Loose Ends

I was reminded once again why off-roading in Northeast Iowa in the Summer is often a bad idea.

This is Monday......right? Not sure. It's been a weird six or seven days what with my schedule, a holiday, and a weekend all running together to make it so I wasn't sure what day it was several times throughout the period.

Anyway, back to the regular grind, right? I will find my feet in a hurry, I am sure. So, a few things to clean up on that have happened of late that didn't make the blog in the last several days. I guess it could almost have been a "Randomonium" post, but there actually is a common thread, so, no....... Just some loose ends here this time to cover.

First off, it is not only the height of "green" here in the Mid-West, but it is also the traditional time of year that I abandon mountain biking in the local area. It's been that way for years, and thanks to Ingawanis Woodlands, or otherwise I'd never have gotten much done in Summertime back in the old "Twenty Nine Inches" days. Well, there and Cedar Bend Park. Those were mainstays back in the day. That said, I almost never went anywhere in the local area due to the height of "jungle season". The time of year here when our river bottom oriented trails are water-logged, overgrown with vegetation, and rife with mosquitoes. In other words, absolutely no fun at all.

We have a local group here that for the last ten years, well.....around that long....have been busting their butts trying to fight with the regular seasons. They've had some successes for sure, but this year is quintessential "jungle season" conditions, and, well...... The results have been predictable. No one is having much fun with the soft trails locally and everyone that can goes to Ingawanis Woodlands.

Yep. Same song, second verse.

Testing the Spank Vibrocore handle bar has been challenging.

So, gravel travel has been the ticket around these parts. It's interesting hearing the tales of roadies this year. More close calls. More crashes in group rides leading to broken bikes and bones. Bah! Like Jeff Kerkove used to say, "The Road is the devil!", when he spoke of road riding. Now, admittedly, I am not a roadie. I ride gravel, and I like mountain biking a lot. Take that for what it's worth. But you can have road riding. I don't have any interest in it at all right now.

At any rate, I have enough to get done with "Riding Gravel" to keep me gravel riding for the rest of the year. One of the latest review items is the Spank Vibrocore drop bar I am reviewing for the site. It's not an easy product to talk about, by the way.

First of all, even Spank says this bar "changes the vibrations" from harmful ones to a rider to less harmful ones. Note- they do not claim that vibrations will be absent. This makes talking about this bar difficult, because what are harmful vibrations for you, and what are they for me? See where I am coming from? It's an odd world of marketing claims and products out there, and we all have to navigate it when considering products. That said, I like the bar fine. It's got a great flare and drop shape, and that 31.8mm top section is brilliant. I just have to do some more riding to suss out the rest.

Not that I mind. Riding the gravel roads is fun and, obviously, I enjoy it. But with July running on, and August staring at me from a few weeks away, I already feel like time is running short, and it seems like Summer just got rolling here. Plus I have the GTDRI and Gravel Worlds to get ready for. Sheesh! It's daunting. Lots to do- little time to get it done.

Loose Ends

I was reminded once again why off-roading in Northeast Iowa in the Summer is often a bad idea.

This is Monday......right? Not sure. It's been a weird six or seven days what with my schedule, a holiday, and a weekend all running together to make it so I wasn't sure what day it was several times throughout the period.

Anyway, back to the regular grind, right? I will find my feet in a hurry, I am sure. So, a few things to clean up on that have happened of late that didn't make the blog in the last several days. I guess it could almost have been a "Randomonium" post, but there actually is a common thread, so, no....... Just some loose ends here this time to cover.

First off, it is not only the height of "green" here in the Mid-West, but it is also the traditional time of year that I abandon mountain biking in the local area. It's been that way for years, and thanks to Ingawanis Woodlands, or otherwise I'd never have gotten much done in Summertime back in the old "Twenty Nine Inches" days. Well, there and Cedar Bend Park. Those were mainstays back in the day. That said, I almost never went anywhere in the local area due to the height of "jungle season". The time of year here when our river bottom oriented trails are water-logged, overgrown with vegetation, and rife with mosquitoes. In other words, absolutely no fun at all.

We have a local group here that for the last ten years, well.....around that long....have been busting their butts trying to fight with the regular seasons. They've had some successes for sure, but this year is quintessential "jungle season" conditions, and, well...... The results have been predictable. No one is having much fun with the soft trails locally and everyone that can goes to Ingawanis Woodlands.

Yep. Same song, second verse.

Testing the Spank Vibrocore handle bar has been challenging.

So, gravel travel has been the ticket around these parts. It's interesting hearing the tales of roadies this year. More close calls. More crashes in group rides leading to broken bikes and bones. Bah! Like Jeff Kerkove used to say, "The Road is the devil!", when he spoke of road riding. Now, admittedly, I am not a roadie. I ride gravel, and I like mountain biking a lot. Take that for what it's worth. But you can have road riding. I don't have any interest in it at all right now.

At any rate, I have enough to get done with "Riding Gravel" to keep me gravel riding for the rest of the year. One of the latest review items is the Spank Vibrocore drop bar I am reviewing for the site. It's not an easy product to talk about, by the way.

First of all, even Spank says this bar "changes the vibrations" from harmful ones to a rider to less harmful ones. Note- they do not claim that vibrations will be absent. This makes talking about this bar difficult, because what are harmful vibrations for you, and what are they for me? See where I am coming from? It's an odd world of marketing claims and products out there, and we all have to navigate it when considering products. That said, I like the bar fine. It's got a great flare and drop shape, and that 31.8mm top section is brilliant. I just have to do some more riding to suss out the rest.

