish it, and you will end up with something remarkable which you never dreamed of in the first place'.

Had these folks who were disgusted with the mud, the "trashing of their plan", and who had a negative attitude about the day taken a different approach, such as the one K.C. Franks suggested? Who knows how the day may have turned for them. One such individual who could have just walked away and left was my brother Matt Gersib. His day ended on the bike early, due to mechanical failure, which was inoperable out in the field. But instead of going back to Joe's house and just wallowing in negativity, he rebooted, made a new plan, and became my de-facto ride support. Matt met me at the first checkpoint, got me things to eat, lubed my chain, and encouraged me. He was there at the last checkpoint to give me support too. He took what the day gave him and ran with it. It wasn't what he expected to have happen that wet morning, but it was awesome all the same. Ari and I were also more in the K.C. Franks camp, and I think this served me well on this day.

(L-R) Ari's friend Phil Ellsworth, who we caught up with going to Checkpoint #1. Guitar Ted feeding his face. Image by Ari Andonopoulos.

 Unfortunately after the first 'optional water stop' at the top of Texaco Hill, Ari and I parted ways. I left on my own, and it was a harder road for me because of this. However; I stuck to a steady pace, a plan of nutrition, and I steeled myself against the elements, the course, and the distance left to go. I was, and still am, pretty proud of how I rode that day.

However; there are those things beyond one's control which, again, can cause you to wad up your plan and toss it in the trash, or you can reconfigure the plan, regroup, and do the best you can with what you've been handed. Such was the case later on as I hit the "optional water stop" two thirds of the way into the course. This wasn't really an option, from a rider's standpoint, as there was no way to resupply on water for many miles until riders would eventually reach the Cottonwood Falls final checkpoint.

So, I waited for water, because the tanks were dry when I got there and a line was already forming to get the precious liquid which was promised "at any time now". Unfortunately for me, it wasn't until 20 plus minutes later that I was back rolling again with a full compliment of water onboard my Fargo.

Only about five miles from Cottonwood Falls I mistakenly thought I was out of time.

 

Matt Gersib putting my bike up on the rack at 3:00am in the morning in Cottonwood Falls. Image by Ryan Dudley.

I missed the checkpoint two cutoff by two minutes. I could have been really angry. I was delayed at the "optional water stop" too long. I maybe could have ridden faster. I spent too much time fiddling with my lights when it got dark out. But no..... This was not the way.

 I think the final stint was something like 44 miles, so I had already ridden a long way.  I had ridden for nearly 20 hours or so. I had done everything I could do to be successful. I put in a great effort and I was pleased with what I left out there on those wet Kansas Flint Hills roads. I'm not a great athlete, nor would I ever be considered "one of the fast guys", but this wasn't about those things. I was competing against myself, and in my way of looking at this, I had "won".

This was the last time I rode in this event. I've no reason to go back to compete in it again, and there are a ton of reasons I would not consider Unbound a good fit for me. Instead of doing the DK200/Unbound again, I went down with my friend, Tony McGrane, for the next few years and did my own rides. These ended up becoming some of my favorite experiences in the Flint Hills.

But I do not discount my 2015 experience at all, make no mistake. I learned a lot on the trip, and I met a lot of great folks. I got to ride with Ari, and experience an unbelievable day on the bike. I spent a lot of time with my brother from another mother, Matt Gersib. I got to stay at Joe's home, a then new acquaintance. It's hard to believe it has been ten years ago, and in a way it seems like it was 100 years ago. So much has changed since then, it is crazy.

I am glad I was able to experience those days, and I am happy I was able to persevere through much adversity to accomplish what I did. Thanks to K.C. Franks, the support of Matt Gersib,  and my friend Ari for making a mental and philosophical difference which made that day, and many since then, more than I could have ever imagined them to be.  

Friday News And Views

Image courtesy of Life Time Events

 Life Time To Offer Free Live Coverage Of Unbound Gravel

For the first time in the events history, Unbound Gravel will have live, start to finish race coverage of the Pro Men and Pro Women fields.

In a press release from Tuesday of this week, Life Time promised an approximately seven hour time slot for the  event, saying it will not end coverage until all podium interviews are completed.. 

