Bike Tires galore

I've been fortunate enough to check out a bunch of different tires over the past year or so.  Some have been given, but most have been purchased outright.  One caveat - I won't ride or flak something I don't like. I won't wear even a t-shirt for a brand I don't like. And this holds true to things I write about.  If I don't like it, I'll say it.  I want my friends to ride and use good gear.  So this is about the rubber on which you ride.  

Foundry Auger+ with Challenge Gravel Grinders and HED Belgium C2+ rims.  It was a really good day!

For those who haven't seen these yet, Compass is making the very best 'big road tires' on the market. Their heritage is the Randonneur style ride (like 300-800km). I'm still in love with my Challenge Gravel Grinders for off-pavement, but I've been riding the Compass Barlow Pass Extralight (38mm) all summer on-road. They also make a 32mm (Stampede Pass) and 35mm (Bon Jon Pass) for those who don't have clearance on their CX or gravel/touring bikes. The weight is pretty decent - Barlow Pass extralight is around 320 grams, and the feel is very supple. I rode these on my Foundry Auger for RAGBRAI this year, and found that concrete expansion joints (miles of them in Iowa) and rumble strips were no big deal - unlike my Ridley, which told me about every pebble, bump and crack.
One important note - these are definitely 'boutique'. Don't look for a deal - Compass is a small bike company in Seattle who really does live for the sport.
Jan also puts out a magazine called the Bicycle Quarterly that can only be described as 'bike porn'.

Get your subscription today!  And check out this issue for some very interesting reading on tires.  I don't agree with everything here, but it's a great discussion

A couple of thoughts. Bigger tires means significantly less air pressure due to the higher volume. Plusher ride without being 'squishy'. A little different sound when rolling over loose stuff. Instead of 'ping', they go 'pong', but less often.  When buying performance tires, go for the high TPI option when it's available.  You'll feel the difference!

And here are my tire choices for various widths:

23mm - Michelin Pro 4 Service Course

25mm - Michelin Pro 4 Service Course
Lots of good tires in the 23 category, a few in 25mm.  The Pro4 is my reference standard against which I measure road tires.  Supple, sticky, they wear well.  Excellent road feel and a decent price.

27mm - Challenge Parigo-Roubaix
Not a common tire, but with a latex tube, they stack up well against good tublars.  Mate these up with a set of HED Ardennes, and you'll be ready to ride the cobbles - or the streets of Minneapolis.

28mm - Continental GP4000 Sii (not actually tested!!)

I am taking these on faith.  I've ridden a lot of Continentals over the years, and have generally loved them.  Well, maybe not the Gatorskins - that's more of a respect than love.  Gators are great bulletproof commuter tires, but the ride quality suffers badly.  I have high hopes that the GP4000Sii has the typical Conti feel.

30mm - Michelin Jet (hard pack & gravel)

There are a number of really good tires out there like the Vittoria XN, Challenge Chicane, and Clement LAS, all designed for cyclocross hardpack racing.  The Jet has just a little more tread, and hooks up on hard packed gravel like a dream. 

32mm - Compass Stampede Pass Extralight (road)
35mm - Compass Bon Jon Pass Extralight (road)

38mm - Compass Barlow Pass Ultralight

See up page for a my comments on Compass.  You *will* like these tires!

32mm - Challenge Almanzo (gravel)

Another outstanding "open tublar" offering from Challenge.  They do exactly what you expect. Tread life isn't super, so I'd recommend saving them for those days you expect to be mostly off pavement.

35mm - Continental Cyclocross Speed (gravel)

I killed a set of these before I moved to the 38mm tires from Compass and Challenge.  They are fairly supple, grip well, hook up well, roll well, and like most of the CX tires, don't last forever.  If you can't fit the Gravel Grinders, this is a darn good substitute.  Note - this tire has been 'relaunched'. I have not ridden the new version, but it looks like it might be an improved version of the old!

