Fall Views: Harvesting And Hawks

Canadian Geese flying over the Cedar River near the John Deere Foundry.

 Saturday was beautiful. Sunday? It was supposed to rain most of the day. I went for a Saturday ride then. 

I had thought about going for a really long ride Saturday but I wasn't feeling it in the days leading up to the weekend and it was forecast to be slightly below freezing for that morning. I hadn't even dragged out my Winter weather gear yet! I actually got that rotated out with the Summer stuff put away on Friday. So, my idea at this point was to wait until it got closer to 40°F and to wear that new T-6 wind vest I just got. 

I also wore some thermal wind bibs, an Endura brand base layer, my excellent Bontrager Merino wool jersey, and some GORE windproof gloves. The feet got the long, Sock Guy wool socks and the Northwave Winter boots. A Buff for the head under the Bontrager Starvos helmet, some Spy sunglasses and I was off on the Noble Bikes GX5. 

That place up on Burton Avenue with all the animal themed iron sculptures now has this scary spider in the yard.

This fallow field and clump of woods gave a bit of color relief from the browns of the crops and harvested fields.

So, with wind, what there was of it, coming from the Northeast, I decided a run for the Northern county border would do for a ride. Plus there are glimpses of several bits of woods along this route on the first half of the ride. Maybe I would catch some Fall colors? Possibly, and I was also sure that I would catch some harvesting action, what with the day being so great and the following day forecast to be very wet.

These two mutts gave chase but this was as close as they got to me.

A view up West on Mt. Vernon Road from the intersection with Burton Avenue.

Not all the crops are out yet. Most every soybean field was harvested, but several corn fields were yet to be worked, and as I went North, I did not see much activity, which I thought was a bit curious. But maybe it was still too early? Hmm... 

If you look carefully you can see a Red Tailed Hawk silhouetted against a cloud.

This hawk is a bit easier to see!

While initially the harvesting activity was scarce, the Red Tailed Hawk sightings were not! Normally I might see a few during a two hour+ ride. But I must have spotted nearly a dozen on Saturday. I'm not sure what was going on, but Mrs. Guitar Ted and my daughter also saw many hawks on a quick run they took to Minneapolis and back Saturday as well. 

St. Paul's church on Burton Avenue. Note the harvester machine in the distance on the road.

Rest stop: East Janesville church.

Eventually I did come across some harvesting activity when a very large combine came rolling up the road from the North. The machine had a corn harvesting head attached and the overall width of this thing meant that I had to abandon the road and wait in a driveway I came across. That was rather convenient because otherwise I would have had to have bailed off into the ditch! 

A smaller combine harvesting near Highway 63 on Marquise Road.

Two more hawks soar above this unharvested corn field.

I ended up at the county line and went East two miles to come back on my favorite road in the area, probably, which is Sage Road. I guess I like it because it has fast, flatter terrain up North and more rolling terrain as you get closer to Waterloo. Then you have the East Bennington School House, an old country church, and the "Big Rock" to visit. Plus, I hardly ever see a vehicle on this road.

Empty wagons waiting to be loaded with freshly picked corn from the harvester in the background.

A "Gleaner" brand harvester. You don't see many of these anymore. I actually got to operate one of these once!

Coming down Sage Road I saw a lot more harvesting activities. Combines were everywhere you looked and wagons, tractors, semi-tractor trailers, big trucks, and pick-up trucks were seen waiting on the machines to dump their loads to be hauled away. The pick-up trucks, while not used to haul corn, were no doubt the vehicles used to get the workers out in the fields. 

A stop at the Big Rock for a 'nature break'.

Two men chat while a harvester works the corn in the distance.

Eventually I found my way back home after a casual two and a half hour cruise in the country. It was a fantastic day out and it seemed that everyone, and everything, was taking advantage of what possibly could be the last nice day in 2021. 

While that may or may not be true, I'll be getting out much more often now that the shop is operating on Winter hours now and I'll have more time on my hands. Look for more ride posts including "Brown Season" and "Winter Views" posts to come before the year closes out.

Fall Views: Harvesting And Hawks

Canadian Geese flying over the Cedar River near the John Deere Foundry.

 Saturday was beautiful. Sunday? It was supposed to rain most of the day. I went for a Saturday ride then. 

