WTB Siverado v2 Saddle: Review Part 2

 NOTE: WTB sent over a Silverado titanium railed saddle to Guitar Ted Productions at no charge for test and review. I was not paid, nor bribed for this review and I always strive to give my honest thoughts and views throughout. 

The new version of the WTB Silverado saddle

Back in September I received a new WTB Silverado saddle, the version 2 of this model, and since then I have been riding it off and on to get a feel for this design. You can read my initial impressions HERE. 

I also rode the Gravelier saddle a few times in between riding the new Silverado to see what, if any differences there are. Both saddles are of the newer 'short-nosed, wide rear' type of saddles many are gravitating toward now. 

The first saddle I rode in this vein was the Ergon saddle, the SR Allroad Comp, and I was very impressed with that saddle. So, along comes the Gravelier and it was good, but there were some things I wasn't 100% liking and it wasn't quite as nice as the Ergon saddle. A very good saddle, to be sure, but that Ergon one was the bees knees. (A brief review of that Gravelier saddle can be found HERE)

Now, this Silverado, well......I was skeptical. I mean this is something I was thinking would not be as good as the version 1 saddle, which I was really liking in the newer 143mm wide version. I was already using that saddle on my Black Mountain Cycles MCD, the bubblegum princess, and I wasn't in a hurry to replace it with some unproven "new" design. 

Add in that I thought that the Gravelier was not quite as good as the old Silverado, and well, you might see that I wasn't in the mood to be very forgiving if the new Silverado wasn't really, really good. So, was it, or was I dissatisfied?

Another view of the new Silverado.

The first few test rides weren't convincing me that I was going to get on with this saddle. But I have learned through testing parts for many years that you shouldn't make any judgement calls until after you've ridden something more than a few times and at least once for several hours. Now I have done this. 

I got a long ride in with Jason Boucher using the new Silverado.

Now that I've ridden it enough, and backed that up with another good gravel ride on my Gravelier, I can say that this new Silverado is 'very' good. It isn't a "very, very" good, but it's close. So, I will probably give this one some more time and see what I think later. 

I want to say now that it is better than a Gravelier, for my posterior, at least. I also want to say that it is as good as the old Silverado, but I cannot say - not yet anyway - that it is better than the old Silverado. And that's a big deal, because if you already own a Silverado, why bother unless this new one is better? 

My feeling is that the main customer for Silverado v2's will be customers replacing old Silverado saddles. So, my testing will see me using an old Silverado versus the new, and then we'll see what I think, anyway. You may not agree, but hey! Saddles are a very personal thing. It is okay if you don't think I get this right.

Country Views: Camera Nerd

Escape Route; Black hawk Park w/Josh Paxton

 I was out for a ride yesterday and it was a ride for a specific purpose. I was helping a friend to get some imagery for a project he is working on. While this was happening it struck me that a LOT of cyclists are photographers and several are downright "camera nerds". 

Note: I say that out of love and respect for you if you, are in fact, a camera nerd. No putdown intended. 

I happen to know a few of these folks and a few of them have helped me out with imagery in the past. People like Steve Fuller, Wally Kilburg, George Keslin, Jason Boucher, and Jon Duke. All cyclists, all definitely camera nerds. 

I know Erik Mathy who takes 'camera nerdery' to the next level. It's amazing stuff, in my opinion, and when I spent time with Erik in 2022 at the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame days, I was constantly amazed by his talents. 

Well, on Tuesday I spent time with another camera freak, Josh Paxton. He is setting up something that is an image-heavy online thing and he wanted a section on cycling to be a prominent part of that project, so he talked me into being a 'model' for a day. We decided to head out to start the ride from Black Hawk Park.

Ford Road near Black Hawk Park

I've always liked this barn. The owner keeps it in pretty good shape.

We left the park and immediately were on Ford Road going North. It isn't all that long of a stretch, but it is picturesque in several spots. This is generally enhanced by good morning light and Fall colors, both of which were happening on this day.

Josh coming up on the intersection of Ford Road and Mt. Vernon Road. He forgot his helmet, so don't "@" me!

Ford Road looking North from the intersection with Mt. Vernon Road.

The thing about these camera nerds is that they stop. A lot! "Hey! Can I get you to ride toward me here?", or "Stand still here and act natural.", as the photographer sticks a $10,000.00 camera rig three inches from your face. "Yeah, no problem! I always have a camera pointed RIGHT AT MY HEAD!" I'm used to it, ya know? Ha ha! 

Josh riding up out of the Ford Road Access.

It was a glorious Fall morning.

We explored a bit of the Ford Road Access to the Washington Access fire road. We didn't go all the way to the Washington Access trail, but I was surprised to find that this trail had been cleared and was very rideable. It wasn't always so. I was out this way a couple of times, once in 2008 and another time six years later, and the Ford Road Access trail was impassable by bike and nearly so on foot. It's good to see it back in ship-shape again. 

I had forgotten that there is a pretty steep climb up from the flood plain to the road on the Ford Road Access. Josh had me ride down it a bit so he could photograph me climbing up. (This modeling gig! I tell ya! What these photogs put us through! Ha ha!) 

After a couple hours we were finished. It was great to get out early and ride some, despite all the stops and sessioning. Good to see Ford Road again and that the access trail is open. I need to get out that way again soon.