38mm - Challenge Gravel Grinder (gravel)

Soft, supple, wears quickly, so I just bought 2 spare sets.  I've ridden gravel pacelines at 25mph, Almanzo gravel downhills at 40+, and even slippery river bottoms.  No pinch, no problem.  Extremely comfortable tire!

Tubes - I'm having great success with Challenge Latex tubes, but they are not for everyone. They're expensive, a little more difficult to work with, and you *will* have to pump them up every ride. On the plus side, they are much more supple, which contributes to a great road feel and may help cut down on flats.

Challenge Gravel Grinder tires - after the St Paul Box 'o frogs ride.  It was a very good day.

I've also had good luck with Schwalbe ultralight tubes (BikeTiresDirect, Amazon, Wiggle). Good feel for a butyl tube.

Picking out and equipping a new gravel bike

I love my gravel bike.  I built it pretty much like I wanted it, but I know not everyone has the time, expertise or desire to build up their own bike.  Like every IT project, every bike purchase needs to start with a set of requirements.  These can be a little fuzzy, but you do need to have some.  And it's OK to recognize that you may not get it perfect.  If you haven't ridden a lot of gravel already, I'll almost guarantee that you'll wind up with bike lust again after a year or so simply because you'll know more, skills will have improved, and you'll have a better idea of the type of riding you want to do.  It's OK - it's just a tool, you aren't married to the bike.  Just get a different one.

I'm a big believer in "just a bike".  Too many people go for a bike that has unique handling characteristics, a really cool custom paint job, super relaxed (or twitchy) geometry, or an unusual design (like the Cannondale lefty fork).  Unless you are a builder or manufacturer, gravel bikes are TOOLS to be ridden hard, occasionally put a way damp, and a fancy paint job is going to get trashed - or you aren't riding hard enough!  Just a bike.

Any old cyclocross bike will do quite well, but most have limits on tire width, have a tall bottom bracket (for clearance, rim brakes and the kind of handling CX requires), and few brazeons.

Picking out your requirements (in order of priority):

The big thing is to go ride at least a handful of bikes.  You probably won't be able to ride gravel, but you can often sneak off onto into a park and onto a soccer field or baseball diamond to at least get a feel for 'off pavement'.  Ride the bike, ride another bike, ride another bike.  One of them will sing to you.  PAY ATTENTION!!!

Granted, this is *my* priority list. Your choices may be in a different order or have different criteria.  These will give you an idea of what to think about.  I am working from the assumption that most people will be on road bikes now.  If all you've ever ridden is mountain, the information is still about right, but I'd steer you toward a 29er with 35-38mm tires, flat bars and no suspension.  

Where are you going to ride?  

If your plan is to just ride on the Wisconsin 'gravel' state trails, you will approach several of these choices differently.  On the other hand, if you have dreams of the Dirty Kanza, Land Rush 100, or Rebecca's Private Idaho, you'll want to select on the 'beefier' side of things.

Price point.  

Start out by figuring out what you can afford to spend.  This is probably the most important criteria, since it will set out components choices, frame materials and other choices.  Within a given price point (like $1000, $1500, etc), most bikes will have a very similar group of components.  The brands may change, but the quality and weight are very similar.  It'll be the minor details that help with your choices.

Brakes

Price point is really going to drive your frame material choice, but within a range, you'll probably have the option of disc or rim brakes.  After riding both rim brakes and disc brakes this season, often on back-back days, my jury is in.  I have bought my last rim brake bike.  Disc stops better, allows more rim choice, better modulation of power, and they stop better.

Tires

Pick your tires based on where you ride.  Maybe you'll even want a couple of sets.  I have 28mm tires for the road only, and 38mm tires for gravel, plus a set or two in between.  If you are spending 1500 and up for a bike, you can afford an extra set of tires for smooth cinder trails and the road if it matters.  Otherwise, go with as wide as you can cleanly fit in your frame, and look for something moderately smooth in the middle with knobs out on the edge.  Something like a Clement MSO or Challenge Gravel Grinder.  And if you can afford them, I'm very partial to Challenge Latex inner tubes. Thinner, lighter, and more puncture resistant.