I had thought about going for a really long ride Saturday but I wasn't feeling it in the days leading up to the weekend and it was forecast to be slightly below freezing for that morning. I hadn't even dragged out my Winter weather gear yet! I actually got that rotated out with the Summer stuff put away on Friday. So, my idea at this point was to wait until it got closer to 40°F and to wear that new T-6 wind vest I just got. 

I also wore some thermal wind bibs, an Endura brand base layer, my excellent Bontrager Merino wool jersey, and some GORE windproof gloves. The feet got the long, Sock Guy wool socks and the Northwave Winter boots. A Buff for the head under the Bontrager Starvos helmet, some Spy sunglasses and I was off on the Noble Bikes GX5. 

That place up on Burton Avenue with all the animal themed iron sculptures now has this scary spider in the yard.

This fallow field and clump of woods gave a bit of color relief from the browns of the crops and harvested fields.

So, with wind, what there was of it, coming from the Northeast, I decided a run for the Northern county border would do for a ride. Plus there are glimpses of several bits of woods along this route on the first half of the ride. Maybe I would catch some Fall colors? Possibly, and I was also sure that I would catch some harvesting action, what with the day being so great and the following day forecast to be very wet.

These two mutts gave chase but this was as close as they got to me.

A view up West on Mt. Vernon Road from the intersection with Burton Avenue.

Not all the crops are out yet. Most every soybean field was harvested, but several corn fields were yet to be worked, and as I went North, I did not see much activity, which I thought was a bit curious. But maybe it was still too early? Hmm... 

If you look carefully you can see a Red Tailed Hawk silhouetted against a cloud.

This hawk is a bit easier to see!

While initially the harvesting activity was scarce, the Red Tailed Hawk sightings were not! Normally I might see a few during a two hour+ ride. But I must have spotted nearly a dozen on Saturday. I'm not sure what was going on, but Mrs. Guitar Ted and my daughter also saw many hawks on a quick run they took to Minneapolis and back Saturday as well. 

St. Paul's church on Burton Avenue. Note the harvester machine in the distance on the road.

Rest stop: East Janesville church.

Eventually I did come across some harvesting activity when a very large combine came rolling up the road from the North. The machine had a corn harvesting head attached and the overall width of this thing meant that I had to abandon the road and wait in a driveway I came across. That was rather convenient because otherwise I would have had to have bailed off into the ditch! 

A smaller combine harvesting near Highway 63 on Marquise Road.

Two more hawks soar above this unharvested corn field.

I ended up at the county line and went East two miles to come back on my favorite road in the area, probably, which is Sage Road. I guess I like it because it has fast, flatter terrain up North and more rolling terrain as you get closer to Waterloo. Then you have the East Bennington School House, an old country church, and the "Big Rock" to visit. Plus, I hardly ever see a vehicle on this road.

Empty wagons waiting to be loaded with freshly picked corn from the harvester in the background.

A "Gleaner" brand harvester. You don't see many of these anymore. I actually got to operate one of these once!

Coming down Sage Road I saw a lot more harvesting activities. Combines were everywhere you looked and wagons, tractors, semi-tractor trailers, big trucks, and pick-up trucks were seen waiting on the machines to dump their loads to be hauled away. The pick-up trucks, while not used to haul corn, were no doubt the vehicles used to get the workers out in the fields. 

A stop at the Big Rock for a 'nature break'.

Two men chat while a harvester works the corn in the distance.

Eventually I found my way back home after a casual two and a half hour cruise in the country. It was a fantastic day out and it seemed that everyone, and everything, was taking advantage of what possibly could be the last nice day in 2021. 

While that may or may not be true, I'll be getting out much more often now that the shop is operating on Winter hours now and I'll have more time on my hands. Look for more ride posts including "Brown Season" and "Winter Views" posts to come before the year closes out.

Trans Iowa Stories: Going The Long Way Around - Part 4

This was pretty close to CP #1

 "Trans Iowa Stories" is an every Sunday post which helps tell the stories behind the event. You can check out other posts about this subject  by clicking on the "Trans Iowa Stories" link under the blog header. Thanks and enjoy!

Getting back to the recon issues for T.I.v13, you might recall that I had to scrap the entire first leg to checkpoint #1 as I originally intended it to be due to the closure of a single, short span bridge on a Level B Road. 

This section ended up becoming a real head scratcher due to the fact that it was devised after the rest of the route. This made getting the mileage right a big priority, since adding mileage was out of the question. Typically I also liked to use a small village to host the checkpoint in, but looking back on it, I suppose a remote corner in the middle of no where may have had to do if I didn't get a short enough distance figured out. 

