Two Things

 

 Testing 1,2,3....

 Just testing out this shiny new laptop I got Friday for this BRAN gig coming up in a couple of weeks. 

I need to be able to update the blog from the road, and well.....  Dragging a PC around isn't very practical. So this laptop was procured and it should provide me with the means to do some writin' on the road. 

I'm still testing this thing out and hopefully images won't be too hard to get the way I want them. You know, technology isn't my best area of expertise, although I will advocate for myself a little here and claim a bit of competency in dealing with new things. 

So, wish me well. 

And for the tech nerds out there I will head off any questions in the comments and let you know what device we ended up with. It is a Lenovo Yoga (I say "Yoda", but Mrs. Guitar Ted doesn't like that!)

So, there ya go. Stay tuned for more from the Yoda laptop soon. 

Note: The above part was posted on the laptop. Now back to the regular PC.... 

Joe Meiser with a Ti Fargo 32 (Image by Steve Fuller)

The 32" Watch: Ti Fargo 32 Completes Century Gravel Ride:

Have you, like me, been thinking a 32"er might be good for gravel road riding? Well, apparently Quality Bicycle Products' own Joe Meiser, a former Trans Iowa winner, thinks it does. He just used a 32"er Ti Fargo to complete the century distance at this past weekend's Heywood Ride. 

Thanks to volunteer Steve Fuller, we have this image and a few details. Apparently Joe chose Teravail Ciclos carbon rims and had these laced to Berd hubs with the Berd spokes which, I would imagine, results in a very lightweight wheel set. 

Those are the Teravail Cannonball 32" tires on there as well. Steve got a quick ride on it and said the bike felt pretty natural to him. It is an XL size, by the way. 

32" Fargos will be available in titanium and steel coming later this year. See your Salsa Cycles dealer for more details. 

And....

I have seen an image of another prototype 32"er which I have been told will work with drop bars or flat bars which will be offered "very soon." This will be coming from a company not known primarily as a bicycle company, by the way. 

Stay tuned..... 

Friday News And Views

Image courtesy of Xfusion

Xfusion G.E.T. 30 Gravel Bike Suspension Fork:

A new choice in front suspension for a gravel bike is now offered by Xfusion, a company known maybe more for its value oriented MTB suspension fork offerings. The new fork, dubbed the G.E.T. 30, (Grand Epic Trail) is based on a 30mm diameter stanchion platform and is available in the aforementioned 30mm of travel but can be converted to have 40mm or 50mm of travel. 

The fork also features external rebound adjustment and a lock-out function. There is a "Qflip" lever, designed for drop bars, which can lock out the fork or be used as a dropper post lever which is available separately. 

The damper unit is based on an air spring design for lightweight. It also is adjustable. The damper is Xfusion's Finecut RL2 sealed cartridge design damper which offeres improved oil flow for better small bump sensitivity, according to Xfusion. 

Offsets are available in 45mm or 51mm. The fork with an uncut steer tube weighs a claimed 2.9lbs. Designed for 700c wheels and gravel tires in Matte Black or Gloss Sand.. The G.E.T. 30 starts at $659.00 USD.  

Comments: You all probably know I am not a fan of telescopic, short-travel forks for gravel riding. That aside, this seems like a good alternative to Fox and SRAM/Rock Shox if someone is convinced this is a good idea. (Having a gravel suspension fork.)  

Image courtesy of Stoll Bikes

The 32" Watch: Big Wheels Win, Are Faster:

In the new world in which we live now where 32"er bikes roll on this planet, we now can say one of these monster wheeled bikes has won something. 

The Cape Epic, a multi-stage MTB XC event saw rider Felix Stehli win Stage three with his partner rider. Stehli was riding a production Stoll Bikes 32"er FS bike. 

In other 32"er news, Trans Iowa veteran (v8) rider John Karrasch has an article up on "The Escape Collective" in which he shows his recent testing on the Maxxis Aspen 32"er versus the same model in 29".  

John does a lot of rolling resistance testing on MTB and gravel tires,. He also has a bike fitting business so check out his work  

English Cycles prototype 32'er. Image courtesy of English Cycles

English Cycles, a custom bike builder from Eugene , Oregon, has a new prototype 32"er built as a bike packing rig. 

When I interviewed Sam Alison for the Guitar Ted Podcast recently he mentioned bike packing as being one of the ways 32"ers would likely be used. 

Seems Rob English would agree. His proto is for his testing purposes. In a blog post on the English Cycles site, Rob said he tried to maintain the fit and proportions of his 29"er as much as possible. He goes into great detail about certain aspects of building around this wheel size which is interesting.  

Check out this bike in further detail on the English Cycles' site HERE. 

Heard From Mid-South: Teravail has two 32" tires coming out. They will be based on the Cannonball and Camrock models. 

Rumors: Salsa Cycles Fargo 32"er? Seems to be a rampant rumor and was heard on the Shiftless podcast a week ago. Also: Mavic is rumored to be looking into 32"ers. Stay tuned.... 

 Finally another small builder, BTCHN Bikes, has an Alpina 32"er hardtail available now which looks interesting. Available in Med, L, XL sizes only. Check out the details on their sire HERE.  

The USA Trail Coast to Coast News:

The Spinistry folks are letting their TUBA Trail supporters know that the recon of the route, mostly gravel and dirt, across the USA has been completed. 

We interviewed Kevin Lee of the Spinistry who is the main developer of this trail on our Guitar Ted Podcast earlier this year. (Listen to the episode HERE) Kevin was still in the final stages of the trail's development then, but you get a great idea from the talk we had as to what this trail will be like. 

