Get Out There and Explore

The weather keeps improving as the weeks roll by so now's the time to get the wheels turning and exploring. It's time to plan a Missouri Straycation and see what lies beyond the next county or three. Maybe ride through three counties on a bike-packing trip. Branson has some sweet new trail and the Ozark Trail offers more than just Berryman or Middlefork.  Don't forget about Trace Creek, the Courtois or even the Karkaghne sections. All are just three hours or less from St. Louis.

So get out and stray a little. This view can be recreated only 4.5 miles from Greensfelder proper - but that's for you to discover. Relay your adventures back on our message board for everyone else to enjoy and have fun. Take your camera. Wade in the creek. Or watch the lizards shred the dirt.

It's time to shed the jackets and explore the springtime Missouri backcountry.

Gear Report: Homebrewed Components

 The drivetrain adds color to the otherwise paint-free bike.

Anyone who rides a single speed long enough will soon find themselves looking for replacement cogs and chainrings. I had since moved to a splined hub about a year ago and found swapping the rear cog to be much more friendlier. There is something about using a pipe wrench with a freewheel removal tool and a cheater bar that just left me feeling, let's say, over-torqued.

Now that I'm free of freewheels, I quickly went out and bought some rear cogs. Good, mostly round blue-collar cogs. They worked great, moved the chain forward one tooth at a time, yada yada. Not sexy, but they generally aren't supposed to be, right?  My long-termer Middleburn crankset from the UK never complained nor loosened but it was wearing out and it was looking iffy to spec another ring this side of the Atlantic anytime soon.

Sometime last October I'd glanced at a basic, photo-driven quarter page ad in Mountain Flyer Magazine (excellent quarterly!) from Homebrewed Components. This relatively new, circa 2009-2010) one-man machine shop offered chainrings for the Middleburn crankset so I was instantly intrigued and ultimately sold. Homebrewed's main picture was of a spiderless chainring for the Sram XO crankset. Unique.

 

The spiderless chainring that matches the Middleburn interface...

Now that's serving a niche market. Thanks HBC!

Using his easy-to-use dynamic Chainring Finder I quickly found my chainring/cog options for the Middleburn crank. I quickly got lost window shopping on the site and perused his bash rings and even read a tutorial on how to make your own chainring (which HBC was interviewed and published in Wired Magazine)

The only catch was the lead time...

Homebrewed Components (HBC) tries to fulfill orders in about 30 days but some orders ship out 45-60 days later according to online reports. I received my order about 45 days after the original purchase date. My credit card wasn't processed until the product shipped so it kept the financial side of things tidy.

My simple order of a replacement aluminum Middleburn ring (32t) and aluminum rear cog (18t) shaved about 21 grams from the Lynskey. Not much, but it all counts doesn't it? The rear cog alone knocked off 12 grams despite offering wider flanges to interface the freehub and prevent notching - which had already occurred as my old rear cog silently ate into the soft American Classic freehub body. Oh well...

HBC offers an anodized rainbow of colors for you to choose from. I opted for the 'safe' shiny / red theme on the Lynskey so I ordered some Red up. But the orange sure looks awesome, too. When I opened the US Mail package the shiny rings looked like jewelry. They were both perfectly round. The craftsmanship is also top-notch. Knowing they were made buy a single guy in his personal shop might classify them as bike jewelry. 'Merican-made to say the very least!

 

While the aluminum rear cog will wear much faster than titanium, you can
buy two for the price of one... I wanted some color so that sent me
over to the aluminum camp.

Not only do they does he offer aluminum rings but HBC also specializes in titanium and stainless rear cogs and titanium chainrings. Yes, they are more expensive ($105.00 avg) and are not available in any colors other than, er, titanium, but the rings will wear much, much longer than the more affordable $45.00 aluminum cogs. Color vs price vs longevity - oh, the problems of personalizing your bike. Better make a matrix chart and start analyzing.

The rings and cogs offer a narrow profile as I can attest: I unknowingly attached a 10 speed chain to the drivetrain and only discovered the error when the quick-connect wouldn't quickly disconnect... at all. Whoops. The 10 speed chain tracks beautifully over the teeth so I'd say his 3/32" tooth widths work just fine. Just remember to use a 9-speed chain with a quick-connect or a tried-and-true bombproof BMX chain.

I plan on ordering some more rear cogs in different sizes. I better order soon as I hear HBC continues to grow in popularity but is still a one-man shop. Think it through: If you want some functional bike candy for summer you'd better be dialing up your Internet radio signals and selecting your gear now.

The 'virtual' line is around the block leading to the door of this machine shop.

Highly recommended.

Backcountry Film Festival to Benefit GORC

The seventh annual world tour of the Winter Wildlands Alliance Backcountry Film Festival, taking place Friday April 6th with the films starting at 7:30pm, highlights the beauty and fun of the winter backcountry experience. Submissions come from renowned filmmakers who travel every corner of the globe to submit their best backcountry work, and from grassroots filmmakers who take a video camera out on their weekend excursion a and submit their best film short  The films are juried by a select panel of judges and the fop film are assembled into a 90 minute program.