The timing of coverage seems a bit odd in that the press release states in one place that coverage will start with a pre-race briefing on the event and then turn to the race reporters for an uninterrupted stream of the event on Life Time's You Tube channel. However; this coverage is stated to start at 10:00am CST, which is typically four hours after the event gets going. Further into the release it is stated that the time is yet to be determined. Here is the quote: "The program is due to commence at [insert time here] and conclude following the elite women’s post-race interviews." 

Comments: Obviously there was not a good job of editing before the release went out. If I get clarity on the timing of the coverage I will update this story. Maybe they won't cover the opening hours of the event?

(WARNING! Old Man Yelling At Sky) The release went on and on, with the expected self-congratulatory blather and stating the event is "..the world's premier gravel event". No real argument here, but the blathering and puffery gets a bit tiring. We get it, Life Time, you think highly of how you do things and this event, which you neither created nor elevated to be the World's Premier Gravel Event, was a nice purchase by the corporation. You've shepherded the asset well. I'm sure the shareholders are pleased. 

Now, back to our regularly scheduled gravel event coverage. Thanks to all our noisy helicopters and crews on vehicles scampering across what was once a peaceful prairie causing more mayhem than is necessary so we can be entertained. For "free". 

Image courtesy of Pony Express 150 Gravel event Facebook post.

Another "Mud Year"?

Speaking of Unbound Gravel, it might be that the motos and follow cars won't be able to cover certain portions of the course anyway. As seen in the accompanying image, courtesy of the Pony Express 150 event's Facebook feed, there appears to be an abundance of moisture in the Flint Hills of late.

 Of course, there is an entire week until the event, and things could change, and probably will. So, this may be much adieu about nothing. Then again it is supposed to be unusually cool and wet through the beginning of next week.  .

Definitely something to keep tabs on. The interesting thing is to see commentary over images like this from people who claim that "this isn't gravel racing!" or "whelp! I'm out!".  As I often point out, many of these folks don't know what they don't know. 2015 was a decade ago, and many of the infamous Trans Iowas longer ago than that, so how to deal with mud, or mentally handle it, are seemingly "lost arts" for today's riders.

It will be interesting to see if Unbound modifies the course if this mud persists. You might remember the fiasco from 2023.... We will see.

Image courtesy of Wolf Tooth Components

Wolf Tooth Bottom Bracket Surfaces:

I saw mention during Sea Otter of a new component from Wolf Tooth. A bottom bracket, but no sign of an image or mention of it on Wolf Tooth's site could be found. Well, on Wednesday that changed.

Now the bottom brackets are up on their site (HERE) and several choices of color and type are available, as one would expect from Wolf Tooth.

The 100% user serviceable units come in BSA threaded and T-47 versions now and prices are reasonable with a standard threaded outboard bearing model costing $129.00 USD. These bottom brackets are designed and machined in the USA.

Comments: Another addition to the Wolf Tooth range which makes sense. While their design is touted as "best in class", I really do not see a huge difference in their design versus most other "boutique" brand bottom brackets. It is a machined and anodized cup, a cartridge bearing, and a couple of plastic sleeves.

For my money the Enduro Bearings Max-Hit bottom bracket truly is a different design and one which you can visually see a difference and feel a difference when using it. I'm not saying these Wolf Tooth bottom brackets are "bad" nor that you shouldn't buy one, but they are not what I would call "innovative". They are likely far better than a box-stock OEM model though. So, check them out if you need a good bottom bracket and if you like a touch of color on your bike.

Image courtesy of Mondraker Bikes

Mondraker Offers Arid Gravel Bike In Aluminum:

Last November I posted a story about the new Mondraker Arid carbon gravel bike. I found the story interesting from two standpoints. One: Mondraker was primarily a mountain bike brand before the Arid was offered. Two: The company was making a bigger push into the United States market.  

Actually there was a third reason. I liked the design from a geometry standpoint. The Arid has a "gravel bike geometry". Bicycles which are not in the ball park in terms of geometry just will not see coverage here. I don't see the point of promoting "old" geometry or anything which is too road-ish or is really a cyclo cross bike.

Now Mondraker has offered the Arid, an aluminum version of the Arid C, and it has the same geometry specifications, A 75mm bottom bracket drop coupled with a 70 degree head tube angle. This is the sort of geometry I feel is "right" for gravel and will perform in a way which makes gravel riding more fun and safer.