The trail changed names from TUBA Trail, (Transcontinental Unpaved Bicycle Adventure) to the USA Trail Coast To Coast . The name change reflects this trails status as being the first coast to coast, mainly unpaved trail for bicycle travel/touring. Kevin Lee is quoted in a recent email to TUBA Trail founders which I was able to see as follows: "While there is plenty of room for unpaved riding, we need a name that eliminates confusion and immediately tells the world what we’ve built."

The next stage in this trail's development is a Fall 2026 "dress rehearsal" riding of the route to work out any bugs and then the trail will be formerly opened, barring any issues, afterward.  

For more details see the TUBA Trail Founders page HERE.  

Image courtesy of SRAM

Hammerhead Karoo Share: 

Now Hammerhead Karoo users can share ride routes between devices. SRAM announced the update to the Karoo yesterday in a press release. 

SRAM claims routes and profiles can now be shared "immediately" between Karoo devices. Last minute adds at start lines are now totally possible with Karoo. 

You can learn more about this update and Karoo devices at Hammerhead's site HERE. 

Comments: I tried a Hammerhead Karoo 2 several years ago now and was really disappointed in it. Hopefully SRAM's purchase of Hammerhead has upped the experience quality for users. If you have a Hammerhead, how has it been for you? Let me know in the comments. 

Iowa Wind and Rock Announces Virtual Challenge Opportunity: 

The annual Iowa Wind and Rock event had to be cancelled due to health concerns for the event director. (Fortunately we are expecting a full recovery) 

Instead of the actual event, IWAR is putting out the #NotIWAR challenge. where riders are asked to do a long ride on the weekend of April 17th -  19th. From their Facebook post:

"Although we had to cancel this year's event, there's no reason for your training and fitness to go unused. We'd like to see you, and some friends, challenge yourself with a long ride sometime during the weekend of April 17 - 19. Ideally 100 miles or more, but if the conditions are right, a shorter distance will do. Gravel, bikepacking, singletrack, or mixed surface - it's all good. Just get out and push your limits for a few, or many, hours.

While we're not able to get our community together this year, we think it would be great to have everyone share photos and be able to read stories about their rides! Email works, or better post to IG or FB and use the hashtag #NotIWAR. No promises, but we might try and send something for each one that's submitted as well as gather the submissions and post them on the website as a bit of race history."

So, if you are reading this and think it is a great excuse for a bicycle ride, please consider supporting this idea. Ride a long ride, submit some images and words with the #NotIWAR hashtag, and show some support for this longstanding ultra-gravel ride, and more so for the RD who is recovering from medical procedures which prevented this year's event from happening. 
 

That's a wrap on this week. Happy Spring! get out and ride those bicycles!

Weekly Top Five

 Welcome to the weekly Top Five" showing links to five of the week's most read articles on the blog.
Sometimes those will be current posts, but sometimes not. I will also post commentary with perspective on some of the older posts, and try to give some context as to why I wrote what I wrote then, which may not reflect what I'd say in 2025. With all of the above said, here is this week's list.

Lost In The Transaction: Thursday, July 10th, 2025 - This was a post I said was "dangerous to write" because... well to be honest, I knew some folks wouldn't understand it,  or where I was coming from. But, I care about gravel cycling, so I wrote what I wrote. 

A Pictorial Review Idea: Wednesday, July 9th, 2025 - An idea for a showing of imagery from Trans Iowa. Heck, like N.Y. Roll suggested, why not make a showing of imagery from many early gravel events, and donate the whole she-bang to the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame at the end of it all? Yeah, great ideas, but I am done organizing events, including pictorial reviews, art showings, or the like. So, my point was to throw the idea out there and to present my "good things" and "bad things" in relation to actually doing something like this.  Now if another event does this in the future, just know you read it here first, and it wasn't my idea.

Crazy Idea: Update - Tuesday, July 8th, 2025 - The Singular Buzzard idea is being put into play. I should have another update on this soon. Gotta wait to dry out the basement after 8 hours of heavy rains in the span of 36 hours. 

WTB Solano Saddle Review: Final Verdict - Monday, July 7th, 2025 -  Hey....anyone else noticing a pattern here? Maybe it is just me.....

The Tree In The Road Ride report: Technical Snafu's And Heat: Tuesday, July 1st, 2025 - The main part of the TITRR report. I am still so glad I was able to sneak out of town for this ride, despite it being shorter than I'd have liked it to be. 

That's a wrap on what people were checking out here on the site this week. Thank you for reading Guitar Ted Productions.  

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!

Tree In The Road Ride: Route Update

Hey everyone! It's another "Tree In The Road Ride" update. (Last update HERE) This is getting to be a weekly thing here, but I figured the more you know, the better decisions you can make. This time I have a route option presented by none other than Sarah Cooper, a former Trans Iowa veteran, winner of the event, and now one of the race directors for Iowa Wind and Rock. She has ridden tons of miles in this area, so she looked at the route and made a few suggestions. Nothing against the original route, but a "local" viewpoint is always welcome and I figured Sarah would have some cool additions to suggest, and I was not disappointed.

First, she pointed out a couple of points around the Tree In The Road. Just before we would get to the namesake of this ride there is a set of old steps where a church once stood which Sarah felt is noteworthy and a good place for photos ops. She then pointed out the Level B dirt to the West can be avoided if it is rainy by heading straight North from the Tree which would cut off a few miles of the route but steers you around possibly having to do a hike-a-bike if it is wet.

We might be crossing this old iron and plank bridge if it stays dry.

Sarah also has us going a bit further East and catching a wooded area with a water refill opportunity from a well in the Littlefield Recreation Area.

Another suggestion comes when the route reaches Audubon, where "Albert The Bull" is. Sarah mentioned there is a cool stained glass clock. Sarah said it's a bit out of the way but that, " You can’t go all the way to Audubon and not see that."So, we may have to "go see that".