Backwoods has 150 tickets available at $10.00 each and will be donating 100% of the proceeds to both GORC and Trailnet. Should all tickets be sold, the club has the potential to receive over $750.00 which will assist in the development of trails at Lost Valley, Greensfelder, and other general trail development. This is awesome! 

We will have a membership table setup for the event and members will receive a 20% discount off one item the evening of the event (with normal restrictions).

2011/2012 Films
Best of the Festival:  "Solitaire", by Sweetgrass Productions
Best Short Award: "Chalk and Ski", by Purple Orange
Best of the Backcountry Award:  "Breaking Trail", by Powderwhore

Other film selections include...

• 40 Tribes Kyrgyzstan
• Berber Turns
• Ski Bums Never Die
• Winters of My Life
• Seasons; Winter
• Bike, Ski, Raft Denali Traverse

Below is a preview trailer for one of the films:

The event will take place Friday April 6th with the films starting at 7:30pm. GORC will also set up a informational and membership table the night of the event. Hope you can make it!

The Ogre Needed Bigger Shoes: A Review Update

Yesterday I went out to Greensfelder to see how the forest was holding up and to preempt any downed trees in case the work week picked up. I threw on the Dakine Builder Pack with chainsaw (not included) and rode Eagle Valley onto the Northern end of the Green Rock to cut out a known downed tree. Along the way I sawed out another smaller tree crossing at the intersection of the Northern Green Rock at the Otis Brown/Pawnee climb and Scenic Overlook climb.

Now the Surly Ogre - built up by Maplewood Bicycle here in the STL - has been great with the Ritchey Speedmax Cross 40c tires but I knew I'd be pushing my luck trying to run those on the rocky trails in the park. Seeing how March is already here I decided to try my luck and put the skinny tires away for the season and put some beef shoes on the Ogre.

The Duke proved to have very thick ankles as it took about a half an hour to change both tires. Getting the rear out of the horizontal drops, coupled with the Shadow XT derailleur configuration and Planet Bike fenders made for some mental dot connecting. After about 5 minutes of figuring out the true hangup, it was determined the horizontal slider with the Shadow derailleur was the deal breaker. Anyway, I got the wheel off and then proceeded to speed up the arthritic process by trying to unmount the skinny tires from the tubeless-compatible Bontrager rims. Without two plastic tire levers I seriously doubt I would've succeeded before breaking a wrist. Do not head into the backcountry without tire levers with these rims!

Speeding up the story here, I managed to fit the expensive pieces back together and headed out this afternoon to take the Surly Ogre for a more serious off-road test run to see how I'd feel and how it would react to 20 something miles of semi-technical singletrack, lots of hills, and generous amounts of fall-line to simulate parts of the Berryman.  This was designed to help me figure out the highlights and weak spots of performing rolling trail maintenance on the Ozark Trail, specifically the Eastern side of Berryman as the Gateway Off-Road Cyclists is now the official adopters of this 13+ mile section. GORC is on the hook to keep the trail in as good of shape as reasonably feasible, meaning clearing limbs, deberming tread, fixing creek crossings and keeping vegetation cut back.  

For any GORC members that perform trail maintenance on the Berryman, please report it on our Volunteer Hours form AND on the Ozark Trail Adopt a Trail section of their website. If we as GORC club members don't report our hours to the OTA, they will have no idea that we are keeping our end of the bargain.

 

Larger volume tires made the guy even happier.

The Ogre did not disappoint. The hefty 33lb weight (with full-size rubber) actually kept the downhill speeds up and it handled beautifully with the Jones Loop bar giving me endless amounts of control. Slow speed climbing was very stable with the bar's ergonomic shape and Shimano's super low 2x10 XT gearing. Only on really sustained steeper sections did I have to drop all the way down to the 26x36 (monkey heads!) and that was simply due to its weight.

The larger volume 2.1 Maxxis Ignitor tires changed its demeanor. The Duke responded like an obedient hunting dog. The large Brooks leather grips took the edge off of the rigid fork and was a non-issue. The fender legs did rub a bit if the bike shimmied side-to-side, for instance, if a line of rocks knocked it about, but they never got hung up. And the Surly Nice Rack is stout enough that I could probably cut firewood and haul a cord back to the campsite!

Greensfelder is about as Ozark Trail-like as you can get near St. Louis so I'd have to say the Duke of Surl is ready for its first long-range mission. The Duke will be deployed hopefully this weekend for some Middlefork reconnaissance.

 

Pidgin did the final edit and signed off on the release of this story. 

She is big into search rankings so please forgive her endless product linking. 

I've since taken away her Bluetooth linkup in the Chicken Shack.

The Duke of Surl: First Impressions of the Surly Ogre

 

Full setup - the rear tire is in some sort of prison

Back in October or so Surly Intergalactic HQ dropped some photos and a dribble of information concerning their soon-to-be-unleashed do-it-all 29er bike - the Ogre. Recycling many of the attributes of last year's 26" Surly Troll touring trouble-maker, the Ogre also bought the big boots and would roll off the production line as a 29er. Hooray! The Surly blog went quiet as they were all at Interbike but I soon learned they would release the frame sometime in late December.

