JOM, Author at Gravel Cyclist

Williston Peanut Farms Dirt Road Ride

By JOM September 20, 2014

Williston, Florida, a bustling metropolis some 22 miles south from downtown Gainesville, Florida, was the scene of Saturday’s training ride. The route was one some of the regular limerock crew had ridden in the past. Several new roads were added to the route, as well as a couple of tweaks to correct an issue or two from the original ride. And, to make things interesting, the route was ridden in reverse. In all, about 66 miles of awesome.

Population Zero

There isn’t a lot of humanity in these parts, which also means there are few chances for hydration. Translation, only one stop for refueling and it’s after 54 miles (85kms) of chugging mostly on limerock.

Several of the regulars were out of town, in bed, or had bikes under construction. That didn’t stop K-Dogg, JOM, Jimbo and newcomers Shannon, Ronny (Deutchsland) and Adam (on a fixie!) from rolling up.

VIDEO: Savage CX 2014 Race

By JOM September 18, 2014

Better late than never I raced Savage CX on August 23rd, 2014, but due to work, travel, racing, maintaining a house, falling ill and generally running out of time, it…

King Titanium Bottle Cage Review

By JOM September 18, 2014

The humble bottle cage. Who in their right mind would place such importance upon a bicycle part so trivial? It's sole job in life to securely hold a water bottle,…

Bikes of Pisgah Monster Cross 2014

By JOM September 16, 2014

Andrew Pooser raced at Pisgah Monster Cross 2014, and took time to photograph some of the machines at the event's finish. Mouse over the gallery images below to see a…

Big Head Todd’s SS Monster Crosser

By JOM September 14, 2014

BHT, aka Todd, is an other limerock / gravel aficionado who resides in the current hometown of Gravel Cyclist. Today, a feature about the machine that BHT resurrected from the dead. Can you say, single speed sweetness?

Excerpt from BHT himself…

This is a different kind of monster cross: No titanium, no carbon, no electronics, no maintenance, no problem. While it is a mix of old and new parts, at the heart of this build is the frame I rode exclusively from 1991-2007 (bonus fun fact – I got that bike from a friend in Michigan who went to high school with John Tomac). Inspired by the competition rigs of Dr. Pain and JOM, this is a training machine for the flatland dirt roads west of Gainesville. Singlespeed on limerock is a blast!

Interbike 2014 Day 3 – More bikes & parts

By JOM September 13, 2014

One thousand most humble apologies for the delay in posting this entry. I sorted out these photos at the Charlotte, NC airport early this morning, during the last of my red eye flights from Las Vegas. I had the best intentions of posting the article as soon as I arrived home today, but a power nap, a longish bike ride, another power nap and errands, all took precedence. Excuses over, enjoy these photos. Now, it’s time to sleep, East Coast time.

Adequate tyre clearance for CX, but not for serious mud

Giant Revolt 0, Aluminum frame, a pretty cool bike

Giant Women’s Bike – Invite CoMax – 32mm tire there, not a lot of clearance

Phil Wood’s 13 speed cassette – hooked up to a SRAM twist shifter, it worked

FATLABs prototype Titanium not so fat bike

KHS CX550 – not a great bike for mushy sludge and gravel, but a tasty looking CX bike

Clearance isn’t optimal for serious mud and sludge

Interbike 2014 – Shimano XTR Di2 Electronic Shifting

By JOM September 13, 2014

During day three of Interbike 2014, I had a few moments to play with the Shimano XTR Di2 system. The system is officially known as Shimano XTR Di2 M9050, and continues the trend of Shimano’s naming standards. Simply put, the system is mind blowing! The shifter buttons offer the same tactile feedback you expect with the equivalent mechanical shifter, but with zero delay from button push, to derailleur actuation.

I didn’t try out the synchro mode of the system. Rather, I pushed the rear derailleur through it’s regular incremental steps, one click of the shifter after the other. The derailleur shifted as fast as I could push the buttons, or at a determined speed (customizable multi-shift) if I held down a shifter button. The front derailleur functioned flawlessly as expected.