Sarah suggested keeping the bike path for its shaded areas and flatter, mostly downhill, profile. She told me "..the hills are legit.", so when an experienced rider and race director says something like this, you'd better listen. The bike path at the end is along a highway for several miles, and not well maintained, (you can see cracks filled with grass on Google Earth!), but big hills at the beginning and cruising bike path at the end sounds okay. Sarah told me to keep expectations for this path low and we won't be disappointed. 

Sarah's route adds nine extra miles, so that will bring the total up to just a hair over 72 miles. I don't think this is objectionable, but let me know if this would put you off from coming. Otherwise I am leaning toward doing Sarah's modifications to Rob's original route.

On another note, it looks like N.Y. Roll and I are planning to camp the night before this event so we do not have to get up at 'dark-thirty' to drive 3+ hours to get to the start. We also planned on sticking around later, after the ride. We will likely get a motel for a Saturday night stay. So, an after-the-ride hang is definitely in the cards.

I'll have more fine details to share soon. Stay tuned....

Radio-Radio

 In celebration of the twentieth year of this blog, I have a few tales to tell. This post is one of them. This series will occur off and on throughout this anniversary year, I hope to illuminate some behind-the-scenes stories and highlights from the blog during this time. Enjoy!

Of course, this is another Trans Iowa related post. It is April, after all, and for 14 years, the month of April was dominated by Trans Iowa talk, so go figure, right? Anyway, I figured I would write about the evolution of what became to be known as "Trans Iowa Radio". Here's a bit I posted on the eve of Trans Iowa v8 in 2012.

 Special Notice: To the regular readers of this blog: You will notice that for about the next week's worth of posts that the subject matter will be entirely about Trans Iowa. This event happens over the course of the weekend. You will notice several "Trans Iowa Radio" posts with an mp3-type audio track button which you can click on and listen in to reports filed live from the event. Then there will be a post race recapping of the event which typically takes five to seven posts for me to wade through. 

Those "mp3-type audio posts" were done on a service called "Hip-Cast". It wasn't the first audio-posting service I had used though. I cannot recall what it was I used in 2005 and 2006, but it was pretty rudimentary. I know there were some T.I. Radio posts done on a service called "Audioblogger" for a couple years, at least. Then in the closing years of Trans Iowa, audio call-ins were posted on the RidingGravel.com site.

 Interestingly, the audio updates I posted for Trans Iowa v7 on Hip-Cast played a big part in the Emmy winning documentary, "300 Miles Of Gravel" by Jeff Frings. It captured the essence of those updates excellently, and is a great time-capsule for this important part of Trans Iowa. 

Guitar Ted, (R) posting a Trans Iowa Radio update for T.I.v6

Whatever service I was using, the "updates" were of varying quality. In the earliest years of Trans Iowa, when I assumed no one would ever listen, I was doing fake commercials and fake sponsors reads because, why not? The entire point was just a way for me to pass the time, stay engaged, and keep myself from wandering off into some farmer's pasture drunk with sleep deprivation at 3:00am in the morning.

The thing was, people were listening! I had a lot of negative feedback over the course of the first several Trans Iowa events because I wasn't either being serious, or thorough enough, (usually both) for the listeners. I knew things had taken a turn when after Trans Iowa v3 I learned I had listeners in Poland because we had two Polish immigrant brothers in the event that year! People wanted facts and that at a constant rate so they could "keep tabs" on their kid, relative, husband, girlfriend, wife, or they were just a fan of someone.

This came to a head during T.I.v5 when I had a wife of a participant wanting an update and she called me at 4:00am in the morning to get it. She was upset because I hadn't "reported" on him for the last couple of T.I. Radio updates. This is when I felt the need to delineate what "media coverage" meant for Trans Iowa. I wasn't there to give play-by-play. I was running an event, and I did not have time, nor the resources, to pull off any blanket coverage of the event, and furthermore, I did not want this for Trans Iowa.

Trans Iowa Radio updates direct from the racers was first made available during Trans Iowa v9.

 Trans Iowa was, in my opinion, an event where one was disconnected from the modern world. Making it a media circus wasn't in my plans. I did not like cell phones either, but hey! Safety and rider tracking were done via those devices, so I necessarily had to allow for those to be in play. The thing was, people used them to connect to racers, and vice versa. Support, from the outside, in any form, was minimized as much as I could back then, because it was integral to the experience I was cultivating. Cell phones were an evil necessity and more Trans Iowa Radio wasn't in my plans.

But pressure from outside the event did not get less as the years went by. Once I was acquainted with Ben Welnak, who I joined forces with in RidingGravel.com in 2014, it was determined that a Trans Iowa Radio call-in feature could be implemented, so any rider could "check in" at any time to let folks know how it was going. This seemed fine to me, so from Trans Iowa v9 onward this was how Trans Iowa Radio worked.

I still did my updates, but those were sprinkled in with the rider audio-posts, so the feature actually did become an event-long report in a way. Yes, people still complained it wasn't good enough, but I was done listening to that complaint by the point Trans Iowa Radio was facilitated on Riding Gravel.

When Trans Iowa ended in 2018, riders did not know the event had been terminated until 2:00pm the Sunday T.I.v14 ended when my post announcing the end was published. I know Ben told me afterward some people got on after the event and posted some nice words, but I haven't had the heart to listen to those messages. Maybe I should befor the site disappears forever....

Delium Tires: First Impressions

 Note: Delium Tire sent over two pairs of tires to Guitar Ted Productions at no cost. I am not being paid, nor bribed, for this review and I will always strive to give my honest thoughts and opinions throughout.

Last week was "New Tire Week" here and I had a triple post day on Wednesday. I don't think that has happened since the Trans Iowa days of the late 00's. 

Anyway, if you missed the Delium Tire introduction, you can find that HERE. 