Of course, an aluminum frame is going to bring the price down. Mondraker Arids start at around $2,500.00. But that isn't what I would call "budget friendly". Compared to carbon? It seems like a bargain. I just wish Mondraker would offer the Arid as a frame set. While it would likely still cost close to 2K, I would be more inclined to build up an Arid transferring parts from my Noble GX5, as an example, than buying an entire complete Arid model.  Of course, I likely do not represent one of a possibly large enough number of sales for Mondraker to pull the trigger on aluminum frame only offerings. (NOTE: You can find Arid carbon frame sets online for about $2.100.00)

An interesting plant is growing outside of the Collective!

Being A Responsible Steward:

Part of the mission the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective has relates to keeping bicycles out of the local landfill. To that end, we collect donated bicycles which are sorted for potential uses. If the parts or bikes are deemed not useful they go to a local metal recycler.

This past week has been a BIG recycling week at the Collective. We had a couple of organizations from Northeast Iowa discover what we are doing and they brought down 44 bicycles to be recycled. We also received nearly 60 bicycles from the local police department.

Of course, what we can save for use by people here in the Cedar Valley we will do, but obviously many bicycles are just not going to be savable. Fortunately many are, and these help underprivileged, destitute, immigrant, veterans in need, and low income folks get on two wheels. An example: We recently have put eight immigrants on bikes so they can get to jobs. We have sold several bicycles to folks recently who cannot afford new, bicycle shop quality bikes. We also have been busy supporting local school programs which have bicycle safety and phys-ed program needs with loaner bikes.

If you are a local reading this, please consider being a part of the efforts of the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective. If you have a local collective, please consider supporting it. Help your local bicycle non-profits be good stewards of bicycles and bicycle knowledge!

Image courtesy of SRAM

Zipp Wheels Now Available With AXS Pressure Sensors:

Zipp announced on Thursday that their 353 NSW and 303 NS wheels will be available with AXS air pressure sensors embedded into the rims. The AXS sensors can send pressure monitoring information to a computer head, (Hammerhead is SRAM's preferred brand since they own it), which will allow riders to detect an issue more quickly. Riders can also set pressure levels which the AXS sensor can react to with a green light, letting the rider know the pressure has been set correctly.

Comments: This may seem unnecessary now, but I feel it is a portent of things to come. No doubt this sensor would be even more useful with a pressure regulating system so riders could air up or down while riding. This sort of system already exists and has been race proven in the Pro roadie ranks.

 I'm not sure how SRAM would do this. Perhaps a green light for your up or down settings and perhaps a red one for out of range indicating a problem? The possibilities are fascinating. Imagine a gravel racer with the ability to set a higher pressure for stretches of pavement and then being able to dump air out for the gravel, or rougher sections with less traction.

That is it for this week! Have a fantastic Memorial Day weekend, if you celebrate this holiday. Otherwise, get out there and ride those bicycles!

I Missed The Mud.......A Little!

Wet, soft roads, like these in Spring of 2018, were absent this year.

Well, it would seem that we went from Winter straight into Spring with barely any transition at all. The roads all around Iowa are seemingly coming out of Winter with flying colors and in a rather unprecedented state, they are even getting fresh gravel already. That's usually something that waits until April sometime. 

And here I was, thinking we'd have a typical transition from Winter to Spring with at least two weeks of "slop season" riding. I tacked on fenders and clip-on mudguards all to no avail. They simply were not needed this year at all. In fact, I stripped two bikes of their fenders already, and may succumb to taking them off my Black Mountain Cycles Monster Cross rig. I have not ridden that bike without fenders for over five years. 

So, big deal, right? That's a good thing. Well......maybe, except we need the moisture and it is super dry out there now, even with this rain we are getting. I am just kind of shocked we haven't seen any moisture in the roads. It is a pain to deal with when you want to bicycle, but not having any? That's not good for anyone. So, I kind of missed the mud, to be honest, and I hope that it doesn't continue to be overly dry out there. 

The other side note to all of this is that I am supposed to be reviewing this rain jacket and, well..... Hopefully I can get out in this and put an end to this review I'm doing. It has rained before this, of course, but it was freezing cold and coming down in the form of 'soft snow'. Like big flakes of snow that had just been melted enough that you could call it rain. Not anything I'd want to ride in.

I'm not sure why, but my iPhone camera just cannot replicate the color of this bike correctly.

