How did I get here? Where am I going?

The obvious answer and no pun intended is by bike.  Getting where I am today, endurance cycling with dirt roads, started in 2009 when gravel grinders popped up on the biking scene with some attention being given to the Trans Iowa Gravel Grinder.  I am always looking for new things to try and what attracted me to Gravel Grinders is that it marries mountain biking with road/cyclocross into an adventurous activity. 

Single Speed Qball Monster Crosser with Gary I bars

Being into bikes and building them up, I took my first 29er, a Scott Quiring Qball and re-built it into a single speed Monster Cross.  The monster cross concept fit nicely with a lot of the greenways that I was riding, both alone and with my kids.  I took my Monster Cross everywhere and even road single track on it but it wasn't until I got invited to the Tour de Roxbury that I really got to experience dirty endurance cycling.

Geared Qball Monster Crosser with Inverted 3 speed bars

For TdR, I new I was going to need some gears by the nature of the terrain in Southbury, Roxbury, and Washington, CT, because it is hilly!  The Tour de Roxbury was my real first taste of climbing and while I started with the group I quickly got separated, lost, turned around a few times, but had a fantastic adventure.

Tour de Roxbury Profile

I made the Qball into a 27 speed Monster Crosser with some funky bars, actually inverted 3 speed bars because that was the only way my bar end shifters were going to work.  The ends of the Gary I Propulsion bars, or dirt drops, that used as on the singlespeed didn't have enough diameter to accommodate bar end shifters so I tried something else that I had laying around. 

Geared Qball with fatties and road drops

It rode nicely and the extra long drop part of the bar gave me a lot of leverage when climbing singletrack, however, the key hand position is riding on the hoods of the brake levers.  I tried drop bars next but didn't like the feel of them.  I think because they were too narrow.  Finally, at the suggestion of a cycling buddy, I found the perfect handle bar for my Monster Crosser, the 46 cm wide Salsa Wood Chipper. 

Geared Qball Monster Crosser with Woodchippers

What was unique about the Wood Chipper was the flared lower hand position which gave you more leverage for riding in the woods but curve in the bar still made it so you could ride the hoods, too. In the summer of 2010 I was riding dirt roads in the Roxbury & Washington, CT area, along with any rail trail that wasn't paved and flipped flopped between tire sizes, switching to 42 cm Kenda Kross tire for commuting, too.

Geared Qball Monster Crosser with Fme bars

2010 through the end of 2012 I commuted for awhile on the fatties, along with Misfit Pyscles Fme bars and then went back to a single speed.  In 2013, I found the perfect gravel grinder bike, a 1999 Cannondale SX800 with Headshok.  It was old school, with an upright geometry and aluminum tubing.  The Cannondale was perfect!  At least 10 pounds lighter than the Qball and a little travel up front to take the edge off. 

Cannondale SX800 at Steep Rock Reservation

Of course, real gravel grinder bikes don't have any squish but then again are there any set rules in this sport?  I put Gary II propulsion bars on it and it had a SRAM drive train with hard to find (inexpensively) bar end shifters and 180mm cranks! My rides got longer and longer on the Cannondale, and I now regularly rode Roxbury Dirt Roads and began discovering the dirt roads in Northwestern Connecticut which got me ready for the Big Event.

Winter riding on the Cannondale SX800

Riding D2R2 was a blast and the climbing was nothing that I had seen before.  It was insane!  7 thousand feet of climbing in 77 miles.  This was the longest distance that I had ridden to date.  I rode D2R2 with a friend from work who was using it to train for the Vermont 50 and we had a blast.  Having the headshok meant I could descend a lot faster on the dirt roads and the bigger tires 38cm made the bumpiness of the dirt roads go away despite the aluminum frame.  After D2R2 I new that this type of riding of was for me and became my spring board into more adventures involving big climbs and dirt roads.    

2013 D2R2 Profile

After D2R2, I profusely studied maps and discovered a dirt road network on top of Macedonia State Park which could be tied in with dirt roads in Sharon and Salisbury and two rail trails, the Railroad Ramble in Salisbury and the Harlem Valley Rail Trail in Millerton.  Some might think riding rail trails are boring but being a Rail Fan makes them exciting because even though I never got the opportunity to ride that train line, riding the trail now kind of brings you back to that time when you could/had to ride that line to get some where.  Then on Veterans Day, 2013, a friend from NYC and I rode from Kent, CT, over Macedonia and up the largest climb in Connecticut, Mt Riga Road.   

My new Cross Check

While I loved the Cannondale the opportunity to go back to steel frame presented itself to me by way of a Surly Cross Check on Craigslist, an offer that I couldn't refuse.  A steel frame is better for riding gravel roads because it's flexes way more than aluminum and it's a smoother ride.  The trade off is the weight, however I think that can be an advantage for stability when descending dirt roads, but a huge disadvantage for climbing.  I bought the Cross Check and sold the Cannondale.  The Cross Check came with 700 x 54 cm (2") Vee Rubber Tires that were nice and springy but pushed the limit with Surly's motto Fatties Fit Fine, well not that fat!  It also had bar end shifters, Salsa Delgado rims and Fizik saddle



Surly Cross Check Randomuter

Being into bikes, I made a few changes/upgrades.  I went to 700x37c puncture resistant (sort of) Continental Tour Ride tires, fenders for commuting, Retro Shifters from Gevenalle, a carbon seatpost and a Brooks Cambium saddle.  Not only do I use the Cross Check for dirty endurance cycling it is also my commuter, or what I like to call the Randomuter.  However, after an 80 mile ride in the Catskills by ass hurt so much from the Brooks Saddle I switched it out for something softer for D2R2.

Cross Check on D2R2

It's the perfect platform for this type of riding and I love it.  I recently added both a front and back rack to the Randomuter.  I want to get a Rando Bag for the front rack and different trunk bag.  I have one pannier but it can't carry my behemoth laptop in it.  Waiting for an upgrade at work so I can fit the laptop in a pannier bag. 

Bike commuting on the Randomuter

Now, if you have made it this far reading this post and I haven't put you to sleep, let me explain where we are going with this.  The purpose of this blog is to plan, organize, and report on dirty endurance cycling in and around the Northeast.  I will be borrowing some rando vernacular and making my own up, like the renaming gravel as Gravle (pronounced Gra-vale, if you were to coin an Italian accent).  Where this differs from flat out Randonneering is that a lot of the routes that have been and will be ridden will include the Gravle!  So, don't bring your fancy, shmansy 23 cm tired road bikes on these routes unless you have the bike option with AAA or a forgiving partner that will come and get you after you flat two or three times.