It was time to place an order.

Frame Hunting

The Ogre retains the identical geometry of their veteran Karate Monkey that I've owned in some form or another since 2003. Basically, it's the bike that introduced me to the world of bigger wheels. Knowing the geometry would be the same as an 18" Karate Monkey, I asked Maplewood Bicycle to acquire me a medium frame and fork as soon as they became available. Through a stroke of luck they got me one in mid-January,  though, the demand is very high and are consistently on back-order. The shop found one on the East Coast after a new warehouse recently opened and showed the Ogre in stock. Since they were unable to 'reserve' a frame, they had to be diligent checking availability.

Due to my busy schedule I opted for Maplewood's fine mechanics to assemble my Ogre. After a bit of research and determining what existing parts I could use on the build I had Maplewood order me the remaining components. At first I had planned on using the Salsa Woodchipper bars on the bike but after some discussion at the shop it was determined that I wasn't going to be happy with my final build. I wanted hydraulic disc brakes and a 2x10 STI shifter setup, two features that proved to be difficult utilizing the Woodchipper.

Let's back up to the frame for a brief moment. Why does this frame exist? Isn't it just a glorified Karate Monkey?

Making lunch out of tall grass, trails need not apply.
The Ogre just needs terra firma to keep rolling along nicely

Yes it is. But that's exactly what I want (and so do many other people).

Let Surly IHQ do the talking.

"Ogre is designed to be a platform for exploration, commuting, trailer-pulling, on-road and off-road touring, and just riding along."

That's it, really. The bike is an all-day-all-rounder-get-it-done utility machine with off-road handling traits. Perfect! If you rode it stock out of the gate with no accessories added it would weigh nearly the same as a stock Karate Monkey. But, with the Ogre, you get options. Tons of options. Like, you don't need to buy another bike, kind of options.

Gravel ride with fenders. Singletrack without. Haul stuff with a bob trailer. With a rack. Want 3 water bottles for summer? Anything cage. Mount whatever to the fork legs. Run a Rohloff hub. Singlespeed Berryman jaunt? Fixie skid nasty on Morganford, um, yes. Rocky Mountain hut-to-hut. Mark Twain National Forest gravel wanderlust. I can't even make up scenarios because they are all valid. This bike will do it all - except be featured on Weight Weenies.

The only glitch came straight from the factory in Asia. Surly has not invested in laser-etched graphics so they use tried-and-true sticker technology to let you know what you're riding. However, the stickers are applied on top of the paint and sometimes scrape off or simply don't make it on at the factory floor. My bike came with a fork that smartly stated "Surly" on left leg and "Surl" on the right. The FFF Fatties Fit Fine sticker on the right chainstay is all but completely obliterated but my shoe cannot even make contact with it so I don't know what happened. Other than the stickers, the frameset was flawless.

The Jones Loop Bar

I always thought the Jeff Jones H-Bar looked comfortable and very controlling (this is a good thing in bike land). Unfortunately, the titanium price tag kept me away and it was too much money to 'try' a product without knowing if it was a solid performer. Running out of ideas for a comfortable bar set up that would both be ideal for long gravel touring-type rides yet make a great off-road singletrack slayer, I went back to the Jones web site to see if anything had changed.

New product offering!

 

The Jones Loop bar sans Brooks leather grips.
The leather tape adds a nice touch and complements the color palette.

New to me was the Jeff Jones Loop Bar, a variation of the H-Bar. This newer bar is available in titanium or aluminum (!) and features similar hand placement to the H-Bar.  It also now offers a secondary bar to add strength, stability, and a dedicated section to attach bar accessories like lights or other goodies while leaving the inner bar open for your hands. Weighing a little over a pound the bar came with some shims to be used in conjunction with a 31.8 stem. Learning my lesson from other past bike building experiences, I heeded his suggestion to use a Thomson x4 stem as I believe this is the stem he used when designing the Loop bar. Best to use the maker's stem of choice!

The Build

The Surly Ogre is available as a complete bike for around $1,500.00 but I wanted to build the bike with all the components I wanted instead of buying into a bike that would be later upgraded. This allowed me to get everything set up just right and be delivered ready for action. I opted for the stellar performing Shimano 2x10 XT group featuring the lowest gear ratio with a 26/38 up front and a 12-36 in the rear. The new XT brakes are simply sick. That's all there is to say. Granted, the XTR group is lighter but I am hard-pressed to see why you would spend the money unless it was going on your gram-counting race bike. I am very, very impressed with the XT kit overall.

 

Checkin' in at the Chickin Ranch 

 

Chicken Cameo... This is Rhianna and Beyonce

Thomson and Jones round out my cockpit and Brooks leather bar tape and grips add a touch of class to my very British-military-yes-sir-circa-1916-looking rig. I may opt for a Brooks saddle down the road if the money is there. The Salsa Dos Niner, laying dormant after the Superfly100 came home, was cannibalized to fund this project. The post and saddle, headset and wheelset was added to the Ogre to save cash money. The wheelset was actually from the Superfly100 and is handling rolling duties just fine. The white spokes add snap to the army bike and are light to boot so even though the bike is hefty, I don't have much of a problem getting the bike up to a nice diesel-like steady RPM.

