Country Views: Single Speeding In Spring

Escape Route: Sergeant Road Bike Trail.

Wednesday I decided to get out of the house in the morning and hit the gravel. I did not know which way I was going to ride, but I knew that wildfire season was here again this year and I wasn't going to wait for Canada to ruin my plans again!

A quick check of the weather before I left said the winds were light out of the North. Okay, so North is the way I was going to go! It was also a bit chilly. The 50's when I left and headed toward the upper 60's by noon. I didn't know how far I'd want to go but I was determined to ride the Honeman Flyer single speed bike. 

Now I had purposely set the seat height a bit lower than my norm on the bike due to the super-slack seat tube angle which puts the bottom bracket ahead of the nose of the saddle by just a bit. It seemed that I was getting on with that well, but as I started this ride I was nagged by the feeling that my saddle was too low. If you've ridden long enough, as I have, my opinion is that you get more sensitive to changes in position. So, I was fighting this feeling all the way out of town that my saddle was too low. Princess and the Pea? Maybe a little bit.

Did you ever think you could ride under one of these? I have thought that, but I resisted the urge!

That grey box on legs? It is a honey dispensary. You leave cash and take some honey when there are jars in the box.

I went up Burton Avenue, again, but this was on the single speed and I wanted to test myself on hills a bit. What better way than by single speed? I felt strangely comfortable scaling the long grade off Dunkerton Road. Hmm.. 

I never am one to claim "fitness gained" or that I am having an exceptional day because usually there is a good reason for my "superman" feelings and that not because of my health or strength. But the weather people said the wind was out of the North, light, almost nothing. 

It appeared that more field work had been done since my last trip out here.

  I was taking a shot of the barn in the foreground and later on saw I captured another one! The water tower for Denver, Iowa can be seen in the distance. 

I ended up going further North than last time. I went all the way to the Black Hawk/Bremer County line and turned on Marquise Road to go East. Again, I was feeling pretty strong, despite the chunky, freshly graded gravel which had shunted me off to the extreme right hand edge of the road to find any relief. Once turned onto Marquise Road though, things were exceptionally smooth going. 

East Janesville Church

Wildflowers are starting to appear!

I also discovered why I was feeling so good going up Burton Avenue. It was because the wind was actually out of the Southeast and it was blowing harder than the weather people were forecasting. Terrific! But now everything made sense. 

A freshly planted field in Bremer County

Oh, and the Red Winged Blackbirds are out patrolling already as well. I could hear their sharp chirps at me as I rode down Marquise Road. These weren't very aggressive birds, but later on when their eggs hatch the males will get downright stinky about things. 

Meanwhile the wind, which should have been a pain in the patukis, wasn't a bad thing to deal with. The super smooth road didn't hurt. This continued as I turned South on Sage Road. I was having fun now knowing that - yes - It was me all along. Ha!

A tractor pulling a disc kicks up a cloud of dirt as it moves slowly across this field.

A modest planter rig readies to put some seed into the ground.

The weather was warming up and I was feeling great. The Honeman Flyer was doing well. Oh yeah, I stopped earlier on and raised the saddle. That was a great move, by the way. Things felt so much more "right" after that. Might have had something to do with my performance. Maybe....

It is hard to see, but some crop has emerged here in this field.

The Honeman Flyer at The Big Rock

I made it home in something around two and a half hours after I had left the house. A great ride on a fine late Spring day. I'm really happy with the bike, and I was happy about my performance on this day. Much better than the last ride out that way.

Friday News And Views

Image courtesy of Eddy Merckx Bikes.

Eddy Merckx Bikes Announces Steel Gravel Model:

It isn't often that we see steel as a frame material get a new lease on life as a gravel bike. Today is unusual in that there is news out from Eddy Merckx Bikes that their Strasbourg model is now available in triple butted Columbus steel. 

The bike is welded by one man in Belgium and built up with components of your choosing from SRAM or Shimano. (What?! No Campy Ekar option?) The paint can even be customized per the "Configurator" on the Eddy Merckx site. 