Review Briefs

 As many of you know, I get in a fair amount of stuff to review and sometimes just to give feedback on/test for others. I figured I may as well shoot a few words this way on some things being currently tested and reviewed by giving a few, brief thoughts on those items. As always, The Standard Disclaimer applies. 

Twin Six Standard Super Thermal Jersey:

Twin Six just came out with a cool/cold weather top called the Standard Super Thermal Jersey. It tickled my fancy because it isn't your standard issue thermal long sleeved piece and it isn't a soft-shell jacket either. It falls somewhere in between those two things, in my opinion. 

Twin Six says it is a "jersey", and that's really closer to the mark than "jacket", but this isn't something you'll want to wear on cool Summer mornings or on Sunny Fall days either. This is more of a "shoulder-season" piece, in my opinion, and paired with a wind vest, it about does everything I'd want in terms of Fall to Winter temperature cycling. 

It's made from a fleeced-up Lycra that Twin Six bills as "Lycra Wool". It is not really wool, so don't let that trip you up. I'll have a bit more to say about that in a moment. But for now, here are the bullet point features:

• Back brushed insulated Lyrca Wool body
• Two-ply collar with zipper garage
• Easy-pull semi-autolock zipper with full length insulated backing
• Three deep back storage pockets with additional hidden internal zipper pocket
• Designed for temperatures below 45˚F
• Silicone gripper around the bottom to hold everything in place

Sizing: Twin Six has a super-helpful and accurate sizing chart, but let me say this, "I don't believe I am a 3XL." But that's how this is sized. Yeah....I am a big guy, but no way am I a 3XL in anything else in this world but cycling clothing. That's not just a Twin Six thing either. That's industry-wide. 

That's super-weird and not very size-inclusive, by the way, since 3XL is the largest size on offer and I know a lot of cyclist bigger than I am. That said, this thing fits perfectly. Could we have called this an "XL" and made two even bigger sizes? That would have been nice for some folks, I bet. 

GT in the Standard Super Thermal Jersey

Impressions: The fleeced interior of this jersey is really nice and I wore this as a jersey using only a base layer under it (A Twin Six one, natch) The "Lycra Wool" is actually kinda like wool in how it feels against the skin. At least when new. We'll see how it launders and feels after several rides. 

The sleeves are a great length and I have pretty long arms. In the saddle the arms, shoulders, and back are perfectly situated on my body and there is no restriction to movement whatsoever. The sleeves end in nice, flat cuffs which will integrate with gloves well and not sag or get in the way. 

The zipper is "good" and doesn't seem like a cheap one. No two-way zipping here, and it is a jersey, so I would not expect that feature. However; some may have wanted that. Personally, I don't care for that sort of thing, but to each their own. Finally, that zipper has a nice pocket, or as they call them "garages" to hide in and it won't bite you or pull your beard hairs, should you be sportin' such. 

Riding: The cut is short in the front, long in the back, so it fits while you are riding very well. It sits just right, and I never felt the need to pull at anything or readjust the jersey. That's a good sign that this is designed and put together well.

I used this on a cool Fall morning with temperatures just above 40°F and with little wind. Still, I mated the Super Thermal with a Twin Six wind vest to cut down on any wind intrusions that might make me chilly. I rode a combination of cityscape, bike tails, single track, and out in the wide-open for maximum wind exposure. In all instances I was very comfortable. 

Good back pockets, by the way, and there is a hidden, zippered pocket for a credit/debit card, keys, or other small items. So far this is a winner and I look forward to wearing this piece a lot this Fall and layered with other things this Winter. 

Oh! And I payed full-pop retail for this which is $140.00. So there.

Ergon GP1 Evo:

Saturday I reported in my "Two Things" post about the new Ergon GP1 Evo grips. This bit of today's post will just be a brief ride impression for this new grip.

Okay, so I have to give you all a bit of my background in issues I have with my hands so there is some context for this. I am a bicycle mechanic and have been for a long time. I have pulled on, banged on, twisted, and gripped tools with my hands on an almost daily basis for all of those years. My hands have suffered some damage for sure. 

Then there is the fact that I have not got a lot of "meat" on my mitts. They bruise easily and I have a propensity to bust open veins at times which can really hurt. Then due to my age and injuries I have a bit of arthritis in my right thumb joint. Riding regular handle bars, especially flat bars, with "normal" grips is hard to do, and even with drop bars, I can get numb hands very quickly. That or my hands just hurt, which can be a problem.

I usually just try to shake it off, move my hands a lot, or change tape/grips. Ergon's GP1, the originals, helped a lot with all of my hand issues on my flat bar bikes.  But these new grips feel better than any other grips I have tried.. They are really a better grip than the original GP1. Too bad there isn't a drop bar version....

I'm going to keep on trying these out in different situations and maybe swap them over to a different bike, but so far, I am really getting along with the new GP1 Evo. 

The Gryphon Mk3 has an Enduro outboard bottom bracket.

Enduro Bearings:

The Enduro bearings I have been testing in the Gryphon and the Standard Rando v2 have been an interesting experience. Kind of a tale of two experiences, really. 

The tale of what went into the Standard Rando v2 can be read HERE. That bike got a load of Enduro stuff put into it and then I rode that bike in a metric ton of Summer drought induced gravel dust. 

