Some details about the upcoming Midwest Country Bike Rally (updated)

PLEASE NOTE: I've updated on 5/17/2013 with more info about the camping situation at Forestville.

The "official" rally will begin at 9 am on June 1 in the vicinity of the parking lot of the Spring Valley Inn and Suites, Spring Valley, MN. At some time shortly after 9, when I am convinced that everybody has arrived and is ready to roll, we'll roll.

I am planning to camp on the nights of May 31, June 1, and June 2, at Forestville State Park in site A14. Official campground rules permit up to 6 people per site, but only TWO tents. I suggest coordinating with me or other participants on camping, and then reserving a site. Or maybe you want to stay somewhere else, like a hotel or another campground. Lodging is your own responsibility, but hopefully we can share sites, hotel rooms, to save money and increase camaraderie. Again, I'm going to check into flexibility on the one-tent limit.

The rally will resume at 9 am on June 2 in front of the grocery store in Preston, MN. From there, we'll loop back to Spring Valley, planning to finish up in the late afternoon, or early evening.

Some people are driving, some are biking, and some are doing a combination of Amtrak (to Winona) plus biking. If you want to ride bike all the way with me, let me know. Roll out will be very early in the morning on May 31. Distance is roughly 130 miles. If you want to drive and have room for one or more bikes and persons in your vehicle, let me know. If you want to hitch a ride with somebody, let me know. I'll try to match everybody up. I'm planning to ride home on June 3 - it's 130 miles, so it'll probably take all day.

Summer is coming, maybe - Country Bike Rally

This photo was taken on my commute home a few nights ago. While that snow didn't survive the sun, we're supposed to get up to 10 more inches tonight. It's April 22.

But next weekend it's gonna be 70F, so maybe Spring/Summer will actually be here soon. Maybe.

Assuming the meteorology catches up with the calendar, I'm expecting a good summer of riding. The first "event" of the year for me will be the Midwest Country Bike Rally. It's been easy for me to forget that this event is less than 6 weeks away, but it will be held June 1-2 in Spring Valley, MN. I expect warm weather and lush greenery, but who knows.

The riding will commence around 8 AM on June 1 and finish in the afternoon/evening on June 2 for a total of approximately 100 miles. The roads will be a mix of paved and "rustic", and there will be some big hills. Like last year, we will try to keep the group together, waiting for slower riders if necessary, and in general riding at a relaxed sightseeing pace. There will be a camping overnight somewhere near Preston, MN. There will be no sag wagon or support provided, so we'll have to carry our own stuff and hope for the best. You'll have to bring your own food and camping gear and have your bike in good working order. I'll navigate the route, and organize camping accommodations for the evening of June 1.

If two days of riding don't quite satisfy you, consider riding to/from Spring Valley on May 31 and June 3, respectively. It's about 130 miles each way. That's how I'm planning to do it. I'll be leaving HC early in the AM on May 31 and making a day of it. Please contact me if you'd like to join this part of the adventure. Alternately, you could cut the bike distance in half by taking Amtrak to Winona and riding to Spring Valley. Amtrak is somewhat risky though, because the train is routinely several hours late. If that happens, you could be in for a long day.

UPDATE 2013 HC Poster IN STOCK NOW!!!

UPDATE: Posters are in stock. Please stop in the shop to purchase, or order through our web catalog here.

Here's a testimonial that I enjoyed:
"I got mine the other day - it's at the frame shop now. Beautiful! And better yet, it made my daughter (9 years old) want to go bike camping this summer."

Last Fall I took this picture at our unofficial campsite in Upper Michigan.

The photo has been a favorite of mine, conjuring up the pleasantest memories. I asked Adam Turman to use this photo for inspiration for the 2013 edition of the annual HC poster. Here's the result.

I couldn't be happier with this one.

I expect to start shipping these by mid-April, but you can pre-order now. Go to hiawathacyclery.com. Under the "categories" heading, click "search" and type in "poster" for the keyword (you'll also see the few remaining 2011 and 2012 posters that are available for a reduced price while supplies last). Sorry for the odd ordering instructions, but there are technical issues that arise when I try to post a link to this.

Also, please note that shipping in the US is $5 (poster tube plus actual USPS charge). Our shopping cart will tell you it's $10. Please don't email me about this. I process orders manually and will charge $5 for shipping.

Events of potential interest to adventurous types

Mark your calendars now.

June 1-2: Midwest Country Bike Rally, a 2-day event starting and ending in Spring Valley, MN. We will ride on some of the same roads featured in the legendary Almanzo 100 gravel road race, except touring, not racing. There will be a camping overnight in the vicinity of Preston, MN. Expect about 50 miles per day on rustic roads. Some will be extending this 2-day event to a 4-day event, riding and/or Amtrakking down from the Twin Cities. Here are some photos from the same event last year.


Sept 21-29: Fall Northwoods Tour. The details for this one are still pretty tentative, but re-creating this is what I have in mind.

Bunyan Velo

Over the years, I've been asked to contribute writing and/or photos to various online publications and blogs and such, but mostly I have chosen to not participate. Bunyan Velo seemed different, better, and it turns out that it is, in fact, an exceedingly well-done thing. I'm thrilled and honored to be part of it. Lucas W, who created BV and marshaled the herd of cats who contributed, should be proud of this accomplishment.

Read it.

