Hill and Gully Rider

February 22, 2014

Hill And Gully Rider

My apologies to Harry Bellafonte for the use of his song title as my blog post, but it fit so well.

If you read my last blog post, you would see that my mountain bike is no longer in my bike stable, replaced instead by a cyclocross hybrid bike .... my idea of a adventure bike. One of those "if I could only have one bike" kind of bikes. A do everything and anything as good as it can, kind of bike. So, it was time to give it a try and see how well it'll work out to that description.It took a bit of time to transfer over all my stuff onto this bike, but soon, I was ready to ride.

First ride, out my front door, a little over one mile of pavement then 10 1/2 miles of gravel and back 3/4 mile to my front door. Most of our gravel roads around here are pretty well hard packed and not much loose rock on them. The compromise Kenda tires did pretty well on this ride, the bike rolled easily over the gravel roads and I was very happy with the outcome. It even rode better than I thought it might. I think some of this might be due to the fact that the bike has a very long wheelbase, 110cm, about 4 cm longer than my tourer even. The bike felt light and nimble compared to my mountain bike on the same roads. I was encouraged enough to want to take the bike up to Stillwater for a 36 mile gravel grinder they were hosting on Saturday. I went on one of their rides before, and have been anxious to go back and try a bit longer one. So .... I made sure the bike was ready, loaded it up on my carrier and headed north Saturday morning.

I barely made it in time, the group was almost ready to leave when I showed up, however they waited for me to get ready. There were about six of us today. Most were seasoned local riders .... read strong here. I felt that maybe I was a bit out of my class, but they are a pretty friendly and forgiving group, and no riders are left out on the course. This time, the course went quite a bit further east into a very primitive area that was probably unchanged since saber toothed cats ranged free in the area. I kept my eyes open, just in case. I apologize for the few photos and poor quality as most were taken on the fly and on rough gravel roads as well. Leaving Stillwater it became evident that I was soon to be coupled with another fairly new rider from Tulsa, a young lady that by choice or chance, was about my speed and power on the hills. Neither of us knew the turns. We needn't have worried, however, as the ride leader was waiting for us at the top of the steepest hill on the way east. I found out why I wanted that triple crank right there on that hill. The ride leader got a couple of pictures of us climbing it together, and I was hoping he would post them on their F/B page so I could grab one to include here, but to no avail. If he ever does, I'll include it here. The hill was very steep, and fairly loose, making pedaling difficult at best. If I tried to stand for more power, I was rewarded with the back tire spinning out, had to remain seated to put the weight on the back and just slog it up the hill. I found the lowest gear I had on this hill, and was glad for my choice of gearing on this bike. This was to be an adventure bike after all, and not an endurance racing bike. The gravel roads up here in this area are mostly very loose rock scattered across the road, and in some places got quite deep. The bike again did better than I expected.

This route took us by the ghost town of Ingalls, and while there isn't many who live here, there are still a few that hang on according to the trash can. This little ghost town is famous for it's gunfight between U.S. Marshals and the Doolin/Dalton gang. It is my understanding that the outlaws won this battle, and managed to escape. One of them was killed in the hotel which is the prominent building here. I wished it wasn't trash day, but it was, and so there it is. Still an interesting sight.

After this, the roads got more and more primitive, and ranch homes were almost non-existent. In fact, I wondered a couple of times why the roads even existed at all ..... until I noticed an oil well or two.

After riding through a delightful little valley that was so scenic, but required both hands on the handlebars, so no pictures, we came to a turn back to the west to head back to town. Thank goodness, they decided on a short rest. The hill you see in the background is much steeper and longer than it appears here, and was just one of many just like it. Steep, long and loose was the order of the day.

The last shot was just moseyin' up the road headed west. The hills on this stretch tended to string us out a bit as you can see.

We went along on this road up, and down for about 8 miles before turning back north again to return to the main gravel back to Stillwater. When we turned north, I came to this really cool, not too long but steep downhill and decided to turn it loose .... got 32mph for a top speed going down, then hit a very large sharp rock near the bottom, and halfway up the next hill .....flat tire. Pinch flat from the big rock. My companion held my bike for me while I knelt on the rocky road (not very comfy) and changed out the tube, pumped it up with my trusty Topeak Road Morph to 6o pounds this time. I was only running 48. It'll take a bit of experimenting with these tires to get the right pressure for whatever roads I'm riding on at the time. I will say, however, that 32 mph on gravel is a real adrenaline pumper, but whether or not it was worth a flat tire is debatable. I'll take a minute to say a bit about handlebars here. All cyclocross bikes have road bars, I think it has something to do with the race rules. They are designed as racing bikes after all. I really felt that I would be more comfortable riding this type of road with mountain bike bars, and could not have been more pleased with my choice after this ride. They worked out great over the entire range of conditions. The alloy frame and fork also exceeded my expectations as well, very good riding in the roughest of conditions, and I always felt in control. When we got to the turn back to town point, my companion decided to go around again .... this would give her about 63 miles when the day was done. They grow them tough up here. I had enough .... I was very tired by this time and just eased it back to town. The next day, my legs got even with me for the torture I put them through by being really sore all day. Still, Sunday was a nice day, and I got out and rode a twenty mile loop from home and worked the kinks out. A great ride, a good trial for a new bike, and even though I was tired, I would do it again. The bike lived up to all my expectations, and I think once I get used to it and maybe get some wider tires eventually, it'll be a better bike for my style of riding than my faithful mountain bike. Happy Gravel Grinder ..... That's me!