Recap... sorta.

Well, from all accounts the 'Battle of the Little Gladiators' aka the Barry Roubaix went off without a hitch. Good times were had by all as Jacobi rocked his Iver Johnson and Ryan, his Cramer 29er SS in their head to head clash in the Expert SS class. The course was a little longer than the previous year and both were able to put up better times than last year with Ryan over 4 minutes ahead of Jacobi. With combined 2009 and 2010 times, Ryan [2009: 2:06:40, 2010: 2:02:19] is 1 minute and 57 seconds ahead of Jacobi [2009: 2:04:14, 2010: 2:06:42]. The only talk going around is Jacobi dreaming of a titanium version of his Iver Johnson, rambling like a crazy man stating some thing to effect of 'If only I could get it down to 16 pounds.' over and over again...

For all the results of the full race go check it out here, along with pictures of the event located just below the results. A big thanks goes out to Rick Plite for once again putting on a stellar event.

J-Bolt stumbled onto this video earlier today today and it was too good not to put up.

Yeah, that hurts.

Battle of the Little Gladiators: Part 2

Last year at the Barry-Roubaix, Jacobi and Ryan threw down and Jacobi came out the victor. This years results we shall see in the epic battle on gravel! Same day entries are available or come out and see a great race! [The Critter/Fiddler battle is only a sub-plot to the whole race]

Hell of a review.

The Hell Yes Sprints went off great this past Saturday, with a solid turn out. Nicola Fester and Todd Hayes took home the wheelsets for winning their respective categories. Thanks to all who made it out to compete and to all who showed up to watch, you made it a great event!

Plenty of stories to be had, from the beer and Velocity crew races to those in the crowd putting up prizes as the day went on. A special thanks goes out to Rick for the Barry Roubaix entry, Kevin and Carly from 360 Massage for putting up a few massages for their on the spot sponsorship; and once again a thanks to Freewheeler Bike shop and Commute Bike shop for putting up prizes for the winners and Hop Cat for hosting!

Check out some more pictures from the day here and here.

Gravel

Endurance Gravel Road Racing. I don't know if I want to call it the latest trend since riding on gravel is nothing new or maybe that's just coming from my days as a shop rat back in Iowa. Either way the popularity of the 24 hour races seems to have morphed it's way into endurance gravel racing for one reason or another. Open courses, 100+ miles, no support, no non-sense riding. Races like the DirtyKanza, Heck of the North, Trans Iowa, and the newly minted Gravel World Championships all have sprung up all in the last 10 years. Not to say that this is a purer form of racing but often these have no fees, done on some sort of raffle format with a cap on the number of riders, put on by riders for riders. As with any of bicycle event, simply just a great time. There are also a number of shorter gravel races like Michigan's very own Barry Roubaix that are out there if you'd want to just see what all the fuss is about, a few of the Velocity crew will be doing this event. For a great list of gravel races check out the Gravel Grinder News website.

I say all of this to announce our sponsorship of Trans Iowa. We are providing every participant with one of our bottle traps for this late April race. This was announced over at one of the race promoters sites, G-Ted, this past Friday with what I must say a great endorsement for the Trap:

I've actually used these cages and they grip your bottle with authority! I highly doubt you will lose a bottle on a rough gravel road using one of these composite/plastic cages.

Both Ted and David put countless hours into putting on this great event and we're excited to be a part of it! Good luck riders!