After hours of looking at maps, drawing up ideas, scrapping them, and then staring at the map to make sure I wasn't missing something, a route idea finally presented itself. I was actually pretty happy with how it turned out because I was able to put together several miles of previously unused roads into a town we had used as a checkpoint for v7, Baxter, Iowa. 

I had to burn up a day off at work to get this checked out though. It was a big rush to get there and back so I'd be around to gather kids from school and other family related stuff. The actual time spent on course was but a pittance of what the overall windshield time was for the day, but what else could I do? This was during a time in January when the roads were clear and I wasn't sick. Ironically I was sick before and right after this, and recon would have been out of the question. 

Then I had to wait until mid-March before another chance came up to go back down to the far Southwestern corner of the course where I wasn't happy with the original route. Jeremy agreed to come along so we hit the road early one March day and did our usual Frontier Cafe stop in Grinnell before getting over to where it was that I wanted to verify the course ideas I had. 

It was a bit of a mixed bag. I took out a huge chunk of pavement and replaced it with two others that added up to the same amount of pavement. Gah! But it was good too because I felt 100% better about a couple of big highway crossings and that the new ideas were far safer for the riders. 

So, this was pretty much the final bit of the puzzle in terms of putting together the complicated Trans Iowa v13 course. It also, at the time unbeknownst to me, was the last time I ever would do a recon with Jeremy. On the one hand, that sucked not knowing that would be the end of our run together. On the other hand, maybe it was good to just have it be another 'normal' recon for us. I don't know. But I do know that I still miss doing that with him. It was fun while it lasted. 

Now it was mid-March, 2017, and I had a little over a month to do a complete final recon with Wally and George, get the cues set in stone, and get them printed. The stress over the route for this Trans Iowa stretched from October to April, and a day didn't go by that I didn't fret about getting it done on time, much less having it be to the high standards we had set for the event in terms of cues for the last five years running. This all on top of getting other logistical and procedural things arranged for T.I.v13 and you know, the rest of my life outside the event. 

But at that point I was just happy to be looking at the light at the end of the tunnel, as it were. Trans Iowa v13 was coming together, but there was that last route check in April yet, and I was eager to schedule that as soon as possible.

Next: The final route check and trouble outside of Trans Iowa affects the day in "The Long Way Around - Part 5"

Trans Iowa Stories: Going The Long Way Around - Part 4

This was pretty close to CP #1

 "Trans Iowa Stories" is an every Sunday post which helps tell the stories behind the event. You can check out other posts about this subject  by clicking on the "Trans Iowa Stories" link under the blog header. Thanks and enjoy!

Getting back to the recon issues for T.I.v13, you might recall that I had to scrap the entire first leg to checkpoint #1 as I originally intended it to be due to the closure of a single, short span bridge on a Level B Road. 

This section ended up becoming a real head scratcher due to the fact that it was devised after the rest of the route. This made getting the mileage right a big priority, since adding mileage was out of the question. Typically I also liked to use a small village to host the checkpoint in, but looking back on it, I suppose a remote corner in the middle of no where may have had to do if I didn't get a short enough distance figured out. 

After hours of looking at maps, drawing up ideas, scrapping them, and then staring at the map to make sure I wasn't missing something, a route idea finally presented itself. I was actually pretty happy with how it turned out because I was able to put together several miles of previously unused roads into a town we had used as a checkpoint for v7, Baxter, Iowa. 

I had to burn up a day off at work to get this checked out though. It was a big rush to get there and back so I'd be around to gather kids from school and other family related stuff. The actual time spent on course was but a pittance of what the overall windshield time was for the day, but what else could I do? This was during a time in January when the roads were clear and I wasn't sick. Ironically I was sick before and right after this, and recon would have been out of the question. 

Then I had to wait until mid-March before another chance came up to go back down to the far Southwestern corner of the course where I wasn't happy with the original route. Jeremy agreed to come along so we hit the road early one March day and did our usual Frontier Cafe stop in Grinnell before getting over to where it was that I wanted to verify the course ideas I had. 

It was a bit of a mixed bag. I took out a huge chunk of pavement and replaced it with two others that added up to the same amount of pavement. Gah! But it was good too because I felt 100% better about a couple of big highway crossings and that the new ideas were far safer for the riders. 