The Gryphon has been doing duty as a truckster, of sorts, carrying around this load of stuff of late. Between the two bikes I have noted different things. The Gryphon Mk3 experience with that MaxHit bottom bracket has been an eye opening one. I used a Shimano compatible outboard bearing type bottom bracket on that frame and it has 100% eliminated that weird "rumble" I get with every Shimano outboard bearing bottom bracket I've ever tried when pedaling hard or under a heavy load. This Enduro bottom bracket is noticeably smoother and easier to rotate. I would not hesitate to use one of these MaxHit outboard bearing bottom brackets again. 

Now as for the Twin Six, that bike has a PF-30 type insert with a Shimano compatible bearing. The bottom bracket screws together and has been dead quiet despite all the grit and dust. However; it still has a slight "rumble" of the sort that I eliminated with the Enduro bottom bracket in the Gryphon. The T-6 bike's crank spins great though. Better than with the previous Wheels Manufacturing bottom bracket. 

The jockey wheels, bottom bracket, and head set are all Enduro products on this bike.

The other Enduro components, the derailleur jockey wheels and the head set? I cannot tell any difference at all. I mean, the drive train spins in the stand far more freely, so I know that it is better from a friction standpoint, but honestly, you cannot feel that. Same with the head set. It hasn't given me any troubles, but neither did the Cane Creek head set that was in there before this. 

Maybe the jockey wheels are worth a few watts? I wish I could say that definitively, but I have no way to measure that. Plus, those jockey wheels are very expensive! The head set? Great head set, but probably overkill here. If I lived where it was wetter, or if this bike saw a lot of snow or gritty mud that maybe would help this headset stand out. 

I suppose it is more durable, being that it is stainless steel and from the MaxHit line, so that means it should last a long time and stay smooth. That's worth something if you plan on keeping a bike for a long time and want minimal maintenance. 

So, MaxHit outboard bearing bottom bracket? Big thumbs up. The Press Fit 30 one? Good, but the Wheels Manufacturing one felt as good. The jockey wheels? Meh... If you are a racer looking for those elusive watts? Then yes. The head set? Yeah.... That could go either way. It's good, but there are so many good heads sets and it's hard to say "you gotta get the Enduro one!" when it really doesn't seem to be all that different in practice.

Gravel Mutt v3: Return Of The Gravel Mutt

Well, it is finished up. The third "gravel mutt" from Guitar Ted Productions! (HA!) The bike is a Schwinn, but this seems to be an outlier in Schwinn's catalog at that time, and because of that, it is a very interesting "throwback" to an earlier time. Let's dig into the foundations of this bike and why I feel it is representative of a timeline that goes from the early 20th century to the modern day gravel bike. 

As I mentioned on Saturday in "Two Things", this bike stood out to me immediately due to its odd geometry. Odd for the time it was built, that is. To understand this, one needs to understand what the geometry of American road bikes was leaning towards in the late 1980's/early 1990's.

By this time road bikes were starting to evolve into the American version of a racing bicycle, namely a criterium bike. Criterium racing was the predominant form of road bicycle racing by this time and was definitely more popular than road stage racing. Roads were hard to close down for a safe cycling event, and it was easier to manage a closed circuit, gain attendance for spectating, and sponsors loved the idea more than open road racing. 

This drove geometry to become more adept at the style of riding criterium racing demanded. A high bottom bracket was preferred for high-lean angle cornering and pedaling. A shorter wheelbase was preferred for it's stiffness and agility, as was a steeper head tube angle than what had been dominant in the bicycle world previously. 

Head angles crept steeper and most landed on a 73° head angle, but some more extreme geometries went to 74°. Bottom bracket drop was less than 70mm on most criterium based geometries, but commercially, 70mm was a pretty common bottom bracket drop. Seat tube angles steepened as well since sprinting out of corners was a demand of criterium racing, so weight distribution on many late 80's early 90's road bikes was more forward, over the bars than laid back into the saddle. 

1988 Trek 1000 from ebay.

Okay, so that was the lay of the land for road bikes. Now lets get to why this particular Schwinn model stands out from that crowd. I noticed it as soon as I laid my eyes on the bike. The head angle was waaaay slacker than this era of bike would normally have. Hold on here! 

Moreover, the bike, which was fitted with 27" X 1 1/4" tires, had tons of clearance to the frame. Hmm.... And the bottom bracket drop was noticeable. I had to investigate further. I grabbed my iPhone which has an angle finder app on it. A quick measurement of the head tube yielded a 71° degree measurement. I was surprised, so I measured again, and once more, just because I couldn't believe that a 1980's era Schwinn would have such a slack head angle. But it looked to be what my phone kept telling me. 

So, I decided to do a quick and dirty bottom bracket drop measurement. I strung a piece of masking tape from the rear drop-out to the front for drop-out and measured from that horizontal line to the center of the bottom bracket. It looked to be more than 70mm, maybe close to 75mm. Again, this was just to get an idea, it wasn't a precise method to obtain this information. I just wanted to understand if this would be a worthwhile project before I made a third mistake in trying to come up with another Gravel Mutt. 

1989 Schwinn World Sport, 58cm (ctr - top), set up as a single speed.

So, here it is, all finished up. I traded out all the components with the exception of the head set and brakes for stuff I had. 700c wheels I had built which use Dura Ace thread-on freewheel hubs. Salsa Delgado Cross rims shod with 37mm Panaracer tires. A BB-90 Shimano cartridge bottom bracket with a Shimano 105 crank and a 38T chain ring turning a Shimano 20T freewheel. A SOMA threadless adapter is clamped in a Ritchey Classic stem with a Salsa Cowbell bar and Tektro brake levers. I used a longer 26.6mm seat post, (the original one was super-short), and topped it off with an older Ergon SM-3 saddle in white. Some pink bar tape to give it that late 80's vibe finished off the look and a set of old Shimano SPD's will allow me to pedal this beast along. 