Wheels

The late Steve Hed designed possibly the ultimate gravel rim - the HED Belgium C2+.  The wide rim gives you extra volume, a better ride, lower rolling resistance, and probably folds your laundry while you sleep. In any case, I firmly believe they'll improve the ride, comfort and handling of any bike.

Frame material

Everybody seems to have a preference. I've heard all the 'steel is real', 'buzzy aluminum' and 'harsh carbon' comments, Bah.  Steel rusts, aluminum is inexpensive and can be formed to make laterally stiff, vertically compliant frames, and carbon can be tuned to perfection.  At lower price points, steel or aluminum dominate, at the upper reaches, expect carbon or titanium.  Ti is a great material, but is difficult to form, and expensive.  Any buzz from aluminum can be dampened out with good bar tape. A purpose designed 'gravel' frame will have a longer stay and more relaxed fork, which will also smooth out the ride.  And yes, I'm in love with my Foundry Auger, and highly recommend it, but there are plenty of other good rides out there.

Drivetrain

At a given price point, you'll get what you get, and unless your price point is <$500, you'll get pretty good.  BUT - look for, or talk to your LBS about getting 'cyclocross gearing' or even more custom.  36x46 or 34x44 front rings will give you plenty of top end gears and still allow for a low-low without resorting to that hideous combo known as a triple.  In fact, it is possible to set up Shimano Ultegra 10 with an older Shimano XTR 9 speed derailleur and use an 11-36 rear cluster, which will give you a 1:1 ratio on steep climbs.  I've only walked once this year, and have climbed numerous 14%+ grades.

Cockpit

Stay with Aluminum stems and bars. Period.  Carbon bars are a lot better than they used to be, but they still should be regarded as 'one bounce', and may snap at the worst possible moment after that.  I'm really partial to Ritchey WCS stems, tape, and Salsa Cowbell bars. There are any number of other good brands on the market, this happens to be my preference.

Accessories

Bags - start with a seat bag.  Banjo Brothers and Revelator both make great bags that expand and provide some level of waterproofing.  Add a frame bag for really long rides, and maybe a Bento box if you really want to.  For rides under 100 miles, I find that I can fit everything in my tail pack, jersey pockets.  Your mileage may vary, of course.

Cages - you want something secure.  I'm sold on the Arundel Sport cages.  Cheap, light, idiotproof.

Lights - lots of good choices out there.  I'm picking up a set of Seca 1700 Enduro.  Bright, long life, and easy to mount.  Did I mention bright?

And that's a short list of picking out your own gravel bike.  See you next spring at the Miesville 56 or maybe the ride formerly known as Almanzo.

~mj

 

2000 mile review - Foundry Auger +

If you've read my initial thoughts on the Foundry Auger "Plus", I fairly gushed about my intents and early thoughts on how it rode.  Now that I've got a couple of thousand miles of road, gravel and

everything in between, I thought I'd share a few more thoughts at the end of a season's riding.
First, I'm still in love with this bike.  I've had a number of bikes over the years, and my riding style/goals have certainly changed as I've aged.  Bikes that felt good 20-30 years ago now are overly twitchy.  What felt just right for crits is not much fun to bump along on backroads.  And frankly, I don't care.  I'm not riding crits, time trials or road races.  The occasional road gran fondo can be ridden just fine on a responsive cyclocross bike (with decent brakes, of course).