Sunday I rode the Standard Rando v2 around the neighborhood to get my daily exercise in. No big deal. Just enough to spin out the legs and to stress the knee I tweaked Saturday a bit so it wouldn't get stiff. That all worked out, but as I was riding it I kept debating in my mind whether or not I am going to keep riding the Winston Bar on there. Unfortunately, no decision was made. 

I guess I'll just keep riding it the way it is for the time being until I get inspired to do something different. I'm not necessarily missing a drop bar, but I'm not sure the Winston Bar is 100% right for this bike. It's really good, so don't get me wrong. It is probably just a case of over-thinking things. I guess I should forget about missing 'slop-season' and the Winston Bar and shut up and ride.

I Missed The Mud.......A Little!

Wet, soft roads, like these in Spring of 2018, were absent this year.

Well, it would seem that we went from Winter straight into Spring with barely any transition at all. The roads all around Iowa are seemingly coming out of Winter with flying colors and in a rather unprecedented state, they are even getting fresh gravel already. That's usually something that waits until April sometime. 

And here I was, thinking we'd have a typical transition from Winter to Spring with at least two weeks of "slop season" riding. I tacked on fenders and clip-on mudguards all to no avail. They simply were not needed this year at all. In fact, I stripped two bikes of their fenders already, and may succumb to taking them off my Black Mountain Cycles Monster Cross rig. I have not ridden that bike without fenders for over five years. 

So, big deal, right? That's a good thing. Well......maybe, except we need the moisture and it is super dry out there now, even with this rain we are getting. I am just kind of shocked we haven't seen any moisture in the roads. It is a pain to deal with when you want to bicycle, but not having any? That's not good for anyone. So, I kind of missed the mud, to be honest, and I hope that it doesn't continue to be overly dry out there. 

The other side note to all of this is that I am supposed to be reviewing this rain jacket and, well..... Hopefully I can get out in this and put an end to this review I'm doing. It has rained before this, of course, but it was freezing cold and coming down in the form of 'soft snow'. Like big flakes of snow that had just been melted enough that you could call it rain. Not anything I'd want to ride in.

I'm not sure why, but my iPhone camera just cannot replicate the color of this bike correctly.

Sunday I rode the Standard Rando v2 around the neighborhood to get my daily exercise in. No big deal. Just enough to spin out the legs and to stress the knee I tweaked Saturday a bit so it wouldn't get stiff. That all worked out, but as I was riding it I kept debating in my mind whether or not I am going to keep riding the Winston Bar on there. Unfortunately, no decision was made. 

I guess I'll just keep riding it the way it is for the time being until I get inspired to do something different. I'm not necessarily missing a drop bar, but I'm not sure the Winston Bar is 100% right for this bike. It's really good, so don't get me wrong. It is probably just a case of over-thinking things. I guess I should forget about missing 'slop-season' and the Winston Bar and shut up and ride.

C.O.G. 100 (Not Final) Recon Report

Lots of glum looking skies and dun colored landscapes during recon.

I was going to do a final recon of the C.O.G.100 course over the weekend, but the weather was too nice, and Monday it was supposed to rain. So, I figured, "Why waste a perfectly good riding day on recon when it is supposed to be ugly Monday?" In some ways, I wish I had been all wrong about this. I was right, unfortunately, and boy! Did it ever get ugly!

Rain started in before the Sun got up Monday and it stayed raining all day long. The clouds were low and with the brown vegetation everywhere, it was really quite the depressing scene out in the country.

I headed out around 8:00am and went South toward Grinnell, but I never went to the city proper, choosing instead to contact the course outside of town and then head on toward the "lollipop" section which will bring riders into the convenience store opportunity and back out again. The way I have it figured the course will overlap at one point for about a mile and a half, but it shouldn't be difficult to figure out for riders. By the way, you won't be able to short-cut the course because we will have observers at a point on the lollipop watching you. If you don't go by, you will be DQ'ed. Pretty simple. That way we will know everyone did the prescribed course.

So, anyway, I got around the lollipop part okay, but it was messy! The frost is starting to get drawn up out of the ground now and the rain was starting to make a mire out of the roads but not quite bad enough to impede my progress. It was still sketchy out there though. With about three inches of unfrozen clay on top of a harder surface of frozen, or semi-frozen road, there were times I felt out of control in the truck going 25mph.

Here you can see how the truck was pushing the gravel down into the melted road surface, but I wasn't sinking in.

