Gravel Stuff On The Brain

Lately I have been doing a lot of thinking and planning in my head concerning gravel riding. Some of it is gear based, some ride based. Here's a quick run down of things bouncing around in my noggin' of late.

Velocity A-23 Wheels: First up are the Velocity A-23 wheels, which I've brought up before here. I want to do a few more longer rides on them, but my initial feelings are that these are some nice wheels that may be a great choice for gravel grinding. The cool thing is that Velocity U.S.A. can lace these a few different way, but you can also get rims and roll yer own.

I like the wheels so far quite a bit. They roll well, have good spin up, and seem to hold a line very well for a big ol' feller like me. I've hit big, chunky gravel, "hero gravel", and everything in between, plus done a fair bit of curb hopping during commutes, all with zero effect on these wheels so far. My favorite thing right now? The ultra-smooth, even braking surface. I didn't know my brakes could work that well!

Orange Crush: I've got much to say about this rig. I want to do a full blown review of the frame/fork, for one thing, and also do another full blown post on just the set up and why I chose each thing. This was to be the DK 200 rig, and I am sure that I am 99% there as far as that would have gone, but be that as it may, it's staying together like this. I have grown to really appreciate each and every aspect of the bike so far, with a couple minor gripes. If I do go with the proposed custom gravel rig, (and that's still on the table), I will base it off this bike.

Luxy Bar: I've got to do a final review on these bars, and also do my comparo on all the off road drops yet. I still need to get a WTB Drp Bar, but that should happen this summer yet.

That includes the Gary II bars on my Fargo too. This bike will also be getting a set of new 1.9" GEAX tires soon that should be great for commuters/gravel grinders. Stay tuned for that soon....

Stage Race Idea: This is still bouncing around in my head, but I've stuck the idea into neutral until I perhaps get some input from some other riders at my GTDRI ride, or some other gravel grinder event where I can pick a few brains and see where this might go. Speaking of GTDRI.....

Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational: (Read: Fancy name for a "no rider left behind" fun gravel ride of 100 plus miles) I've got to sew up some route details here, and recon some unknown roads, but this is certainly a go for me at the end of July. Anybody can come, or if no one does, that's okay too. I'm going to ride it regardless. Since I can't do the Dirty Kanza 200, and I spaced off sending a card in for Gravel Worlds, I guess this will be my one big summer gravel dealio. That's cool with me.

And that's a wrap on my gravel exploits, dreams, and schemes.

Gravel Stuff On The Brain

Lately I have been doing a lot of thinking and planning in my head concerning gravel riding. Some of it is gear based, some ride based. Here's a quick run down of things bouncing around in my noggin' of late.

Velocity A-23 Wheels: First up are the Velocity A-23 wheels, which I've brought up before here. I want to do a few more longer rides on them, but my initial feelings are that these are some nice wheels that may be a great choice for gravel grinding. The cool thing is that Velocity U.S.A. can lace these a few different way, but you can also get rims and roll yer own.

I like the wheels so far quite a bit. They roll well, have good spin up, and seem to hold a line very well for a big ol' feller like me. I've hit big, chunky gravel, "hero gravel", and everything in between, plus done a fair bit of curb hopping during commutes, all with zero effect on these wheels so far. My favorite thing right now? The ultra-smooth, even braking surface. I didn't know my brakes could work that well!

Orange Crush: I've got much to say about this rig. I want to do a full blown review of the frame/fork, for one thing, and also do another full blown post on just the set up and why I chose each thing. This was to be the DK 200 rig, and I am sure that I am 99% there as far as that would have gone, but be that as it may, it's staying together like this. I have grown to really appreciate each and every aspect of the bike so far, with a couple minor gripes. If I do go with the proposed custom gravel rig, (and that's still on the table), I will base it off this bike.

Luxy Bar: I've got to do a final review on these bars, and also do my comparo on all the off road drops yet. I still need to get a WTB Drp Bar, but that should happen this summer yet.

That includes the Gary II bars on my Fargo too. This bike will also be getting a set of new 1.9" GEAX tires soon that should be great for commuters/gravel grinders. Stay tuned for that soon....

Stage Race Idea: This is still bouncing around in my head, but I've stuck the idea into neutral until I perhaps get some input from some other riders at my GTDRI ride, or some other gravel grinder event where I can pick a few brains and see where this might go. Speaking of GTDRI.....

Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational: (Read: Fancy name for a "no rider left behind" fun gravel ride of 100 plus miles) I've got to sew up some route details here, and recon some unknown roads, but this is certainly a go for me at the end of July. Anybody can come, or if no one does, that's okay too. I'm going to ride it regardless. Since I can't do the Dirty Kanza 200, and I spaced off sending a card in for Gravel Worlds, I guess this will be my one big summer gravel dealio. That's cool with me.

And that's a wrap on my gravel exploits, dreams, and schemes.

Droppin' In

The latest craze to sweep the nation? Maybe not, but "dropper seat posts" are definitely becoming more common. Once thought of as being in the realm of only the most "extreme" mountain bikers, they are now finding their way on to more and more trail bikes, and even some XC types are taking a look at what a "dropper post" could do for them.

