Beyond the Ride

   Since my last post I have been off on vacation.  The Guitar Ted HoF ride occurred, and was a success.  I define success as one other person showing up.  I am not in to huge numbers and huge social media following.  I am not one to make something bigger than it is, of the best of the best.  I just  want simplicity, put a date, time, location out and see what occurs.  Mark did a great recap of the ride, and I am sure if you are reading this blog.  You probably read Mark's and you read his re-cap.       Since then, Mark and I have launched another podcast, I believe episode #96, by end of the month I hope we have #99 recorded, but that is if we have viable stuff to chat about.  That should cover Riding Gravel Radio Ranch podcast .  So far, I need to be more crisp on my responses and thoughts.  You are getting my hot takes on what Guitar Ted (Mark) brings up.  I do not see his sheets or notes p...

Cliff Notes: - June 19th:  - River Side Park, Vinton, Iowa  - Time 9am start  - Mile 24 C-Stop Center Point - Expect a group ride time of 6.5hrs total. - Post Ride Social: Tootsie Ice cream/Hamburger stand on the NW side of Vinton. - Group Size Unknown: At Least 3 of us.  But I have heard rumblings, so car pool if possible.  I am speculating about 30 -50 people. - No facebook post or event to follow about this.  If there is, it is someone else celebrating Mark and that is cool too and I recommend doing both rides. Today's Post: After talking with Mark (Guitar Ted) it is apparent to me I am re-configuring the route to be more like the original route.  With that said I took some liberties to keep it a large group capable route.  Two areas of awareness is the roll out out of Vinton north, and the roll into Center Point to a Caseys at Mile 24.  Mile 24 will be the last C-stop on the route, so top off.  Plan on a 45 minute pause for people to...

  Cliff Notes: - June 19th:  - River Side Park, Vinton, Iowa  - Time 9am start  - Mile 42 C-Stop Center Point - Expect a group ride time of 6.5hrs total. - Route to be publish via Strava in June. - Post Ride Social: Tootsie Ice cream/Hamburger stand on the NW side of Vinton.     I keep re-positing the same information because someone will ask for it, it also keeps it simple and reinforces the major points.  As I previously said in the first post, this day was picked based upon Mark's availability.  Yes it is on a Sunday and Yes it is fathers day.         A bit more about the ride, it is a social ride with a spirited pace.  In short it will not be a race of any sort.  If you are into that, then this ride is not for you.  This ride is also not a party pace ride, nor is it a drop rode. If you had to ask me for a pace for this ride to target for I would say 12.3456789MPH.  I have a few stops planned a long ...

Guitar Ted, I think 2021 July Saturday ride.         So if you are reading from outside of the glorious Cedar Valley you may not understand how close I live to Guitar Ted.  I am less than a 5 minute bike ride away from his front porch.  So it is fairly easy for me to coordinate a ride from time to time with him.  Oddly enough I think I am the only person outside of Tony in the area that askes Mark to ride.  I think a lot of people have a built up image of the "Gravel God" and his opinions on their rides.  In reality, I think he is just happy to share some gravel ribbon with others.  Often I have found he is more interested in the same things I am.  I think we both enjoy, bridges, old churches, and cemeteries.  And yes, we both have a thing for barns.  I wont dive in to barns, but occasionally you see some Iowa State developed round barns that are gorgeous, and occasionally I see a Western New York style barn that gets...

       So here are the routes.  I did move the routes around the B-roads to avoid them and even trimmed off a few miles to make the 63 mile route less gnarly.     For those of you who have reached out to confirm you are coming, thank you.  I hope you characters have Strava, because here is the 63 mile route , and here is the 31 mile route . Please note there is no town stop on the 31 mile route.  If you need a C-Store it is is Traer off route on HWY 63.  You have two choices, but I would suggest the BP Gas Station near Down town intersection.       Today's Post was about the routes, nothing more.  If you are following along, you know the time an start location.  I may even ride the 31 mile route as things are shaping up. Cheers & Godspeed Dave

G  ood Day All,     I have created the routes.  I want to ride them first prior to posting them.  I need to clarify this is not a race, it is in no way a race, it is a guy who is providing a time window and two course suggestions.  This 100% uninsured as I am not even gonna ride this thing the day of but be checking in on people to SAG them if needed.  If you want to ride with others on a single speed gravel machine then here is a viable option.  You are Responsible for you.  You could show up and unload your bike, decide not too ride and go home.  That is still a win in my book.  You at least got out of the house.   Post #1 as follows.    As  of now plan on a March 26th, 9am start time in Reinbeck, Iowa.  I will have to come up with a new route and will post it to the blog in a separate post.  I am going to remove a lot of B-roads, so this route will be more bland than tubular.   Expecta...

          As  of now plan on a March 26th, 9am start time in Reinbeck, Iowa.  I will have to come up with a new route and will post it to the blog in a separate post.  I am going to remove a lot of B-roads, so this route will be more bland than tubular.   Expectations: Single Speed Only bikes Do not care how you do it since it is a ride, but if you want to show up with gears, go for it. Bring a beer for yourself and one to share If you rode gears, you bring a 6er of the good stuff. Find some random person you do not know and share a beer The ride is on your own and is not a race I will post a 30ish and 65ish mile routes. You are responsible for you since this is a group ride atmosphere. Be prepared for inclement weather. Mud Rain Wind Ice is possible Large Ag equipment Naughty Dogs Rad Cats And possible cow sightings No Tigers No bears unless TJ Fort shows up and goes shirtless No groomed gravel (aka it may be big chunk)   ...

     I was reading Guitar Teds Blog about Risk Assessments.  It got me thinking about how people ride their bikes.  I am sure many ways exist on how to ride your bike improperly.  One that stands out in my mind is riding against traffic.  Outside of that, I can not think of many universally agreed upon ways to ride your bike wrong.       What got my noodle going is the helmet issue we still have.  Full disclosure I have done fat bike races without a helmet.  I am a fan of make your own decisions and be willing to pay the consequences when payment comes due.  That is life, look and understand what you are taking on.  Understand the consequences if things get weird.  And when things get weird, have a plan to address the weirdness.     I lived in Alaska for 3 years while in the Army.  I spent my summers in the outback hiking and camping.  Often I would carry a .45 handgun in the o...

    It has been a quite winter and instead of telling my opinions, how about we try talking about things I am doing.  I bought a geared All City Nature Ace (Boy).  For those of you who have history with All City line up, it is the progressively renamed Macho Man platform.  My intent was was to take a Macho Man frame and make it a Nature Boy.  This is the gist of the build concept.  I wanted the rear-derailleur hanger option for future use.     I handed over the ownership of my 54cm Santa Cruz to my girl friend.  Then, I got the green light to acquire another gravel bike for myself.  I debated on frames an availability.  Then one day I placed a All-City Nature Ace SS frameset on order.  The Local Bike Shop called me up in December and updated me on delivery and even said to cut my losses now as delivery pushed back to a unknown delivery date.   With the unknown delivery I cut my losses and began searching for a frame....