I ended up using a Surly Singulator to tension the chain, but if I wanted to, the drop-outs could be machined and made into semi-horizontal type which could help with chain tensioning. But this set up will do for the time being. 

I could probably Dremel out that drop out but this will do for now.

Single speed, of course! Simple and it keeps me focused on how the bike rides and performs. That will be my aim going forward because as I learned, the geometry is even weirder than I first thought. First off, I found a scan of Schwinn catalogs from the 1980's online and I searched them until I ascertained that this bike is a 1989 World Sport. The World Sport was nearly the bottom of the range Schwinn road bike at that time, and it was, probably, the entry level road bike. Only the Schwinn Voyager is shown below it in the specs, but that was a touring bike, of course. 

The catalog showed the basic geometry measurements of head tube angle and seat tube angle only, and that for the 23" frames. Weird. But since this example just happens to be a 23" frame, it can be assumed that the data in the catalog is taken from this size in the range, or can it?

The head tube and seat tube angles listed for most of Schwinn's road bike line up go from 72.5 (Voyager) to 73° for nearly everything else. But the World Sport lists a 72° head angle, the slackest of the entire road bike range for 1989 Schwinns. But hold on! My on-the-shop-floor measurement with a gravity gauge and my iPhone say this bike has parallel 70° seat/head tube angles! And compared to my gravel bikes, you can see it. 

Just enough clearance for these 37mm tires.

Why is the Schwinn World Sport, and this example in particular, so odd compared to everything else Schwinn was doing and what most road bike companies were doing at the time? That's hard to say. My guess is that since this was meant to be an "every-man's road bike" that the geometry needn't be like a racer's. The spec could be off because this bike was made, most likely, in Japan or Taiwan and since that was the case, QC may have been a bit lax. Maybe this single unit is an outlier to the entire range? That could also be the case. 

Whatever the case may be, this will be a fun and interesting gravel mutt experience. Now as for the timeline of geometry and this bike, I feel that this bike and its geometry are really pretty close to what we were looking at with the Honeman track bike from the 1930's, and which was the dominant rough-road geometry for bikes from the early 20th century that best translates to what modern gravel bikes need and are.  

So, the questions are will this be anything like a modern gravel bike experience? Will this bike actually point to something that even more closely defines what geometry will be best for gravel bikes? Or, will this be a revelation in how this geometry isn't quite right?

That and more is to come. Stay tuned.....

The GTDRI Stories: The 2017 GTDRI - Part 5

  "The GTDRI Stories" is a series telling the history, untold tales, and showing the sights from the run of Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitationals. This series will run on Sundays. Thanks for reading!

Getting on into the back half of this GTDRI I was doing my typical dragging behind. Not unusual for me to be in this position on this, or any really long ride, to be honest. So, that was no surprise, it is just that it takes longer on the back half because we had to stop so much to gather me back up to the rest of the riders. So, I felt a bit guilty about that, and again, even that part was not unusual. 

That said, the riders were having a great time. The nature of the roads were hitting their senses in a good way, and one in particular was a standout. Again, I am not sure this is even a public road anymore, and I am really glad I got to ride on it a few times. But if this is still out there to be ridden, you should ride it. It's a crazy road. The name of it is "I" Avenue, and it is a lonely mile stretch of "road", and I use that term loosely. It is about as close to a prairie wagon road that I am aware of anywhere in this part of Iowa. 

I stopped at this mid-point on I Avenue and looked back to grab this image.

 Another view of "I" Avenue by Robert Fry

If we didn't ride another Level B dirt road the rest of the day, I Avenue fulfilled the "Adventure quota" nicely and would have been enough, but there was a lot more dirt to ride yet. The thing is, it wasn't nearly as spectacular as I Avenue was. 

A giant steep hill with a terraced field adjacent to it on 270th Avenue.

Level B section of G Avenue.

The rest of this ride was fairly unremarkable for me as it covered ground I had ridden several times and that I had already used on several Trans Iowa routes. It was also somewhat of a blur to me as I was in deep survival mode by this time and just wanted to get it all over with. 

That I did as I made it back to Reinbeck. I met with some of the others at that brewery that used to be there and had some good, tasty beer. I couldn't stay long though, as I had to drive back to Waterloo and be with my family. 

Next: The fall out from the2017 ride.

Two Things

Canyon Grail v2 (Image courtesy of Canyon)

 Canyon Announces V2 of the Grail Gravel Bike:

Canyon Bikes announced the second version of their Grail gravel bike recently. Stating that they had spent hours and hours testing a prototype with adjustable geometry and with race feedback from Pro level gravel racers, they had arrived at the perfect geometry for a gravel bike. 

They needn't have gone to all that trouble though. These things were figured out many decades ago. I wrote a series (which that link is one entry of four in that series) about gravel bike geometry and why things have come to be the way that they are now. Again- these geometry issues have all been thoroughly vetted out and tested. Years and years ago. 

