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.