One of my original changes was to go with the thru-axle fork, and I've been very (very, very) pleased with the choice.  I like the total lack of ambiguity in steering, and I don't notice any bad habits with jarring or buzz from the stiffer front end.  The overall configuration of the Auger helps here too - good vertical compliance, but rock solid lateral stiffness at the bottom bracket.  I've noticed no click/creak in the BB30 either.  A couple of people have asked why I use the heavier, cheaper Gossamer crankset instead of one of the more svelte carbon ones.  The answer is pretty simple - it's bulletproof.  Not that much heavier, 1/3 the price, no flex, no bad habits.  Understate, overperform.

A couple of changes I've made since the original configuration. I think I'm swapping the saddle back over to my old favorite Selle Italia Flite '91 instead of the more current Flite, complete with center relief.  This thing has just never felt quite right, although it's a pretty comfy saddle most of the time.

15% pavement descent on LaCrosse Gravel race

Also, I have changed tires. I still think the Challenge Almanzos are one of the best tires I've ridden, I've had no problems with them, and no complaints about the way they ride or durability. But then I got on a pair of Challenge Gravel Grinders, 38mm and in basic black.  Whoa...  what a feeling.  These tires are marked '3 bar' for racing on the sidewall, which seems just about perfect for mixed surface use.  I've ridden road paceline at 23-25mph, paved descents at 45+, and gravel drops at over 40.  They fly.  With latex tubes, they don't have a bouncy 'ping' to larger rocks, and really smooth out pavement cracks, rough roads and track through loose gravel amazingly well.  Yeah, these are a keeper.  The only downside is that the tread life may not be super great, which isn't really surprising since they weren't intended for a lot of road use.  I've got to rotate front to back to balance wear.  I'd love a set of 35-38mm road tires with the characteristics, but a harder compound and more of a road profile. Maybe name them IARBGARs or something.

To date, the only adjusting I've had to do was to the brakes.  I *did* find that the bosses for the Whisky 9 match up to a 140mm rotor (options?, don't know), so I added the bar to move it to 160mm.  After a couple of rides, I noticed an occasional clicking, which I finally traced to an slight interference between the edge of the rotor and the caliper.  Huh? What?  So I started to look at moving washers under the caliper - and realized that the bar could be turned around and then it lined up perfectly.  Again, who knew? I'll rack that up to unfamiliarity with proper adjustment...

I've got my bike for the next few years.  Anybody want a really nice Ridley Noah?
Future tweaks and enhancements.
- 1000 lumen headlight set.  Night riding on commuter lights isn't bad if you are in town and there's lots of ambient light.  Pretty sketchy on gravel though.
- Different rotors.  The stock TRP rotors have a tendency to 'sing', and growl/grind under braking.  I'll put on some kind of 2 piece rotor to see if that improves things.
- 2nd set of wheels, configured more for road.  Fewer spokes, smaller freewheel (like an 11-26 instead of 11-36).

Foundry pushes the 'workman' status of their bikes, and I agree.  Not the lightest, not the sexiest, but it tops the 'just a bike' list,  And that's a high compliment in my mind.  No bad habits, nothing to snark about, just a bike. Again, understate and overperform. Chapeau, Foundry.

Fall Riding

Fall is a great time of year to get out on bikes for a few last rides.  It's difficult to pass up days when the air is getting crisper, leaves are brilliantly colored, and there are far fewer people on the trails in the metro.
This morning was such a day - 45 degrees, with the expectation that it would warm to 65 or so.  Doug and I started out at Hopkins on the Minnesota River Bluffs trail, and with the exception of a couple of missed turns (like where the map shows the trail going under the road, but the trail actually goes up and across the 4 lane on an overpass), we had a great ride.  Easy "slow-roll" pace, good conversation, nice scenery - the perfect way to spend an October Sunday morning.
Riding the hard packed limestone trails of Minneapolis doesn't really require any sort of special tires.  You could do it just fine on 23mm road tires, but I can tell you without question that the wider tires like Clement MSOs, or [my favorite] Challenge Gravel Grinders are the cat's pajamas. The Challenge GGs are great at 45-48psi(3bar) - I had them pumped too high on my last ride, and they didn't feel nearly as smooth.  At 3bar, they absolutely float over gravel and bumps.
Fall riding is a time for easy distance, conversational speed, maybe a nice cup of coffee along the way.  It's too cold to paddle, too warm to ski, and too noisy to hike.  It's a great time of the year.