Of course, these are nothing new, or at least, the concept isn't. Once upon a time, the idea of dropping your seat post for technical descents was actually quite common. In fact, a slick little gizmo was developed early on during mountain biking's early "modern era" that you could use "on the fly", just like these fancy-schmancy dropper posts of today. It was called the "Hite Rite", and was pretty simple in its design.

Basically, it was a fancy spring that grasped the seat post on one end, and was attached to the binder bolt on the other end. One simply had to open the quick release on the seat binder, use your body weight to depress the post into the frame, and lock the quick release back down at the desired height. When you wanted the seat back to full height, you simply got your weight off the saddle, released the quick release again, which allowed the spring to push the saddle back up, close the quick release, and you were back to full height once again.

Of course, it all depended upon whether or not your seat post and frame fit well together, allowing for free movement of the post when the quick release was opened. Hite Rite seat locating springs weren't without other draw backs. Longer seat post extensions that became popular with designers and riders in the 90's pretty much put the Hite Rite at odds with practical usage for mountain bikes since the range of drop was limited on the design. It wouldn't be for another ten years that dropper designs started to resurface that used a telescopic design instead of the spring the Hite Rite was based upon.  These telescopic designs, while being more complex, offered a much wider range of "drop".

The Specialized Blacklite Command Post is one of the newest designs out, featuring lighter weight, and better performance promises over other telescopic seat post designs. We'll see, as one is on test now at The Cyclistsite.com.

Time to see what the fuss has always been about!

Droppin' In

The latest craze to sweep the nation? Maybe not, but "dropper seat posts" are definitely becoming more common. Once thought of as being in the realm of only the most "extreme" mountain bikers, they are now finding their way on to more and more trail bikes, and even some XC types are taking a look at what a "dropper post" could do for them.

Of course, these are nothing new, or at least, the concept isn't. Once upon a time, the idea of dropping your seat post for technical descents was actually quite common. In fact, a slick little gizmo was developed early on during mountain biking's early "modern era" that you could use "on the fly", just like these fancy-schmancy dropper posts of today. It was called the "Hite Rite", and was pretty simple in its design.

Basically, it was a fancy spring that grasped the seat post on one end, and was attached to the binder bolt on the other end. One simply had to open the quick release on the seat binder, use your body weight to depress the post into the frame, and lock the quick release back down at the desired height. When you wanted the seat back to full height, you simply got your weight off the saddle, released the quick release again, which allowed the spring to push the saddle back up, close the quick release, and you were back to full height once again.

Of course, it all depended upon whether or not your seat post and frame fit well together, allowing for free movement of the post when the quick release was opened. Hite Rite seat locating springs weren't without other draw backs. Longer seat post extensions that became popular with designers and riders in the 90's pretty much put the Hite Rite at odds with practical usage for mountain bikes since the range of drop was limited on the design. It wouldn't be for another ten years that dropper designs started to resurface that used a telescopic design instead of the spring the Hite Rite was based upon.  These telescopic designs, while being more complex, offered a much wider range of "drop".

The Specialized Blacklite Command Post is one of the newest designs out, featuring lighter weight, and better performance promises over other telescopic seat post designs. We'll see, as one is on test now at The Cyclistsite.com.

Time to see what the fuss has always been about!

It Wasn't The Ride I Had Planned......

.......But It Was A Ride! Saturday, as most folks in the Mid-West know, was a washout. Oh yeah.......except for those Almanzo 100 and Royal 165 dudes and dudettes.  Congrats to all who toed the line in those challenging conditions.

No, I wasn't going to take an option on riding Saturday, as it was pouring rain for most of the day. The plan was to go down south and scout some of the route for the GTDRI. But that wasn't to be, with the weather that we had. I thought maybe Sunday might work out, but we had a special meeting at 12:30pm and I didn't know how long it might run. I thought that if I got out early, there might be a chance to get some of that recon in. The weather was actually nice too.

<===A late 19th Century church on my route Sunday.

Well, the meeting lasted longer than I thought, and I had to scrap the plan to recon down south. I instead went for a ride into the wind first, which was out of the north.

And what a wind! (Not like the wind I lived through 43 years ago on yesterday's date, but....) The weather said it was a 20mph wind, but I know it was stronger than that. On the return trip back to the house, I was hitting 30mph easily. That was a lot of fun! But I earned it with the trip out, no doubt about that. I'm sure my legs got toasted doing that work, and it is a mostly uphill route northward.

<===Scarlet Tanagers

I know some folks will probably think this is goofy, but one of the things I like to do is to spot animals on my rides. Usually these are birds on my gravel rides because wild animals generally stick to the woodlands and grasses. There are not many animals that frequent gravel, although I have seen skunks, woodchucks, muskrats, and deer from time to time on gravel.