Fenders are from Planet Bike and have kept me dry thus far. No skunk stripe! The fenders are wide and high on the frame to accommodate mountain tires should I need to go large on a rocky trail. The 40c Ritchey SpeedMax tires have offered good traction even in sandy conditions. BOB Nutz were installed with sections of a threaded 10x1 axle into dedicated mounting points on the frame just above the skewer. Completing the bike build, I opted to purchase a Surly Nice Rack for the backside to offer another avenue of hauling materials deep into the woods. The rack, though heavy, can hold a lot of weight and even sitting on the thing doesn't make it flinch!

The Ride

The first shakedown ride involved a 42 mile gravel-pavement mix in St. Charles county. The Ogre weighed right at 30.5 pounds including Crank Brothers Candy pedals. Knowing the bike would win any time-trials, I was very happy with its agile handling, no doubt due to the Jones Loop bars and Bontrager XXXXXXXX Race wheels. The bike handled perfectly, just as anticipated, and yearned for more of a challenge. On this longish jaunt the group referred to my bike as the Duke of Surl as the colors and lines reminded them of a British army officer's transportation device, circa 1916, high in the Swiss Alps, bringing supplies of liquor and grenades to the gruff gents at the military outpost.

 

And the Duke of Surl was born! 

Or some backstory like that.

Testing its mettle more in line with its intended use, I rode from my house down to an 'area' that is quasi-maintained by some other (unknown) locals which makes for a nice private hiking and biking experience. I popped the BOB Ibex Trailer onto the dedicated mounts, tied down a McLeod and Pulaski, pulled on the Dakine Builder's pack with a pair of large clippers hanging off the back and was on my way. The bars offered enormous low-speed steering control as this wasn't a race heading down to the chicken shack. Saying hi for the day I was off once again and headed to the section of downed fence to take a shortcut to the maintenance zone. A gravel road let me get the Duke up to speed and shortly I was cruising along. The skinny less-than-mountain tires kept the ride lively and efficient, yet hooked up when needed.

The 2x10 setup felt intuitive and really just perfect. The right gear was available at all times. There were no missed shifts or sudden changes in cadence. Awesome. The brakes stopped the whole bus without any fuss but the levers are the star of the bunch. If 'feel' can be quantified then the levers are pure hoppy goodness. Orders of magnitude better than the Sram levers. After the days' chores were complete - and a successful local test of rolling trailside maintenance - I headed home finishing out the 5 mile loop. Once on the pavement back to the house, it is a general undulating climb all the way. The Duke (DoS) deftly handled all climbing seated in the big/big gear ratio. Tractor power bliss.

The chainstay is a engineering marvel - disk brake, fenders, 

BOB trailer, all at once. Changing a flat may not be so fun.

Build Specs

• 18" medium ogre in Army Green
• Full XT kit, 2x10, 26/38 rings - the brake levers are sweet and feel terrific.
• Thomson Post and Stem
• Chris King 1-1/8" headset
• Selle Italia SLR
• Crankbrothers Eggbeaters Candy SL
• Bontrager XXXXXXXXX Race Wheels
• Surly Nice Rack
• BOB Nutz
• Ritchey SpeedMax Cross Tires
• Brooks Leather Bar Tape
• Planet Bike fenders

Final weight = 30.5lb

Final Thoughts

The Surly Ogre is highly recommended if you want to (_____it will!______).

For me it will be used for gravel, touring someday, rolling maintenance, bikepacking, general bike, wrecking ball. Highly recommended.

 

A trip up to a glade overlooking a large lake seems to be in order
or some maintenance on the Berryman comes to mind.

Get a Grip on Your Gravel: Salsa WoodChippers (#2)

A freak of sorts, the Woodchipper bar is our off-road drop bar. Aren’t drop bars for road bikes? Not necessarily. The Woodchipper delivers multiple hand positions and is designed for either road STI style brake/shift levers or bar end shifters. Constructed of super strong 7075-T6 aluminum, the Woodchipper is available in 31.8mm clamp diameter.
    •    Multi-position, off-road drop bars
    •    Bars bend along three planes to create extra wide lowers while still maintaining a shallow drop
    •    Ergonomic design works well with integrated road shift/brake levers
    •    Bar ends accept bar end shifters
    •    Front indentation for cable routing
    •    110mm drop, 80mm reach, 38° drop angle, 26° flare angle
    •    42cm and 46cm widths
    •    31.8mm is AL-7075, 46cm is 332 grams
    •    Black bead-blast finish

+/=-+/=-+/=-+/=-+/=-+/=-+/=-+/=-+/=-+/=-+/=-+/=-+/=-

They forgot the price: $50-$65 dollars throughout the universe.

Ok, there's the propaganda straight from Salsa for all to see.

But, are they hype-proof?

Yes.

I've been on about 10 rides with these bars and can't see myself going back to traditional cross bars, save for actually racing in cross events (slim?).