But Canyon did their research and ended up with geometry which is nearly identical to my 2014 Raleigh Tamland Two which was inspired by, you guessed it, geometry from the early 20th Century. I find it not so much a silly thing that we keep hitting on similar things in terms of geometry for gravel/all-road bikes, but I think it is more a validation of those ideas which early bicycle designers found which worked. Yes, the materials have changed, the way we utilize technology has changed, but the basics really have not changed. What makes a bike handle well on rough roads? It seems to be a generally accepted idea that something along the lines of a Tamland Two and a Canyon Grail is where the target is for good geometry.

Now, as for aero, features, and weight, yes- the new Grail is light years better.  I like the integrated storage, the neat frame bag, and Canyon says that bag makes the bike more aero. Cool! That's some good thinking there. Tire size is limited out at 42mm, which is probably a bit tight for many folks, but this is right at where I think most people are wanting to be in terms of tires. Racers especially aren't going to run much bigger tires typically than that.

Yes- the Grail is expensive, but what carbon flagship gravel bike isn't? I don't like to see the prices escalate as that is just another barrier to entry to a sport that needs less stuff like this and more 'not-so-sexy', halo-ish product. But racers are going to want something like this, and I think that overall, the Canyon Grail looks pretty spot-on. 

Gravel Mutt v3: Return Of The Gravel Mutt:

Some years ago now I put together two bicycles from older Trek models to demonstrate the way many riders used to cobble together a bicycle for gravel travel before the advent of "gravel specific" bikes and gear. I used a Trek 720 and an old "barn-built" Trek from 1978. 

Neither were what I would be able to put up with for long and the experiments were both short-lived. The biggest issue I had were the too-high bottom brackets, especially on the 720, which surprised me. You'd think a touring bike would have a deep bottom bracket, but apparently Trek didn't see things that way. 

The older Trek was somewhat better, but there was something weird with the layout of that bike which put your weight way out over the front of the bike. That was a deal-killer. Both Treks went to the scrap heap as a result.

I've been on the lookout for a suitable replacement for those bikes and an old Raleigh I used as a fixed gear bike. Since I have been at the Collective, several near-misses have come and gone as donations there, but none have been close enough for me to take seriously as a project, until now, that is. 

What is really cool is that this bike is a bit of an outlier in terms of its geometry and what it is capable of in terms of gravel set up. I found an old catalog scan which confirmed my quick measurements of the geometry. I decided it was worthwhile and so this bike is nearly done now and it will be ready to show soon. 

In terms of my discussion of the Canyon above, I think we will see this "gravel mutt" is another example of a hold-over from an earlier time in terms of geometry and capabilities. A bike that will point to how the Canyon's geometry isn't anything all that new. 

Stay tuned....

Friday News And Views

Luke Hoffman, Executive Director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition. (Image courtesy of the IBC)

 Iowa Bicycle Coalition Hires New Executive Director:

Recently the Iowa Bicycle Coalition announced the hire of Luke Hoffman to fill its Executive Director position after former Executive Director, Mark Wyatt announced his departure. The Iowa Bicycle Coalition, an organization that promotes safe cycling in Iowa, educational programs, policy change at the government level, and growing a support community amongst cyclists in Iowa, now looks to Mr. Hoffman to drive these initiatives. 

Hoffman, a life-long cyclists from Iowa, will transition into the executive Director role with the aid of former Executive Director, Mark Wyatt who is staying on briefly to smooth out the change in leadership. Hoffman is already hard at work learning about the influencers and important issues in the Iowa cycling scene. 

Comments: The Iowa Bicycle Coalition mostly has been felt, in my experience, as the organization that implements changes at the Iowa Statehouse level through lobbying. The organizer also generally has a big presence at the Iowa Bicycle Expo, with their Iowa Bicycle Summit, usually held in January in Des Moines, Iowa. I spoke at the Iowa Bicycle Summit in 2017. 

Mr. Hoffman has already reached out to me, which I found pretty impressive since I don't generally see myself as being "that big of a deal", which...... I probably should, but I don't, generally, so the call caught me by surprise a bit. But since I've started working at The Cedar Valley Bicycle collective my aims have been more in alignment with what the Coalition is all about, so this is a good thing. 

Good luck to Mr. Hoffman in his endeavors! I loo forward to possibly meeting him at some point in the future. 

Time to dig back into this.

Second (Third? Fourth?) Chances:

You may not have noticed but I have not been using a GPS computer for cycling since early Summer. Boy! I gotta say that the rides I have gotten in have been just fine without that frustrating device. 

But a recent chat with a local runner in the Cedar Valley has me thinking I need to either figure this out or move on and never be a part of you folks that use GPS stuff. Well....at least not until things get figured out better.

See, the local runner, unprompted by myself, brought up a lot of the same things that drives me nuts about GPS units. His experiences were very similar to mine, plus he had some that were maybe more related to running that I did not have experiences with. 

But the chat did serve to bring to mind that I need to definitively figure out where I am headed in the near future. Either I use these things or I do not. I want to make up my mind and move on. The issue cannot be left undecided or I will end up wondering "what if" and that's no good. 

So, here are a few reasons I do not need GPS: Training, racing, navigation, data, and communication. I can do all of that stuff without a GPS at all. Would GPS computers like the Wahoo I have make things easier? Maybe..... It hasn't so far though. 