So, I generally just see the occasional hawk, Turkey Vultures, and scads of Red Winged Blackbirds. But today I saw something I had never seen before, and after looking it up on the inner-web-o-sphere later, I also identified a tree full of birds I saw while snow shoeing in 2000. (So, technically, I had seen this bird before, but read on.....)

I was riding into the wind, which made this all possible, since the bird had its back to me, and couldn't hear me in the 30mph blast. It was hunkered down on the gravel and looking into the wind, and it didn't take flight until I was right beside it. So, I got an excellent look at it.

It was red. Brilliant red, with black wings and tail. I obviously saw a Scarlet Tanager. Never had seen one before.........that was red!  You see, the female Tanagers are greenish-yellow, and the males turn a similar color in winter. They lose the red color entirely. Well, once when snow shoeing I saw a small tree with several of these odd, greenish-yellow birds in it. Never could figure out what they could have been, until now.

So, while my ride wasn't what I had planned for, I did get a ride in, and I learned something by seeing a bird sitting on the road, and solved a decade old mystery in the process. I thought that made it a pretty special ride. But your mileage may vary.

It Wasn't The Ride I Had Planned......

.......But It Was A Ride! Saturday, as most folks in the Mid-West know, was a washout. Oh yeah.......except for those Almanzo 100 and Royal 165 dudes and dudettes.  Congrats to all who toed the line in those challenging conditions.

No, I wasn't going to take an option on riding Saturday, as it was pouring rain for most of the day. The plan was to go down south and scout some of the route for the GTDRI. But that wasn't to be, with the weather that we had. I thought maybe Sunday might work out, but we had a special meeting at 12:30pm and I didn't know how long it might run. I thought that if I got out early, there might be a chance to get some of that recon in. The weather was actually nice too.

<===A late 19th Century church on my route Sunday.

Well, the meeting lasted longer than I thought, and I had to scrap the plan to recon down south. I instead went for a ride into the wind first, which was out of the north.

And what a wind! (Not like the wind I lived through 43 years ago on yesterday's date, but....) The weather said it was a 20mph wind, but I know it was stronger than that. On the return trip back to the house, I was hitting 30mph easily. That was a lot of fun! But I earned it with the trip out, no doubt about that. I'm sure my legs got toasted doing that work, and it is a mostly uphill route northward.

<===Scarlet Tanagers

I know some folks will probably think this is goofy, but one of the things I like to do is to spot animals on my rides. Usually these are birds on my gravel rides because wild animals generally stick to the woodlands and grasses. There are not many animals that frequent gravel, although I have seen skunks, woodchucks, muskrats, and deer from time to time on gravel.

So, I generally just see the occasional hawk, Turkey Vultures, and scads of Red Winged Blackbirds. But today I saw something I had never seen before, and after looking it up on the inner-web-o-sphere later, I also identified a tree full of birds I saw while snow shoeing in 2000. (So, technically, I had seen this bird before, but read on.....)

I was riding into the wind, which made this all possible, since the bird had its back to me, and couldn't hear me in the 30mph blast. It was hunkered down on the gravel and looking into the wind, and it didn't take flight until I was right beside it. So, I got an excellent look at it.

It was red. Brilliant red, with black wings and tail. I obviously saw a Scarlet Tanager. Never had seen one before.........that was red!  You see, the female Tanagers are greenish-yellow, and the males turn a similar color in winter. They lose the red color entirely. Well, once when snow shoeing I saw a small tree with several of these odd, greenish-yellow birds in it. Never could figure out what they could have been, until now.

So, while my ride wasn't what I had planned for, I did get a ride in, and I learned something by seeing a bird sitting on the road, and solved a decade old mystery in the process. I thought that made it a pretty special ride. But your mileage may vary.

Yes: It Is That Hard

<==Post   "Night Nonsense ", October, 2010.

As I write this, over 12 hours after the Almanzo 100 and Royal 165 started, there are still folks out riding the course. It is raining, cold, and windy. 

It's funny when you talk to people about these events like the Almanzo, The Good Life Gravel Adventure/Gravel Worlds, Dirty Kanza 200, or Trans Iowa. Some folks can't begin to grasp what it means to be on a bicycle for that long, or even what it is like at all to ride on gravel. I get that. I mean, not everyone is going to even have that on their radar, much less think about what it might be like.

<===Look Out! Big guy coming through!

Then there are those who have maybe raced a bit, done some ultra stuff on roads, or running, or whatever, that make some comments about this self-supported, self navigated gravel road stuff. They seem to think that taking more than 5 hours to do 100 miles is "going slow", or that the terrain is flat, what's the big deal?, and that it isn't near as hard as maybe what myself and others paint it out to be.

Then maybe some of these "big talkers" come and try it, or see/hear first hand what folks are going through out there. I've seen this happen, and it is rather interesting how the tune being sung afterward is of a different tone. Yes, it is quite comical sometimes.

<===Bundled up and sportin' the frosty beard at the checkpoint in '11's CIRREM ride.

But some folks don't get close and still turn their noses up and deride the gravel scene. I guess ya had ta be there! It's all good. Those that know.....well, they know. 