Unlike seeing them in person and trying someone's setup, reading about bar setups on a blog is about as useful as reading how to exercise - oh, you'll get book smart and maybe even entertain yourself (how?) but in the end you'll still be wondering what it feels like to ride in a size medium legging with these here Woodchippers (number 2? version 2? ... it has the number 2 after woodchipper, that must be better!)

Scott and Randy participated in Cranksgiving last year and that's where I first saw them live on stage. They looked weird - overly wide and moose-like. But I tried Scott's bike and damn if I wasn't hooked straight-up, Whitney-style.

Now I have them on the Chili Con Crosso and somehow they have led me into some major off-road, no-road adventures out in West County. How I ended up just 'in the woods' and 'just riding along' I have no idea but let me assure you that unless you are riding backwards with more skill than I, you won't have any issues with hooking them on narrow trees. Even when you're blazing your own trail playing 'deer-on-a-hike' for the day, the Woodchipper bar excels at all things control. You'll have more problems with grass getting jammed into your hub than the Woodchippers letting you down.

These bars offer way more control on the gravel and singletrack, don't force you down into the drops so severely and offer a wide hood position.

They aren't light but they are practical.

And they won't win you a cross race....

But they will send you on an adventure.

2012 Midwest Bike Swap this Weekend

 

Man, you remember those good old days in the K-Mart?

It's about time to go CraigsList on your biking neighbors...
Where else can you see cranks listed for $120 and barter until you
walk away with them for $50 plus a water bottle and feel good about it?

At the Swap Meat, that's where!!

(below reposted from Trailnet)

2012 Midwest Bicycle Expo and Swap Meet

Sunday, January 29, 2012
10:00 am to 3:00 pm

Gateway Center
One Gateway Drive
Collinsville, IL 62234
$5 entry fee
The 2012 Midwest Bicycle Expo and Swap Meet is your chance to revel in all things bicycle. You will have access to bike shops, nonprofits, individuals and other bicycle related businesses, each featuring a unique display of products and information.
The Expo is your chance to catch a sneak peak of next season's bicycle goodies, search for that hard-to-find bike part, or find a great deal on your next bike. The Expo will also feature a silent auction and the popular bike corral.
A Classic Bike Show will also be taking place at the Gateway Center. For a $5 admission fee (and $5 fee for each show entry) you can display your classic bicycle and compete for trophies in several catagories.
The 2012 Midwest Bicycle Expo and Swap Meet is presented by Trailnet.

Have questions? Contact John at john@trailnet.org or 314-436-1324 x106
Interested in being a vendor at the 2012 Midwest Bicycle Expo and Swap Meet? For more information or to register for a booth, please call John at 314-436-1324 x106 or email him at john@trailnet.org.
If you are interested in volunteering for the 2012 Midwest Bicycle Expo and Swap Meet, please call John at 314-436-1324 x106 or email him at john@trailnet.org.

SIUE Workday- Sat. Jan. 21st, 2012

Just a reminder about the SIUE workday coming up this weekend. I was looking for something in the blog archives, and came across this old post where I was goofing around with Google Earth and some old photos of the Mississippi River Festival site and SIUE today. There's a lot of good stuff in the archives in case you have some time to waste. Funny to see breathless talk about the "new" trails being worked on: the Rollercoaster, Dogwood's makeover, Bangert, Broemmelsiek, Indian Camp Creek etc.

Separated at Birth?

Invest in PBR! 
(photo from teamseagal.blogspot.com)

Ride Report: Franklin County Foothills

Somehow I managed to get off work early and to my house by 2pm. I'd explored in my truck and by satellite imagery some far roads out west and today was the day to ride the loop I christened the Franklin County Foothills. This 37 mile ride packed 2,700+ feet of climbing and on the cross bike I was determined to get worked over.

 

Intersection of Fiddle Creek at Highway T

 

Fiddle Creek awesomeness

Mission accomplished. After two previous days of riding (see below posts), this is the one that snapped by legs off after the 33rd mile. This ride is 90% pavement, however, a key connector road is gravel and over 2 miles long so skinny tires are not recommended! Grand Army Road is currently gravel but it looks like Franklin county is widening and shoring it up in preparation of its initial chip-n-seal coating probably sometime this year.

Starting from my house on the Allenton Loop I rode over to Fox Creek, up Old Manchester to Little Tavern and then tackled Highway T.

 

Definitely a century home on Fiddle Creek - looked to be

lifted right out of old St. Louis

 

Grand Army signage. Being the only gravel road on
this 37 mile route I assume it lost out in the paving wars of 1973

Note to other riders: Highway T, the two lane road that goes past St. Albans country club is not for the faint of heart. I know roadies say riding T is no big deal but I have to say it kept me on edge the brief times I was on it. The climbs are heinous and force you to sprint up them before a car rolls up (over) you on a blind curve. The fact that a guy in a Prius coming in the opposite direction rolled his window down and blew out his eyeballs screaming 'get off the road' did not add to my afternoon delight.