Recap: Trailhead Cycles 32/22 Grinder

Saturday morning rolled around bright and sunny, and I drove off to find the start of the 32/22 Grinder presented by Trailhead Cycle.  There were about 30 folks showed up for what was a pretty low key event to benefit the Maple Grove/Champlin Park high school mountain bike team.  I'm good with that.
Sean (course architect and director) made the usual announcements and we were off.  I wound up in the first few riders, the pace was good, and everyone knew how to ride in a group.  Life is good.
The course took us out through NW Anoka County, which is part of the "Anoka Sand Plain" geologic feature.  For those used to SW Minnesota and the bluff country, or even the barrens of St Croix country, I can sum up the region in two words - pretty flat.  That doesn't mean there are no rises or surprises.  For the most part, the roads were in great shape - hard pack, unsullied by the spring grader, and very rideable.  The previous week's rain did create a few soft spots, but nothing difficult, and no sand pits.  The open farmland scenery is interspersed with clusters of  'McMansions' (and a few real ones), but for the most part, it's still farmland.
For about 16 miles, we rolled along at a nice pace - around 18mph, and I'm feeling pretty good to be able to stay with these guys, most of whom are a lot younger and a whole lot fitter.  And then around mile 17, some clown came to the front, upped the pace about .5mph, and I was hanging on by a thread. Actually, the 'clown' was a nice guy whose name I never got, but who happily pulled the rest of the way.  After that, I came unhooked on every hill, and chased back on the descents and flats.  At about 2 miles to go, I made contact for the last time, and the rubber band snapped.  I rode the rest of the way in with Sean, finishing the ride in under 2 hours.

SO what did I learn? This was my first real gravel outing on the Auger+.  I like it...  I never felt any push/wash/twitch out of the bike, it sucked up the road chatter really well, and if I had to drive thru potholes, it did so without issue.  Just a bike, which lines up nicely with their marketing.
I was really excited about the way the Challenge Almanzos hooked up on the road surface.  Probably not the right tire for everything (what is?), but they were definitely right for the surfaces on there.  I drove them pretty hard into a couple of corners, particularly late in the ride and never felt anything but solid connection.  My sense is that Challenge's high thread count carcass combined with latex tubes and HED C2 rims all contribute to a really smooth ride.  I ran them at 4bar pressure, which could've even gone a bit lower..
Too soon to really form opinions on the new Garmin.  It worked great, but the 'factory mount' while simple  and elegant is not easy to read the display.  I need to get a KCNC or Kedge extension mount to get it out in front a little further.
Looking forward to the next gravel adventure.  Miesville Gents on June 7, if not sooner.

~marsh

Miesville Redux - Gent's Ride - June 8

Since there doesn't appear to be anything on the calendar on June 8, I'm going to offer up the Miesville Redux - a 40 mile "gent's ride" (for genteel ladies as well).  The course will be up in the next week or so, but count on it hitting the 'best bits' of the Miesville Grinder, including stopping at King's after.
The idea of a gent's ride is that people will start out together, and generally stay as a group for the first half of the ride.  That means waiting at the tops of climbs, floating back to check on folks who are stopped/drifting backwards, and generally making it a social occasion instead of a typical testosterone filled 'I can hurt worse than you can' event.
Once we hit the top of Miesville Ravine, you are on your own. A couple of downhills, a couple of good climbs, and done.  Nobody's going to take times, sweep the course, or anything of the sort.  This is just for fun and gravel.

Also, no signup this time.  Just show up.