You might be thinking that I definitely need a GPS to do an event with. No, not really, I don't. While it is true that many race courses guidance is only provided via GPS, those tracks are almost always made available far ahead of the event on sites like Ride With GPS, and guess what? You can download cues for those, or, most likely, I'd write my own up and use the hard copy during the event. 

Oh yeah, and I don't do Strava or anything like that. I find that to be totally uninteresting. 

You might think that a GPS computer distance data would be more accurate than my hard-wired computer. Actually, that answer is "no" as well. Even my running friend, who used a traditional distance roll-out device to set up a quarter mile interval training route, has seen GPS not get the 1/4 mile splits correct on several other runners GPS units. And my roll-out measurement on my computer yields results that have consistently been dead-on with Iowa DOT mile markers. So, no- you don't need a GPS for that either. 

So the scales are tipped heavily against GPS in my view. Not only that, but I still have not been able to get one to work consistently well enough to be convinced otherwise. But I am going to try again. Stay tuned....

Speaking Of Technology...

The landscape for logistics for long, ultra-endurance events is changing due to technology. It's something that seems obvious when you stop to think about it. 

Maybe the pandemic put this sort of an idea on people's radar, but whatever it was, finding food and water became a heck of a lot easier than ever. It used to be that if you missed a store during open hours you were out of luck. But not anymore!

Riders have figured out how to leverage technology to gain an advantage over the long distance cycling challenges which are "self-supported" type events. Phone apps are one way this is being done. 

Call ahead and have an order placed outside in a bag with your name on it. Boom! When you get there, you have some savory vittles and maybe water waiting for you. Of course, it's risky. The village mutt might take advantage of your late arrival, but hey! It's take that risk or go without. 

Want to geek out on exactly how far down a rabit hole people go with regard to this? Check out THIS LINK and be amazed. Heck, I don't even understand half of that! It does reinforce my assertion that people will find every way possible to make an event easier within the rules, and sometimes outside of them.

Redshift Sports Expands Seatpost Offerings:

Redshift Sports makes a nice suspension seat post, but it only came in one diameter- 27.2mm. Well, now that will no longer be the case going forward. 

Redshift ShockStop Seatposts will now come in a few popular sizes and in some longer lengths. This should be of particular interest to fat bikers who ride in Winter on post-holed trails as this sort of seat post will totally change your riding. 

It should be noted that some of the sizes will not come into stock until late December of this year and January of 2024. You can check these out HERE. Note- This is the original ShockStop seatpost. The "PRO" model does not come in any other size but 27.2mm. 

Comments: Besides my take on these posts for snow riding with fat bikes, the ShockStop seatpost is a really well done suspension post. I like that the original is adjustable. You can make it really compliant or stiffen it up as much as you'd probably ever need to. (I mean, if you're going to make it nearly rigid, why bother at all) 

These are also a great post for bikes that do not have a lot of exposed seat post and allow some "give" to those riders with bikes like that which you wouldn't otherwise have available to you. Of course, these aren't for everyone, but this is a nice expansion in offerings for a suspension seat post in terms of sizes.

That's all for this week! Have a great weekend and get out for a ride if you can!

Test Riding The Loaded Gryphon

This year isn't panning out like I'd hoped it might. Better than '22, but not by much. Anyway, one of the things I hoped to have already done by now was to use the Gryphon as a touring/bikepacking overnighter rig. I had all the gear lined up and ready to go fror weeks. But one thing or another came up and well....

Now its the second week of October. 

So, before things get away from me this year, I decided a test ride was better than having everything just sitting around ready to go. And with rain in the forecast for the latter part of the week, Tuesday seemed like a last ditch time to get out and wrangle a fully loaded bike through some tight single track. 

The weather was perfect. 50's, low 60's, Sunny, not much wind, and dry. I hit up the single track in the Green Belt because I had to get home and do some house work before the Sun went down. (Like I said, it's always been something!) But I carved out a couple hours to just cruise around. 

As I said, the bike was loaded with everything I needed for a sub24 overnighter. So this was going to be a proof of concept ride. If this set-up could handle some adventure riding, it surely could handle gravel, and that would be proof enough for me.

A little cruise around the Green Belt lake.

Beauty shot.

It was amazing how well this set up handled sand. Deep sand at that. I found that my years of fat biking in deep snow have paid off in spades when it comes to sand riding. The other thing was that with all the front end weight the steering was heavier and that's a good thing in looser terrain. It acts kind of like a steering damper effect. 

The weight and the big, poofy tires at slightly less than 20psi each were super-damped and felt like a full suspension bike in terms of ride feel. The steel frame is great here as it is stiff enough, but still forgiving and if you mind how you ride the bike, it can be a big asset, 

Some Marky-Mark action

I ended up having to do some clearing on Marky-Mark. I had a big branch to maneuver off the trail at one point. I smacked my shin and drew some blood, but I got the job done. After 27 years the trail is still there and I am still healthy and able to clear it. Blessed I am. 

And the test ride? Successful. The Gryphon is great as a loaded touring machine. I hear that some riders want to "avoid the hassle with a front derailleur". I don't know how I'd get along without having one. Really. A friction front derailleur is about as dead reliable as it gets. I've no idea what these people are afraid of, but as for me, give me a front derailleur every time.

Bookman Volume Light: Review Part 1

The Bookman Volume light, foreground, and other Bookman products.

