Gravel Bike - Ride

Back to Part 1

 

I’ve purposely put off doing this post until I could get enough ride time on this collection of parts to give some good feedback on how it all fits together. I am at about 200 miles now and have formed some definite opinions.  

  

 

You’ll remember that I used a set of old aluminum road bike handlebars that were stacked in my basement parts corner.  They were taken from an old road bike when I upgraded it to a sweet set of carbon bars a few years ago.  I could have reported back on these the first time I test-rode, but I wanted to wait and play with the angles and rotation and placement of the shifters.  There’s just no way around it.  These bars suck, I hate every minute of using them.  They are too narrow, I feel scrunched up between the hoods, It might be just what I am used to.  My road bike bars are 2cm wider and my mtn bike bars are 20cm wider.  The drop is so ridiculously deep it is unuseable, and the ergo bends are a joke.  There is no comfortable sweet spot.  They are harsh, I feel shaken to death with them (this could be a product of the whole aluminum frame and fork, but I’m blaming the bars for now).

  

 

The one bright spot here is that I was smart enough not to wrap the bars with the new Lizard Skinz bar tape until I was satisfied that they were set up right.  I’m now convinced that there is no ‘right’ set-up and they will have to be replaced. 

 

  

 

I put a lot of studying, talking, and review reading time into selecting a saddle.  You remember in a previous post I went with the Brooks Imperial.  And predictably, just like everyone said, the first ride was an eye opener “Wow, this thing is hard!”  But I kept at it, even switching it to my mtn bike when I rode it just to get more time on the saddle.  I applied and reapplied the Proofride.  Then maybe two weeks later, I was riding and hadn’t thought about the saddle recently.  It was starting to disappear underneath me. During one ride I traded bikes to ride Lori’s Giant for a while and right away I knew I wanted back on the Brooks.  I really think I have a winner here.  The short trade-ride also convinced Lori that she wants a Brooks.  So now I gotta give some credit where it is due: Thanks Bob Jenkins, you have made my ass very happy.


The very first ride found me cruising on this gravel loop near the river.  Happily riding along all proud of how well the wheels I hand-built were performing.  (foreshadowing alert!)

 

About ¾ of the way around the loop the rear wheel picked up a wobble.  I was trying to decide what hole I hit could have bent my wheel.  I didn’t remember hitting anything big enough. So, I watched it wobble off and on while I rode, sure enough it was getting worse.  Before long it was rubbing the inner drive side chain stay.  I stayed off the power and coasted as easy I could back home.  I pulled the wheel off and put it on the truing stand.  It was all jacked up.  Right away I noticed loose spokes, a LOT of loose spokes, rattling around, not even finger tight.  I spent an hour re-tensioning and truing the wheel.  Luckily there was no permanent damage.  It is as straight and round as I could hope for (again).  The only thing I can figure is I had under tensioned the spokes to begin with, then they loosened more on that first ride.  So this time I cranked the spokes a little tighter, and since the repair the wheel hasn’t changed a bit. 

The BBG bashguard is working out well.  There’s a pretty steep driveline angle when I am on the smallest cassette ring, but I haven’t dropped a chain yet so I’ll call that a success.  I haven’t bashed it on anything so far, but it looks like it should hold up good against any damage.

I am loving these Schwalbe Marathon Mondial tires.  I’ve hit a couple of holes and some pieces of gravel that made that loud ‘ping’ sound with no ill effects.  I know that’s no real test of how tough they are, but at least it’s a good beginning.  I started out riding them at 45 psi, but lowered the pressure to 40 after the first ride.  I think that may be their sweet-spot for hard gravel.  Anything looser or more off-road and I think I will take them to 35psi.

The only thing that concerns me is I have them in 700x35 size and I think I would like a larger size for some of that rougher looser gravel.  But look at this picture of the very limited clearance I have between the chain stays and tire.  No way to get a bigger tire in there.  I even question if these 35’s are too big.  It won’t take much mud or snow to completely fill that little gap.