Prices aren't too bad for all of this and there is even a frame set option. Tire clearances are limited, compared to more progressive gravel bikes, at 45mm in 1X and 42mm in 2X set ups. Three sets of bottle bosses are on the main triangle and there are fork mounts as well. The frame features semi-internal routing. The geometry is conservative, but should work for racing or general purpose gravel riding. 

Comments: I wonder if people much younger than I even know who Eddy Merckx is and are aware of his accomplishments. It's been a while since the "Cannibal" has won an event. Perhaps the attacking riding style of Tadej Pogačar in the Giro now and the comparisons of him with Eddy will bring some folks that awareness of Eddy's dominating past. 

That said, it is interesting to note that this gravel bike is named "Strasbourg" because that is the place where Eddy famously won a sprint on a dirt road. So the name for this model seems fitting, yes? 

Image courtesy of SRAM

SRAM Unvieils New Red AXS:

We all knew it was coming, the spy shots have been on the internet for months now. SRAM finally pulled back the curtains to reveal what it claims is the lightest road group set ever, SRAM Red AXS. 

New ergonomics and brake design are said to be more comfortable. The pivot point and mechanics of the brake have been redesigned to yield a brake requiring a claimed 80% less effort to actuate from the hoods and 33% less effort to actuate from the drops. The rotors have also been updated to be lighter weight (aluminum carrier redesign) and have a new design for the brake track which is said to aid in giving the rider more stopping power than the previous generation of SRAM rotors. 

The rear derailleur has a new, larger lower jockey wheel and the maximum allowed cassette low gear is 36T. Several gearing ratios are possible via the different options for crank sets which are 46/33, 48/35, 50/37, 52/39, 54/41, and 56/43. Several crank arm lengths are available ranging from 160mm - 175mm. Power metered cranks are also available. 

New to this group is the integration of the Hammerhead Karoo computer which can be used to control derailleur parameters, shifter functions, and more. SRAM purchased the Hammerhead computer company earlier and the deeper integration of the GPS unit was expected. The Hammerhead Karoo will come with aftermarket purchases of the Red AXS group and on some OEM builds that use SRAM AXS Red. 

Comments: Noting a move to silver polish accents and calipers. Nice! Interestingly in SRAMS's own marketing for this group, they state the reason for the larger jockey wheel in the rear derailleur is, "To match current aesthetic preferences..." Hilarious! 

The integration of the Hammerhead computer is interesting. Hopefully they got those things to work better than the two failures of two separate Karoo 2 GPS navigation units that I experienced. Of course, this assuming that many people will buy into that ecosystem. I look for several Karoo units to be on the "used" marketplaces in the future. 

Look between the cage and the frame. (Image courtesy of Knog)

Knog Introduces Scout Bike Alarm:

A new bike alarm from Knog looks promising for those who need an alert if their bicycle gets moved by anyone including people with ill intentions. 

The Scout Bike Alarm is a rechargeable unit that mounts on any two-bolt water cage mount using Knog's tamper-proof screws. The alarm can be armed with a button or via Knog's iOS app. (Sorry! No Android app at this time) 

If the bike gets moved a loud 80db alarm will sound. The unit will also work with Apple's "Find My" app. LED's show the alarm's status and battery level. The battery is claimed to last 2 - 6 months depending upon frequency of use. The battery is rechargeable via USB-C cable (not included). 

There is a cover for the device if it is used without a bottle cage, or you can mount a bottle cage on top of it for stealth usage. 

The price for the Knog Scout Alarm is @59.95 USD. The unit weighs 25 grams. 

Comments: Ever get the worries when running in for a resupply of water at a convenience store stop? This device could be good for things like that. The fact that you can use a "Find My" app on Apple products also goes a ways in making this device seem worthwhile. 

Perhaps we will all find out together. Supposedly one is on its way to me for testing. Stay tuned.....