 Note: Bookman sent over the Volume light, (as well as some previously reviewed products) for test and review to Guitar Ted Productions at no charge. I am not being paid, nor bribed for this review, and I always strive to give my honest thoughts and opinions throughout. 

Going back to last February I reviewed some Bookman light products. You can click that link to see what the deal was with those lights. They were pretty much a type of light you'd use as an accessory to your main light set up. A "safety light" for daytime riding, ,maybe, or as a fill light for close up sight in the dark. But there was no mistaking those for a "to see by" head lamp that you could rely on for city or gravel riding. They just did not pack enough punch, nor do they have long enough run times. 

So, back in June I got a little more excited about Bookman when word came down from their hired marketing firm that a "serious" torch was on the way with a very unique take on design. I actually put in a request for the light to review but after a couple of months I wrote it off as something that may not happen. Then a box showed up on Monday and what do you know? It was the Volume light along with another set of the lights I had reviewed previously. 

What comes in the box.

The Volume light is a unique take on a bicycle light to "see by" with its unusual knob sticking out of the side of it. Typically an LED, self-contained torch will utilize a button that forces you to scroll through all the light modes to get to where you want the light. This is somewhat annoying if, say, you are on the second from the highest setting but you want to toggle to "High". The light may force you to scroll through the lower settings before it will come back around to the highest one. This happens a lot with typical LED based bicycle torches. 

The Volume dispenses with that allowing you to simply twist the knob, (like a stereo volume knob, thus the name), to go directly to the setting you want. One motion. Boom. Done. 

You also will find that the Bookman Volume dispenses with silly, proprietary mounts and instead utilizes a Garmin mount. This is a great idea. I've seen a few lights that utilize the Go Pro mount, and that is nice too, but the amount of cyclists that have Garmin mounts probably outweighs those who might have a Go Pro mount by what I would wager is a fair amount. So, kudos to Bookman for that smart idea. 

What It Is: Besides those two innovative features, the Volume light comes in two versions and three colors. The maximum power varies from the range-topping 1500 Lumen model to the (tested) 800 Lumen model. Colors are Orange, Black, or White (tested). 

The Volume 800 has five levels of steady light output and five levels of flashing light. The flashing light levels are reached by a short push on the power button on the top/front of the Volume and another short push of that same button takes you back to steady light modes. In either mode, different power levels are adjusted by the knob. A long push of the power button turns the light on or off. 

Other features include a replaceable LI-ION 18650 power cell, (UPDATE 12/04/23: NOTE: It is not the standard 18650 battery as this Bookman variant has both the negative and positive ends on one end of the battery. Bookman says it will offer replacements/extra batteries in the near future.), side indicator lights, a series of 4 small LED's to indicate power level in reserve, and a USB C charging port on the left side of the light. The Volume comes with handlebar compatible Garmin style mount, a Go Pro Garmin style mount, and two different length straps to cover most handle bar situations. A USB-C charging cord rounds out the contents of the box. 

The use of a Garmin style mount is a really smart choice.

Run Times: 

Flashing Modes	Runtime  (hours)**
1	6
2	11
3	12
4	35
5	120

 

Steady Modes	Runtime  (hours)**
100%	3
50%	5
25%	11
10%	17
5%	35

 *True Lumens: measured according to the ANSI / NEMA FL1 standard

** Modes are subject to change

Price: $107.00USD

The Volume has a replaceable Li-Ion battery cell.

Impressions: I received the white model and out of the box it reminded me a whole lot of an Apple product. I imagine had I received the orange one it may not have been quite so "Apple-like" but it was with the white light body. The design is smaller than I was thinking from promotional materials I had seen. It is well done and feels like a quality product in the hand. 

The Garmin type handlebar mount looks smartly done. You have a pretty sturdy plastic strap with an attached rubber strip to help it grip slippery metal or carbon handle bars. This has one end anchored into the base of the mount with an Allen bolt. The other end has a loop with a barrel that has a threaded hole in it which accepts a single 3mm Allen head bolt that runs through the base and attaches the mount to the bar. 

I mounted the light on my Black Mountain Cycles Monstercross rig for now and the mounting went smoothly. The Garmin type mount is simple to use and quite secure. 

A long push and the light comes alive. The Volume's knob has a satisfying detent at each level of light. There is no doubt about where you are at in regards to the knob's positioning. Bookman could easily have flubbed this point up. However; I feel the detents are spot on and reassuring. 

That said, it is easy to twist the knob quickly right where you want it. That's a great thing, but on my initial test ride, I also noted that you can get your hand to the knob and back without even thinking about it. A button to scroll takes longer, and so in trickier situations, the Volume is going to be so much easier to use without worrying about having your hand off the bar too long. 

That mount is also a thing of beauty. Rock solid. And you can tweak the position of the light off-axis slightly to accommodate a swept bar or a off-centerline mounting position. The side light indicators are cool, and the power level LED's glow a nice green color on top to let you know where you are at with reserve power. 

I have to do more night rides and grab some good images of the beam pattern, etc, before I can really say much more. That said, so far this light is impressive. The mount, the knob, and the entire design overall is really well done and looks killer. Time will tell how things wear and how things will do after I have this for a bit. Stay tuned for an update to come.

Two Things

Image from the 2020 C.O.G. 100 course which was never used.

Single Speed Is Not Dead - At Least Not On Gravel!