In the time I've been doing these gravel test rides I can also tell you the gravel roads are great riding.  They are mostly deserted and the few farm trucks or cars that go by mostly seem to wave a ‘Hello’.  Some even go out of their way to pull a little to the side and slow down to avoid covering you with the dust.  Now that’s a far cry from one fingered waves, rude yells out the window, and beer bottles off the helmet that I have experienced on paved roads.  So I am going to keep riding the gravel bike and call it a success.  Oh and those handlebars are going to be changed out ASAP.

Part 10

Skippo Trial Race

Rock Racing - a victory for Jacob

So, have I whined enough about what bad shape I’m in, if you don’t think so then you haven’t been around me enough lately.  I know Chuck keeps saying he is in bad shape too, but not nearly as bad as me.  I mean how did we both just finish an Ironman race only 8 weeks ago and then have a simple little 20K trail run almost kill us.

Well this is a very short tale, but I’m sure you will get a full picture of what transpired.  Chuck and I both signed up for the 30K race, but as the race neared we both came to realize that we were in no shape to run a 30K, so we both dropped down to the 20K race.  Chuck’s son Jacob was also signed up for the 20K, which put Chuck in a bad position, he would have to do anything he could to beat Jacob. 

I got to Castlewood and parked my car right next to SuperKate, she says “I just got a text from Chuck, Jacob forgot his running shoes so they have to go back home to get them, they would like one of us to pick up their race packets”.  Since Kate already had hers, I said I would grab them.  As I was in line to pick up the race packets the computers went down and the race organizers were scrambling to manually give out numbers.  I also found out that they only had size small girl’s shirts so I would have to have one mailed to me when they came in.  This race was not starting out well.  I put my number on and waited for Chuck and Jacob to show up, if they didn’t show by the start of the race I planned to leave their numbers on my car windshield for them to grab when they arrived.  As I stood at the back of the pack of runners, stretching I saw them walking up, it was one minute until start time.  They quickly pinned their numbers on as the race started.  Jacob ran for the bathroom hoping to get back before our wave took off. As we took off Chuck and I saw Jacob running to the starting line. I figured in about a mile he would be passing us.

So this race was two laps for the 20K and each lap consisted of a 6.2 mile loop with 217 stairs to climb on each lap.  As we hit the stairs, Chuck and I were still together, we stayed together for a long while then I heard Jacob yell my name from the trail above, he was about to catch us.  Well that’s all it took as soon as Chuck heard Jacob, he took off like a lightning bolt.  I kept trudging along thinking Jacob would over take me at any moment, but he never showed up.  When he finally caught me we were at the creek and he showed me his war wounds, he had taken a nasty fall right after he saw us. He is a tough kid though and he got back up and kept running. Soon he and Chuck were ahead of me and I could see them about half way up cardiac hill as I was just beginning the climb.  We had less than 3 miles of the first lap left. I caught the boys at the top of cardiac hill and from there we passed each other off and on for the rest of the race. 

When we ran past the finish line to start the second lap, Jacob and I were just behind Chuck and we both thought it would have been really nice to have turned into the finish line, but we didn’t, we trudged on.  On our second time up the stairs there were not as many people, we could have run, but REALLY, my legs would not have gone for that, so we walked up.  Then it was back to the cat and mouse game that we were playing with each other.  Just before the creek, SuperKate passed us and my gosh she was running well, and she was doing the 30K, this really put me in a mood.  How could she pass me like that and she had to do a third lap.  At least someone was having a good day.  