So, this was pretty much the final bit of the puzzle in terms of putting together the complicated Trans Iowa v13 course. It also, at the time unbeknownst to me, was the last time I ever would do a recon with Jeremy. On the one hand, that sucked not knowing that would be the end of our run together. On the other hand, maybe it was good to just have it be another 'normal' recon for us. I don't know. But I do know that I still miss doing that with him. It was fun while it lasted. 

Now it was mid-March, 2017, and I had a little over a month to do a complete final recon with Wally and George, get the cues set in stone, and get them printed. The stress over the route for this Trans Iowa stretched from October to April, and a day didn't go by that I didn't fret about getting it done on time, much less having it be to the high standards we had set for the event in terms of cues for the last five years running. This all on top of getting other logistical and procedural things arranged for T.I.v13 and you know, the rest of my life outside the event. 

But at that point I was just happy to be looking at the light at the end of the tunnel, as it were. Trans Iowa v13 was coming together, but there was that last route check in April yet, and I was eager to schedule that as soon as possible.

Next: The final route check and trouble outside of Trans Iowa affects the day in "The Long Way Around - Part 5"

Twin Six Ritual Wind Vest Review- Part 1

 NOTE: I bought these Twin Six products with my own damn money. This is not a paid review. I am doing the review without the knowledge of Twin Six or its distributors and marketing folks.

Another disclaimer- I've been a fan of the Twin Six guys and their stuff since, what? 2005? Since they cranked out their first thing, which was a pair of socks. I had those, and since then I've had several things from Twin Six. I used to be on their "Team" as a sponsored rider, and I've received product from them in the past at no cost to me. I happen to really like their stuff. 

I already have purchased a bicycle at employee discount and several items of apparel, along with some water bottles from them at full retail in the past few years. 

So, that's where I'm coming from with this review here, so you understand ahead of time my biases. That said, I won't hold back with any criticisms of this wind vest if they are warranted. 

Okay, so why a vest? Great question. I was not a 'vest fan' until a few years ago when Ben, my partner in RidingGravel.com made the suggestion that I get one when we did the custom Riding Gravel jerseys. Well, it really wasn't a 'suggestion' as much as it was done at his insistence. So, I got one thinking it very well may be a waste, but that I would try it out. And you know what? Ben was spot on about how versatile vests are and about how much I would like them. 

Well, you cannot have just one vest! So eventually I got a 45NRTH Naughtvind vest, which is nice, but it is really lightweight. I mean, I barely use the thing since there are very few days that its light, barely there fabric is worth having on. So, I decided to give this T-6 vest a try as it much more closely resembles the one I have with the Riding Gravel livery on it. Plus, it has flowers on it. Y'all know I like me some flowers, right? 

The back view. Note how the design crosses the pockets with barely any visual break. Pretty fancy!

 Okay, so here's a bit of the technical babel from the T-6 website. 

FINELY DESIGNED WEARABLES

• Lightweight, wind-proof micro-fiber ripstop fabric front
• Micro denier perforated fabric on back for ventilation
• Water and wind resistant
• Three back pockets
• Full length two-way zipper
• Unisex sizing
• Temp range: 50˚ to 60˚ F
• Made in the USA

 Okay, a few words on the above spec. First, this stuff is pretty true to size. Check the T-6 sizing charts before pulling the trigger on anything and you will be rewarded with a correctly fitting garment. This is a wind vest, so it fits snugger than not, as it should. You don't want a wind garment that flaps in the wind, if you care about aero and working less than you have to. 

The three back pockets are deep. Water bottles will stay put. Yes- that makes getting smaller stuff from the bottom harder while riding. The two-way, full-length zippers are beefy and high quality. I really despise poor zippers, and many garments for cycling I have, and have had in the past, fail because of chintzy zippers. I believe these T-6 zippers look a lot more like something that should hold up. That said, I am not a fan of two-way zippers. It is not something I would ever use, and they are fussy. It's an over-complication of a simple thing that should not be over-complicated, in my opinion. YMMV. 

The suggested temperature range is just that- suggested. I find garments like this to go well below 50°F for me, and in fact, I wouldn't even consider putting this wind vest on at anything above 50°. But there again, I am not like most folks, or maybe just some folks. 