Over the weekend there was a single speed-only event held in Iowa. It was called the "Limestone 66.6". Billed as the "Iowa Single Speed Gravel Championships", the event was well attended, well received, and by all accounts was well run also. 

Of course, long-time blog readers here will note that N.Y. Roll and I also ran an Iowa Single Speed Gravel Championship which was called the C.O.G. 100 back in 2019 and it was planned to happen for 2020, but we all know what happened THAT year. So, anyway.... Yeah, I was happy to see the idea picked up and that it continues on as this Limestone 66.6 event. 

I know that I have mentioned this here before, but single speed bicycles, and specifically single speed gravel bikes, are a niche that many riders are very passionate about in 2023. Now, I have to say, this surprises me in the size of response I have gotten to a couple of podcasts I've put out about the genre' and from hits on the subject here as well. 

I know I like single speed graveling around the countryside, I just didn't realize how much others did as well. So, single speed is alive and well, at least in the gravel cycling world, if not in other places as in cycling. 

The Ergon GP1 EVO grip on my On One Inbred

New Grip Day With The Ergon GP1 EVO:

Friday in the "FN&V" I led off with Ergon's redesign of the GP1 grip, their flagship grip, now dubbed the "GP1 Evo". Well, I had forgotten that I mentioned in my response to the marketing department that if they were of a mind, I would test a set of the redesigned grip. Well. guess what showed up in the mail Saturday?

So- YES: I received the Ergon GP1 Evo grips at no charge for test and review. 

Now, are they really any different? That was my question. I happen to have several bikes set up with GP1's, the OG's of Ergon's grip range, and here are my thoughts out of the box. 

First, the aluminum clamp is really different. The old one is bigger, or maybe I should say longer as I look at it. Then the clamping bolt, which stares you in the face with the old GP1 is now underneath, out of sight, on the Evo. That's the most obvious change. 

The rest is subtle and you need an old GP1 next to a GP1 Evo to see and feel the differences. First, to my eye, the new grip has a slightly different, maybe bigger, winged section over that of the old GP1. They look similar, but they are different. 

The other thing has to do with feel. The older GP1's all had a very weird, "hard" edge to the wing bit except at the very apex of the end of the wing where it turned back toward the clamp. That small bit was flexible. The new GP1 Evo seems to be flexible all along that edge of the wing. The rubber feels somewhat different as well. Something maybe in the durometer of the rubber compound is different here with the newer grip. It feels subtly softer,or that it has more "give". 

Otherwise everything else is familiar with the new GP1 Evo. As the name suggests, this is more of an "evolution" of the GP1. Is it better? That's the question. I should have an answer soon. Stay tuned....

Tomorrow: Something else I requested for review showed up after about two months from the original request. Of course, I had forgotten all about it. Stay tuned to find out what it is.....

Well, What Did You Expect?

 In Case You Missed It: 

The UCI held its Men's and Women's Gravel World Championships over the weekend. The racing world was quite busy over the weekend as not only were these gravel races being contested, but various Pro road races and cyclo cross events, not to mention a MTB World Cup event, were all run as well. So, if you missed the gravel coverage, it wouldn't be very surprising. 

But if you caught any of the goings on, you already know that the UCI stubbed its toe - again - by not broadcasting the Women's event and by having full coverage of the Men's event the following day. But what you may have missed is that all the men's and women's age category events were run on the same course, on the same day, with slightly varying start times, as the women's event. That's very telling, and I have some thoughts about that as it concerns why the result made many people upset. 

From the UCI Gravel World Series social media.

So, there was no broadcast of the women's elite event, and maybe the reason why was because the field of elite women ended up getting mixed up with all the men's and women's age group categories during the event. The course was done in a loop fashion so that the riders came back through the start/finish area and went out into the country again. This allowed the fields to intermingle and so it would have been nigh unto impossible to properly showcase just the elite women's field. 

It is reminiscent of one of the hotly debated topics within the Life Time Grand Prix series of events. That being that the Women's Pro field was not separated from men's groups and that the Pro women found it difficult to know who they were actually racing. Furthermore; it was said that several women were using men as drafting partners, which was seemingly a big issue at Unbound in 2022. Unbound then tried to separate the women and men's fields by having staggered start times, but due to conditions on course this year that met with middling success. 

At the World Gravel Championships the clips shown of the women's elite field clearly show the top women racers mixed in with and drafting off of their larger male counterparts in the event, which according to many US women gravel racers is an unfair racing tactic. (Note: I am not interjecting my opinion on that issue) 

From the UCI social media. .

 While I am not going to weigh in on either side of that argument, I will say that I think that is why the UCI did not feature the Women's Elite race as they did the Elite Men's. The Men's event, which was run on a separate day and without intermingling with lower classes or women's fields, was much easier to broadcast. There wasn't all the confusion with the lower classes, which begs a question: "How does the UCI really see Women's Elite Gravel racing?" . 

I guess one could argue that running all the classes concurrently, (or nearly so) along with the Women's Elite field on Saturday was more "gravel" than not. However; it is my understanding that the female Pro's don't think that's the way things ought to be done, so take that as you may. 

 So, while it seemed like a big miss on the UCI's part, they would most likely claim it was due to a formatting issue. Which doesn't make it any better, and in that light, it maybe is a worse offense, since it puts Elite level Women's racing at the Pro level in a "undercard" position. 

But this is the UCI, after all. What did you expect?

Related post: "The Two Worlds of Gravel"