Not that I mind. Riding the gravel roads is fun and, obviously, I enjoy it. But with July running on, and August staring at me from a few weeks away, I already feel like time is running short, and it seems like Summer just got rolling here. Plus I have the GTDRI and Gravel Worlds to get ready for. Sheesh! It's daunting. Lots to do- little time to get it done.

Trans Iowa Stories; The People of Hawarden

In this post we will learn a bit about the pivotal role the community of Hawarden, Iowa played in getting Trans Iowa off the ground. 

In the early stages of planning the idea of Trans Iowa out, Jeff and I were discussing what the route should look like. Of course, one of the most important parts of this puzzle was the starting point. That choice was narrowed down significantly by two factors: the start had to be on the Western border of Iowa. The second was that the route had to pass through Jeff's home town of Algona, Iowa.

Algona was in the Northern tier of the state. This pretty much eliminated any Western border town in the Southwestern part of Iowa, or really, in the middle of the Western side, since this would increase the mileage so much to get through Algona that the idea would have been impossible to stage in one weekend. So, we were limited to the Northwest corner of the state, and the only town that made any sense to Jeff and I was Hawarden.

Hawarden is a town of about 2,500 residents and had hosted the start of a few RAGBRAI rides in the past. We reasoned that this might make the residents more amenable to cyclists. Jeff took it from that point. My only concern with the town after we had chosen the site as the start of the first Trans Iowa was routing from that point on Eastward. Jeff, however, had a plan to execute that involved a lot of players.

Jeff even managed to secure the West Sioux High School parking lot as a parking lot/start area for T.I.v1 (Image credit- Dave Kerkove)

One of the things that motivated Jeff was the elimination, as much as possible, of costs to participate in this adventure. At that time it was not unheard of for solo 24 hour racing entry fees to eclipse the $300.00 mark. Jeff thought this was an unfair burden on the solo entrants since team fees were similar but could be spread across four or more entrants. Jeff wasn't alone in his feelings about this, so he strove to find unique ways to entice his fellow endurance MTB racing buds to come to Iowa. One of the ways he managed this was to find several 'host homes'.

Jeff probably secured at least a half a dozen, or more, residential homes for incoming riders. Families that were willing to put up a rider or two were contacted through a call put out by the Chamber of Commerce, if I recall correctly. Jeff, myself, and two other Trans Iowa racers were put up by one family alone. It was an extraordinary show of trust in an event no one had heard of, not to mention the crazies that were coming to do it. My mind still has a hard time wrapping around that idea, but the people of Hawarden were willing to welcome complete strangers doing a super weird cycling event with wide open arms.

Jeff was the middle man in regard to dealing with the City and the riders. He facilitated the hooking up of riders with homes by sending out periodic e-mail "newsletters", as he called them, which kept everyone up to date as to the status of their "housing requests". It was an extraordinary feat which he pulled off two years in a row. Furthermore, he also negotiated a free side room in the local Pizza Ranch for the pre-race meeting where the restaurant also provided a spaghetti meal for the riders at a nominal fee. This "hobnobbing time" amongst racers was the precursor to the "Pre-Race Meat-Up" we used to have years later because I saw how the event was enhanced by this simple little deal Jeff set up for the first two Trans Iowas with the people of Hawarden.

In closing, I can only say from personal experience that our host home, the same for two years, was made up of a couple that were extremely gracious and giving. I recall both years getting a free, hearty breakfast, coffee, and juice which was cooked up by the man of the house. What a great experience! But ours was just one of many like stories in the town. In my opinion, the way we/Trans Iowa were accepted and encouraged by this town is one of the unsung stories that remains integral to the way the event was received by riders who came to join in the madness that became the Trans Iowa story.

Next: The Dissenters. Not everyone was enamored of the ways Jeff and I were going about this crazy event. Find out who they were and why they were upset next week.

Trans Iowa Stories; The People of Hawarden

In this post we will learn a bit about the pivotal role the community of Hawarden, Iowa played in getting Trans Iowa off the ground. 

In the early stages of planning the idea of Trans Iowa out, Jeff and I were discussing what the route should look like. Of course, one of the most important parts of this puzzle was the starting point. That choice was narrowed down significantly by two factors: the start had to be on the Western border of Iowa. The second was that the route had to pass through Jeff's home town of Algona, Iowa.

Algona was in the Northern tier of the state. This pretty much eliminated any Western border town in the Southwestern part of Iowa, or really, in the middle of the Western side, since this would increase the mileage so much to get through Algona that the idea would have been impossible to stage in one weekend. So, we were limited to the Northwest corner of the state, and the only town that made any sense to Jeff and I was Hawarden.

Hawarden is a town of about 2,500 residents and had hosted the start of a few RAGBRAI rides in the past. We reasoned that this might make the residents more amenable to cyclists. Jeff took it from that point. My only concern with the town after we had chosen the site as the start of the first Trans Iowa was routing from that point on Eastward. Jeff, however, had a plan to execute that involved a lot of players.

Jeff even managed to secure the West Sioux High School parking lot as a parking lot/start area for T.I.v1 (Image credit- Dave Kerkove)

One of the things that motivated Jeff was the elimination, as much as possible, of costs to participate in this adventure. At that time it was not unheard of for solo 24 hour racing entry fees to eclipse the $300.00 mark. Jeff thought this was an unfair burden on the solo entrants since team fees were similar but could be spread across four or more entrants. Jeff wasn't alone in his feelings about this, so he strove to find unique ways to entice his fellow endurance MTB racing buds to come to Iowa. One of the ways he managed this was to find several 'host homes'.