Really though it was a nice day, even a little warm, there were tons of people so it didn’t feel like I was last and at least I was close enough to talk to Chuck and Jacob some of the time. As I headed down the trial towards the road, I still, had the boys in my sights, but I didn’t think I could catch them.  All of the sudden a fellow Godzilla teammate, Maureen, comes flying by she was about to finish the 30K, I got lapped.  Now in my defense she is super fast and she won the 30K race, the overall Female, so at least I didn’t get passed by a snail.  As I got to the road Keith was sitting on the hill cheering me on, telling me that the boys were just in front of me.  As I ran down the last straight away, I see Jacob finish then Chuck finish right behind him.  I made the turn into the finish and the boys were there waiting for me cheering me on, that really felt good. 

So I finished the race 2 minutes behind Chuck and Jacob beat Chuck just by seconds.  I wanted to run a 2:30 and I ran a 2:30:30, so I’m calling that a victory.  Even though today, two days after the race, I’m still limping around, I think it was all worth it.  It was a great day spent with good friends and I got a little exercise to boot. Oh and Jacob won his age group and got a really cool glass. And Jeff who finished the 30K just behind us finishing the 20K, also won his age group. Even if I’m not fast, I can say I know people who are fast.

NOTE: Chuck was in such a hurry to make it to the race that he had been driving on empty for 25 miles, so I had to follow him to the gas station after the race to make sure he made it.  Well he did, but it would have been pretty funny if he hadn’t. 

ROCK Racing spotted in Europe

You have to see this, the highly coveted Green ROCK Racing shirt was recently spotted in Europe.  If you look closely you can see the ROCK Racing logo just below the straps of the backpack, that was being worn by an unnamed man.  We aren't sure who he is, but since he is wearing the ROCK Racing shirt we are sure he is Famous in one way or another.  I bet the women is his model wife and with his beautiful girls.

Gravel Bike - Part 10

Part 9

The only thing left now is saddle and tires.

My original plan was to use the saddle from my road bike for gravel bike.  It is a Selle Italia Gel Flow with a cut-out.  I put a lot of time on that saddle this summer during Ironman training, and it never felt 'just-right'.  It was useable and I done a TON of miles on it, but I decided to spend some money on a new saddle for gravel bike.  I'm planning some long-long rides and a saddle is not a place to save money and compromise.  After reading endless reviews and talking to several people (Thanks Bob and Fred!) that have them, I decided on an old-school leather Brooks.  When my new B17 Imperial arrived via UPS, I stole the seat-post from my Specialized road bike and put it in the frame with the saddle on top.  I read how using the Brooks Proofride helps break in the saddle and protect it during use, so I smeared it with a good greasy coat.  I also stole the underseat bag from my road bike.

 

Odd shaped cut-out, seems to remind me of something, just can't place it.

ROCK Racing has a great partnership deal with Schwalbe tires, so I talked to their tech guy and told him about gravel bike and my plans for it.  He didn't hesitate when he said the Schwalbe Marathon Mondial was the tire I wanted.  He also told me that the tire was not tubeless ready.  I already planned for tubeless, so I guess its a little bit of a risk on how they will perform.  I ordered two sets 35c and 40c.  Hoping the bigger 40's would fit in my frame rails.  Well they didn't.  Even the 35's are a lot tighter than I like in between the rear chainstays. 

I have a previous post about setting up tubeless tires so I'm only going to add that these Marathons were so incredibly easy to set up I almost can't believe it.  The tires installed with no levers, just fingers.  I was able to get the beads to set on the first try only using a hand pump.  And they haven't leaked down one time since then.  The tread pattern looks perfect for what I want and the sidewalls have this indestructible feeling.  Another thing I didn't expect was one of those 'glowey-don't-run-me-over' strips around the diameter of the tire.  You have to see them in the dark to believe how brightly they reflect light.  They are amazing, I can't wait to get some miles on them and find out if they ride as well as they install and look.  

You probably noticed by now that all the pictures used in this post were taken outside on a gravel road instead of in my basement on the workstand.  

That's because ITS DONE!!!!

Well maybe not completely done. Are they ever? Next post will be a first ride report and how well I like or dislike the parts I used for the build, and what changes I need to make.