The county hasn't been idle, by the way. There was a lot of evidence of fresh gravel on the roads, probably laid down over a week ago, by my estimation. Some few patches were fresher than that. With the frost coming up, it will give the roads time to recover from Winter before the end of March and I am betting on lots of fresh gravel by the time the event rolls around.

Due to a bridge reconstruction, this long climb will not be part of the C.O.G.100 after all. 

Of course, by now you've all realized that things did not go totally as planned. We had news of a bridge repair which necessitated a reroute, and that was done weeks ago here without any sight of the course down there. Well, upon laying eyes on it, what was listed as unpaved has been paved. Again ANOTHER reason that event directors and ride promoters ALWAYS should go look at the courses they come up with to verify them. So, I diddled around looking for a quick way around it but I ran into even more pavement. Why do we keep paving things here in Iowa? We can't take care of what we've got paved already. Anyway......

So, instead of wasting a bunch of time trying to figure out a route in worsening road conditions with no map, I decided to come back to G-Ted HQ and redraw the back third of the event. We will have to recon that soon, and then.......maybe......we can wrap this nonsense up and print up some cue sheets!

This steep up will be on course, so prepare your legs and choose an appropriate cog. 

I'll be getting to work here and finalizing things soon. Stay tuned! It's getting to crunch time and opportunities to wrap this up are dwindling. You'll see more on this sooner than later.

C.O.G. 100 (Not Final) Recon Report

Lots of glum looking skies and dun colored landscapes during recon.

I was going to do a final recon of the C.O.G.100 course over the weekend, but the weather was too nice, and Monday it was supposed to rain. So, I figured, "Why waste a perfectly good riding day on recon when it is supposed to be ugly Monday?" In some ways, I wish I had been all wrong about this. I was right, unfortunately, and boy! Did it ever get ugly!

Rain started in before the Sun got up Monday and it stayed raining all day long. The clouds were low and with the brown vegetation everywhere, it was really quite the depressing scene out in the country.

I headed out around 8:00am and went South toward Grinnell, but I never went to the city proper, choosing instead to contact the course outside of town and then head on toward the "lollipop" section which will bring riders into the convenience store opportunity and back out again. The way I have it figured the course will overlap at one point for about a mile and a half, but it shouldn't be difficult to figure out for riders. By the way, you won't be able to short-cut the course because we will have observers at a point on the lollipop watching you. If you don't go by, you will be DQ'ed. Pretty simple. That way we will know everyone did the prescribed course.

So, anyway, I got around the lollipop part okay, but it was messy! The frost is starting to get drawn up out of the ground now and the rain was starting to make a mire out of the roads but not quite bad enough to impede my progress. It was still sketchy out there though. With about three inches of unfrozen clay on top of a harder surface of frozen, or semi-frozen road, there were times I felt out of control in the truck going 25mph.

Here you can see how the truck was pushing the gravel down into the melted road surface, but I wasn't sinking in.

The county hasn't been idle, by the way. There was a lot of evidence of fresh gravel on the roads, probably laid down over a week ago, by my estimation. Some few patches were fresher than that. With the frost coming up, it will give the roads time to recover from Winter before the end of March and I am betting on lots of fresh gravel by the time the event rolls around.

Due to a bridge reconstruction, this long climb will not be part of the C.O.G.100 after all. 

Of course, by now you've all realized that things did not go totally as planned. We had news of a bridge repair which necessitated a reroute, and that was done weeks ago here without any sight of the course down there. Well, upon laying eyes on it, what was listed as unpaved has been paved. Again ANOTHER reason that event directors and ride promoters ALWAYS should go look at the courses they come up with to verify them. So, I diddled around looking for a quick way around it but I ran into even more pavement. Why do we keep paving things here in Iowa? We can't take care of what we've got paved already. Anyway......

So, instead of wasting a bunch of time trying to figure out a route in worsening road conditions with no map, I decided to come back to G-Ted HQ and redraw the back third of the event. We will have to recon that soon, and then.......maybe......we can wrap this nonsense up and print up some cue sheets!

This steep up will be on course, so prepare your legs and choose an appropriate cog. 

I'll be getting to work here and finalizing things soon. Stay tuned! It's getting to crunch time and opportunities to wrap this up are dwindling. You'll see more on this sooner than later.

Brown Season: Mud And Wind

Appearances Can Be Deceiving File #238: Looks nice- Reality = Miserable.