Once off of Highway T and on Fiddle Creek Road the country life rolled back by my side. The low use road followed meandering fields and past century homes. This road will connect you to Grand Army that heads into the sky right out of the gate. The gravel road is in excellent shape and you could almost imagine riding a road bike on it but it's too remote for me to have a double flat an hour before sunset.

 

Attention! You scoundrels are going to earn your legs or
fall in the ditch trying. I got some rear scratch on this climb.

 

More twists on Grand Army

Grand Army turns to pavement at the intersection of Thiebes and continues back to Highway T. At the peak height on Grand Army you can see the Labadie power plant and the cliffs across the Missouri that are, in fact, part of Klondike Park. If only bicyclists could get across the river at Highway 40 or the Washington bridge the riding options would be virtually limitless.

 

Grand Army looks to be getting groomed by the road
crew types for a possible ungravelling sometime in 2012.
Or they are just making it buff and wider, hard to determine.

 

Grand Army gets old chip at Thiebes

Back on Highway T and doing my own version of Gold Sprints I checked left onto Decker road very near the town of Labadie. This road took me past some sketchier looking homes and a few chained dogs that wanted so badly to drag me into the ditch. Decker ends at Highway 100 in Gray Summit. Wanting to keep my skin, I bolted down 100 after the last car went by and turned left 500 feet down the road at Hogan. This road follows Highway 44 all the way back to Pacific.

 

You're looking at one of the top polluters in Missouri.
But... you wouldn't be reading this either (no electric for me)
so I don't know what to say other than solar fields someday?

 

Another clearer view of the Labadie power plant.
You can see Klondike Park in the distance.
Oh, to be so close yet so far
away from St. Charles county trails! 

From Pacific, I simply followed Old Route 66 back to my house. Whew! The ride opened my eyes to even more possibilities. I'm currently building a low-use route (as much as possible) from my house to St. Clair and it's clocking in around 37 miles one way. This route definitely has gravel stretches so I suppose the cross bike will need to be ready for some action again.

 

Welcome to Labadie, Missouri. This is taken from Decker Road.

BONUS: GPS Track starting from Greensfelder parking lot (32 miles - slightly shorter route)
You will need to go to gpsies.com/convert.do to convert the gpx track to a .crs course file for your garmin device.

Ride Report: 2012 Joe Dirt Gravel Ride

The third Missouri Gravel Grinder event of the yearly winter gravel series took place near St. James, Missouri just south of Meramec Springs State Park. To everyone's surprise, over 70 riders made the trek from all over the state to attend the Joe Dirt ride on Sunday, January 15, 2012. This 27 mile social ride was hosted by Route 66 Bicycles and its shop owner, Dan Fuhrman. Several mountain biking scenes showed including St. Louis, Rolla, Jefferson City, Columbia and around the Herman area.

Dan promised beer and cookies to all finishers and that was just the icing on the cake. The hilly all-gravel route was a mountain biker's reprieve; the warmer 45 degree weather was wreaking havoc on Missouri's singletrack so the best way to stay in shape and not die of boredom in your basement was to attend this gravel ride.

 

Phelps County gravel near
Meramec Springs State Park

 

Lisa riding into the distance

The roads were gracious enough not to be wet or sloppy, though, a few short spots were definitely mush. The beautiful country roads followed meandering creeks, crossed several low-water bridges and climbed onto several long ridges. This relatively short gravel ride (in the gravel world!) injected 2,400+ feet of elevation into your January legs.

Somehow even with my nice little fancy GPS I managed to get Lisa and I briefly lost on two short stretches so we rode off the back much of the day. This wasn't a bad thing as we could do our own pace and check out the scenery.

 

I'm showing my Pacifico bottle as a scale reference:
Rob Ballou ordered a small Dos Equis at La Cabana
in St. James and this is what came
to the table and nearly broke the edge off.

Once back at the parking lot, we changed clothes and scavenged some remaining Miller Lite and PBR beers. The homemade chocolate chip cookies hit the spot and we chatted with Jason Zoll, Molly, John Cozad, Rob Ballou, Peat Henry, Steve Friedman, Stephanie McCreary and the list goes on.

We all caravaned to La Cabana in St. James for some copious amounts of Mexican. Rob ordered a simple draft beer but it was worthy of a cameo in Beerfest. Our table discussed the DirtyKanza200 and by the end of dinner I was still convinced it is not for me!

 

Dan Fuhrman, Samantha and Peat Free Awesome
rounded out our table.

 

Our Joe Dirt group inhabited the
entire back half of the mexican restaurant.

Saying our goodbyes, we all went our separate ways but everyone knew that these big group outings are what makes our bike scene so great.

See you on some gravel when the weather is meck.

Ride Report: 2012 Berryman Social Ride

Three weeks ago a simple post was placed on the GORC site from Jim Davis who was cross-linking a blog post from Team Virtus. Until that post, I had not heard of this adventure race team. Turns out Bob Jenkins was part of this crew and he had thrown the idea of a Berryman Social Ride into the wind - then it took flight.

No big deal - until the the post was relinked across several sites. On the day of the ride, Saturday, January 14, 2012 the cars kept shuttling in to the Berryman Campground lot. A few GORC folks showed up, including Dave and Jim Bacon and a couple others whose names escape me. Twenty-Five riders suited up, greeted each other and took off clockwise on the Berryman.