Rules -
Have a good time
Be gentle men and women out there
Wear your freaking helmet. If you don't want to wear one, don't show up on my rides.
Don't pee in people's yards or in front of them
Tip well at Kings - they are nice people.
Introduce new people
Have fun

When:  8:00 AM, Sunday June 8, 2014
Where: Miesville ballpark (if there's something going on, park to the right of the ball field, there's plenty of parking back there
Distance: about 40 miles (if you want to go longer, there's an easy lap option of the best part of the course)
Cost: nada, zilch, zippo, zero
What do you get? a fun ride

Foundry Auger "Plus" - first impressions

Finally.  The bike is all together, the bars wrapped, cables trimmed and everything torque checked and adjusted.  And today was the first real ride.

We did a 30 mile road ride this morning, with a fairly consistent 15-20mph wind blowing out of the southeast, some moderate hills, and pretty good pavement. No gravel though.

If you noticed in the title, this isn't a plain Foundry Auger.  I didn't particularly care for the flex I felt in the Whisky 7 fork (your mileage may vary considerably).  I'll put up with a little more bump/buzz/whatever to have steering and braking that I can absolutely rely upon, and I just didn't get the feel I wanted on the stock frame.  Also, since this is a disc project, I wanted thru-axle.  It works well for MTB, why not use it here as well?  If you've read my other post, I talk at some length about component choices, so I won't rehash that.  Suffice to say that I was pleased with the way everything came together.  I did swap out the Challenge Almanzos for Challenge Parigi Roubaixs for the next few road rides.  Sweet tires.  They feel like a great sewup, with great road feel, and really soak up the cracks and bumps.  Probably the only downside is mounting them for the first time.  Challenge open tubulars (like this) are very interesting to mount, and really take strong thumbs and persistence.  I wound up cheating and using a quikstik to get them popped on.  My experience is that they'll stretch a little bit, and subsequent mountings on the HED Belgium+ rims will be much easier.  Also, I'm running Challenge latex tubes, which contribute to the great feel.  Oh yeah - 85psi today.  Will try them at 80psi as well.

So about riding.  My ultimate comparison points for any bike are my old Raleigh Derby 531, and our Huffy Serotta.  Both of these bikes were great to ride.  Comfortable for a long day in the saddle, predicatable diving into criterium corners or descending off Mt Rainier at 50+mph.  Just_a_bike.  No quirks, no tricks, no overlap, easy to service, all those things.  And (I think) the Auger lives up to that standard - just a bike - which actually aligns quite nicely with the marketing literature.  It climbs pretty well, is laterally very stiff, but even on a couple of rough stretches of pavement, no twitches in steering or any fun things like that. And I love, love, love the disc brakes.  Crosswinds are a real telling point, too.  A bike with 'classic Italian geometry' is a real handful in a crosswind, but the Auger settled right in. Even dealing with puffs coming from gaps in hedgerows, it was predicatble, and a little lean was all it took to keep straight.  Just a bike.  And I did press hard into a couple of corners, and it sat on the line I asked for like it was on a rail.

In short, darn pleased for a first ride.  I'm looking forward to how it behaves on gravel, but I suspect it will do just fine.

~marsh

Almost nearly a bike!

Ritchey WCS tape, plus underwrap of Cinelli cork on tops

In amongst all the other side projects, 24 hours of work in the last 28, and getting ready for the Miesville Grinder, I've been slowly finishing up the 'fiddly bits' on the Foundry "Auger+".  Doing the main bolt-ons is easy.  Building the wheels - straightforward.  Figuring out cable runs, adjusters, chain length, brifter placement, stack height, cutting the fork... ...those are the hard ones.