In this post I will cover installation, initial widths observed, and I will end on my initial ride impressions for each tire. Throughout all of my experiences so far, the one thing I keep remembering is that these tires cost $49.99 each. Most gravel tires these days are at a suggested retail of 10 to 30 dollars (and higher) a piece more than this. That matters. Keep this in mind as I go along. 

Installation Impressions:  

Expectations for how tires will set up tubeless have changed over the last several years. Especially so since my earliest forays into setting up 29"er tires tubeless in 2007. Now we have systems, better manufacturing tolerances, and better designs in tires and rims. (Hookless rims notwithstanding) That said, not every experience setting up tires tubeless is going to go well. 

Such was the case with the Delium tires in this review. I have identified the issues that made it so that the only way these tires will mount correctly on a rim is with an air compressor. First off, the casings feel 'plasticky' and are not very compliant. This might be due to the quality of rubber Delium used here and it probably has a lot to do with the sidewall protection layer as well. Today's best puncture protection layers are almost as compliant as the non-puncture protected casings have been. So it stands to reason that a less expensive design, materials, or both that may affect the mounting experience were employed here.

AllRounder 700 X 43mm:

After mounting this tire to my Shimano GRX wheels I mounted those wheels to my Black Mountain Cycles MCD and went for an initial test ride. I aired up these tires to about 35psi. which allowed for a bit of 'sag' in the casings. I thought that these tires looked too narrow to be 43mm wide and with their rather rounded profile they looked like a fat road racer tire. 

That said, they ended up measuring out at just a tic under 43mm at 42.98mm, So, given that this measurement was taken right after the initial mounting, I think it is safe to assume that the AllRounder is what it is marked as far as width goes. 

The tires are very quiet, which was interesting. I also could not get away from the nagging sensation that these tires felt 'draggy', like a brake pad was laying against a rotor. But maybe this was just a first impression thing. I've learned that many times you will come away from something with an entirely different outlook if you try it a few times rather than just once. I also noted that this tire rode very smoothly.

On to the roll-down tests. The AllRounder came up in the lower half of "average" on the pavement section. On the gravel section it came up just a bit worse with a below average result. I will revisit this after a bit for several reasons, but one being that my test track has taken on some rain of late making the gravel portion a bit soft. With the more rounded casing of the AllRounder, this caused the tire to cut in more than roll over. So, look for this test to be done again in the next update. 

Speed-X 700 X 40mm:

The very same experience setting up the tires was had with the Speed-X as I had with the AllRounder. Get an air compressor and these tires come onto the rim as they should. This isn't ideal for many folks, and it isn't what I would expect in 2024. These days it is something of a miss if your tubeless tire doesn't mount with a standard floor pump. That's my take, at any rate. 

The Speed-X showed a flatter profile than the AllRounder and it looked like a 40mm tire as well. I ended up with a slightly wider tire than marked at 41+mm wide. However; I am using a Blunt SS rim from Velocity which is 26+mm wide internally, so that is affecting the outcome on the tire width as well. 

The roll down test was slightly below average on the paved portion of the course and at the lower end of the average range on the gravel portion of the test. Ride quality was exactly as it was with the AllRounder - Very smooth, but I did not notice that annoying 'draggy' feeling as I had with the AllRounder. 

Note how the tread design grabs little things?

So Far...

Again, these are budget-friendly retail priced tires and I do not believe you are going to get premium materials and design in a bicycle tire without the tires costing a lot more than $49.99 each. That said, I have, as mentioned in the opener post, tested similarly priced tires with a similar intention from American Classic. So, I will draw my comparisons from those tires. 

The Good:

Both tires were really smooth and quiet riding tires. Perhaps the unique Dual Zone casing construction Delium is using has merit. The way the tires mounted I wouldn't have suspected that they would be anything other than harsh  feeling. That turned out not to be the case at all.

Both tires come out at advertised width, which is refreshing to see. This was better than the competition's tires I tested. I will continue to monitor the width to see if the casings stretch any and I will report back in my next update.

Air retention seems to be at least 'normal' for tubeless tires. I will revisit this also in an upcoming post. 

The Not-So-Good:

Mounting these is not happening without an air compressor. I doubt that even those fancy floor pumps with a tubeless mounting blast could handle these tires, as it took a few seconds of high pressure air to get these to behave. Even a high-flow tubeless valve didn't help. The Delium tires are some of the most difficult tires to mount tubeless I have come across recently. 

These tires don't have the greatest initial roll-down results. That may change with some miles put in on them. So, stay tuned for a possible change here.  

That 'draggy' feeling of the AllRounder was not fun. I hope that this changes as the tire breaks in. 

Stay tuned for an update in a few weeks....

The Gravel Paper: Reactions And Comments - Part 1

Haley Hunter-Smith

In 2022 I was contacted by Haley Hunter-Smith, a professional cyclist who won the inaugural Gravel Grand Prix on the women's side and is a past representative of Canada as a Canadian Olympic mountain biker. Ms Hunter-Smith was interested in interviewing me for a collegiate research paper. I agreed to the interview and waited patiently for the paper to be completed and published. That has now happened. This post will be my commentary and reaction to the contents of the study.

First of all, you can read a portion of my interview with Ms. Hunter-Smith which I published on the blog previously. This is in two parts. Click these links to read those parts of the interview. Part 1  Part 2

 If you want to read the entire paper, I have a link which the PDF of this study can be downloaded 50 times. HERE. If that doesn't work for you, let me know as I have the PDF file and Ms. Hunter-Smith has given me permission to share that "far and wide", as she said to me. Update 4/11/24: It appears the 50 downloads have been taken, so please email me @ g.ted.productions@gmail.com for a copy.