Jeff probably secured at least a half a dozen, or more, residential homes for incoming riders. Families that were willing to put up a rider or two were contacted through a call put out by the Chamber of Commerce, if I recall correctly. Jeff, myself, and two other Trans Iowa racers were put up by one family alone. It was an extraordinary show of trust in an event no one had heard of, not to mention the crazies that were coming to do it. My mind still has a hard time wrapping around that idea, but the people of Hawarden were willing to welcome complete strangers doing a super weird cycling event with wide open arms.

Jeff was the middle man in regard to dealing with the City and the riders. He facilitated the hooking up of riders with homes by sending out periodic e-mail "newsletters", as he called them, which kept everyone up to date as to the status of their "housing requests". It was an extraordinary feat which he pulled off two years in a row. Furthermore, he also negotiated a free side room in the local Pizza Ranch for the pre-race meeting where the restaurant also provided a spaghetti meal for the riders at a nominal fee. This "hobnobbing time" amongst racers was the precursor to the "Pre-Race Meat-Up" we used to have years later because I saw how the event was enhanced by this simple little deal Jeff set up for the first two Trans Iowas with the people of Hawarden.

In closing, I can only say from personal experience that our host home, the same for two years, was made up of a couple that were extremely gracious and giving. I recall both years getting a free, hearty breakfast, coffee, and juice which was cooked up by the man of the house. What a great experience! But ours was just one of many like stories in the town. In my opinion, the way we/Trans Iowa were accepted and encouraged by this town is one of the unsung stories that remains integral to the way the event was received by riders who came to join in the madness that became the Trans Iowa story.

Next: The Dissenters. Not everyone was enamored of the ways Jeff and I were going about this crazy event. Find out who they were and why they were upset next week.

Minus Ten Review 2009-27

Scene from the 2009 Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational course. The lilies were on fore ten years ago.

Ten years ago on the blog this week I was yapping about the course for the upcoming GTDRI. I just noted that this was the year the lilies were crazy in many spots along the course. I also remember how that wasn't the case for the following three tries at this course. Interestingly, ten years removed from this event, the lilies are going nuts again.

It's also worth noting that this recon trip was the first that I had done with the "Truck With No Name". That vehicle replaced the "Dirty Blue Box", the 1990- (or was it a '91?)- Honda Civic Hatchback wagon. So, it's been ten years now that I've had that truck. Pretty sure it is the longest I've kept a vehicle around.

Also of note- I took an informal survey of readers of this blog on whether or not I should move the date of Trans Iowa. The results were mixed, but I got the sense overall that riders just wanted David Pals, (co-director at that time) and myself to be happy, (and keep putting on the event, no doubt). So, as it turned out I moved the date back to the last weekend of April and that is where it stayed till the end. One of the reasons for that was that I had met Grannygear and he lived in SoCal. He was willing to go to Sea Otter every year, and so I did not have to go for coverage for "Twenty Nine Inches". That freed me up to fully concentrate on Trans Iowa in April. Which......it was good and it was bad.

Having every April afterward for nine years be consumed with thoughts and actions for a Trans Iowa got to be pretty wearing. Basically, after the Renegade Gents Race, which happened at the beginning of April,  I was busy with TI stuff everyday until a week or so into May. Getting my April back was a nice thing this year, but I digress.........

Finally, I made note of a magazine article that was trying to poo-poo the idea that 29"ers were going to take over the MTB scene. (Of course, they have now.) To my mind in 2009, it wasn't an if, it was when. 27.5" bikes sort of delayed the ultimate take over of MTB by 29"ers, but for all intents and purposes, 29"ers rule now. And 26"ers?

Like I said ten years ago, they were toast.

Minus Ten Review 2009-27

Scene from the 2009 Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational course. The lilies were on fore ten years ago.

Ten years ago on the blog this week I was yapping about the course for the upcoming GTDRI. I just noted that this was the year the lilies were crazy in many spots along the course. I also remember how that wasn't the case for the following three tries at this course. Interestingly, ten years removed from this event, the lilies are going nuts again.

It's also worth noting that this recon trip was the first that I had done with the "Truck With No Name". That vehicle replaced the "Dirty Blue Box", the 1990- (or was it a '91?)- Honda Civic Hatchback wagon. So, it's been ten years now that I've had that truck. Pretty sure it is the longest I've kept a vehicle around.

Also of note- I took an informal survey of readers of this blog on whether or not I should move the date of Trans Iowa. The results were mixed, but I got the sense overall that riders just wanted David Pals, (co-director at that time) and myself to be happy, (and keep putting on the event, no doubt). So, as it turned out I moved the date back to the last weekend of April and that is where it stayed till the end. One of the reasons for that was that I had met Grannygear and he lived in SoCal. He was willing to go to Sea Otter every year, and so I did not have to go for coverage for "Twenty Nine Inches". That freed me up to fully concentrate on Trans Iowa in April. Which......it was good and it was bad.

Having every April afterward for nine years be consumed with thoughts and actions for a Trans Iowa got to be pretty wearing. Basically, after the Renegade Gents Race, which happened at the beginning of April,  I was busy with TI stuff everyday until a week or so into May. Getting my April back was a nice thing this year, but I digress.........

Finally, I made note of a magazine article that was trying to poo-poo the idea that 29"ers were going to take over the MTB scene. (Of course, they have now.) To my mind in 2009, it wasn't an if, it was when. 27.5" bikes sort of delayed the ultimate take over of MTB by 29"ers, but for all intents and purposes, 29"ers rule now. And 26"ers?

Like I said ten years ago, they were toast.

Country Views: 4th of July Ride

Fireworks in the ditch. The lilies haven't been this nice in years.