• Dry fit bars, stem, brifters
• Set stack height to same as existing favorite bike
• Balance on bike to try it out.
• Add 2 5mm spacers on top of stem, just to make sure
• Disassemble
• Cut steerer (ever cut the steerer on a $600 fork?  It's a little daunting.)
• Figure out cable runs, end fittings
• Realize that XT derailleurs don't have an adjuster
• Get in-line adjusters from LBS (thanks NOW)
• Decide where to put said adjusters
• trim cable housing
• install all the bits
• tweak until it's right
• tweak a little more
• tape and tie in place
• install cable
• stretch, adjust
• set brakes (TRP Hy/Rd - easiest setup EVER!)
• adjust derailleurs
• Double check torque on stem, seatpost, crank, pedals, brakes
• Go for short ride!!!

And so I did.  Only about a mile, but a little climbing, descending, corners, braking.  Initial impressions are that "it's just a bike" - which is high praise.  I won't have to learn any weird twitches or tweaks.  I will have to learn the brakes. They stop better than cantis - or calipers for that matter.  I do have to take a couple of links out of the chain - not used to the amount of takeup and stretch an 11-36 has and I mis-judged.  And I have to wrap the bars and clip/end cap cables.
But it's quiet and quick and not too bad for weight.  I can't wait to ride on gravel!
BTW, Challenge is providing me a set of Paris-Roubaix tires, and a pair of their new Gravel Grinders.  Watch for a future writeup on both!  I love my Almanzos, but I hate burning them up on road, so I'll be flippping back and forth!

Pardon me while I gush.  Whiskey 9 thru axle fork, TRP Hy/Rd brakes, Hope EVO Pro 2 hub, Sapim CX Ray spokes, HED Belgium rims, Challenge Almanzo tires

Shimano XT 9 spd derailleur, XT 11-36 cassette, Shimano 9000 cables

Ritchey WCS Stem, Cowbell 2 44cm bars, Ultegra 6700 brifters

FSA Gossamer 36-46 crankset, Shimano XTR pedals, Ritchey WCS post, Selle Italia saddle

Time for the hard men

When most riders start talking about their 'wanna do' rides, typically something like les Alpe d'Huez, Galabier, or one of the other great alpine climbs comes to mind. Riding your dream bike, weighing a touch over 7kilos, on silken tubulars, carefully selected to minimize rolling weight and maximize climbing/descending efficiency. Traveling  the beautiful roads of southern France, climbing for hours in the sunshine and crystal clear blue skies to gain the insight and wisdom that come from attaining one of the legendary summits of Le Tour.  The warm summer breezes, good French wine and cheeses that await you at your pension upon your return to the valleys.

On the other hand, there are those (like me) who yearn for the cold, grey mornings of March as the wind comes off the North Sea in Belgium and Flanders. Straddling a slightly workmanlike steed shod with distinctly plump tires, low profile rims, and lots of tire clearance. Wearing a rain cape in the damp morning, with the distinct smell of embrocation providing a wakeup call.  No spidery lads from Columbia and the Basque country.  These are the days for the hard men.  Names like Boonen, Cancellara, Flecha, O’Grady, and Voight.  Men who revel in the knowledge that only the strong will survive the day and only the bravest will win...  Today was a day of that sort. Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is the opening race of a series of one-day 'classic' rides in the north country.  Ian Stannard beat Greg Van Avermaet in a sprint.  In the end, only 33 riders could be considered 'in contention' at 10km, and only the two at the finish.  Hard men.  The dominant features of most of these are long, windy flats, secteurs of cobbles, and short, narrow, steep and often greasy climbs.  The legendary Kapelmuur - Muur van Geraardsbergen has pitches approaching 20%, cobbles, moss and mud - on the dry days!  Hard men win bike races here.  Cancellara launched an insane attack on Boonen here in the 2010 Ronde van Vlanderen (Tour of Flanders) that had people talking about a motor in the seatpost (honest!).  