Doesn't matter what the cycling world at large thinks about it. It is what it is, and it ain't easy.

And thirteen and a half hours after the start of the Royal 165, there are still three riders out on course. I'm thinking they don't give a rip what I, or anybody else thinks about their finish in that time space. They have something the naysayers will never understand. And that's maybe the way it should be.

I know I've been through pouring rain, walked muddy B Roads, been frozen, baked within an inch of my life, finished, come close, and utterly failed at all sorts of these events.

Take it from me: They are that hard!

Yes: It Is That Hard

<==Post   "Night Nonsense ", October, 2010.

As I write this, over 12 hours after the Almanzo 100 and Royal 165 started, there are still folks out riding the course. It is raining, cold, and windy. 

It's funny when you talk to people about these events like the Almanzo, The Good Life Gravel Adventure/Gravel Worlds, Dirty Kanza 200, or Trans Iowa. Some folks can't begin to grasp what it means to be on a bicycle for that long, or even what it is like at all to ride on gravel. I get that. I mean, not everyone is going to even have that on their radar, much less think about what it might be like.

<===Look Out! Big guy coming through!

Then there are those who have maybe raced a bit, done some ultra stuff on roads, or running, or whatever, that make some comments about this self-supported, self navigated gravel road stuff. They seem to think that taking more than 5 hours to do 100 miles is "going slow", or that the terrain is flat, what's the big deal?, and that it isn't near as hard as maybe what myself and others paint it out to be.

Then maybe some of these "big talkers" come and try it, or see/hear first hand what folks are going through out there. I've seen this happen, and it is rather interesting how the tune being sung afterward is of a different tone. Yes, it is quite comical sometimes.

<===Bundled up and sportin' the frosty beard at the checkpoint in '11's CIRREM ride.

But some folks don't get close and still turn their noses up and deride the gravel scene. I guess ya had ta be there! It's all good. Those that know.....well, they know. 

Doesn't matter what the cycling world at large thinks about it. It is what it is, and it ain't easy.

And thirteen and a half hours after the start of the Royal 165, there are still three riders out on course. I'm thinking they don't give a rip what I, or anybody else thinks about their finish in that time space. They have something the naysayers will never understand. And that's maybe the way it should be.

I know I've been through pouring rain, walked muddy B Roads, been frozen, baked within an inch of my life, finished, come close, and utterly failed at all sorts of these events.

Take it from me: They are that hard!

Digital Blackout

<====An April Morning In Jasper County, Iowa. 

Well, all Thursday night and Friday until around noon, this blog was "in the dark" due to an issue Blogger, (the service provider), was having. So, there for awhile, it looked as though the last post I had done was Wednesday's.

Actually, I had done Thursday's post, and it has been restored since, but there for awhile you folks that got to read Thursday's post had a mystery on your hands there! I thought I'd temporarily lost it when I looked this morning, that's for sure. (Although some folks would argue that I've never had "it" to begin with!)

My Italian Feet: A long time ago, back when I first decided to get into clipless pedals for mountain biking, I decided on going with Grafton clipless pedals. (I see many of you shrugging your shoulders in a questioningly manner!) Yes- Grafton. It's a long story. Anyway, if you were going to go with Grafton peds, you pretty much had to go with Sidi shoes. So, I ordered some Dominators, and those lasted through the initial switch to Onza pedals, (Yes- "Onza pedals"), and finally to Shimano pedals, where I should have started with in the beginning. Oh well, live and learn!

But at any rate......Sidi shoes! The thing was that I have very skinny feet. Most shoes made my feet hurt, or they swam around inside making pedaling vague and weird feeling. The Sidi shoes, built in the traditional European way, were narrower, like my feet. Okay, so years go by, I start a family, and I decided I needed to not spend hundreds of dollars on single purpose shoes. I tried Lake shoes, (fit great, didn't last very long), then I went with Bontrager shoes, (fit not so great, but lasted longer than Lakes).

Then I got an e-mail from a guy with Vittoria shoes. Next thing ya know, I am being told that these Italian shoes are on par with Sidi's offerings and totally made in Italy using techniques that were pioneered by Vittoria and often copied by other manufacturers. Okay, sounded great. I asked to try the Impact mountain bike models, shown here. I can say one thing right away. I definitely have Italian shaped feet. These shoes fit very, very well.

Will they hold up to my Sidi experience? We'll see. Stay tuned and I'll report back with more later with my review on these at The Cyclistsite.

And that's it for your "Digital Blackout" edition of Guitar Ted Productions. Just a final shout out to the riders of the Almanzo 100 and the Royal 165. Have a safe, fun ride, ya'all!

Digital Blackout

<====An April Morning In Jasper County, Iowa. 

Well, all Thursday night and Friday until around noon, this blog was "in the dark" due to an issue Blogger, (the service provider), was having. So, there for awhile, it looked as though the last post I had done was Wednesday's.

Actually, I had done Thursday's post, and it has been restored since, but there for awhile you folks that got to read Thursday's post had a mystery on your hands there! I thought I'd temporarily lost it when I looked this morning, that's for sure. (Although some folks would argue that I've never had "it" to begin with!)

