As we move into December and grow closer to the end of 2023, it’s that time of year where we all are likely getting Christmas cards from friends and family. Some of these cards come with letters highlighting the year. Some are funny. Others bring tears of lost or loved ones. I always look back when these cards start rolling in and wonder what if anything in my year was noteworthy and share worthy? While I don’t have anything that I’d want to share in a Christmas card, I do have some stuff about bike parts I’d like to share here. I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the year, my goals and my cycling.
My story begins just a smidge over 4 years ago. I had a significant milestone birthday. My birthday fell on the day of our weekly Director’s and Leadership meeting at my previous employment. This was pre covid so we were meeting in person in a large conference room. I walked into the room that morning and one of my favorite co workers (LH) had planned a surprise birthday for me! While the group was chatting at the start of the meeting, LH asked me if I had any goals set for the coming year. You see, I had told her just a week prior in our weekly check in about a goal I had set. I had not spoken of it to anyone else. LH also new that sharing it would make me hold myself more accountable. So….In that spirit I shared with whole group what I had shared with her.
Before I share the goal, I need to set the stage a bit. My life and life choices had pulled me away from fitness. My job was good but demanding. My family was busy busy busy with two teenagers making the most of high school and related activities of music and sports. If I wasn’t at or working on work, I was going from activity to activity. My fitness suffered. On top of that, there was other significance. I had not ridden 100 miles or done a bike event longer than 60 miles since my last Dirty Kanza, now Unbound Gravel, many years ago due to severe hand and foot nerve damage and arthritis.
So in a moment of boldness, I shared my goal.
- Do a 100 or 100+ mile gravel ride or event
- Do a 50 or 50+ mile mountain bike ride or event
- Do a 10K trail run
Honestly, while I said it out loud, given my health at the time those goals felt un obtainable goal unless something in my life changed.
As that year went on, I was working toward that goal. I did a 3 day bike packing/photo trip in Utah carrying a back pack filled with professional gear. I was riding just a bit more as well. But the year was going quick. Real quick and I ended up not achieving any of those goals. But this goal still loomed in the back of my mind.
Then Covid happened. I am going to skip a lot of what happened next. It was life changing for me both personally and professionally. Huge challenges at home with two kids trying to finish high school and figure out college and huge challenges at work with disruption, changes in direction almost every day and lay offs of my friends and business partners. I know many got really really fit through Covid. I did not. I went the other way. I went deeper into poor health physical health and the traumas in my life started impacting my mental health. Not good!
Fast forward now to 2023. I reset those goals and added Do a multi day bikepacking or tour to the list. I am happy to report that I hit 3 of those 4 goals! The only goal not hit was the 10k trail run and while I did not get the 10K rail run in, I do run twice a week on a treadmill and am not afraid of the distance. Rather, I am afraid of running on hard surfaces as my my joints and spine do not like it and pretty much seize up. A treadmill has so much give while running that my back and body joints can handle it. Of note, I did try trail running this year with my wife but she pretty much killed me on a challenging and hilly route and it took me quite some time to recover. (She is way tougher than me BTW!) It is also a challenge to go running when its nice out because I’d rather go riding. All that said, while I did not make the 10K goal, I made significant change and will work into the mileage. I plan to reset those goals in 2024 and hit all of them in 2024!
So why am I going on and on and on here? Well….Here are the products and things that really helped me achieve those goals. Note: no bikes in this article. My favorite bikes post will come soon.
I spent a lot of time focusing at the touchpoint this year. Hands. Feet. Bottom. I also gave way to my curmudgeon ways and challenged some things that I have hung onto for 30+ years of cycling. Along with simply riding with more consistency this year, these are the things that helped me the most.
Shorter cranks/crank arm length – I am still experimenting but I am settling into 170mm’s on my mountain bike, my touring bike and my gravel bike after almost 30 years on 175mm. My hips and body are so much happier. Nothing, and I mean nothing, has more positively impacted my body than this change.
Insoles – Prior to changing out insoles, 50-60 miles was my limit before my feet went completely numb. Now I can push further. More comfort. Less hot spots. The insoles I bought are off the shelf. I chose these Superfeet Carbon insoles because 3 people on one of Northfield’s Tuesday Night Gravel rides recommended them. Lot’s of good options here I think and I will continue to experiment a bit. For 2024 I can’t help but think about custom insoles or better yet, custom shoes with custom fit insoles. A guy can dream right?!
Meriwether titanium, double bend flat bars – These comfortable, flexy ti bars have given me a great amount of comfort and as a result, my hands don’t go numb as much or as quickly as they used too. While I am not done with curvy, drop bars yet (see below), these bars have been a godsend in the comfort department. I now have two bikes set up with them along with ESI grips. For 2024 I intend to also give the new Whisky Parts Co Skully bar a try. The carbon bars are lighter and my experience with carbon bars have me thinking that they might absorb road shock even better. We shall see. I have these mounted on one bike now and will test into 2024.
Cane Creek eeSilk stem – Two folks I really trust showed up to rides this year with the Shock Stop stem. I had poo poo’d them until seeing them. Had to give them a try. Wow. With a little patience in finding the right elastomer stiffness, these things have blown me away. I got the stem in the fall and have not ridden it enough to test durability but I can say that I can comfortably ride further. I need to test over the long run to see if it eventually creeks but so far, this ranks right up there with shorter cranks and insoles as the product that allows me to ride further. For 2024 I intend to also buy a Shock Stop stem to test and compare.
Tumblweed Big Dipper drop handlebar – Readers of the blog know I love my Tumbleweed Stargazer. It was my favorite bike in 2022 as well as my highest ranked and read blog post of 2023. Now I have a bar to go with it. The sweep, short reach and shallow drop simply work for me, especially with the Cane Creek eeSilk stem. I think those two are a match made in heaven and I intend to install both a suspension stem and Big Dipper Bar on my gravel bike for 2024.
Electronic Shifting – I have been a hold out for many many years citing durability, cost, etc. I traded some photography work this year for some SRAM AXS parts. Wow. I kinda hate that I like it so much. Is it perfect? Far from it, but the reality is that for the types of riding I do it works almost flawlessly. The super light touch, or action, of the shifter POD adds little fatigue to my already nerve damaged and arthritic hands. I simply love it. Unfortunately, I know pretty much want it on all but my bikepacking/touring bike! For me, it is just that good. Your results may vary.
Saddle/Cycling Shorts – This is still in the testing and experimentation stage. I am riding new saddle and testing some different shorts. I don’t have definitive winners or losers yet. But this touch point is obviously important. I have exceeded 100 miles now as well as a multi day trip without issues, but I still feel that improvement can be made in this area. More to come probably next end of year in this area.
Lot’s of words and just a few pics. Sorry about that! I am working on my bike posts for 2023 and I promise those will have lots of images! Until then, one last fun photo!
Stay tuned for some bike posts!
Disclaimer: Please note that all of the products except the Tumbleweed Big Dipper drop bar were paid for with my own money. Daniel from Tumbleweed sent me a drop bar to ride and test well over a year ago.
ImagineGnat 