Note: Since it is a holiday week, and news was scarce, I am giving y'all a "Country Views" post instead. 

I went out for my traditional 4th of July ride yesterday and it was a traditionally hot a humid day, just like most 4th of July days of yore. There was a spot of rain early, but the skies cleared up and it turned out to be a glorious ride in the country Southwest of Waterloo.

I was going through some stuff earlier this week when I found a scrap of paper with some hastily written cues on it. I studied them for a bit and realized that it was part of last year's proposed Geezer Ride that never happened. I figured I'd give that a go and see where it took me. The cues didn't pick up until well South of town, so that is where I headed to start out with.

The day was, as I stated, hot, but still 10 degrees cooler than it was last weekend. The winds were light and out of the South, so I would get the tailwind push back home. That was also good. The roads were better than they have been, but I ran into weird soft spots, deep gravel all over, and parts of roads still torn up from recent wet weather. It was tough sledding out there and little to no easy parts at all.

There is a large glacial erratic in the field there. Pretty common feature in Iowa. Some of these get painted up as "Freedom Rocks" now days.

While this section of road may look innocuous to the naked eye, it was terrible to ride on. Lots of deep, loose soil and rock.

I looked and the cues picked up at the corner of 110th and T Avenue in Tama County. So I rode down there and encountered a lot of deep, fresh gravel. I ran into a spot or two where the road was actually wet, probably from the rains in the morning or the evening before. Most stuff was dry, but there wasn't hardly any dust to speak of. These road conditions and rolling against a wind meant I had to take it easy and spin a lot so I wouldn't wear myself out too soon on the hills.

The recent hot, humid weather kicked corn growth into high gear. While it didn't look like it would get knee high a week ago, it blew right past that mark in the last few days.

Barns For Jason

The cues picked up for me and I was to go toward and through Buckingham. This little spot in the road has a grain bin or two, but otherwise it is nearly not a town at all. A few houses are gathered here, and that's about it. The route took me down some pavement to get by Buckingham, and when I rode on that, it felt like cheating after all the rough, deep gravel.

A couple miles from Buckingham on 110th here.

A gravel road runs away over undulating contours of the land filled with green.

Everywhere you look now it is green land with blue sky above. The landscape is dotted with clumps of trees and the shining roofs of farm outbuildings and barns which are typically shiny tin or steel now days. White puffy clouds floated above and provided an occasional shaded part of road to cool off on. Soon the corn will tassel and this sea of green will get broken up. An occasional oat field will turn golden brown, and the weeds in the ditches will start maturing and turning browner. But as for now, this is high Summer and the greenest things get here.

110th West of Highway 63 is Level B Maintenance for three straight miles. I rode a mile of it.

Barns for Jason. Matchy-match with the Morton outbuilding here. Nice!

Well, for whatever reason the cues quit making sense right after I passed Buckingham, so I just went off memory. I've ridden down this way several times so I know the roads. I ended coming back to 110th in Tama County and decided I would ride a mile of Level B Maintenance road to see how wet/muddy it might be. I only ran across a couple marginal places, but otherwise it looked fine.

Barns for Jason. And a bonus cool silo!

This flag flies constantly on a place a mile East of Hudson.

I kept heading North, and about this time I was starting to not have fun. My lower back hurt, the shoes I had on weren't agreeing with me 100%, and I was tired. I took a break not long after taking the flag image above, and I searched my top tube bag for anything to eat. Lucky for me I had a gel in there, so I sucked that down and most of the rest of my water with it. Then I made the last few miles back to the truck pretty easily.

I have a lot of work left to do to be able to even ride my own GTDRI coming at the end of the month. Hopefully I can make these rides more consistently.

Country Views: 4th of July Ride

Fireworks in the ditch. The lilies haven't been this nice in years.

Note: Since it is a holiday week, and news was scarce, I am giving y'all a "Country Views" post instead. 

I went out for my traditional 4th of July ride yesterday and it was a traditionally hot a humid day, just like most 4th of July days of yore. There was a spot of rain early, but the skies cleared up and it turned out to be a glorious ride in the country Southwest of Waterloo.

I was going through some stuff earlier this week when I found a scrap of paper with some hastily written cues on it. I studied them for a bit and realized that it was part of last year's proposed Geezer Ride that never happened. I figured I'd give that a go and see where it took me. The cues didn't pick up until well South of town, so that is where I headed to start out with.

The day was, as I stated, hot, but still 10 degrees cooler than it was last weekend. The winds were light and out of the South, so I would get the tailwind push back home. That was also good. The roads were better than they have been, but I ran into weird soft spots, deep gravel all over, and parts of roads still torn up from recent wet weather. It was tough sledding out there and little to no easy parts at all.

There is a large glacial erratic in the field there. Pretty common feature in Iowa. Some of these get painted up as "Freedom Rocks" now days.

While this section of road may look innocuous to the naked eye, it was terrible to ride on. Lots of deep, loose soil and rock.

I looked and the cues picked up at the corner of 110th and T Avenue in Tama County. So I rode down there and encountered a lot of deep, fresh gravel. I ran into a spot or two where the road was actually wet, probably from the rains in the morning or the evening before. Most stuff was dry, but there wasn't hardly any dust to speak of. These road conditions and rolling against a wind meant I had to take it easy and spin a lot so I wouldn't wear myself out too soon on the hills.

The recent hot, humid weather kicked corn growth into high gear. While it didn't look like it would get knee high a week ago, it blew right past that mark in the last few days.