Image courtesy of Wheels Manufacturing

Wheels Manufacturing Offering Anodized UDH Hangars:

More anodized bits for your matchy-matchy pleasure. Wheels Manufacturing has UDH rear derailleur hangars which feature any of their current anodized color choices. 

UDH is coming sooner than later for all bicycles and I've noted that gravel bikes being introduced of late feature this sort of hangar now. 

I've got no particular beef with the idea, it is fine, and I suppose stronger as well. Anything to eliminate the umpteen number of puzzle-piece rear hangars that proliferated over the course of the last 30 years. 

But that's another story! The point is, now you have another point where you can accessorize your bike with a bit of color and be "oh-so fashionable". 

That's a wrap for this week. Have a great weekend and ride those bikes! Special shout-out to the Heywood Ride happening tomorrow in Northfield Minnesota. Wish I could be there!

Review: Camp Snap Camera

The Camp Snap Camera and box contents.

Note: The Camp Snap Camera was purchased by Guitar Ted and is being reviewed without the knowledge of Camp Snap. I was not paid, bribed, nor am I affiliated with Camp Snap in any way. I always strive to give my honest thoughts and views in any review I write.

Well, a camera is kind of a 'cycling adjacent' item here, since as you all know, I take a lot of images and post many here on this blog. That said, I must post a disclaimer here: I am in no way a "photographer", nor do I know anything much about photography. 

So, any persons reading this that are well versed in photography may want to tune out here. I'm probably not going to impart the information you want, nor will I speak to this Camp Snap camera in photographer jargon. So I'll likely offend those who hold those tenants of photography religiously. If you are a 'photographer' and dare to read on, that's on you. 

I am a cyclist that happens to carry a camera and I take a bunch of images. I like simplicity and the Camp Snap Camera promised that. Turn it on. Point the lens at a subject. Press button. Done. My kind of device there. Especially since a lot of my imagery is taken while riding. I don't have time for settings, tweaking, or what have you.

This is a super-simple camera. Not much to see here.

First Impressions:

Out of the box you will notice that this camera is very lightweight. No wonder, as it is all plastic construction. The Camp Snap Camera only weighs 93 grams, so it definitely won't weigh your pocket down. The size of the device is 11.5cm long X 6cm high X 2.5cm deep, not including the "lens protrusion". It's roughly the same size as my Olympus Tough TG-5. 

Camp Snap developed this camera for kids to take on vacations and the like. So, it is super-simple. It also feels like a toy. If you want a "real camera feel", you will be highly disappointed. 

That said, Camp Snap claims this camera is rough and tumble ready since it has zero moving parts inside and only two buttons. The shutter/on/off button up top and a slider button that controls the LED flash. You will also note that on the back there is an LED read out for the number of images taken and a "viewfinder" window. Four small Phillips head screws hold the back on. 

On the bottom of the camera there is a door for access to a Micro-SD card which is held in place by a 'micro-Phillips' screw. The USB C port is also here covered by a rubber cap tethered to the surround for the opening. There is also a perforated circular shaped section where the speaker resides inside the camera housing.

Annnnnd......that's about it! You long-press the shutter button to hear a double beep from the speaker to activate the camera. One short press will activate a "shutter sound" which indicates that an image has been grabbed. The LED will read out "001" and count upward as more images are taken. One long-press again, one beep, and the camera shuts down. Or you can simply set the device down and it self-shuts down after ten minutes. 

Recharging the device is done via the USB-C port. The cable provided has double USB-C ends, so you'll need an adapter to hook up to your computer, or you can sub in another cable, as I did, to hook the camera up to a computer's USB outlet. 

The camera arrived partially charged, but it only took about half an hour to bring it up to a full charge. There is a 4GB Micro-SD card installed which can hold up to a claimed 2000 images. Images can be downloaded to a computer via USB, or directly off the card using a card reader. 