2012 Berryman Adventure - Part 2

back to Part 1

 Jacob opened an Ensure and gave it to me.  The calories helped clear my head.  I pulled open my pack and got out our first aid kit and took some ibuprofen (three, four, more?) I dunno how many.  And there was a long elastic bandage.  I’ve carried that thing through so many races and always considered it a hindrance, just required gear weighing me down.  But now I pulled it out silently thanking all the past and current race directors (Thanks Gary!) that put that on the required gear lists.

My ankle was swelling already so I was kind of afraid to take my shoe off.  So I worked fast, pulled it off wrapped it tight with the tape and jammed it back on.


Gear Tip:  Get the elastic bandage that sticks to itself.  I can’t believe how well this thing worked.  It stayed on nice and tight the rest of the day.  I was also wearing tall Swiftwick socks when this happened.  I’m sure the compression of those socks helped prevent this injury from being much worse.


I found a nice length of recently downed oak branch to use as a cane and slowly hobbled back up the hill.  We changed our game plan from clearing the trek section, to just making it back out to the road.  It was still an adventure race though, so we picked a route back out that allowed us to get two more CP’s.  I maxed out the 100ft rule (but didn’t exceed it!) by having Jacob go down into the reentrants and the one pond to punch the CP’s.  Once back out on the paved road I was able to manage this shuffling, wobbly, slow, barely-jog. 

The rest of the race would be bike and canoe, so I just had to do these last few miles back to the bike CP.  I felt like I would be able to ride OK since there would be no twisting or turning loads on my ankle once clipped in.  Not fast, but Ok.  There was a cut-off time for the canoe at 7pm.  After plotting points and strategizing last night I had estimated our paddle time at 3 hrs, so we had to be in the water by 4pm.  Thinking there was 2hrs of biking to get there (boat ramp) meant we had to finish the trek by 2pm.
 
We skipped the last couple of checkpoints to make it back to TA on my injured ankle to meet our 2pm goal.  There were a couple CP’s (14, 15, and 16) that I hated passing, they would have been easy to pick up on the way, but there was no way the ankle could go down anymore reentrants.


SuperKate and Jim from Team Hangover were also heading back into the TA at the same time we were, so we got in a little fun-time goofing around with them while trying to keep up with Kate’s 6 min/mile pace.  We came back in by gravel road and was sad to see only a few bikes left in the TA.  I swallowed more ibuprofen and we got out on the road pretty quickly.

The road biking was over for the day once we hit the intersection with the Ozark Trail.  We turned in and were rewarded with some amazing singletrack.  Despite my ankle screaming in protest I loved this section of the race.  The trail was amazing.  Long screaming downhills and smooth sailing.  Jacob was loving this section too.  The climbs were perfectly switch-backed to keep them manageable.  I have to get a weekend soon to ride there again.

CP19 was placed in a creek junction just off the trail.  We stopped at the perfect spot and Jacob ran off down the creek to punch the CP.   He came back successful a minute later.  We continued on the great singletrack crossing the highway and picking up CP20 just before turning north onto the Council Bluffs trail.  Council Bluffs has always seemed pretty technical to me, so I was a little concerned about Jacob riding it.  He hadn’t been on the mtn bike for a few months, but the kid was great, he rode or bounced over everything the trail threw at us. 

We made it back to the 5/21/27 TA and we each downed an Ensure (and more ibuprofen for me) to keep our energy levels up for the canoe.  I was so glad to be getting off our feet for awhile.  We seen Bill and Laura Scherff finishing up the canoe leg as we were heading in.  Bill gave us some great advice to attack the lake in a clockwise direction to make the most of the increasingly strong wind.

At the pre-race meeting we were warned about the lake level.  Since Council Bluffs is a man-made lake water levels were currently sitting at the same height as the standing timber that was left when the lake was originally flooded.  Jacob was up front paddling so he had stump-watch duty.  We brought our kayak paddles to the race and we really made some good time on the paddle leg.  We dodged stumps, and hit a few, but ended up getting all 6 paddle CP’s and stayed dry to top it all off.