I probably should have taken the day to do some lighter effort and recovered from the big weekend I had. Or maybe it was just that the Northwest wind was actually stronger than reported. But then again- maybe it was that it rained most of Sunday afternoon and Sunday night, which soaked the gravel and made it soft.

Or maybe it was all of those things together which conspired to make going North on Monday a real chore. Whatever it was, all I know is that I was slogging out a slow, methodical cadence and realizing the blazing speed of 8+ mph. Simply eye-watering. The wind that is, not the speed I was going.......

I had a little extra time to put on the Black Mountain Cycles MCD for good measure to get the "Lube-Off" test completed. (Results and Commentary tomorrow) I was hoping that the wind would have dried up the gravel by the time I went out, but to no avail. It wasn't dry out there. In fact, there was standing water and much of the gravel was mud or saturated with water to the point where the tires made that distinct sound of rubber squeegeeing out the moisture as the wheels pressed into the roadway.

Some of the last cornfields to be harvested. Note the darkened gravel indicating a saturated road surface.

At least it looked somewhat cheery out, with faded "blue jean blue" skies and big white, puffy clouds hurrying overhead. The Sun cast shadows, now with a low-angled light indicative of late Fall/Early Winter. This time of year, everything just looks odd, and more dramatic, due to the light angle.

Machines stopped mid-harvest awaiting the fields to become dry again.

A big tractor sits alone in the midst of an enormous harvested soybean field. Again- Note the muddied gravel here.

I toughed it out going North as long as I could, but beating myself down after already being worn thin on the weekend wasn't probably ideal for my health. So, I eventually turned East and South, which obviously was much easier and faster going. 20+ mph? I'll take that. Yes!

Harvested fields expose this wood framed home as being quite isolated. 

The roads weren't quite so gravelly for the back 3/4's of my loop, and with the wind at my back- mostly- it was a far easier ride. But the roads are slowly finding their way to what I call "Winter Mode"- Less gravel, more dirt, and really smooth. Good days of weather mean fast, smooth sailing, but I never know when- or if- I will be able to take it all in on a gravel bike.

The forecast looks pretty bleak, with an Arctic blast aimed at us and high temperatures in the 20's. Any wind with that and you are talking near zero wind chill. Too cold for gravel travel. I may be fat biking most of next week. After that, who knows.........

Brown Season: Mud And Wind

Appearances Can Be Deceiving File #238: Looks nice- Reality = Miserable.

I probably should have taken the day to do some lighter effort and recovered from the big weekend I had. Or maybe it was just that the Northwest wind was actually stronger than reported. But then again- maybe it was that it rained most of Sunday afternoon and Sunday night, which soaked the gravel and made it soft.

Or maybe it was all of those things together which conspired to make going North on Monday a real chore. Whatever it was, all I know is that I was slogging out a slow, methodical cadence and realizing the blazing speed of 8+ mph. Simply eye-watering. The wind that is, not the speed I was going.......

I had a little extra time to put on the Black Mountain Cycles MCD for good measure to get the "Lube-Off" test completed. (Results and Commentary tomorrow) I was hoping that the wind would have dried up the gravel by the time I went out, but to no avail. It wasn't dry out there. In fact, there was standing water and much of the gravel was mud or saturated with water to the point where the tires made that distinct sound of rubber squeegeeing out the moisture as the wheels pressed into the roadway.

Some of the last cornfields to be harvested. Note the darkened gravel indicating a saturated road surface.

At least it looked somewhat cheery out, with faded "blue jean blue" skies and big white, puffy clouds hurrying overhead. The Sun cast shadows, now with a low-angled light indicative of late Fall/Early Winter. This time of year, everything just looks odd, and more dramatic, due to the light angle.

Machines stopped mid-harvest awaiting the fields to become dry again.

A big tractor sits alone in the midst of an enormous harvested soybean field. Again- Note the muddied gravel here.

I toughed it out going North as long as I could, but beating myself down after already being worn thin on the weekend wasn't probably ideal for my health. So, I eventually turned East and South, which obviously was much easier and faster going. 20+ mph? I'll take that. Yes!

Harvested fields expose this wood framed home as being quite isolated. 

The roads weren't quite so gravelly for the back 3/4's of my loop, and with the wind at my back- mostly- it was a far easier ride. But the roads are slowly finding their way to what I call "Winter Mode"- Less gravel, more dirt, and really smooth. Good days of weather mean fast, smooth sailing, but I never know when- or if- I will be able to take it all in on a gravel bike.