I thought the Camp Snap construction was a bit of a letdown, to be honest. It feels cheap, and it definitely does not seem robust enough to hold up to even a child's rough handling. For instance, the colorful faux-leather panel is glued directly on top of the plastic housing and the edges of that panel are exposed which could catch and end up pulling off the casing. We will see in the future. But that and the cheesy "beep" emanating from the inside of the camera, the "shutter" sound, and the 1990's era LED panel emanate a feeling of a carnival prize, in my opinion. But hey! It's 65 bucks, right? 

How about some images? 

The first three images were heavily processed in the computer. The last one is untouched. A few notes...

• It seems that the Camp Snap camera has a hard time with brightness control. I had a couple other images that were unusable due to their being blown out. The top three images required a lot of brightness control and contrasting to bring out more detail and interesting textures. 
• That being the case, this camera does not tolerate being pointed anywhere near a bright source of light. This blows out the images badly. This includes when the camera senses that it needs the flash. I found the flash to be kind of useless in the daytime. Maybe at night it would work better? I'll try to find out.
  
• Depth of field is odd. You can see how my bike is out of focus in the last image but the tree bark is in focus about a foot and a half behind the bike. So, no real close shots here. For reference, that grip is leaning on the tree.

So the camera is pretty low-tech and it shows. This is not "character" in that the images are not cheesy-fun. The images are just not very good. But we'll see how things go once I get out in the country and start shooting from the saddle of the bike like I usually do. 

Now on to my experience downloading the images. I am a card reader kind of guy. I don't like other camera's native software and I usually eschew any such complexities. Give me the card, I slap that puppy in a card reader, hook up to my computer, and boom! I get to work. It's just been my process over the years. 

The Camp Snap files can be searched and sent to your favorite processing "in the box" program or to wherever you want. But I figured I'd pull that Micro-SD card out and just get to work as usual. But wait! That door held on by that tiny screw? Yeah.... 

That screw is very tiny and you'd better not lose it or you will be looking a long time to find a replacement. Then there is the Micro-SD slot. 

Generally, in my limited experiences with SD card slots, the opening is almost impossible to miss or over-shoot when replacing the card. However; there is a "Micro-SD" sized space above the card slot in the Camp Snap that I inadvertently slid the card into and.... There went the card into the internals of the camera! 

I tried shaking it out but the card migrated further into the bowels of the camera. I could hear it rattling around in there, and I figured that was not a good thing. So, in desperation, I went in where "no user serviceable parts" are found. I removed the four screws holding the two halves of the Camp Snap together and gently tried prying those halves apart. 

That was stymied when I found that the back didn't want to separate and I could only get one end to open about a centimeter. But that was enough to shake out the SD card and get everything back where it belonged. And the camera still works! 

Phew! 

So, the lesson here is that IF you decide to get at the SD card, be very, very careful! That mess was on me. 

More soon...

Announcing The "Victory Ride"

This is Warren Weibe. The "Victory Ride" is his idea.

 I've had the privilege to have met many fine individuals throughout the years that I have been involved in gravel cycling. One of those people is Warren Weibe. 

You may not know Warren, but he has been a fixture in the gravel scene since way-back. Always a single speeder too. Anyway, Warren and I go way back and he has always been very encouraging of my events, especially Trans Iowa. 

Well, Warren most recently had his nephew track me down at Mid-South to say hello. I'm not sure why, but maybe this got Warren to thinking about something in the realm of riding with me and he cooked up an idea. 

The basics are that Warren, and probably his nephew, are planning on coming all the way up here to just ride with me. Warren calls it the "Victory Ride", so I don't know why the ride is being called that other than this is what Warren wanted. Since he is coming all this way to do this, I am deferring to his wishes. This and keeping the ride chill and intimate are the only requirements he had for this. Oh...that and it has to be low stress for me. 

So, I turned to N.Y. Roll for a route and he has come up with one that is just shy of 50 miles that will start and end in Urbana, Iowa which is located about halfway between Waterloo and Cedar Rapids Iowa on I-380. The ride will happen on Saturday June 15th. 