 

A cold morning of 23 degrees greeted riders from all over the state.

 

About 25 riders set off together for a social ride put
together by Team Virtus based near Jefferson City

Lisa and I took our time and enjoyed the inch of snow covering the woods and tread. I admired the new reroutes on Berryman and they are definitely a good thing! I used my GPS to place waypoints on my track to pinpoint downed trees and trail sections that needs some GORC love. This was my early reconnaissance on the eastern side of Berryman as GORC is working on an agreement with the Ozark Trail Association to take care of this half of the Berryman.

The big news on the trail is that there's a new reroute that skirts the deadly switchbacks into Brazil Creek campground. The reroute skirts the hillside and plops you out directly across from the trail continuation on the paved road. There's even a spur trail that will take you into the campground. However, there's at least two spots that won't work in the long run due to fall-line into a small creek crossing - but maybe it was not complete when we rode it.

 

The Hoosier Daddys out of Sullivan brought a BBQ pit,
brats, burgers and a pony keg of Blue Moon.
Now that's a social ride!

 

We tried to burn the logs as close to our face
as possible - it was chilly for sure! 

When we arrived back at the campground the Hoosier Daddys from Sullivan were grilling up burgers and brats on their own BBQ pit and had even brought a pony keg of Blue Moon. We thanked them and they said they never went on any big ride without the pit and keg - my kind of people!

We spoke about the upcoming CedarCross endurance cyclocross race with Bob Jenkins and he is the perfect guy to pull this adventure off. Some sponsorship is coming in and he revealed tidbits about the singletrack sections - it's going to be a good time.

By the way, Bar Mitts rock!

How Bike Wheels Are Made

From the MO Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation site.

Extruded, shaped, cut, treated, welded, anodized, drilled, laced, trued. Now you know.

2011- The Year in Review

Another busy year for GORC. With 19 official workdays, not to mention some impromptu ones, as well as a lot of unpublicized individual efforts, it's hard to keep track of everything. Here's a summary what went on this year, and I'll try to point out the plans for each of the trails in the coming year.

SIUE - 2 workdays. 0.3 miles of new trail.
1/15 - minor reroutes, and armoring of areas which were becoming troublesome to deal with. Announcement of the opening of additional area for building of new trails.
12/10 - first 0.3 miles of trail in the new area south of the Morris bikeway.
What's up for 2012: Continued expansion south of the bikeway and development of new area east of University Dr.

Greensfelder - 4 workdays. 1.25 miles of new trail.
2/26 - 0.5 miles of new trail on the Deer Run trail descending from Scenic Loop Rd. to Eagle Valley trail.
4/9 - Greensfelder- armoring of Deer Run trail in preparation for Greensfelder Challenge race. Armoring and maintenance on Eagle Valley trail behind Visitor Center.
9/24, Greensfelder - Worked on rerouting trail at the north end of the Green Rock just inside the park boundary that was encroaching on private property.
11/12 - completed reroute on Green Rock.
Greensfelder Challenge race was held in May as a fundraiser for GORC (Thanks DRJ and United in Dirt!).
What's up for 2012: completion of Deer Run descent from Scenic Loop to Eagle Valley. Work on new Beulah trail branching off from DeClue.

Matson Hill - 3 workdays. 1.1 miles of new trail.
3/12 - Matson Hill- construction of 0.6 miles of new singletrack branching off from the Oxen Mill trail, and opening a new section of the Hayes property addition.
4/23 - Matson Hill- canceled due to rain and mud.
10/15, Matson Hill - continued with work extending trail up the hillside.
10/29, Matson Hill - Up, up and away. Continuing up the hillside of the multi-switchback climb.
What's up for 2012: Continue heading southward towards Duke Rd. Matson will eventually have more than 10 miles of singletrack!

Indian Camp Creek - 2 workdays.
3/26 - reroutes, maintenance, and armoring projects.
6/4 - National Trails Day. Maintenance on the Ridge Trail.

Cliff Cave - 2 workdays, 0.8 miles of new trail.
5/21 - work on addition to Spring Valley trail which will complete an inner loop within the main SV trail.
10/22 - worked on completing inner loop of Spring Valley and rerouted some problem areas.
Tons of unofficial work put in by Kevin Ginther, Steve Ludwig and others. The official stats don't do justice to this.
What's up for 2012: Completion of Spring Valley inner loop.

Castlewood - 2 workdays.
6/4 - (moved from 5/14) - National Trails Day. Maintenance on main trails at the front of the park.
11/19 - reroute on Cedar Bluff trail, and maintenance.

Rock Hollow - 2 workdays.
9/17- worked on creek crossings which will show the contractor who wins the bid to complete the trail what level of work needs done.
12/3 - continued work on creek crossings.

Creve Coeur - 2 workdays, 1 mile of new trail.
11/5 - (GORC Appreciation Party) - 0.5 miles of new trail and Volunteer Appreciation Party complete with donation of Stone Beer from Major Brands! Thanks to all GORC volunteers.
12/17 - completed 0.5 miles of new loop trail giving it a total length of 1 mile. There is now 4.25 miles of singletrack at CCP!