Made in the "Oooo-sa!". Yeah, that's cool. More so now than ever, actually. But again- this may not hit you in the same way it does for me. I think it does inform the sizing though, as many overseas made apparel items are sometimes ridiculously small for the stated sizing. 

 Now back to the choice of a vest. I thought of one other detail that pushed me toward this vest and not the similarly designed Ritual Wind Jacket. That jacket only cost a little bit more, but it did not have the three rear pockets that the vest has. I think a wind jacket that ends up covering up your jersey pockets is limiting, and the Ritual Wind Vest does not do this. If the wind jacket had the three back pockets, or even a zippered, 'marsupial' style pocket, I would have strongly considered it. But T-6 didn't do this, so I opted for the vest after much back-and-forth before pulling the trigger.

I do have wind jackets which do feature zippered pockets for carrying stuff, and I love that about them, however, they have bogus zippers. Did I mention how much I despise poorly made zippers?

Stay tuned for more soon...

Twin Six Ritual Wind Vest Review- Part 1

 NOTE: I bought these Twin Six products with my own damn money. This is not a paid review. I am doing the review without the knowledge of Twin Six or its distributors and marketing folks.

Another disclaimer- I've been a fan of the Twin Six guys and their stuff since, what? 2005? Since they cranked out their first thing, which was a pair of socks. I had those, and since then I've had several things from Twin Six. I used to be on their "Team" as a sponsored rider, and I've received product from them in the past at no cost to me. I happen to really like their stuff. 

I already have purchased a bicycle at employee discount and several items of apparel, along with some water bottles from them at full retail in the past few years. 

So, that's where I'm coming from with this review here, so you understand ahead of time my biases. That said, I won't hold back with any criticisms of this wind vest if they are warranted. 

Okay, so why a vest? Great question. I was not a 'vest fan' until a few years ago when Ben, my partner in RidingGravel.com made the suggestion that I get one when we did the custom Riding Gravel jerseys. Well, it really wasn't a 'suggestion' as much as it was done at his insistence. So, I got one thinking it very well may be a waste, but that I would try it out. And you know what? Ben was spot on about how versatile vests are and about how much I would like them. 

Well, you cannot have just one vest! So eventually I got a 45NRTH Naughtvind vest, which is nice, but it is really lightweight. I mean, I barely use the thing since there are very few days that its light, barely there fabric is worth having on. So, I decided to give this T-6 vest a try as it much more closely resembles the one I have with the Riding Gravel livery on it. Plus, it has flowers on it. Y'all know I like me some flowers, right? 

The back view. Note how the design crosses the pockets with barely any visual break. Pretty fancy!

 Okay, so here's a bit of the technical babel from the T-6 website. 

FINELY DESIGNED WEARABLES

• Lightweight, wind-proof micro-fiber ripstop fabric front
• Micro denier perforated fabric on back for ventilation
• Water and wind resistant
• Three back pockets
• Full length two-way zipper
• Unisex sizing
• Temp range: 50˚ to 60˚ F
• Made in the USA

 Okay, a few words on the above spec. First, this stuff is pretty true to size. Check the T-6 sizing charts before pulling the trigger on anything and you will be rewarded with a correctly fitting garment. This is a wind vest, so it fits snugger than not, as it should. You don't want a wind garment that flaps in the wind, if you care about aero and working less than you have to. 

The three back pockets are deep. Water bottles will stay put. Yes- that makes getting smaller stuff from the bottom harder while riding. The two-way, full-length zippers are beefy and high quality. I really despise poor zippers, and many garments for cycling I have, and have had in the past, fail because of chintzy zippers. I believe these T-6 zippers look a lot more like something that should hold up. That said, I am not a fan of two-way zippers. It is not something I would ever use, and they are fussy. It's an over-complication of a simple thing that should not be over-complicated, in my opinion. YMMV. 

The suggested temperature range is just that- suggested. I find garments like this to go well below 50°F for me, and in fact, I wouldn't even consider putting this wind vest on at anything above 50°. But there again, I am not like most folks, or maybe just some folks. 

Made in the "Oooo-sa!". Yeah, that's cool. More so now than ever, actually. But again- this may not hit you in the same way it does for me. I think it does inform the sizing though, as many overseas made apparel items are sometimes ridiculously small for the stated sizing. 