 This paper was based on the interviews of nine individuals carefully chosen for their representation across the gravel scene. Racers, promoters, influential individuals, para-athlete, non-binary, transgendered, and marginalized individuals, some representing more than one of these groups, were included.  The interviews were all conducted via Zoom and were transcribed, then the data was considered and the paper was based on this information to hopefully contextualize what the "spirit of gravel" might be and how gravel provides freedom, challenge, and connection. This information was gathered to hopefully help future gravel event promoters to further the cause of gravel cycling and to engage more people in the activity. 

Reactions: With all that out of the way I will get on with my thoughts on the paper. First of all, I am humbled to have been considered for a part in this paper. I applaud Ms. Hunter-Smith for taking up this idea for this study and I can say that I have been enlightened by what I have read.
 

The first theme I drew from the paper was the idea that there is a two-part way of looking at the people who sign up for a gravel event. The paper described the fields as being made up of those who were competing and those who were 'completing' events. The idea here was to try to discern the motivations for those event participants. Competitors are there for a different reason than those who are there to finish a challenge, let's say. Some might even go so far as to interpret that as being the difference between "racing and riding an event". 

My thought was that this resonated with me but not on a binary scale. In my view, this can be a multi-faceted thing for an individual in one event, or it could be internal-external in nature. A person could, for example, be competing against themselves by setting goals, not necessarily being "in it to win it". Or a person could change thier viewpoint during an event based upon circumstances. One moment you might be competing and the next just hoping that you could finish. 

That said, I thought the paper gave some good context to why people enjoin in gravel riding and this is a good way to jump off into further discussions about why people choose gravel events and what their motivations might look like. 

Image from March of 2010. I *think* this is from the Trans Iowa Tune-Up Ride. Image taker David Pals? [not sure on that]

Freedom: The paper showed that the concept of "freedom" seemed to be important in gravel. The paper divided this from 'autonomy' which the researchers felt was important "as it encompasses both autonomy and this broader sense of empowerment that participants value."

Here again I was struck by how the paper found that core values of gravel riding: self-sufficiency, freedom of choices, lack of over-arching rule structures - were important enough that the interviewees mentioned these things. The freedoms of choice were also mentioned alongside of freedom of movement, freedom from fears, and freedom to be at one with self/nature/activity as being core things in gravel. All things I could attest to or have personally experienced myself. 

October 2011 T.I.v7 recon. Image by David Pals.

Community: The theme of being at one with nature, having to accomplish a hard task being in a remote area and doing so based on one's own decision making skills alone, was there. Ironically, this was in contrast to the sense of community many found at events and the encouragement that this allowed for simply by being in a group of people who were accepting and of like mind to the event participants. That said, these were both things I always found important in gravel events and I was in agreement with the findings. Not surprisingly, perhaps, since I was involved as one of the participants in this study, but then again, the others may have disagreed with me as well. 

Conclusions: Of course, there is a lot more in the paper and that described in much more academic terms. I was impressed that this research even happened, and was astounded to read that other studies concerning gravel cycling have been undertaken. I would never have thought that gravel cycling would ever be the subject of any academic research, or that a paper of this caliber would ever have been produced about the subject. Much less that I was actually tabbed for my thoughts on the subject, which is simply mind-blowing to me. 

I think that the paper is a positive thing overall and I hope that it will be an influence, as the researchers hope it to be, upon the future of gravel cycling. Tomorrow I will consider how cycling events have been changed forever because of gravel riding.

Honeman Flyer Update: Finished & Test Ride Impressions

 Okay, today y'all get to see this thing. I have to say that the build process for this was fraught with difficulties. More so than I thought it might be. While the bike is complete and rideable there will be some adjustments and probably a couple of changes as well. 

The seat collar I borrowed from Carl, my coworker, is one thing. While it works well, the red anodized color sticks out like a sore thumb. The incoming Wolf Tooth collar in black should calm that down a bit.

I also will have a Wolf Tooth through axle coming in so I can return the current through axle to the Standard Rando v2. I am still adjusting the stem/saddle set up also. 

But besides those things I think this bike is a go and I am pretty happy with how it all turned out. ironically that super-slack seat tube angle turned out to be not a big deal, in terms of set-up. I feared that I would be so far out of whack in terms of my relationship to the bottom bracket that it would be a negative, but as you will soon learn, that is not the case at all. First up, let's take a look at this thing, shall we?

A couple more notes first before I get into my impressions of the build and looks. These are Teravail Rutland 700 X 42mm tires on Velocity Blunt SS rims laced to Paul WORD Disc hubs. The inner rim width on these is nearly 27mm at 26.6mm. That's spreading out the Rutlands to look like more than their 42mm width. In fact, the rear tire measures out at 44.1mm at sub-40psi. With that there is adequate rear tire clearance all around, but a larger tire would not be advisable if I were to ride in wet or muddy conditions. That's fine, because I have a single speed with 29"er tires in the Pofahl Signature and I did not want another bike that did what I already have. 

The gear on the bike is exactly the same as I ran on the Twin Six when I had it single speed, so that is very familiar and a perfectly good gear for rolling hill terrain, such as I expect to ride with this bike. At some point I'd like to buy a White Industries 20T freewheel and replace the Shimano one, but for the time being it is good to go. 

Finally, some of you may have noticed that there is a rear derailleur hangar on this bike. I could run an AXS SRAM 1 X set up, since there would not have to be any cables, but that was not the plan going in. It's just a "happy" accident since Paragon Machine Works doesn't offer a single speed only insert. 

The Looks: Overall, I am pleased. This is the best paint job on a bike I've ever had. Runners up include the 1992 Klein Attitude in Sunset Linear Fade and my old orange Badger which was painted by Joe Bell. This Honeman Flyer takes the cake though. I'm not riding this anywhere and going unnoticed, that's for sure! 