So, this is being announced here because I wanted you all to have the knowledge and at least the chance to consider this as an an invitation. My thoughts being that if I did not say anything, and the ride happened, and I talked about it here afterward that I'd get, "Why didn't you say anything ahead of time?" type comments. Well, now this is out there and you know if you are reading this. If you need a reference for what this ride will be and a few images from the same area it will be held in, SEE THIS POST.

Now for the part you should know, but it has to be said: You Are Responsible For You. No sag. It is NOT A RACE. Don't come if you are not in a mood to talk, stop a few times, and have a chill experience on gravel. Come prepared to ride with water, food, and a repair kit. There will be one resupply stop. 

More details soon. 

Got questions? Hit me up in the comments. I'll do my best to get answers.

Gravel Grinder News: Gravel Worlds Changes Venue

Image courtesy of Gravel Worlds social media.

Last week it was announced that Gravel Worlds would be changing its venue to be at the Sandhills Global Event Center on the Eastern edge of Lincoln, Nebraska. 

The change from the Fallbrook neighborhood means that the Gravel Worlds organization can now offer camping, with over 1000 camping spots. The event will begin and end on gravel, instead of the several miles of pavement running into and out of Fallbrook Neighborhood. Parking should be improved as well as access to more motels and hotels near to the event center. The finish will have grandstands for better public/support people's enjoyment.

Ironically enough, this is the very same venue that the first two Gravel Worlds events were run out of in 2010 and 2011. 

Comments: This is a nearly 100% positive change for this event. Nothing against the Fallbrook start and finish, but I felt the event had outgrown that venue and was impinging upon local Fallbrook residents who lived out that way. 

The Sandhills Global Event Center, while sounding a bit pretentious in name, is really a lot more "grassroots" feeling than Fallbrook. It is, in effect, a county fairgrounds, at its roots, so a gravel event kind of fits right in here, I think. 

Well, not really, I know it fits, because I was there in 2010. The event is about 50 times larger than it was back then, (not really, but you know what I mean) , but this events center is huge and will accommodate the event as it is now in a far better way. At least potentially it should. 

In my opinion this is a big move to the good for Gravel Worlds, but let me know if you think differently in the comments. 

Country Views: Ditch Harvest

Escape Route: Burton Avenue in Northern Waterloo.

 Rain. Lots of it too. We went from having Extreme Drought conditions only three weeks ago to now a "moderate" condition for drought, all thanks to near daily rains over the past week or so. 

Not just your garden variety showers here and there either. Day-long soakers. Big downpours. Inches of rain at a crack sometimes. We have a flood warning! I see overflowing ponds and water standing in the ditches in places. It's a total turnaround from the last two years of very dry conditions and rain coming, at times, months apart from each other instead of near daily events. 

Look, we need that rain badly, so I am not complaining, but the riding has suffered due to that. A respite from the rain occurred, finally, on Friday, so I got the bike out and headed North. I did not feel that great because the previous week was riddled with poor amounts of sleep for many reasons. Storms at night being one of them. That said, I was going for this ride regardless. 

It was pretty breezy out of the West-Southwest, and the skies were beautifully peppered with puffy clouds and blown apart contrails from jet traffic. We have a LOT of jet traffic overhead here in this part of Iowa and having a completely clean sky is super rare. I've only seen it twice in the last quarter century. Once after 9-11 and then most recently four years ago at the beginning of the pandemic. 

The Cedar River at Waterloo. Brown water filling the banks. Hasn't been seen in several years!

The Solar Farm off Burton Avenue finally had some Sun to work with.

I also had to climb up out of the Cedar Valley on my way North which requires covering several rollers, always gaining a little elevation as you go North. The wind wasn't helping as it was shoving me sideways a bit, so I had to kind of ride herd on the bike to stay in a straight line. Fortunately the gravel was excellent, as it has been to start out this season. 

While we have a "grid system" for roads, that doesn't necessarily mean the roads are straight!