Lost Valley - No official workdays, but the trails got a lot of much needed maintenance attention thanks to Greg Ott, Mitch Johnson and Larry Koester.
What's up for 2012: replacing doubletrack with singletrack, and lots of it!!!

In additon there were many events throughout the year that GORC members participated in: Ouachita Challenge, Syllamo's Revenge, trip to Taos, Brown County Breakdown, Berryman Trail Epic, Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day, and numerous mountain bike and cyclocross races.

Matt Buckley took over as head of the GORC chapter of the National Mtb Patrol. Look for them out on the trail, or at a race.

This year also has something different with a bike (donated by Ballwin Schwinn) being raffled off to those who participated in 2 workdays. The drawing is January 4th at the monthly meeting.

It was a great year, and we hope to continue to add new trail, and keep what we have in good condition. None of this could be done without your help, so please continue to volunteer whenever you can.
See you on the trails!

Winter Alt Riding: Gravel Grinders

Editors Note: This piece was written before Missouri decided to give us the best winter present ever so far - little precipitation and mild weather. But all good things must end and when they do this little piece will come in handy...

As you know, winter can be tough in the Midwest. Whereas, if you are currently living in Crested Butte you pretty much figure it out in about a week that you aren't going to be mountain biking as the snow gets deeper and deeper, here in the middle (North/South) middle (East/West) midwest the weather can play tricks on the outdoor-oriented adventurers. It can be wet and sunny or dry and cold but never dry and wet...

Well, that's not true either. With Missouri's typical freeze/thaw cycle there are days when you can ride the trails and days when they are best left alone. Sometimes you can't seem to figure it out... How can it be 40 degrees and the tread is firm at Greensfelder but at freezing temperature and slimy over at Broemmelsiek?

Since I don't have a degree in metro-astrology I'll pass on the explanation and simply give you a web link to a trail riding workaround that:

A - keeps you in shape and actively riding while at the same time;
B - sparing our treasured local singletrack from getting squished, mashed, and otherwise smeared up by rutting mountain bike tires getting their groove on.

These links offer a training tier that will lead your mind to gravel enlightenment:

gravelgrinder.blogspot.com/
a riding series which will prepare you for the
cedarcross.wordpress.com
which prepares your soul for the final gravel atonement while your dying corpse is in a ditch hiding from a tornado and your dehydrated brain is contemplating why you thought the
www.dirtykanza200.com/
was a good idea.......

 

Image courtesy cedarcross100 

I guess I should back up a moment and mention the gravel concept. A few years back some of the locals and rural-locals started putting together gravel road rides - hence the name gravel grinders. Many people use these rides to prepare for life-altering events like the DirtyKanza200, the Leadville Trail 100 or the inaugural CedarCross100 taking place just outside Jefferson City, Missouri. 

The bigger picture here is that you can make your own gravel grinder. No, the whole route doesn't have to be gravel. Yes, some gravel or dirt that's not a dedicated singletrack trail must be included or it's a /gasp/ road ride.

 

Image courtesy cedarcross100  

With online services such as mapmyride or everytrail you can pretty much zoom in on an area and layout a tentative gravel route - usually the roads show up super white in color. For instance, out where I live, I could ride some road to get out towards Gray Summit and hit up Grand Army road from Spring Valley road which are both gravel routes.

Out in St. Charles, you can grind gravel all day on the KATY or through Busch Wildlife, the Hamburg or parts of Lost Valley. I ask everyone to steer clear of true gravel 'trails' like the Hamburg or KATY if the conditions are mush - stick to the gravel roads because if a car can drive on them then you can't mess them up! Pretty sure it's physically impossible to wreck an 8 foot wide vehicular road with a non-motorized bike.

The best steed for this type of adventure is a cyclocross bike. If you don't own one but have a 29er, buy some narrow mtb or burly hybrid tires and you have the start of your very own franken-monstercross. Put some dirt drop bars, switch the triggers out for bar end shifters, maybe go 1x9 or single, maybe even hook up some Jones H-Bars and you'll be a true-blue tourer type.

 

Image courtesy cedarcross100  

  

There's nothing like exploring little used gravel roads at a medium pace and checking out the scenery. Usually these gravel roads come with low-tech water crossings, chase dogs, free-range chickens and the occasional ATV convoy. These are not bad moments unless you are dragging the dog with your ankle.

And logging roads count. And fire roads. Heck, you can ride for days around the Ozark National Forest just on fire roads and old logging roads without even being on a signed piece of singletrack. The secret is out; if you open your mind up beyond singletrack you can epic real easy, real fast. There are other states that would beg to have what we have just 1-2 hours outside of urban St. Louis.

 

Image courtesy cedarcross100   

I understand it's not really mountain biking on a piece of singletrack. But sometimes, you just have to give the local trails some time to dry up and ready themselves for the upcoming year.

I hope I have many of you thinking about the possibilities.  I'll see you out in the backcountry.

Matt