 Now back to the choice of a vest. I thought of one other detail that pushed me toward this vest and not the similarly designed Ritual Wind Jacket. That jacket only cost a little bit more, but it did not have the three rear pockets that the vest has. I think a wind jacket that ends up covering up your jersey pockets is limiting, and the Ritual Wind Vest does not do this. If the wind jacket had the three back pockets, or even a zippered, 'marsupial' style pocket, I would have strongly considered it. But T-6 didn't do this, so I opted for the vest after much back-and-forth before pulling the trigger.

I do have wind jackets which do feature zippered pockets for carrying stuff, and I love that about them, however, they have bogus zippers. Did I mention how much I despise poorly made zippers?

Stay tuned for more soon...

Friday News And Views

Canfield Yelli-Screamy

Canfield Bikes Announces Third Generation Yelli-Screamy:

Another long-low-slack geometry hard tail? (yawn) But there is a reason I post on this particular model today. It has more to do with its influence and history than it does with this third generation of the bike. 

Go back ten years ago. 2011 was a time, if you can recall, when many said that 29"ers would "never be in the long-travel categories or be all that good for anything playful and fun on real mountains". They were decent XC bikes, sure, but - you know - serious mountain biking? That was the province of 26"ers and the , at that time, new 27.5"ers. 29"ers would certainly never be 'that bike' you would ride on rowdy mountain trails. 

Then Canfield Bikes, and a few other niche brands, started fooling around with 29 inch wheels. The parts were barely  serviceable for such exploits, but they made it work. Canfield found itself a hit with the 29"er "Yelli-Screamy" model, and 29"er freaks were all over this bike when it came out back then. This sudden popularity of small brand hard tail and full suspension bikes with big wheels eventually got the bigger brand's attention. It took a few years, because the industry's dalliance with 27.5" stuff had to run its course first, but then 29"er hard tail and full suspension rigs started dominating the lines of the big brands by the mid to late 'twenty-teens'.  

So, here ya go. A hard tail which was a ground breaking model ten years ago, revamped for 'modern geometry', and at a price for a frame that, amazingly, is still pretty reasonable at $799.99. See Canfield Bikes for more.

First PRO Only "Gravel Event" In Italy:

What?!! You've never heard of Serenissima Gravel? Why, it was the very first PRO only roadie event held on gravel, that's all. (So, what is Strada Bianche then?) But you could be forgiven if you have not heard about this. It really doesn't affect many of us in the gravel community. 

But for some, this may be seen as a 'validation' of gravel as a racing surface. For me? It's nothing but PRO UCI sanctioned road racing on a different surface. Novel for roadies, perhaps, but calling this a 'gravel event' is a big misnomer. See, 'gravel events' are not just about licensed, male, elite athletes with no other riders and no 'culture' besides typical roadie fare. 

No, a 'gravel event' encompasses much more than racing. It is about finding one's limits, learning about how to be a self-sufficient cyclist, learning about caring for others, and it is all-inclusive. It is NOT just for the highest categories of male (and female, one would think) racers. However; Serenissma Gravel held its PRO only event with just one day of males racing. No females. And, of course, you could ride the next day on the course the PROs used (gasp! Really! You let them do that!) in a 'fondo'. Woo.....

But again- some may think this sort of thing is the bee's knees. And that's fine, but it is not 'gravel racing'. This is a gravel event, if you are wondering what I might mean. And so is the next item .....

Remembering When Things Were 'Iffy':

About a year ago this weekend I did something I thought was a bit daring. Some would say I was being a bit cavalier about the situation, and risking too much too soon. I went out of town to volunteer at a gravel event.

And now you think that sounds really mundane, right? I mean.....so what? I went somewhere and did a good deed. Why on earth would that be 'risky'? 

Well, I think we all have kind of forgotten how tense we all were just a year ago with this whole COVID deal still ongoing. (And really, we still are not out of the woods yet) There was no vaccine, there were still social distancing and mask mandates, and fear and anxiety was high. People were unsure of what was 'okay', and doing a bicycle race was barely on that side of the line of being something folks wouldn't get too upset about if you were to engage in that activity. 

I had not driven beyond the bounds of Black Hawk County, at that point, in nearly six months. I had only been in a few towns by bicycle outside of Waterloo in that time, and we went once to Cedar Rapids for a football game my son was in. I had not seen anyone outside of Waterloo in nearly half a year. So, going to volunteer at the Spotted Horse marked a line, a breakthrough of sorts, and socially it was a bit of a shock and a relief. It actually was so uplifting that I felt guilty for doing that when so many other people were left sitting around in fear. 