We came back into 5/21/27 TA and had a hard choice to make.  The next 3 CP’s would mean we had to ride the singletrack loop around Council Bluffs.  My ankle was NOT feeling up to multiple click-in’s and click-out’s, as I knew there were places I would have to walk around out there on the very technical rock gardens on the southeast side of the lake.  We had missed enough CP’s in the trekking section that we already knew we wouldn’t be finishing well enough to make any difference.  So we decided to cut our losses and ride in the by the short single-track on the northwest side of the lake.

The final bike leg was over a few minutes before dark.  We came into the finish to cheers and friends waiting.  Bonk Hard also had some great post-race food for us.  We sat around re-hashing the day with other teams, and were asked multiple times about Jacobs age.  Haha, not many 15 yr olds in adventure racing.  The best part is he loved it and is ready to go again!

The Changing of the Tires

So one day I’m out riding my road bike when I notice something red on my tires.  Well when I finished my ride, I took a good look at my tires and what do I find, but the side wall of my Michelin Krylion Carbon Tire deteriorating and a red ply coming through.  And these Michelin tires were expensive, I wasn’t happy about how the wore out so quickly. 

If you know me, you know I am cheap, so the first thing I thought, was how long can I ride this bike before the tires will explode.  I talked to my wrench, that’s Chuck, and he said “well you really should get some new tires”. He also said that since Schwalbe is our sponsor I could get some really high end tires that will last a whole lot longer.  He also gave me all the technical data about why these Schwalbe Evolution tires were way better than the Michelins that were literally deteriorating in front of my eyes. 

So Chuck placed a tire order because he needed a Racing Ralph for his mountain bike anyway, so he ordered tires for me too.  I didn’t have to do any of the leg work, I’m sure glad I have Chuck as my teammate. 

Even after I got the tires I just couldn’t find time to change them and I continued to ride on the deteriorating Michelins. 

They were getting so bad that I finally said enough and decided to change them.  So one day during my lunch hour at work, I picked up Chuck and we drove to a park pavilion, since it was pouring down rain, and we changed the tires.  

Well if you really want to know I wasn’t much help, Chuck was almost finished with changing the back tire, while I was still trying to get the tire off the front wheel.  I finally got it off with the help of a co-worker who was hanging out with us.  That was just about the same time Chuck was putting air in the back tire.

I finally finished installing the front tire, again, with some help from Chuck and got the wheel back on the bike. See how we have the valve stem at the center of the Schwalbe logo.  Now if I get a flat I will always know where the tire was lined up to the tube when I’m checking for puncture particles.  My wrench, Chuck, taught me that. I guess you know what happened to those worthless Michelin tires.

So now it’s time to test these babies out, my next post will be a review and how the tires work at road tested by me. 

Gravel Bike - Part 9

Part 1

I installed the brakes in Part 8, now they needed cables.  I ordered the standard SRAM brake and shift cables.  There are some very cool sealed cables available, but they were so expensive it seemed like I could replace these cheaper cables a couple of times before paying for the expensive ones.  The brake and shift cables are not interchangeable.  The SRAM boxes were labeled appropriately.  It seems like it would be impossible to confuse the two since they have different outer sheaths and different inner cable diameters.

The inner cables go through the shifter handles once the rubber covers are peeled up to expose the entrance hole and exit groove.

The outer sheath is threaded over the inner all the way up to the shifter and inserted up to the stops.

The other end of the cable has to be cut to fit.  It will be different for every bike.  I just set the cable into the stops with some nice easy smooth bends.  Then I came back and used electrical tape to ‘tie down’ the cable to the handlebar bends.  Next I swung the handlebar from side to side through the full steering range making sure there is no interference with other parts, while also checking to make sure it didn’t pull too tight or limit the steering range.