Opinions on fat tire bikes

This article about "Pondering the Point of Snow Bikes..." has been getting some buzz in my usual corners of the interwebs today. I doubt I'm alone in thinking that the author is basing his rather strongly stated opinions on minimal experience coupled with unrealistic expectations and myopic prejudices. Frankly speaking, I've read that blogger's writings on various bike subjects over the years, and have generally seen a similar pattern of sharp criticism and suggestions for technological improvement springing from only the most rudimentary knowledge and experience. It takes all kinds, and the internet is full of kooks, present company excluded, of course. Don't believe everything you read, especially about bikes. My opinion: my Pugsley is quite likely my most versatile bike, and I can do many fun things on it that I can't do on my other bikes. Lots of avid cyclists "don't get it", which is fine with me - I don't "get" the popularity racing road bikes. It's ok.

I loathe the term "snow bikes", because fat tire bikes can be ridden ANYWHERE any other bike can be ridden, in any season. Yes, the fat bikes positively shine in a variety of winter scenarios (but NOT all winter scenarios), but they also work great in sand, loose leaves, tree debris, rocks and loose gravel, and on other surfaces where most cyclists wouldn't consider riding a more conventional bicycle. I've been riding my Pug recently about 30-50 commuting miles per week on paved roads and trails, and it's fine and fun and not nearly as slow and ponderous as an armchair expert might expect.

Some friends and I went for a nice ride on Sunday. First we hit this trail along the river near my house:

In the summer, this trail is sandy, which makes it somewhat hard to ride on a normal bike, but a fat bike rides over sand like it's a paved road.

And we continued down onto the edge of the river, where the "trail" was more like a smattering of human and canine footprints.

This snow wasn't well-packed, and the tires sinking through the crust made it more challenging than the buff single-track we'd just finished riding. But at low pressure of less-than-5psi it was ridable. The know-it-all "fat bikes are a fad" types don't understand how GREAT it is to just ride off in interesting directions, even if nobody has gone through the trouble of building a trail and a parking lot there. I do believe that this surface would have been impossible to ride on a typical, non-fat offroad bike. Under the snow, I happen to know that the river's edge is strewn with large rocks, driftwood, sand, and other debris, making it nearly impossible to ride on a normal bike ANY time of year. Fat tire bikes open up riding opportunities that simply don't exist with other flavors of bikes.

After we completed our loop, we'd worked up a powerful appetite, and settled on lunch at a dive-ish bar in my neighborhood. I chuckled as I imagined what passers-by might think of the collection of bikes we locked up to the light pole outside.

Fat tire tubeless conversions

Mountain bikers have been using various tubeless systems for years now to save weight, improve puncture resistance, and/or to reduce rolling resistance. There are various tubeless systems for various rims and tires, but nobody has a commercial tubeless kit for fat bikes. We found some fat-tubeless how-to advice on the internet, and decided to pair this advice with our own dead reckoning to roll our own fat tire tubeless kit.

Here's a fairly standard modern-day Surly fat rim, a Rolling Darryl in this case. This is a 82 mm wide single-wall rim with cutouts and a Surly PVC rim strip sized for this rim. The rim has a somewhat deep channel that we decided to fill with a strip of foam insulation. The ideal width is just barely wider than the cutouts, just enough to fill the rim channel. A little packing tape holds the foam in place.

Next, slightly inflate a really fat 24" tube and stretch it over the rim, putting the valve through the valve hole in the rim in the usual way. This one is labeled 24x2.4-2.75", which is wide enough for rims up to 100 mm. Once the tube is in place, start laying it open with scissors, as shown here.

After cutting the tube open, it should look like this.

 

Then put the tire on over the split tube such the the tube is between the tire bead and the hook of the rim. The tube should stick out the sides, like this.

Now pump up the tire to make sure the tire can seat on the rim with the tube pinched between the tire bead and the hook on the rim. It might be tricky to get the bead to seat since the air you pump in isn't contained by anything. An air compressor helps.

Once you've verified that the tire will bead and hold air without a tube, let the air out, and pour in some Stan's NoTubes sealant. We used three 2-oz scoops per tire. You can also use the injector to squirt sealant into the valve, but the high volume required makes this a tedious process. The funnel is faster.

 

As before, seat the bead and inflate the tire again, exercising care not to spill the sealant fluid. When you're confident that the tire is seated, shake and spin to ensure that the sealant works it's way into the nooks and crannies between the rim and tire to seal any potential leaks.

 

Finally, trim the protruding tube with a sharp razor or knife. Careful not to slash the sidewall on your $150 tire. When you're done, it will be difficult to know that this any different than a standard tube set-up.

 

Inflate the tires to near-max pressure (25ish psi) and wait a day or two to make sure they're holding air. Then go out and ride it:

 

I've been riding tubeless on my pugsley for a couple weeks now. Weight savings over the usual Surly 26x4 tubes is about 50g per wheel, which by itself is probably not worth the effort, especially since there are substantially lighter 26x2.7" tubes that seem to work for some people. Initially, my motivation was not weight savings, but puncture resistance, which will be nice for summer off-trail woods riding, the urban jungle, or vacations in the thorny desert. Now after some experience I'd add another motivation: I think the tires roll better, especially at squishy low pressure, since there is no tube flexing inside the tire to increase rolling resistance.

We could perform this service for you. Parts and labor for two fat wheels would run about $120.

For more on tubeless, see some of Stan's videos. I especially like the Puncture Demo video.