Something not seen for a few years: Standing water in the ditches.

I really didn't know how far North I'd go. I always think in my head I'm going further than I actually do most rides. This one was no exception. I reached the corner of Bennington Road and Burton Avenue and decided to take a break. There is a little community of homes here in the Southeastern corner of this intersection. As I stopped I noted a UPS truck straight ahead that was stopped at the corner farm on the Northeast side of the intersection, and to my right, a hundred yards or so down Bennington Road, a Ford F-150 sat idling. 

That's a lot to have going on in the country! Usually I don't hardly see anyone or any vehicles in this region. The F-150, an older model, with stickers all over the back bumper, was my main concern. The truck was just sitting there for several minutes. Should I go around it or go up Burton? I wanted to start heading back to Waterloo but not back the way I came. I also did not want to go the two miles North to get to the next East-West gravel road. I stood by my bike for several minutes debating what to do. I felt uneasy about passing by the running truck, but I did not feel very great and riding more miles than I wanted was not appealing either. 

The intersection where I stopped dead ahead here.

 I eventually decided just to go for it and ride by the truck. I felt pretty unsure about how this might go. The rear window of the cab wasn't very transparent and the Sun made a glare off it as well which precluded my being able to see if anyone was in the truck. That only added to my fears. But my fatigue was such that I was willing to just go ahead and ride by the thing. 

As I approached the rumbling Ford, I could hear rock music emanating from the open driver's window. A heavy riff on guitar and really, not a bad sounding tune. This made me think the driver was a male and probably younger than I. I glanced over to the truck as I was passing it, expecting some encounter, but to my surprise the truck was empty! 

I looked up the road just then and I noted some movement in the ditch about 30 yards up the road from the truck. It looked to be a young male, maybe in his twenties, seemingly looking side to side in the knee-high grass, and holding a bundle of something green in his right hand. As I approached it became apparent to me what was going on here and I relaxed and smiled.

"Asparagus?", I asked, and the young man replied, "Yes Sir!", to which I replied, "Nice!". And I was happy to understand that the young man was doing something positive and healthy. I mean, many older folks are into harvesting wild stuff, so when I see younger folk doing that it warms my heart a bit, I guess.

The blue color of the metal roofs on this farm is jarringly vivid.

I saw these ducks beside the road which are scurrying for cover here, but the goat stopped out of curiosity.

Heading East now I had the wind mostly at my back and I felt hot. Hot for the first time in 2024. While it was only in the mid-70's, I am not yet heat acclimated. I'd better get there soon because in a month or so 70-ish degrees will feel like air conditioning! 

I thought about heading as far as Sage Road but then thought better of that because I'd likely end up battling a headwind up Airline Highway and I wasn't up for that on this day. So I made the lazy right hander on to Moline Road instead. 

Shreds of jet contrails are blown overhead as a lone vehicle travels North on Moline Road.

Clouds begin to gather as the afternoon wears on.

I was out during the warmest and windiest part of the day. Heading back South on Moline Road wasn't too awful. In fact, it was better than I expected it to be. The wind seemed mostly to be out of the West. I'd only have a mile of headwind to get back to town once I turned off Moline Road. 

There still is not much growing out in the fields yet.

The farm fields seem dormant yet. I think this cool, wet weather has had an effect that way. The ditches showed signs of life. I spotted at least one Prairie Rose, a few violet/purple colored flowers, and some random bunches of yellow that were not dandelions. I am hopeful that with this injection of moisture that the wild flower action will be very good this year. 

Waterloo is an old "train town". Here were some idling locomotives just off 4th street at the rail yards.

I had a decent ride. I made it home and felt a bit worn down, but not awful, so that was good. My decision not to go longer was a good one on this day. At least I got out there again after sitting watching the rain fall for so many days. 

I will be getting back out there sooner than later with all this Velo Orange stuff that landed on Friday. Stay tuned for that coming soon....