I have a great tool for cutting cables.  It is the Park Tools Professional Cable Cutter
http://www.parktool.com/product/professional-cable-and-housing-cutter-CN-10
It does a great job of cutting the outer sheaths without crushing the anti-compression windings or the inner Teflon liners in them.  The first bike I built I used a Dremel tool with a cut-off wheel for the cables.  It worked, but not very well.  Do yourself a favor and get this tool (or borrow mine) before your next cable job.

I continued routing and cutting the sheath until I had the length right.  I stuck a ferrule over the end and seated it in the brake caliper.  The BB-7 caliper has a nice seal over the outer sheath and inner cable end to keep out water and grit.

 The interior cable is pulled tight and clamped down under the caliper cap head screw.  I didn't have a torque value for this so I just got it nice and tight without going crazy and crushing the cable.

I cut the cable off leaving about two inches hanging free below the caliper.

Lastly I secured it with a nice red anodized aluminum end stop.  The same Park tool I used above has a die set to crimp cable ends also.  It comes out looking way better than mashing them to hell with a vice-grip.  I hate it when bike don’t have these cable ends on them.  The cables end up frayed in no time making any further maintenance on them almost impossible.

I used the same methods to install the front brake cable and shifter/derailer cable.  It takes all the same steps so I didn’t take a bunch of extra pictures.  Here is a great link for everything you ever wanted to know about bicycle cables:  Sheldon Brown

The bike is getting really close now.  I want to take it out for a test ride so bad.  Just waiting for tires to show up, then I put in a seat post, saddle, and ride!


Part 8                                                                                                                                  Part 10

Gravel Bike - Part 8

Part 1

 

I got a pair of rotors for the brakes from Ebay.  They were one of those ‘too good to be true’ deals.  The damn things didn’t come with lockrings, so I had to order a set separately.  It still came out cheaper than buying a new set from Shimano, but weren’t the great score I thought.  Either way, they are still a nice set of XT Centerlock rotors that were brand new take-offs from a bike shop, never ridden before.  I debated for a while on size, considering a 180mm/160mm front/rear combo.  In the end I decided with tire sizes I wanted that 180mm would be overkill.  So I have a 160F / 160R set. 

I love the way these fit up on the hubs.  The rotor splines (I roughly counted 55) aligned perfectly with the hub, there is zero play.  The machined splines look and feel so much lighter and stronger than 6 cast hex screws.

Rotors are directional.  I checked the etching and made sure I got them on the right direction. (I didn’t try it, but I think that if they get put on backwards they will not align in the caliper.)

I spun the lockring down by hand, making sure not to cross-thread anything.

 

One of the complaints I read in reviews about Centerlock hubs and rotors is that they take an extra tool to install.  The tool is the same one required for cassette installation.  But, I already had one, and didn’t see it as a negative.

 I torqued the lockring to 35 in lbs.  There are matching serrations that ‘lock’ the ring in place after torqueing so I didn’t use any threadlock compound.

I’m using Avid BB7 calipers.  I installed the calipers on the fork and seat stay with the bolts and adapters that came with the rotor.  I’ll do the alignment later when I get the cables installed.



My plan is to run Schwalbe Marathon Mondial tires set up tubeless, so I had decided to use Stan’s rim tape.  I read somewhere that people get away with using plastic electrical tape.  I’m using his wheels and sealant, so I thought his tape would be most compatible, and less likely to cause problems.

It was an easy install, but it had me wondering if the 21mm tape I got was too wide.  It never ended up on the interior sidewalls of the rims, but it was pretty close.  I used my thumbnail to help ‘seat’ the tape over the spoke holes.  The only tool needed was a pair of scissors to cut the tape after I ran it around the rim.

I got a pair of Stan’s 35mm Presta valves for the same reasons as the tape above.

                               Part 7                                                                      Part 9