My Italian Feet: A long time ago, back when I first decided to get into clipless pedals for mountain biking, I decided on going with Grafton clipless pedals. (I see many of you shrugging your shoulders in a questioningly manner!) Yes- Grafton. It's a long story. Anyway, if you were going to go with Grafton peds, you pretty much had to go with Sidi shoes. So, I ordered some Dominators, and those lasted through the initial switch to Onza pedals, (Yes- "Onza pedals"), and finally to Shimano pedals, where I should have started with in the beginning. Oh well, live and learn!

But at any rate......Sidi shoes! The thing was that I have very skinny feet. Most shoes made my feet hurt, or they swam around inside making pedaling vague and weird feeling. The Sidi shoes, built in the traditional European way, were narrower, like my feet. Okay, so years go by, I start a family, and I decided I needed to not spend hundreds of dollars on single purpose shoes. I tried Lake shoes, (fit great, didn't last very long), then I went with Bontrager shoes, (fit not so great, but lasted longer than Lakes).

Then I got an e-mail from a guy with Vittoria shoes. Next thing ya know, I am being told that these Italian shoes are on par with Sidi's offerings and totally made in Italy using techniques that were pioneered by Vittoria and often copied by other manufacturers. Okay, sounded great. I asked to try the Impact mountain bike models, shown here. I can say one thing right away. I definitely have Italian shaped feet. These shoes fit very, very well.

Will they hold up to my Sidi experience? We'll see. Stay tuned and I'll report back with more later with my review on these at The Cyclistsite.

And that's it for your "Digital Blackout" edition of Guitar Ted Productions. Just a final shout out to the riders of the Almanzo 100 and the Royal 165. Have a safe, fun ride, ya'all!

Too Much, Too Soon

<====If the Airborne had a brown anodized post and brown saddle, it'd be lost somewhere out there yet!

Too much, too soon is what it was yesterday. I need time to acclimate!

I'm talking about this late July weather we're having in early May. Heck, it was less than a month ago that it snowed last, and only last week it was below freezing coming to work in the mornings. My body hasn't made the switch to "summertime mode" yet, but I did go to work on that yesterday. It was a short-ish session in Camp Ingawanis' south side.

Everything is green now and growing like mad. It won't be long before the weeds and undergrowth are out of control out there. But for now, it is still manageable. Plus- no bugs! Well, very few, at any rate, and no mosquitoes to speak of. Yet. That will come with a vengeance soon enough, I am afraid!

<==I  did get this awesome "dirt tan" on my legs though!
 
There was plenty of heat though, and as my ride went on, I could feel my body starting to get hotter and hotter. It wasn't "tuned" for this yet, and after a bit, that dreaded "head throb" I can get when I over-heat started in. It was then that I decided enough was enough for today. 80-something degrees with 70 degree dew points. Yeah, that felt pretty brutal coming out of chilly weather, but given some exposure to that, I'll catch on again.

<==Velocity A-23's as seen on the  "Orange Crush " BMC bike.

Yesterday I reported on the A-23's and I figured I would show them off on the bike here. They are the 28/28 hole "custom" versions of the Comp Build A-23's. Velocity will do "off the menu things" for you if you want, and if it isn't outrageous, or beyond their capabilities.

These wheels are pretty light, and the main thing I was interested in was the slightly wider rims, (23mm, thus the name), and how that would be better for the wider, more voluminous tires I like to run. The other wheel sets I have used were rather skinny, and although I never ran into any issues using them, I know my tires have more support and will be less likely to roll off. This is important to me because I rarely ever run higher than 40psi in my tires I am using. In this case, they are the Bontrager XR-1's.

I was stoked to get these on the BMC, but it is too bad that Dirty Kanza isn't going to work out for me this year. I would have liked to have seen how this set up would have done for me down there. Oh well. I have plenty of gravel to burn down around here, and I need to get cracking on that route for the GTDRI.

Too Much, Too Soon

<====If the Airborne had a brown anodized post and brown saddle, it'd be lost somewhere out there yet!

Too much, too soon is what it was yesterday. I need time to acclimate!

I'm talking about this late July weather we're having in early May. Heck, it was less than a month ago that it snowed last, and only last week it was below freezing coming to work in the mornings. My body hasn't made the switch to "summertime mode" yet, but I did go to work on that yesterday. It was a short-ish session in Camp Ingawanis' south side.

Everything is green now and growing like mad. It won't be long before the weeds and undergrowth are out of control out there. But for now, it is still manageable. Plus- no bugs! Well, very few, at any rate, and no mosquitoes to speak of. Yet. That will come with a vengeance soon enough, I am afraid!

<==I  did get this awesome "dirt tan" on my legs though!
 
There was plenty of heat though, and as my ride went on, I could feel my body starting to get hotter and hotter. It wasn't "tuned" for this yet, and after a bit, that dreaded "head throb" I can get when I over-heat started in. It was then that I decided enough was enough for today. 80-something degrees with 70 degree dew points. Yeah, that felt pretty brutal coming out of chilly weather, but given some exposure to that, I'll catch on again.