 The logos in raw steel are super-rad. It almost looks like a part of the design of the paint since the font is so weird. You can see the tooling marks on the steel which is kind of neat as well. The colors are great. Remember, I let Li King do whatever he wanted as long as it was the signature crackle style paint, and this is what Li chose to do. I am very happy with the outcome. 

Overall the bike looks modern and rakish, not too old or stuffy, even though it is based upon a 1930's era track bike. You do see the super-slack seat tube angle if it is pointed out, but otherwise I think it looks pretty much like a "gravel bike" looks these day, only in steel with a mind-bending paint job. 

Of course, I had to put a Trans Iowa sticker on there!

The Ride: I was a bit afraid of the thin gauged steel tubing and the wispy stays, but strangely enough, this bike is pretty solid and I don't have to baby it when climbing a steep hill in a low, high-torque way. Nor did I notice much, if any, bottom bracket side-to-side motion. So, I think that, while it is definitely not the tankish, solid feeling of a Standard Rando, it will hold up fine to single speed usage. 

The whole set-back to the saddle position in relation to the crank set is fascinating to me. I felt no real big difference in seated pedaling or climbing other than that I knew I was "folded up" on the bike a bit more, which you could tell while pedaling. But getting up out of the saddle is no big deal, and cresting a climb while standing felt totally normal. 

I did notice that in cornering I could set my outside pedal at the six o'clock position and plant the bike in a much more solidly felt way than on any of my other bikes. That was a big surprise and I quite like this new feeling. 

The slack head tube (71°) did not wander on climbs or cause me to have to work harder when turning to resist any sort of wheel flop. The bike turns like a bike at slow speeds, so this was nice to find out. Surprisingly, I clipped my sole of my ginormous Giant mtb shoes in a tight corner. But I do have the cleats set waaaay back on these shoes, and they are bulky. I may not have any issues at all with "normal" gravel shoes, and this was barely a scrape as it was. 

The bottom bracket drop on this is 76mm, which is 1mm deeper than my Twin Six Standard Rando v2, and I like this a lot. It's definitely noticeable and it helps keep the saddle to bar drop a little more in check. This ain't no cyclo cross design! It feels very stable at speed and I can let go of the bars and it feels pretty rock solid. 

Of course, it has a springy ride feel. It definitely scores that "steel feel" in spades, but it doesn't feel like a noodle and it accelerates fine for me. I cannot complain about anything here. One more note: I feel more "draped over the bike" on this Honeman Flyer than I do on most any other bike I own save the Fargo Gen I. So, this is very encouraging.

So Far... I've got to do some country riding on this before I can give it my 100% seal of approval, and of course, there are some tweaks to be made which will affect the outcome overall. But the Honeman Flyer is very, very promising so far. I am planning on a final take on the bike and how it relates to today's gravel rigs in the near future. Updated: That review can be found HERE.

Thank You: I want to kick off this by thanking Erik Mathy up front. Without him this bike would never have happened, and that is not hyperbole. It was he that put the idea together with a story idea, the builder, and a trip plan for me and he was definitely the "glue" behind the scenes. Otherwise this would have been nothing more than another one of my blog postings and I probably would never have had the chance I have now to try this idea out. So, THANKS Erik!

Of course, you need a frame builder and Li King of King Fabrications was that frame builder. The frame and the paint job are all done at a very high level of talent and expertise, and Li translated the geometry idea perfectly, which was key to this being a success. Thanks!

Then I have to thank my friend of many years, Ben Witt of Heath Creek Cycles for his building the front wheel and making a way for me to get the fork and send it direct to King Fabrications, which saved a lot of time. Thank you, Ben!

Review: Old Man Mountain Axle Pack

OMM Axle Pack on a bike. (Image courtesy of OMM)

NOTE: Old Man Mountain sent over the Axle Pack kit, a fit kit, and through axle from the Robert Axle Project to Guitar Ted Productions for test and review. I am not being bribed, nor paid for this review and I always strive to give my honest thoughts and opinions throughout.

The idea of mounting accessories, bags, or water bottles from a fork is not a new one. Touring cyclists have been using brazed-on mounts for racks to hold panniers from forks for years. I first saw water bottles mounted off a fork at the first Trans Iowa gravel race in 2005. A rider had hose-clamped two cages to the fork blades of his Redline Team Conquest cyclo-cross bike. 

Now days any "adventure" or bikepacking bike worth its salt comes with fork braze-ons, those little warts sticking out with bolts that can accept a Three-Pack style rack or water bottle cages. However; many "racing" style gravel bikes and older bikes do not have such accessories. What to do?

That's where Old Man Mountain's recently developed and manufactured "Axle Pack" comes in. It allows any bike to have "three-pack" style attachments on the fork - even suspension forks. What's nice about this is that not only can you add this accessory on your bike, but it is not permanent. So, you can use the Axle Pack for the over-nighter you've got planned and then remove it for the fast-paced gravel group ride the following week. OMM have made the Axle Pack versatile by way of their famous "Fit Kits", Mounting Pucks, and through axles which are available through the Robert Axle Project.

My Noble GX5: Great bike, but no fork mounts!

The Problem: I have a Noble Bikes GX5 which is a great bike for long gravel rides but for one detail. It does not have any way to mount a water bottle to the forks. This, to my way of thinking, is a handicap in that I have to find more creative ways to go long distances on this bike and have the hydration capabilities that my body requires on a hot, Summertime gravel grinder. 

I do have other bikes, and some of those do have the mounts on the forks I desire, but none of those bikes are lightweight carbon fiber machines that have the stiffness under power that the Noble has. What if I could add water bottle cages to this bike? 

Sure, there are other ways to solve this conundrum, but I happen to think that fork mounted bottles are actually easier to access while riding than even a traditional cage placement in the main triangle, not to mention any bottle in a bag, frame bag, or jersey pocket. Hydration bladders are also an option here, but again - I like my fork mounted bottles. Your mileage may vary there.