Barns For Jason

The cues picked up for me and I was to go toward and through Buckingham. This little spot in the road has a grain bin or two, but otherwise it is nearly not a town at all. A few houses are gathered here, and that's about it. The route took me down some pavement to get by Buckingham, and when I rode on that, it felt like cheating after all the rough, deep gravel.

A couple miles from Buckingham on 110th here.

A gravel road runs away over undulating contours of the land filled with green.

Everywhere you look now it is green land with blue sky above. The landscape is dotted with clumps of trees and the shining roofs of farm outbuildings and barns which are typically shiny tin or steel now days. White puffy clouds floated above and provided an occasional shaded part of road to cool off on. Soon the corn will tassel and this sea of green will get broken up. An occasional oat field will turn golden brown, and the weeds in the ditches will start maturing and turning browner. But as for now, this is high Summer and the greenest things get here.

110th West of Highway 63 is Level B Maintenance for three straight miles. I rode a mile of it.

Barns for Jason. Matchy-match with the Morton outbuilding here. Nice!

Well, for whatever reason the cues quit making sense right after I passed Buckingham, so I just went off memory. I've ridden down this way several times so I know the roads. I ended coming back to 110th in Tama County and decided I would ride a mile of Level B Maintenance road to see how wet/muddy it might be. I only ran across a couple marginal places, but otherwise it looked fine.

Barns for Jason. And a bonus cool silo!

This flag flies constantly on a place a mile East of Hudson.

I kept heading North, and about this time I was starting to not have fun. My lower back hurt, the shoes I had on weren't agreeing with me 100%, and I was tired. I took a break not long after taking the flag image above, and I searched my top tube bag for anything to eat. Lucky for me I had a gel in there, so I sucked that down and most of the rest of my water with it. Then I made the last few miles back to the truck pretty easily.

I have a lot of work left to do to be able to even ride my own GTDRI coming at the end of the month. Hopefully I can make these rides more consistently.

Happy 4th!

Image from Nebraska by Wally Kilburg

Happy 4th of July!

Guitar ted Productions is taking a break today to enjoy the celebration of the U.S.A.

Here's hoping you all have a safe, happy, and enjoyable holiday, if you celebrate this one. I'll be back tomorrow with the normal "Friday News And Views", so stay tuned for that. Until then.....

Get out and ride those bicycles!  

Happy 4th!

Image from Nebraska by Wally Kilburg

Happy 4th of July!

Guitar ted Productions is taking a break today to enjoy the celebration of the U.S.A.

Here's hoping you all have a safe, happy, and enjoyable holiday, if you celebrate this one. I'll be back tomorrow with the normal "Friday News And Views", so stay tuned for that. Until then.....

Get out and ride those bicycles!  

Interesting Commutes

I've been commuting mostly on the Ti Muk 2 as pictured here of late.

My commute to the bike shop where I work hasn't changed much at all for 17 years. You'd think by now I'd have seen a lot of stuff, but really, besides seeing LeRoy from time to time, things are fairly boring. LeRoy is a guy that walks in the area of my commute everyday. I don't see him all the time, as our timing varies, but when I do, he gives me a hearty, "Hello!", and we often high-five each other, and even chat once in a while. But yeah, that is about the extent of my "excitement". That's changed dramatically this year, for whatever reason.

I guess it started last year when I saw the guy on a motorcycle blasting down a part of the paved bike path, but this year it has been pretty much non-stop weirdness. From strangers on the bike path doing unmentionable things to seeing a car on the side of the bike path just the other day with two lost people aboard. Why that car ended up there, I've no idea, but later on I saw how they exited and got back to the highway by climbing an embankment and cutting across a grassy field. Don't ask. I have no idea what was up with that.

Then my route has been disrupted as well. University Avenue in Waterloo is under construction. About a good quarter mile of my route is unrideable now so I have to detour around the mayhem of construction vehicles, piping, and other flotsam and jetsam created by the wave of construction going on. Just yesterday I had to dodge a big D9 Cat which was pulling out a stuck dump truck from a dirt hole it sank into. Several days I have had to bunny hop one foot diameter plastic pipe laying across my path which is being used as part of the new infrastructure for the new road being put in.

With all the wet weather we have had and the uncertainty of my route from day to day, the Ti Muk 2 has been pressed into commuter duty. No matter what I'm up against, the big, fat wheels can handle it. Mud, dirt, cutting across rough construction areas, or just cruising new bike path. It all is done capably and calmly on the Ti Muk 2. The new Terrene Cake Eaters roll really smoothly too.

The Rohloff drive train is pretty interesting. I have learned that thinking of this bike as having a clutch has made shifting easier. I spin the bike up, stop pedaling, shift two higher gears up, pedal, and so forth. Downshifts are similarly done and just hesitating a hair makes those shifts come easy as well. Just like pushing in a clutch on a manual shifted car. Anyway, that's how I think of it. Now I can zoom right along and shift willy-nilly whenever I want. It took a while to get the hang of it, but it works great.

At least the commuting rides have become interesting and fun. I never know what I might see, (and some of it I haven't wanted to!), plus the constant change along University Avenue is keeping me on my toes.

Interesting Commutes

I've been commuting mostly on the Ti Muk 2 as pictured here of late.

My commute to the bike shop where I work hasn't changed much at all for 17 years. You'd think by now I'd have seen a lot of stuff, but really, besides seeing LeRoy from time to time, things are fairly boring. LeRoy is a guy that walks in the area of my commute everyday. I don't see him all the time, as our timing varies, but when I do, he gives me a hearty, "Hello!", and we often high-five each other, and even chat once in a while. But yeah, that is about the extent of my "excitement". That's changed dramatically this year, for whatever reason.