<==Velocity A-23's as seen on the  "Orange Crush " BMC bike.

Yesterday I reported on the A-23's and I figured I would show them off on the bike here. They are the 28/28 hole "custom" versions of the Comp Build A-23's. Velocity will do "off the menu things" for you if you want, and if it isn't outrageous, or beyond their capabilities.

These wheels are pretty light, and the main thing I was interested in was the slightly wider rims, (23mm, thus the name), and how that would be better for the wider, more voluminous tires I like to run. The other wheel sets I have used were rather skinny, and although I never ran into any issues using them, I know my tires have more support and will be less likely to roll off. This is important to me because I rarely ever run higher than 40psi in my tires I am using. In this case, they are the Bontrager XR-1's.

I was stoked to get these on the BMC, but it is too bad that Dirty Kanza isn't going to work out for me this year. I would have liked to have seen how this set up would have done for me down there. Oh well. I have plenty of gravel to burn down around here, and I need to get cracking on that route for the GTDRI.

Wednesday News And Views

Catching up on a few things. Here's the latest mish-mash of stuff on my mind.....

Heated Grips: Wow! The weather right now is about as far away from needing heated grips as you can get. But can you remember that just last week it got down into the upper 20's for night time lows? Yup!

Well, I was testing these A'ME Heated Mountain Bike Grips for the Cyclistsite.com back in that cooler weather. They actually work really well too.

I know some will say "Yeah, but pogies work and are cheaper." Yup. They sure are and they do work, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that they work "better".

While run time is not much better than a couple of hours, the time it does run makes pogies unnecessary, and I don't like pogies cumbersome look and performance when you have to be pulling your hands in and out of the things. (I do, because of photo ops, and other reasons) If you have yourself set, and the hands are staying put, plus your ride is very long, well then, pogies are it. I have some, and I'll use them in extreme situations, but these grips will get some play for sure. They lowered the price on them just recently too, which makes them even more attractive. You can read more about them here in my review.

Velocity A-23 Wheels: I just got a set of Velocity A-23 wheels for my Black Mountain Cycles Monster Cross bike. These are the final wheels I will be slapping on that bike and I will be living with those for the foreseeable future.

I ended up with a bit of a custom build, since I got 28/28 hole wheels instead of the 24F/28R build they usually do at the Comp level. Mine still are radial laced up front and on the non-drive side rear. The drive side is two-cross. We'll see how they hold up.

It also will be interesting to check into something I accidentally overheard about these wheels at Frostbike. That they ran well sans tubes. Hmmmm.... Interesting. 

One thing Velocity does is that they hand build and sign their wheels before they are sent out. So, "Jacobi", I am counting on you and your handiwork! I did check them out when I received them and they were tensioned very well, and they were very true. More to come on these wheels here and on Gravel Grinder News.





The Gravel Metric -- More Gravel from Seth Deming on Vimeo.


Speaking of Gravel Grinder News: You gotta click on the video and check out what the NCC-HAC guys did for their upcoming gravel event on May 29th. (Warning!: Loud, angry music! You might want to turn your volume down a tad, or not!) This production is awesome, I think. I am very impressed at the creativity and passion shown here for gravel road riding/racing. Very cool.

Snow Dog Down: 81 Days and counting..............

Wednesday News And Views

Catching up on a few things. Here's the latest mish-mash of stuff on my mind.....

Heated Grips: Wow! The weather right now is about as far away from needing heated grips as you can get. But can you remember that just last week it got down into the upper 20's for night time lows? Yup!

Well, I was testing these A'ME Heated Mountain Bike Grips for the Cyclistsite.com back in that cooler weather. They actually work really well too.

I know some will say "Yeah, but pogies work and are cheaper." Yup. They sure are and they do work, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that they work "better".

While run time is not much better than a couple of hours, the time it does run makes pogies unnecessary, and I don't like pogies cumbersome look and performance when you have to be pulling your hands in and out of the things. (I do, because of photo ops, and other reasons) If you have yourself set, and the hands are staying put, plus your ride is very long, well then, pogies are it. I have some, and I'll use them in extreme situations, but these grips will get some play for sure. They lowered the price on them just recently too, which makes them even more attractive. You can read more about them here in my review.

Velocity A-23 Wheels: I just got a set of Velocity A-23 wheels for my Black Mountain Cycles Monster Cross bike. These are the final wheels I will be slapping on that bike and I will be living with those for the foreseeable future.

I ended up with a bit of a custom build, since I got 28/28 hole wheels instead of the 24F/28R build they usually do at the Comp level. Mine still are radial laced up front and on the non-drive side rear. The drive side is two-cross. We'll see how they hold up.

It also will be interesting to check into something I accidentally overheard about these wheels at Frostbike. That they ran well sans tubes. Hmmmm.... Interesting. 