The Solution: The Axle Pack will easily mount to this Noble GX5 and allow me to use water bottle cages, or even a larger cargo cage that might hold a Nalgene bottle, or gear for a sub-24 trip. The through axle needed to be swapped and the Mounting Pucks ordered along with that to make it all work, but the solution is there. And as I stated earlier, I can easily remove the Axle Pack with no harm done. Suddenly, the GX5 just became a lot more versatile!

The Parts: So, as stated, I received the Axle Pack, which is two long rails with slots and threaded bolt holes in it. On one end is the receiving side that mates with the special Robert Axle Project through axle. The upper portion of the Axle Pack will be cable tied to the Mounting Puck using the heavy-duty cable ties provided in that kit. Those cable ties are a special design which does not "zip", (no teeth), and they are UV resistant. That's a great quality to have for peace of mind hauling. 

The Axle Pack retails for $60.00 USD and most fit kits, which includes the proper 12m through axle and Mounting Pucks, costs $80.00 USD.

Here is what OMM has to say about the Axle Pack:

"Old Man Mountain Axle Pack is unlike any fork mount adapter you’ve seen. Rather than trying to clamp to round or tapered surfaces and just hope it doesn’t slip or spin, Axle Pack is, you guessed it: Thru Axle mounted! Attaching to the axle makes it impossible to slip or spin.

Axle Pack is lightweight, reliable, robust, and rigid. With four mounting point you can also choose to run your gear higher or lower depending on your needs."

 What I Got: Referencing the image above, starting out in the center and then rotating counter-clockwise: We have a Robert Axle Project through axle for the Axle Pack, or any Old Man Mountain Rack as well (#1), then we have the two rails that make up the Axle Pack itself (#2). Following that we have two sheets of protective film to avoid scratching the fork legs (#3). Then in the upper right hand portion of the image you can see the two rectangular shaped objects which are the Mounting Pucks (#4). Then we have a handful of cable ties (#5) followed by the mounting hardware that comes with the through axle (#6) Finally we have the mounting hardware that comes with the Axle Pack (#7)

The OMM site has a nice step-by-step procedure to help you find the Fit Kit and axle for your bike, and they also offer "real people" contact via the phone if you have further questions. 

Next: In my next update I will go over that installation process on my Noble Bikes GX5 and show you how this will all go together to offer me a more versatile bike. I'll then go on several rides and see how the Axle Pack works in practice. Since it is cold I was thinking of strapping on an old Thermos full of chicken soup or tomato soup for a nice lunch stop on a ride. Mmmmm...... Soup! 

Thanks to OMM for the opportunity to review and try out these products. Stay tuned for an update soon.

Observations On 2023 Unbound Racing

The same road that was a big problem in 2015 was used again this year with similar results.

WARNING: A long ranty post for today. You've been forewarned... 

 Now after several days of looking at commentary and stories about the 2023 Unbound event, I have a few things to get off my chest concerning how things went down. Especially since our media is so piecemeal now that you cannot get a good read on things unless you read ten articles and look at scads of Insta and Facebook posts. Couldn't we just go back to when we had to wait a month for the cycling mags to print? It was sooo much calmer then! Ha!

So the big deal this year was that the Pro Men and Women would each get separate starts ahead of the plebeian masses whom the event is banked off of. That's another matter for another time, but the important point was that NOW things would be more "fair" in terms of who was racing for a living out there. 

Next: There were a few days of pop-up, heavy thunderstorms leading up to the event that were dumping copious amounts of rain on the course, which was to feature the very same three mile stretch of dirt road that we had to march during the 2015 "Mud Year" of the DK200. These storms were random, but significant enough and occurring often enough that they became a factor in the event. 

The next piece of the puzzle was that Unbound Race Director, Ben Sachs, told media gathered there the day before that there was a re-route which could be implemented if necessary to avoid the three miles of goo, which by the way, was the first time that section had been used since 2015. 

  “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905.

My view of the D Road Hill in 2015

Now there was rain overnight before the 2023 Unbound event and the three mile section in question here is only about 11-12 miles out from Emporia. I dunno...... 

Maybe it wasn't easy to check it out before the riders launched at 6:00am? 

Regardless, the riders were sent off and there was no implementation of the reroute. Was this done to keep the "spirit of the event" or.....? So far, neither Mr. Sachs nor anyone from Unbound will say- yet anyway. That could change. We'll get to why that is and what I think will happen a bit later. 

Right now all you need to know is that many Pro men in the field of 116 riders failed to finish, many of them directly or indirectly due to this stretch of road. This field's stragglers were caught by the Women's field, which was made up of 57 riders, and saw fully about a third of that number as DNF's by the end of the day, again, many blaming this section of road. The women's field, in turn, was caught by the fast end of the amateurs running the 200. By the time all was said and done, by Mile 20 it did not matter much that the Pro Men and Women got a preferred start ahead of the masses, which numbered about 1100, according to stories I read. Of course, of those many did not finish. I read somewhere that the attrition rate in the 200 was 43% of the field.

During the 2015 event, the entire course was either wet, mud, or had standing water across the roadway.

So, naturally we could find several instances of complaints about course conditions, how "all that training went to waste in 11 miles" (Where have I heard THAT before!) , or how, at least in second place Woman's Pro rider Sofia Gomez Vllfane's opinion, the Woman should have their own race day and that it should be shorter. 