I guess it started last year when I saw the guy on a motorcycle blasting down a part of the paved bike path, but this year it has been pretty much non-stop weirdness. From strangers on the bike path doing unmentionable things to seeing a car on the side of the bike path just the other day with two lost people aboard. Why that car ended up there, I've no idea, but later on I saw how they exited and got back to the highway by climbing an embankment and cutting across a grassy field. Don't ask. I have no idea what was up with that.

Then my route has been disrupted as well. University Avenue in Waterloo is under construction. About a good quarter mile of my route is unrideable now so I have to detour around the mayhem of construction vehicles, piping, and other flotsam and jetsam created by the wave of construction going on. Just yesterday I had to dodge a big D9 Cat which was pulling out a stuck dump truck from a dirt hole it sank into. Several days I have had to bunny hop one foot diameter plastic pipe laying across my path which is being used as part of the new infrastructure for the new road being put in.

With all the wet weather we have had and the uncertainty of my route from day to day, the Ti Muk 2 has been pressed into commuter duty. No matter what I'm up against, the big, fat wheels can handle it. Mud, dirt, cutting across rough construction areas, or just cruising new bike path. It all is done capably and calmly on the Ti Muk 2. The new Terrene Cake Eaters roll really smoothly too.

The Rohloff drive train is pretty interesting. I have learned that thinking of this bike as having a clutch has made shifting easier. I spin the bike up, stop pedaling, shift two higher gears up, pedal, and so forth. Downshifts are similarly done and just hesitating a hair makes those shifts come easy as well. Just like pushing in a clutch on a manual shifted car. Anyway, that's how I think of it. Now I can zoom right along and shift willy-nilly whenever I want. It took a while to get the hang of it, but it works great.

At least the commuting rides have become interesting and fun. I never know what I might see, (and some of it I haven't wanted to!), plus the constant change along University Avenue is keeping me on my toes.

The Six String Side: 2019 Sully Guitars Conspiracy Series Raven

When I started this blog over ten years ago, I stated that it was a "Bicycle and guitar oriented elixir....". Well, the "guitar" part sort of got pushed out by the bicycle stuff, but I've always been playing. In an Easter post, a few years ago, I mentioned playing my '90 Strat, and someone suggested I detail the fleet, so here ya go. Hopefully ya'll enjoy the change in pace. I'll post something periodically whenever something warrants it. Here's #10

Last year, you sharper eyed readers with good memories might remember when I posted my last "The Six String Series" post. It was when I was gifted a Fender Telecaster.  That was my last, "new-to-me" guitar, but I hadn't purchased a guitar for myself in well over a decade. (Restraint? maybe.....more like I spent all my dollars on bicycle stuff!) So, I figured it was high time that changed. But first, a little back story......

Social media is a weird space for sure, but perhaps none weirder than a page on Facebook where I was watching a man in Texas build custom guitars. He would post Facebook live videos while he was working, and since I used to be a jeweler, and I understand shaping, filing, sanding, polishing, and fine detail work, I was kind of fascinated by what this guy was doing. Anyway, it didn't hurt that the guitars he was building were his own, unique designs, and that they were well thought out, tastefully appointed, and sometimes made with sparkly paint jobs or beautiful woods. Both things I love as well. So, while I loved what the guy was doing, there was probably no way I was going to pop for a $3-$4 thousand dollar, custom, Sully Guitar.

And Jon Sullivan knew that, so he did something about this situation. That and he was one guy doing things by hand in a garage, fer cryin' out loud! A guy can only do so much. The announcement was made then, I believe in early 2018, (I could be wrong there), but anyway, an announcement was made that Sully's designs were going to be produced in limited runs by World Music of Korea for a fraction of what a Sully custom goes for. This piqued my interest. I watched as the deal unfolded each weekend on Sully's Facebook live chats and observed how the first run went. Then along about the time I was going to be gifted the Tele, I jumped on for Run 2 and ordered an Ice Blue Raven and got on the "payment plan".

My Sully Conspiracy Series Raven in Ice Blue with a Native Sons strap. 

So, that's the short and dirty version of that backstory. Sully called these mass produced specimens the "Conspiracy Series", since he "conspired" with fans of his page to bring out the models people would actually order. For instance, I told Sully I would like to see Ice Blue as a color option for Run 2, and so when he offered it, I jumped onboard with a small down payment and installments were made over the next nine months. So, it wasn't too tough to sell a few unused tidbits of bike stuff to fund this thing. Now it should be noted that this happened before the Tele, and before the Ti Muk 2. I had no idea either of those two things were going to happen. I was already invested into getting the Raven by the time I got either one of those two things.

Hipshot hardware is used throughout the Raven, including these locking tuners.

Obviously, the Raven is sort of reminiscent of a Gibson Firebird, although it isn't really close to that in reality. But the basic shape is something I've resonated with since I was a kid. I saw a 1976 Bicentennial Firebird as a kid when my parents took me to a mall in Waterloo and we walked through a music store. The thing fascinated me, and then I saw the same/similar model on the cover of "Kiss Alive!", (its the guitar Paul Stanley has on the cover), so it was certifiable "rock & roll" stuff. What's more, the Bicentennial Firebird languished in the music store until I went back again in 1979! It had been marked down, but I ddin't buy it. I always regretted not buying it, but perhaps in hindsight, it was a good thing.