Like I say, we are still dealing with this pandemic, but a year ago we were still engaged in fear and anxiety at a much higher level than we are now, in my opinion. The Spotted Horse, for me, was a big release of tension and a day which gave me some hope that we would, at some point, be doing things again socially. And that has mostly come true. 

I just wanted to mark this anniversary and say 'thank you' again to Dori, Sarah, and Steve, the RD's of the Spotted Horse. Good luck on your event this weekend.

That's a wrap for this week! Have a great weekend and thank you for reading G-Ted Productions.

Friday News And Views

Canfield Yelli-Screamy

Canfield Bikes Announces Third Generation Yelli-Screamy:

Another long-low-slack geometry hard tail? (yawn) But there is a reason I post on this particular model today. It has more to do with its influence and history than it does with this third generation of the bike. 

Go back ten years ago. 2011 was a time, if you can recall, when many said that 29"ers would "never be in the long-travel categories or be all that good for anything playful and fun on real mountains". They were decent XC bikes, sure, but - you know - serious mountain biking? That was the province of 26"ers and the , at that time, new 27.5"ers. 29"ers would certainly never be 'that bike' you would ride on rowdy mountain trails. 

Then Canfield Bikes, and a few other niche brands, started fooling around with 29 inch wheels. The parts were barely  serviceable for such exploits, but they made it work. Canfield found itself a hit with the 29"er "Yelli-Screamy" model, and 29"er freaks were all over this bike when it came out back then. This sudden popularity of small brand hard tail and full suspension bikes with big wheels eventually got the bigger brand's attention. It took a few years, because the industry's dalliance with 27.5" stuff had to run its course first, but then 29"er hard tail and full suspension rigs started dominating the lines of the big brands by the mid to late 'twenty-teens'.  

So, here ya go. A hard tail which was a ground breaking model ten years ago, revamped for 'modern geometry', and at a price for a frame that, amazingly, is still pretty reasonable at $799.99. See Canfield Bikes for more.

First PRO Only "Gravel Event" In Italy:

What?!! You've never heard of Serenissima Gravel? Why, it was the very first PRO only roadie event held on gravel, that's all. (So, what is Strada Bianche then?) But you could be forgiven if you have not heard about this. It really doesn't affect many of us in the gravel community. 

But for some, this may be seen as a 'validation' of gravel as a racing surface. For me? It's nothing but PRO UCI sanctioned road racing on a different surface. Novel for roadies, perhaps, but calling this a 'gravel event' is a big misnomer. See, 'gravel events' are not just about licensed, male, elite athletes with no other riders and no 'culture' besides typical roadie fare. 

No, a 'gravel event' encompasses much more than racing. It is about finding one's limits, learning about how to be a self-sufficient cyclist, learning about caring for others, and it is all-inclusive. It is NOT just for the highest categories of male (and female, one would think) racers. However; Serenissma Gravel held its PRO only event with just one day of males racing. No females. And, of course, you could ride the next day on the course the PROs used (gasp! Really! You let them do that!) in a 'fondo'. Woo.....

But again- some may think this sort of thing is the bee's knees. And that's fine, but it is not 'gravel racing'. This is a gravel event, if you are wondering what I might mean. And so is the next item .....

Remembering When Things Were 'Iffy':

About a year ago this weekend I did something I thought was a bit daring. Some would say I was being a bit cavalier about the situation, and risking too much too soon. I went out of town to volunteer at a gravel event.

And now you think that sounds really mundane, right? I mean.....so what? I went somewhere and did a good deed. Why on earth would that be 'risky'? 

Well, I think we all have kind of forgotten how tense we all were just a year ago with this whole COVID deal still ongoing. (And really, we still are not out of the woods yet) There was no vaccine, there were still social distancing and mask mandates, and fear and anxiety was high. People were unsure of what was 'okay', and doing a bicycle race was barely on that side of the line of being something folks wouldn't get too upset about if you were to engage in that activity. 

I had not driven beyond the bounds of Black Hawk County, at that point, in nearly six months. I had only been in a few towns by bicycle outside of Waterloo in that time, and we went once to Cedar Rapids for a football game my son was in. I had not seen anyone outside of Waterloo in nearly half a year. So, going to volunteer at the Spotted Horse marked a line, a breakthrough of sorts, and socially it was a bit of a shock and a relief. It actually was so uplifting that I felt guilty for doing that when so many other people were left sitting around in fear. 