The forecast looks pretty bleak, with an Arctic blast aimed at us and high temperatures in the 20's. Any wind with that and you are talking near zero wind chill. Too cold for gravel travel. I may be fat biking most of next week. After that, who knows.........

Summer Throwback

Upper 80's, Sunny- (checks calendar) ON SEPT 30?!!

Yesterday I got out for a ride. Yes......on Monday. I know that's odd, but let me just say this- big changes are on the horizon. That's all I can say about that now. So, anyway, that said, I have Monday's and Wednesday's off for the foreseeable future. Which sucks.....financially, but as for riding, well.....it's a good thing. 

Well, as most of y'all know, the weather has been a roller coaster and Monday was a total Summer throwback. Blue skies, hot temperatures, and lots of wind. If things were still green you'd swear this was August again. But it is on the doorstep of October. Yeah......weird. 

I went out in the morning before it got really hot. It eventually got up to 89°F here. But I did not get out before the wind started in. I would say it was at about 20mph with higher gusts and that lasted all day long. One thing that was missing was humidity. It was about 52% as I was riding. That's pretty comfy around these parts. Had it been really humid too, yeah.......that would definitely have been a Summer Throwback. 

I decided to ride the Fargo Gen I as I have the six hours on the Noble Bikes GX5 and Muc Off C3 lube, so now it's on to the next bike/lube combo. Oh, in case you didn't know, I am conducting another "Lube-Off", so that is what this is all about. The Fargo has the Squirt lube, so this will also be a new-to-me lube. Well, kind of. I think I tried it once upon a time a long time ago, but I don't recall how it fared. So, as far as I am concerned, it is a new lube to the test. I decided that since Squirt recommends a new application every 6 hours that I would run each bike that long and assess the results then.

Did I mention that it was WINDY?!!

I headed South into the teeth of that stiff wind, of course, so that I would have an easy ride of it back on the second half. It was sloooooooow going! If I was doing 10mph on a downhill pedaling it was "speedy". Otherwise I ground away on a low-ish gear for several miles. My turn-around point was going to be determined by timing. That was going to be tricky because it was going to take less time to get back, by far with this wind, than it would to get out there. Wherever "there" ended up being. So, let's say I gave myself an hour into the wind, and then what? Half that time to get back? That was where my mind was at during all that grinding into the wind.

The roads were wet, and sometimes muddy.

 A Flock Of Starlings

The roads were wet from all the recent rain and humidity. I even had to dodge mud and water puddles many times. The County has been busy doing patchwork on the roads and the rock they are using is big, chunky, and deep. Fortunately these deeper patches of gravel were not long and not all over the place. Even with 2" tires that stuff sucked.

I didn't see much for animals. The Starlings I saw in flocks were not moving much as the direction they want to go in was right into that wind. They were mostly hanging out on power lines, waiting for a change, I would imagine. I also saw a committee of Vultures swinging over a hog farm. Hmm..... I decided not to investigate further. 

A quick break.......

 

.......to take a picture of this little guy!

While laboring up a grade I nearly ran over a little snake sunning itself in the road. I researched it after getting back home and I think it is a Western Ribbon Snake. It was soaking up those Summer-like rays for the last time this year, no doubt. I rarely see snakes, so I had to stop and get a picture. I hope this little snake grows up and gets to eating the local varmints soon. (Isn't it a little late for baby snakes?)

Coming back with the wind was MUCH easier!

Finally I turned back North and the wind felt like someone pushing on my back. It was so much easier coming back, it wasn't even comparable. So, with my job made a lot easier, I had time to focus on my surroundings.

I noted how fast the corn is drying down now. The wind yesterday should really have helped that along, I would think. The constant wind was making the brownish stalks rattle and dance like old skeletons in a Halloween cartoon. The abrasive sound that the leaves were making combined with the roar of the wind to nearly drown out any vehicle noises, so when a truck went zooming by, it caught me off guard. Better pay attention!

I could see that my calculations on my estimated time of arrival were way off, so I was soft pedaling back and letting the wind do the lions share of the work. Normally I would be speeding down the road to see how fast I could go in a sustained effort. But spinning, coasting, and taking it easy was a nice choice after busting my butt so hard to get as far South as I did.