See, Firebirds are notorious "neck divers", meaning that the neck wants to rotate down on you when you play it standing up. That and its mini-humbuckers are somewhat of an acquired taste. The banjo style tuners used on those weren't the most awesome things either. These problems and more are all addressed in the Raven. Plus, Sully basically jumped off from where Jackson Guitars had made their mark with a "firebired-like" design, used notably by former Ratt guitarist, Robbin Crosby, which isn't like Gibson's either, and tweaked it out even further/better. (My opinion) So, while the "rock and roll" looks are there, so is the functionality, and play-ability is really great.

Direct mount pick-ups, simple controls, and coil tapping here.

Sully basically sent scans and numbers from his customs to Korea, they stuck that stuff in their manufacturing machines, and the folks there crafted the things. Then WMI sent them back to Sully. Jon does final set up and what not, so you basically get a great deal on a guitar that hardly anyone else has. It doesn't hurt that it plays like butter and sounds great too. Even my daughter likes it above my other guitars, saying it sounds "clearer and more defined" than the others. Nice!

Having had an explorer type guitar for years, (see here) I already knew this Raven would be comfortable sitting or standing. The body is ash and the neck is three piece maple with an ebony fret board and a nice volute. The neck shape was a gamble, but I really get on with it, and the fret ends and satin finish are the best I've had in my hands so far. Really fast and comfortable. And just like Sully promised, no neck-dive when standing and playing. The pick-ups have a coil tap option which is accessed by pulling up on the tone control. The pick-ups are wound to Jon's spec and sound really great. Lots of tonal options. The frets are stainless steel and aren't really wide, but are slinky feeling and no doubt make the guitar a bit brighter and clearer, as my daughter picked up on. Another cool feature is the Luminlay side dot markers which glow in the dark. I wish my Jazz V Bass had those things!

Finally, one of the nicer features of this purchase was the great gig bag it came with. One of the best ones I've ever seen. It has lots of padding, carrying options, and a built in closet hangar! Although this guitar will not be hanging around much, if at all, since I have really enjoyed playing it so far.

Thanks for reading, as always.

The Six String Side: 2019 Sully Guitars Conspiracy Series Raven

When I started this blog over ten years ago, I stated that it was a "Bicycle and guitar oriented elixir....". Well, the "guitar" part sort of got pushed out by the bicycle stuff, but I've always been playing. In an Easter post, a few years ago, I mentioned playing my '90 Strat, and someone suggested I detail the fleet, so here ya go. Hopefully ya'll enjoy the change in pace. I'll post something periodically whenever something warrants it. Here's #10

Last year, you sharper eyed readers with good memories might remember when I posted my last "The Six String Series" post. It was when I was gifted a Fender Telecaster.  That was my last, "new-to-me" guitar, but I hadn't purchased a guitar for myself in well over a decade. (Restraint? maybe.....more like I spent all my dollars on bicycle stuff!) So, I figured it was high time that changed. But first, a little back story......

Social media is a weird space for sure, but perhaps none weirder than a page on Facebook where I was watching a man in Texas build custom guitars. He would post Facebook live videos while he was working, and since I used to be a jeweler, and I understand shaping, filing, sanding, polishing, and fine detail work, I was kind of fascinated by what this guy was doing. Anyway, it didn't hurt that the guitars he was building were his own, unique designs, and that they were well thought out, tastefully appointed, and sometimes made with sparkly paint jobs or beautiful woods. Both things I love as well. So, while I loved what the guy was doing, there was probably no way I was going to pop for a $3-$4 thousand dollar, custom, Sully Guitar.

And Jon Sullivan knew that, so he did something about this situation. That and he was one guy doing things by hand in a garage, fer cryin' out loud! A guy can only do so much. The announcement was made then, I believe in early 2018, (I could be wrong there), but anyway, an announcement was made that Sully's designs were going to be produced in limited runs by World Music of Korea for a fraction of what a Sully custom goes for. This piqued my interest. I watched as the deal unfolded each weekend on Sully's Facebook live chats and observed how the first run went. Then along about the time I was going to be gifted the Tele, I jumped on for Run 2 and ordered an Ice Blue Raven and got on the "payment plan".

My Sully Conspiracy Series Raven in Ice Blue with a Native Sons strap. 

So, that's the short and dirty version of that backstory. Sully called these mass produced specimens the "Conspiracy Series", since he "conspired" with fans of his page to bring out the models people would actually order. For instance, I told Sully I would like to see Ice Blue as a color option for Run 2, and so when he offered it, I jumped onboard with a small down payment and installments were made over the next nine months. So, it wasn't too tough to sell a few unused tidbits of bike stuff to fund this thing. Now it should be noted that this happened before the Tele, and before the Ti Muk 2. I had no idea either of those two things were going to happen. I was already invested into getting the Raven by the time I got either one of those two things.

Hipshot hardware is used throughout the Raven, including these locking tuners.

Obviously, the Raven is sort of reminiscent of a Gibson Firebird, although it isn't really close to that in reality. But the basic shape is something I've resonated with since I was a kid. I saw a 1976 Bicentennial Firebird as a kid when my parents took me to a mall in Waterloo and we walked through a music store. The thing fascinated me, and then I saw the same/similar model on the cover of "Kiss Alive!", (its the guitar Paul Stanley has on the cover), so it was certifiable "rock & roll" stuff. What's more, the Bicentennial Firebird languished in the music store until I went back again in 1979! It had been marked down, but I ddin't buy it. I always regretted not buying it, but perhaps in hindsight, it was a good thing.