This Wasn't My Idea....

In celebration of the twentieth year of this blog, I have a few tales to tell. This post is one of them. This series will occur off and on throughout this anniversary year, I hope to illuminate some behind-the-scenes stories and highlights from the blog during this time. Enjoy!

The Influencer:

The entire existence of this blog really hinges upon one individual, and that person is not me! I was, as they might say now, pushed into this gig by an "Influencer" from the internet. 

Influencers. Those personalities that companies will flock to because their social media content is followed by a large number of people that are "influenced" by their content. The "social media" in this instance was a blog. There wasn't really anything else you might call "social media" back in 2005. 

There were "chat rooms". Remember those? There were niche sites where comment threads were commonplace. "Forums", as they are referred to, were really where the discourse happened back then across the internet. The person that influenced me was also a big draw on a specific forum on mtbr.com's Endurance Forum. His name? Jeff Kerkove.

Jeff Kerkove, circa 2004, clowing up for the camera at work.

I knew Jeff better than most at the time because I had the privilege to work beside him from late 2002 to early 2007. For most of that time we were both shop mechanics at a local bike shop called Europa Cycle and Ski. He worked on one side of a Park repair stand, I on the other. It was inevitable that we would get to know one another at that time.

Our lives could not have been more different. I was a good dozen years his senior in age. I had a family and with two young children, I was very busy with that part of my life. Jeff was fresh out of college, single, and very very driven. His main focus was on training for, and participating in 24hr solo mtb races. 

He had a blog which detailed his training regimen, nutrition, and tactics in regard to racing. This blog ended up becoming quite popular and Jeff was fielding questions about his training and racing on a near daily basis back then. It didn't take long for sponsors to come around, and Jeff was excellent at landing more backers to help him in his quest for 24hr racing dominance. 

Meanwhile, here I was having near daily banter with Jeff while we toiled over hybrid bikes and creaky bottom brackets. I seemed to hit it off with Jeff right away, despite our differences. In fact, after the first few weeks of working with Jeff, I was approached by our boss on a day when Jeff wasn't there. He wanted to know what it was I was doing in regard to Jeff. How was it that I was able to "make him laugh" and have conversation with him, because my boss told me that no one had been able to crack him yet. 

Jeff had worked at the bike shop through college, and no one had really gotten to know him, or have animated banter with him like I was able to do. Why that was is anyone's guess. Only Jeff could really illuminate that for us all. But the fact remained that - for whatever reasons - I was the one Jeff seemed to open up to at work. 

Jeff at the GCHoF Group Ride in Emporia, Kansas 2023.

Jeff seemed to think I had a good amount of knowledge regarding cycling and he thought I was 'funny and interesting" enough that others should have the opportunity to get to know me as well. It was around late 2004 when Jeff started insisting that I should start a blog like he had. 

I scoffed at the idea. Me? Who cares about what I have to say? Jeff was, well......a racer. People respected his accomplishments and saw value in his knowledge of training, race tactics, and athlete sponsorship. People wanted to know what Jeff had to say. His blog was a requisite morning stop for many cyclists. Me? No one had ever heard of me. Why would anyone read a blog I wrote?

But blogs were a 'thing' yet in 2004 and 2005. A lot of cyclists had a blog then because there wasn't really anywhere else one could express themselves and their activities. Now? Well now you've got two dozen ways to do that. But back then? Blogging was it. Jeff thought I should join in the fun. He kept insisting I start a blog. He even allowed me to write posts on his blog starting in 2004. Then we cooked up Trans Iowa and that forced me to communicate via Jeff's blog as that was how we presented ideas in longer form than the Trans Iowa blog allowed for due to its format. 

Then post-Trans Iowa Jeff really started twisting my arm to do this blog. He even helped me format the first version of this blog. He taught me how to do a few things, and then, well.... You know the rest of the story. The point is, without Jeff Kerkove being in my life at that time I would never have doine what I have done in regard to cycling. 

Thanks Jeff!