In the end, I was ten minutes off. For as well as I can do math, (not very), that was pretty good. Now I have about 4 more hours to go on the Fargo, then it will be on to the Bubblegum Princess to finish out this first round of the "Lube-Off".

Summer Throwback

Upper 80's, Sunny- (checks calendar) ON SEPT 30?!!

Yesterday I got out for a ride. Yes......on Monday. I know that's odd, but let me just say this- big changes are on the horizon. That's all I can say about that now. So, anyway, that said, I have Monday's and Wednesday's off for the foreseeable future. Which sucks.....financially, but as for riding, well.....it's a good thing. 

Well, as most of y'all know, the weather has been a roller coaster and Monday was a total Summer throwback. Blue skies, hot temperatures, and lots of wind. If things were still green you'd swear this was August again. But it is on the doorstep of October. Yeah......weird. 

I went out in the morning before it got really hot. It eventually got up to 89°F here. But I did not get out before the wind started in. I would say it was at about 20mph with higher gusts and that lasted all day long. One thing that was missing was humidity. It was about 52% as I was riding. That's pretty comfy around these parts. Had it been really humid too, yeah.......that would definitely have been a Summer Throwback. 

I decided to ride the Fargo Gen I as I have the six hours on the Noble Bikes GX5 and Muc Off C3 lube, so now it's on to the next bike/lube combo. Oh, in case you didn't know, I am conducting another "Lube-Off", so that is what this is all about. The Fargo has the Squirt lube, so this will also be a new-to-me lube. Well, kind of. I think I tried it once upon a time a long time ago, but I don't recall how it fared. So, as far as I am concerned, it is a new lube to the test. I decided that since Squirt recommends a new application every 6 hours that I would run each bike that long and assess the results then.

Did I mention that it was WINDY?!!

I headed South into the teeth of that stiff wind, of course, so that I would have an easy ride of it back on the second half. It was sloooooooow going! If I was doing 10mph on a downhill pedaling it was "speedy". Otherwise I ground away on a low-ish gear for several miles. My turn-around point was going to be determined by timing. That was going to be tricky because it was going to take less time to get back, by far with this wind, than it would to get out there. Wherever "there" ended up being. So, let's say I gave myself an hour into the wind, and then what? Half that time to get back? That was where my mind was at during all that grinding into the wind.

The roads were wet, and sometimes muddy.

 A Flock Of Starlings

The roads were wet from all the recent rain and humidity. I even had to dodge mud and water puddles many times. The County has been busy doing patchwork on the roads and the rock they are using is big, chunky, and deep. Fortunately these deeper patches of gravel were not long and not all over the place. Even with 2" tires that stuff sucked.

I didn't see much for animals. The Starlings I saw in flocks were not moving much as the direction they want to go in was right into that wind. They were mostly hanging out on power lines, waiting for a change, I would imagine. I also saw a committee of Vultures swinging over a hog farm. Hmm..... I decided not to investigate further. 

A quick break.......

 

.......to take a picture of this little guy!

While laboring up a grade I nearly ran over a little snake sunning itself in the road. I researched it after getting back home and I think it is a Western Ribbon Snake. It was soaking up those Summer-like rays for the last time this year, no doubt. I rarely see snakes, so I had to stop and get a picture. I hope this little snake grows up and gets to eating the local varmints soon. (Isn't it a little late for baby snakes?)

Coming back with the wind was MUCH easier!

Finally I turned back North and the wind felt like someone pushing on my back. It was so much easier coming back, it wasn't even comparable. So, with my job made a lot easier, I had time to focus on my surroundings.

I noted how fast the corn is drying down now. The wind yesterday should really have helped that along, I would think. The constant wind was making the brownish stalks rattle and dance like old skeletons in a Halloween cartoon. The abrasive sound that the leaves were making combined with the roar of the wind to nearly drown out any vehicle noises, so when a truck went zooming by, it caught me off guard. Better pay attention!

I could see that my calculations on my estimated time of arrival were way off, so I was soft pedaling back and letting the wind do the lions share of the work. Normally I would be speeding down the road to see how fast I could go in a sustained effort. But spinning, coasting, and taking it easy was a nice choice after busting my butt so hard to get as far South as I did.

In the end, I was ten minutes off. For as well as I can do math, (not very), that was pretty good. Now I have about 4 more hours to go on the Fargo, then it will be on to the Bubblegum Princess to finish out this first round of the "Lube-Off".