One thing Velocity does is that they hand build and sign their wheels before they are sent out. So, "Jacobi", I am counting on you and your handiwork! I did check them out when I received them and they were tensioned very well, and they were very true. More to come on these wheels here and on Gravel Grinder News.





The Gravel Metric -- More Gravel from Seth Deming on Vimeo.


Speaking of Gravel Grinder News: You gotta click on the video and check out what the NCC-HAC guys did for their upcoming gravel event on May 29th. (Warning!: Loud, angry music! You might want to turn your volume down a tad, or not!) This production is awesome, I think. I am very impressed at the creativity and passion shown here for gravel road riding/racing. Very cool.

Snow Dog Down: 81 Days and counting..............

The Bitter And The Sweet

The Bitter: Of course, if you are a cycling fan, or a road racing aficionado, you know what happened during Stage 3 of the Giro d'Italia yesterday. Wouter Weylandt was killed in a high speed crash on a descent on the course of the race, and the cycling world is in shock.

These kinds of tragedies are very hard to absorb, much less understand. I thought the esteemed blogger, "Bike Snob NYC" caught a good vision of what it is like for a lot of us. (Read it here)

There are a lot of folks that are not cyclists, or are casual cyclists, that may not grasp the "why" of what some of us engage in. (I know my family has a hard time with some of what I do!) I only hope that the negativism that may come from those quarters isn't allowed to dampen the spirit of adventure, the joy, and yes- the risk that all of us as cyclists understand is there.

My deepest condolences to the family, friends, and team mates of Wouter Weylandt.

The Sweet: Of course, if you hung around here through all the Trans Iowa madness, you know Janna Vavra notched the first finish in any Trans Iowa by a female. I found a link to her report for Nebraska Cycling News, which I read just yesterday. I thought I'd share it today.

I have to say that one of the most surprising things that happened when I got involved with Trans Iowa was how my perceptions of people that competed on bicycles was forever changed. It started that cold April day in 2005, and every spring since, that hasn't stopped happening.

Janna adds to that experience of mine with her class, her character, and her athleticism. She mentions how being in Trans Iowa forever changes people, and I can vouch that putting the event on has also forever changed my life as well.

Cycling: It can be bitter, and it can be sweet. 

The Bitter And The Sweet

The Bitter: Of course, if you are a cycling fan, or a road racing aficionado, you know what happened during Stage 3 of the Giro d'Italia yesterday. Wouter Weylandt was killed in a high speed crash on a descent on the course of the race, and the cycling world is in shock.

These kinds of tragedies are very hard to absorb, much less understand. I thought the esteemed blogger, "Bike Snob NYC" caught a good vision of what it is like for a lot of us. (Read it here)

There are a lot of folks that are not cyclists, or are casual cyclists, that may not grasp the "why" of what some of us engage in. (I know my family has a hard time with some of what I do!) I only hope that the negativism that may come from those quarters isn't allowed to dampen the spirit of adventure, the joy, and yes- the risk that all of us as cyclists understand is there.

My deepest condolences to the family, friends, and team mates of Wouter Weylandt.

The Sweet: Of course, if you hung around here through all the Trans Iowa madness, you know Janna Vavra notched the first finish in any Trans Iowa by a female. I found a link to her report for Nebraska Cycling News, which I read just yesterday. I thought I'd share it today.

I have to say that one of the most surprising things that happened when I got involved with Trans Iowa was how my perceptions of people that competed on bicycles was forever changed. It started that cold April day in 2005, and every spring since, that hasn't stopped happening.

Janna adds to that experience of mine with her class, her character, and her athleticism. She mentions how being in Trans Iowa forever changes people, and I can vouch that putting the event on has also forever changed my life as well.

Cycling: It can be bitter, and it can be sweet. 

A Pretty Good Day

Saturday was a pretty dang good day. one of those days you don't want to have end. The weather was top notch, and there was lots of cycling involved, of course.

It started out with sleeping in late. I know some of my friends are "early morning" types, and cherish that early morning ride. I get that, but there is something decadent about sleeping in late that I find appealing. So, my day started out with a moderate amount of that.

Then it was off to the shop on the Xtracycle to retrieve the Airborne Goblin 29 I have in for testing on Twenty Nine Inches. It took a bit of head scratching to get it on there safely, but it wasn't anything that a board, a ByKyle Simple Strap or two, and some various bungee cords couldn't fix!  A few test bumps to make sure I had everything strapped down tight, and I was off.

Once I got the Goblin 29 home, I had to take some images of it. So, I spent some time goofing around with the camera. In the meantime, I had my son come out with his bicycle. He wanted to try and ride some. Well, I figured it was time he tried a few new things. First, I had him roll over a three inch diameter branch. Then I took that away, and taught him how to stand and coast. Then I brought back the branch and showed him how to absorb the bump with his legs and arms. He felt the difference, and the lesson was successful.

The women of the house were off shopping, so we had to fend for ourselves for lunch. I took my son on the back of the Xtracycle to get some vittles which we took to a local park and had a picnic with. Then it was back home up some alleyways and finally back home.