I love the Classics and the hard men who race them at the front.  It’s a particular kind of misery that isn’t for everyone, but God help me, I love it.  Watching a rider court that thin line between speed and disaster as they attempt to thread between the fans on one side, bowler hat cobbles on the other while tapdancing down a little stripe of gravel, grass or hammering a big gear in order to skip across the tops of the cobbles, all while battling dust, grit, rain, mud…It’s poetry of the soul. But it's the long sections of flat and windy roads that send the sunshine riders out the back.  One hundred and eighty or so kilometers of wind, rain soaking through your cape, wet gloves, dripping glasses, and leg numbing cold are sure to make the sunny boys look to the warmth of the team car, and another 'training ride' come to an end. 

There's a special reverence in the pits and garages for the mechanics who carefully select the wheels, tires and frames, all customized to meet the individual needs of their riders.  The perfect saddle, just the right combination of bar tape. That extra O-ring or zip tie to hold the computer in place, or a bit of friction tape on bottle cages to ensure they stay put.  Top tube charts noting the cobbles, feed zones, sprint spots.  The legion of 'team staff' recruited for the day to carry spare wheels to remote locations on the course.  Team cars or neutral support may be many minutes behind the leaders in the special sections. Having a wheel at the end of a cobble section may be the difference between winning and not even being in the group.  And by the end of April, all of this gear will be carefully disassembled, inspected, lubricated and stored for next season.

Tires and bikes play a huge part in the Classics.  Building a bike for the roads of Belgium and the North is very different from a ‘climber’s bike built for the mountains. In the first place, it needs some shock absorbing characteristics.  Longer forks, chainstays and more relaxed angles help, as do double wrapping the bars, and maybe a slightly more padded seat.  Probably even more important are wheels and tires. 

If you look across the pro tour team pits, you’ll see a wide array of sponsored equipment, some of which may even carry the actual manufacturer’s logos.  And some that carries the branding of the team’s sponsors, but doesn’t look quite ‘right’.  Wheels are often a bit suspect.  It’s amazing how many different logos you see on the old standby Mavic SSC tubular rims.  It’s basically unchanged in 30 years, but still a benchmark for ride quality and reliability.  And glued to those?  Well, *anybody* can make tires, but as often as not what you actually see are Dugast or FMB tubulars in ‘drag’ – with someone else’s label carefully applied.  There are a few real brands (like Challenge), but mostly, it's a rebranding game.  In the end, it's really about feel - supple casings resist punctures, soak up shock better, and provide better road feel.  Better contact means better power transmission.  It's hard to be powerful if your tires are off the ground part of the time. 

OK, what the hell does L'enfer du Nord and the other spring classics have to do with riding gravel roads in Minnesota?  Quite a lot, actually.  We don’t really have cobbles here – or at least not enough, but we’ve got an abundance of crappy pavement, gravel roads and crushed limestone trails, a few B roads to explore, and maybe even a ski trail or two.  I’m at a point that criterium setups don’t do much for me.  They’re fun for a quick blast around the lake, after which you make reassuring comments to the kid that let you ride his/her pride and joy, and then give it back.  After riding such an awesome bike, my general thought is “glad I don’t ride *that* all the time!”.    And honestly, the older I get, the more I want something that’s got a bit more ‘give’ vertically than you get from a traditional road race bike.  (I have a very nice Ridley Noah for sale if you are interested).  There are so many good bikes out there now. Custom designs from people like Steve Hampsten, Linskey, Moots, Peacock Groove and a whole host of others (NB - Steve is an old friend from Seattle days).  And lots of production bikes from Foundry, Trek, BMC and many others all targeting the current 'gravel' market.  If I were to guess, I'd bet gravel is the 2nd fastest growing segment of the cycling industry behind fat bikes.  And this is good for bike shops -- and consumers.  Getting people out the door and onto bikes is a good thing.  Having people believe that they are onto something new is a great thing.

Our spring gravel races have a lot in common with the Classics.  Weather is often marginal, the roads are sure to be pitted, gritty and often littered with 'poodles'.  It's that great chance to have an adventure, and finish the day with a beer (now if we could only get good frites!  

And it's a chance to reflect on the hard men.