Like I say, we are still dealing with this pandemic, but a year ago we were still engaged in fear and anxiety at a much higher level than we are now, in my opinion. The Spotted Horse, for me, was a big release of tension and a day which gave me some hope that we would, at some point, be doing things again socially. And that has mostly come true. 

I just wanted to mark this anniversary and say 'thank you' again to Dori, Sarah, and Steve, the RD's of the Spotted Horse. Good luck on your event this weekend.

That's a wrap for this week! Have a great weekend and thank you for reading G-Ted Productions.

Fall Views: Mournful Sounds

It was a beautiful looking day at least!

 Wednesday was to be a showery, cooler day by the afternoon. In fact, a few showers blew through the area early, just after Sunrise, and then it cleared off by about 9:00am. I wasn't going to wait to find out if the weatherfolk were wrong or right. I went and got my things on and grabbed the ol' Tamland Two for a ride South of town. 

The wind was stiff. Something above 20mph and at least a bit more out in the open, straight out of the Southeast. I decided to use my standard Southern jumping off point of Prairie Grove Park to go South and East a bit until I ran out of time, then turn around for a short, fast trip back to the truck. 

I had to be back shortly after noon to join my daughter for lunch, then I had other stuff to do for the rest of the day. So this little window had to work out or I was going to end up with nothing. Fortunately the day appeared to be beautiful, despite the constant wind coming in my face to start with. 

This ride was all about testing the Topeak Gravel Bag and the Tubolito tube I have still in the back tire. (More on that at the end of this post.) I don't much ride tubed tires anymore, and riding into that headwind, it was easy to blame my work on tubed tires which I perceived as 'holding me back'. The fact was that it was the wind. As I have said many times, 'Never judge a tire's performance on a windy day!' 

A field with freshly installed drainage tile near the corner of Orange Road and Ansborough

Some hints of Fall color on Ansborough South of Schrock Road

Going South on Ansborough wasn't too bad. Sure, I was working against a pretty stiff wind, but at least the gravel had been pulverized by the big harvest machinery and semi-tractor trailers which had obviously been doing their jobs recently by the looks of the fields. Every field down this road had been harvested, both corn and soybean fields.

The Raleigh Tamland I was riding has always had this odd quirk. Whenever I ride into a wind, or sometimes a crosswind, it begins to moan and whistle at a low pitch, varying with wind speed. I suspected that this was wind blowing across the opening at the bottom of the steer tube, and when I swapped over to the current Fyxation carbon fork, it didn't go away. It was just a bit different tone was all. 

Anyway, none of my other bikes really do this at all or with any consistency. Only the Tamland. So, as I went East, I got this mournful low tone going and it kind of fit the scenery and the time of year. Then when I turned away from going East- poof! That sound was gone. But the landscape was the same. Barren. Devoid of crops now. This laid bare the nature of this part of Iowa. It is a rolling prairie. A vast, mostly treeless plain. We usually don't think of our state in this way, but it is easier to do so once the harvest is in. 

A partially harvested corn field on Aker Road

A little further up the road, this combine sits idle, its job mostly done.

This is the time of year when the sky looks bigger, the land broader, and the sound of wind is the only thing that accompanies the grit of tires on gravel. The animals are all gone with the exception of a hawk or a few crows who fly silently on the wind. The 'neeker-breekers' are all silent now. Their life cycles completed for the year. It's coming up on "Brown Season" when everything falls silent and an eerie presence falls over the land until Winter covers that up with a white blanket of snow. 

It was a quick ride back to the park, and my truck, with that stiff wind at my back. The tubed tires didn't hold me back any, and in fact, had I not known a Tubolito was in the back, I would have thought that I had a rear tubeless set up. It rides that smoothly with that tire. Even despite the few miles of fresh, deep crushed rock on Aker Road on the way back. It was gnarly loose! I am really glad I didn't decide to roll out that way! 

This ride was supposed to help me with my final take on the Tubolito tubes, but I received an email from my contact which stated that maybe my ultra-light Tubolito which kept going flat within 24 hours was perhaps defective. I am expecting a new replacement soon. So, stay tuned on the final say on those orange things soon. 

Note: See the Standard Disclaimer page to understand my relationship and philosophy on products and services I receive and use for riding and which I talk about here on the blog.