See, Firebirds are notorious "neck divers", meaning that the neck wants to rotate down on you when you play it standing up. That and its mini-humbuckers are somewhat of an acquired taste. The banjo style tuners used on those weren't the most awesome things either. These problems and more are all addressed in the Raven. Plus, Sully basically jumped off from where Jackson Guitars had made their mark with a "firebired-like" design, used notably by former Ratt guitarist, Robbin Crosby, which isn't like Gibson's either, and tweaked it out even further/better. (My opinion) So, while the "rock and roll" looks are there, so is the functionality, and play-ability is really great.

Direct mount pick-ups, simple controls, and coil tapping here.

Sully basically sent scans and numbers from his customs to Korea, they stuck that stuff in their manufacturing machines, and the folks there crafted the things. Then WMI sent them back to Sully. Jon does final set up and what not, so you basically get a great deal on a guitar that hardly anyone else has. It doesn't hurt that it plays like butter and sounds great too. Even my daughter likes it above my other guitars, saying it sounds "clearer and more defined" than the others. Nice!

Having had an explorer type guitar for years, (see here) I already knew this Raven would be comfortable sitting or standing. The body is ash and the neck is three piece maple with an ebony fret board and a nice volute. The neck shape was a gamble, but I really get on with it, and the fret ends and satin finish are the best I've had in my hands so far. Really fast and comfortable. And just like Sully promised, no neck-dive when standing and playing. The pick-ups have a coil tap option which is accessed by pulling up on the tone control. The pick-ups are wound to Jon's spec and sound really great. Lots of tonal options. The frets are stainless steel and aren't really wide, but are slinky feeling and no doubt make the guitar a bit brighter and clearer, as my daughter picked up on. Another cool feature is the Luminlay side dot markers which glow in the dark. I wish my Jazz V Bass had those things!

Finally, one of the nicer features of this purchase was the great gig bag it came with. One of the best ones I've ever seen. It has lots of padding, carrying options, and a built in closet hangar! Although this guitar will not be hanging around much, if at all, since I have really enjoyed playing it so far.

Thanks for reading, as always.

Country Views: Into The Furnace

Eventually these turned into thunder storms later in the day.

The cooler than normal, darker than usual weather had to give over sooner or later. Last weekend in Nebraska I got my first real taste of humid, hot weather, but this past weekend beat all. Saturday was beastly, and I actually heard that a couple of gravel events were cut short due to the excessive heat and humidity. No doubt about it, this is like living in a furnace now.

I had planned on riding Saturday, but I had to get some things caught up around the house first. Lawn mowing was one of those. Well, I mowed the lawn and paid the price. I was spent! In fact, I felt not very good the rest of the day. I just got way too hot. So, Sunday was the day, but it was maybe worse Sunday with an air temp of 92° and with humidity the weather guys say it felt like 104°F. Yeah..... Not very conducive to long riding after you have been zapped by heat twice within a week.

So, this ride was a short outing, and I am very glad I didn't try to stretch it out. I was okay when I got home, and I didn't suffer and symptoms of heat stroke or anything close to it. I have had that so many times in the past that, as they say, I get zoinked again by heat pretty easily.

What?! These look like regular roads again! Amazing.

I met this sprayer machine coming at me. 

One thing I noted and that was that the roads are finally straightening up. They actually looked like normal Iowa gravel roads for the first time all year. The rock on the roadway was fairly fresh and very chunky. Where it was still all the way across the road, it was rough sledding.

The corn will actually make it to knee high+ by the 4th. I didn't think it would!

This was the sort of heat that just slowly cooks you as you work down the road. By the time I had headed back, I could feel it burning me from inside out. Like I said, it was good I rode a short one, and I didn't push things too far.

Later in the day a line of storms blew through and dumped the temperature 20 degrees. That was nice, but we're in for more furnace-like conditions through the week and dodging thunderstorms also could be on the agenda as well. The 4th is Thursday, so it will make for a very odd week and I hope to get more riding squeezed in there along the way.

Country Views: Into The Furnace

Eventually these turned into thunder storms later in the day.

The cooler than normal, darker than usual weather had to give over sooner or later. Last weekend in Nebraska I got my first real taste of humid, hot weather, but this past weekend beat all. Saturday was beastly, and I actually heard that a couple of gravel events were cut short due to the excessive heat and humidity. No doubt about it, this is like living in a furnace now.

I had planned on riding Saturday, but I had to get some things caught up around the house first. Lawn mowing was one of those. Well, I mowed the lawn and paid the price. I was spent! In fact, I felt not very good the rest of the day. I just got way too hot. So, Sunday was the day, but it was maybe worse Sunday with an air temp of 92° and with humidity the weather guys say it felt like 104°F. Yeah..... Not very conducive to long riding after you have been zapped by heat twice within a week.

So, this ride was a short outing, and I am very glad I didn't try to stretch it out. I was okay when I got home, and I didn't suffer and symptoms of heat stroke or anything close to it. I have had that so many times in the past that, as they say, I get zoinked again by heat pretty easily.

What?! These look like regular roads again! Amazing.

I met this sprayer machine coming at me. 

One thing I noted and that was that the roads are finally straightening up. They actually looked like normal Iowa gravel roads for the first time all year. The rock on the roadway was fairly fresh and very chunky. Where it was still all the way across the road, it was rough sledding.

The corn will actually make it to knee high+ by the 4th. I didn't think it would!

This was the sort of heat that just slowly cooks you as you work down the road. By the time I had headed back, I could feel it burning me from inside out. Like I said, it was good I rode a short one, and I didn't push things too far.

Later in the day a line of storms blew through and dumped the temperature 20 degrees. That was nice, but we're in for more furnace-like conditions through the week and dodging thunderstorms also could be on the agenda as well. The 4th is Thursday, so it will make for a very odd week and I hope to get more riding squeezed in there along the way.