After awhile, the women came home, and I was cleared for a shake down ride on the Goblin. The woods were filled with Bluebells and reminded me of one of my first dates with Mrs. Guitar Ted where I took her for a walk to show her the bluebells and fell head long into a mud puddle! Ah! The memories...... But I digress.

I headed back after a good hour and a half of making sure the bike was working correctly. Then I started up the grill and cooked a mess of meat up while I sipped on a cold Negro Modelo on a fine late spring evening. I looked at the westering sun and thought, "This has been a pretty good day."

Yup! One of those I'd gladly repeat. 

The next day was Mother's day, of course, and I visited my Mom and had a great time. Mostly spent the day relaxing. It was another really good day.

Hopefully your weekend went well too.

A Pretty Good Day

Saturday was a pretty dang good day. one of those days you don't want to have end. The weather was top notch, and there was lots of cycling involved, of course.

It started out with sleeping in late. I know some of my friends are "early morning" types, and cherish that early morning ride. I get that, but there is something decadent about sleeping in late that I find appealing. So, my day started out with a moderate amount of that.

Then it was off to the shop on the Xtracycle to retrieve the Airborne Goblin 29 I have in for testing on Twenty Nine Inches. It took a bit of head scratching to get it on there safely, but it wasn't anything that a board, a ByKyle Simple Strap or two, and some various bungee cords couldn't fix!  A few test bumps to make sure I had everything strapped down tight, and I was off.

Once I got the Goblin 29 home, I had to take some images of it. So, I spent some time goofing around with the camera. In the meantime, I had my son come out with his bicycle. He wanted to try and ride some. Well, I figured it was time he tried a few new things. First, I had him roll over a three inch diameter branch. Then I took that away, and taught him how to stand and coast. Then I brought back the branch and showed him how to absorb the bump with his legs and arms. He felt the difference, and the lesson was successful.

The women of the house were off shopping, so we had to fend for ourselves for lunch. I took my son on the back of the Xtracycle to get some vittles which we took to a local park and had a picnic with. Then it was back home up some alleyways and finally back home.

After awhile, the women came home, and I was cleared for a shake down ride on the Goblin. The woods were filled with Bluebells and reminded me of one of my first dates with Mrs. Guitar Ted where I took her for a walk to show her the bluebells and fell head long into a mud puddle! Ah! The memories...... But I digress.

I headed back after a good hour and a half of making sure the bike was working correctly. Then I started up the grill and cooked a mess of meat up while I sipped on a cold Negro Modelo on a fine late spring evening. I looked at the westering sun and thought, "This has been a pretty good day."

Yup! One of those I'd gladly repeat. 

The next day was Mother's day, of course, and I visited my Mom and had a great time. Mostly spent the day relaxing. It was another really good day.

Hopefully your weekend went well too.

The Dirty Kanza 200 Chronicles; Life Happened

<===Congratulating an exhausted Charlie Farrow at the end of T.I.V7

It has been a long two weeks or so since I've been here with anything about the Dirty Kanza 200 event. A lot has happened since last I wrote about it.

Obviously, Trans Iowa happened and that took a big bite out of training time. Being stressed during that time about things surrounding the event took its toll, but surprisingly, I came out the other side in decent shape, really. I have had some coming back to do, but nothing like I thought I might have.

But there are things bigger than bicycling events, believe it or not. My family being one of those things. Well, something has come up- an opportunity- that I can not pass, so I am afraid the Dirty Kanza dream will remain just that.

I'll be taking my kids and Mrs. Guitar Ted to see her folks in Texas instead, starting the very weekend of the DK 200. They don't get to see their family down there very often, and a vacation time came up for my wife, and we had to take that, or leave it.

The choice was obvious.

So, this ends my ramblings on the Dirty Kanza 200. I wish everyone that makes it down there well, and I hope you all can finish of the ride, be safe, and have a good time. Thanks for reading about my lead up to this awesome event.

The Dirty Kanza 200 Chronicles; Life Happened

<===Congratulating an exhausted Charlie Farrow at the end of T.I.V7

It has been a long two weeks or so since I've been here with anything about the Dirty Kanza 200 event. A lot has happened since last I wrote about it.

Obviously, Trans Iowa happened and that took a big bite out of training time. Being stressed during that time about things surrounding the event took its toll, but surprisingly, I came out the other side in decent shape, really. I have had some coming back to do, but nothing like I thought I might have.

But there are things bigger than bicycling events, believe it or not. My family being one of those things. Well, something has come up- an opportunity- that I can not pass, so I am afraid the Dirty Kanza dream will remain just that.

I'll be taking my kids and Mrs. Guitar Ted to see her folks in Texas instead, starting the very weekend of the DK 200. They don't get to see their family down there very often, and a vacation time came up for my wife, and we had to take that, or leave it.

The choice was obvious.

So, this ends my ramblings on the Dirty Kanza 200. I wish everyone that makes it down there well, and I hope you all can finish of the ride, be safe, and have a good time. Thanks for reading about my lead up to this awesome event.