Here's the deal: First off, the RD, Mr. Sachs did not, for whatever reasons, utilize the reroute for D Road. Why not? This is an important question. Without an answer, I will have to assume that what happened was preordained. Update: Thanks to "Nebo" in the comments on this post, we do have a response from Life Time's President, Kimo Seymour: See HERE)

So, the mud section came and yes- if you have not been paying attention here, you might come away from the Unbound thinking that was too extreme, or that somehow this played into "unfair" situations for some riders. Well, here's the thing folks- weather can squash anyone and elevate others. It's random sometimes, and yes- Low finishing rates are a result. This is what has been accepted in gravel racing since 2005. 

In other words- "Hey Pro riders and media- DO YOUR RESEARCH!" And- If you don't like the idea of any of that mud or rain, or whatever, then maybe these events are not for you. That's right folks. Gravel events are not going to be every cyclists cup of tea, and that's okay. I don't like crit racing, and so I don't enter crits, even if I was good enough to make money at it. I still would not sign up. But that's me. The point here is that I shouldn't ask criterium overlords to make criterium racing easier for me to accept. You shouldn't ask gravel racing promoters to make their events easier either. Just don't go if you have issues with the format.

Checkpoint #1 Trans Iowa v12

The other story I saw wasn't so much a complaint but that what was observed was thought to be a "new tactic" that the Pro Men were using at Unbound. 

What could it have been? Was it new GPS computer tracking? No? How about some nutritional ju-ju no one has tried before? No? What was it?

Here is what it was: The guys and gals are using cell phones to call in to support for the reasons of quicker pit stops. 

As if THAT hasn't been going on since, well since cell coverage got good enough that rural riders could count on getting messages across the air waves. Be that by an actual call or text, the result is the same. 

So, sorry to bust your bubble out there, but this is definitely not a novel use of a cell phone. If you've been reading this blog for a long time, you already know that I wrestled with cell phone usage for years when I put on Trans Iowa. Coaching, emotional support, navigation, awareness of competitor's positions, and more were all used in Trans Iowa. Prearranged support probably was too, I just never caught anyone doing that, but look, I'm pretty sure that happened looking at the evidence. 

And this use of texting in an order to your "pits", (which is essentially what the Pros have for themselves now), is prearranged support. It is not fair to all the riders, but you know, as long as all the plebeians have paid their entry fees, Unbound probably doesn't care about what is fair or not to the entire field. And the whole idea of having three to four mechanics and team people there at those pits is not new either. That came from cyclo cross and 24hr racing. That happened in 2005 at Trans Iowa. So, yeah.... 

Then we have the folks who are complaining that this or that is "unfair" or if not that then it's "not right". This brings us back to whether or not Unbound or its directors will address this mud year thing. In my event it was "Take it or don't come to the event. This is what it is." However; there is a slight bit of an issue with Unbound being able to stand their ground in this area. That would be their entry fee. 

An image from Trans Iowa v6 by Steve Fuller

When you charge a fee for an event, you are taking money in exchange for several things. The event production and maybe the race director get a portion of that. The fee covers insurance, technical things like timing, lights, tape, and race numbers. Stuff like that. Stuff many of you think about when you go to an event that "should be there". 

But there are also intangibles and unseen expectations at work here Things like "The course better be doable by at least 80% of the riders" (where THAT came from is pretty random) , or "My training better pay off here", or related, "My coaching better show up as being worthwhile here". 

Other things like, courses that leave gear in pristine running conditions, or easily traversed terrain, or how about having a big welcome at the finish. (Yes, really. I've seen and heard people have a conniption over not getting fanfare at finish lines) 

So, Unbound has all of that and this becomes even more of a pressure placed on the event organization due to the extremely high entry fee and the fact that the event is difficult to get in to. That it is a "bucket list" event also adds to the pressures with regard to people wanting some assurances/insurance that they will finish and have a good time. 

Well, here's news for ya: Failure Is An Option.  I get that it can be deflating, regrettable, and that it is really hard to see the person in the mirror in front of you as having the most responsibility in that. It's easy to point at the RD, the event, or someone else. But those four other fingers are pointed at the person who really needs to own up to what happened. 

And what happened could be 100% out of your control. Yep! Hard to swallow, I know. I've been there. I know all about this. And it is 100% relatable to this year's Unbound. 

I missed the cut-off at Checkpoint two at the DK200 in 2015 by two minutes.

So, back to Unbound and their high entry fee. You expect to be able to ask - nay demand - that for nearly $400.00 and more for housing, travel, equipment, etc, not to mention all that training time, that you shouldn't have to put up with _____ (Fill in that blank any way you want to) 

And Unbound, well, ya know, they gotta listen. Maybe they hold to their guns, or Corporate may lean on the RD's and say that they gotta start cleaning up the complaints. But I hope that they don't. I hope that Unbound doesn't sanitize their event. I hope that they don't think that they should change because of 173 Pro racers while ignoring the 3K+ others. This is not where gravel racing came from. You want a curated experience with a near 100% chance of a positive outcome as a Pro? Well, again - maybe this is not for you. And yes, we're okay with that. That's what I hope Unbound will do.

Gravel racing was never about making things easier. It was about an event that stretched you, that challenged you, that maybe no one would finish. And that was good. It was seen as something to be celebrated. Hard years at Trans Iowa were cherished and desired. We had a nearly perfect year for Trans Iowa in v12, the year I saw the most finishers ever for one event. You know what I heard afterward from many of the riders? They wanted to try Trans Iowa again and they hoped for a "mud year" because that would be a "real" challenge. 

In other words, the people at Trans Iowa, and many other gravel events, didn't want to participate in an event that "most people would finish". They wanted to be pushed to limits and see if they could go past them. I get that money invested in high entry fees, high-dollar equipment, (which is 100% NOT necessary to compete) and time investments, make it hard to see what is the thing that made gravel events take off. But I can tell you that making things easier, more sanitized, and "equal" is not a recipe for truly satisfying and soul - stretching experiences. 

Failure is an option.

Sometimes it is the best thing that could ever happen to you.