"Midnight Mini Masacre" Night Time Gravel Grinder Announced

The folks that put on the events down in Texas like the "Red River Riot" and the "Texas Chainring Massacre" are at it again. This time they are doing a gravel grinder which will occur all at night. A metric century in length, this event will take place Saturday evening, August 13th, near Ponder, Texas.

Registration is happening online here, so check it out. Get away from the heat of the day, and grind yer gravel the Texas way.

This is another event promoted by the folks at The Spinistry. 

Gravel Grinder Gear: Salsa Cycles Cowbell II Handle Bar

The Salsa Cycles Cowbell 2: Perfect for gravel grinding!

I am a big, big fan of "alt-bars" and in particular, off road drop bars. I plan on doing a complete off road drop bar comparo yet here, but in the meantime, I just got my mitts on these bars that will appear in that round up, and I wanted to share them with you here.

The Salsa Cycles Cowbell 2, (There is also a Cowbell 3, which only differs in material. The "2" being a 7050 T76 alloy, and the "3" being a 6061 T6 alloy), is the newest drop bar from Salsa Cycles and is designed with gravel grinding and cyclo cross in mind.

Shallow drop, minimal reach here.

Here is the tech lowdown from Salsa Cycles site.

• Designed to allow a flat transition between handlebar and brake lever
• Top radius allows comfortable hand positions all the way across, while maintaining short reach
• 12-degree outward flare in the drops is great for gravel riding and ‘cross racing; same flare as previous Bell Lap
• 6061-T6 alloy (Cowbell 3- The Cowbell 2 is 7050 T76 alloy)
  
• 31.8 clamp only
• Widths: 38, 40, 42, 44, 46cm
• Width measured center-to-center at the lever position
• 76mm reach, 126mm drop (same as our PRM Bars)
• 120mm wide center section for mounting accessories
• Flattened indentation for cable routing

Minimal flare is subtle, but effective.

• Double-butted
• Bead-blast Black finish

I'll be running these on the Black Mountain Cycles Monster Cross rig, (which I call "Orange Crush"), and I'll get back to the ride feel and details on these with the comparo coming up.


My short and dirty on these so far is that they should be a hit with gravel grinders and cross racers. Another great effort by Salsa Cycles!


The Cowbell 2 and 3 are currently available from Salsa Cycles through your local bike shop.

UPDATE: There has been some confusion over what the difference is between the Cowbell 2 and Cowbell 3. Here is an answer for that from Salsa Cycles............

Here is the skinny on our naming. This is new for the future and these are the first products coming under our new format.

1 = BEST (equate to product like Pro Moto Carbon bars and Pro Moto Ti stem)
2 = BETTER (equate to product such as aluminum Pro Moto bars)
3 = GOOD (equate to product formerly known as Moto Ace)

Each of these levels will be differentiated by features, materials and finish quality. All of our core components will come this way eventually. We will have 3 level of components in bars, stems and seat posts. 


So there ya have it! Thanks for the comments and for reading Gravel Grinder News!

Farmhouse Classic

The Farmhouse Classic is going to happen again this year on July 16th at 9:00am

The event is pretty low key and will feature a 95-ish mile long course with about two chances for re-charging the water and food supplies.

This is the third running of this event and as always, it will feature a meal at the farmhouse afterward. Check out the details here.

Crooked Roubaix On For September

The second Crooked Roubaix is scheduled to take place September 10th in Colorado. The ride will take participants on a winding 92 mile course on a combination of pavement, Forest Service Roads, and gravel.

Many of the Forest Service Roads are being specially opened just for cyclists on this particular ride.

For more info, check out the site here that has all the specifics for you.

Just A Friendly Notice

Notice: It seems that perhaps a few event directors/promoters maybe don't quite understand Gravel Grinder News, or just what is necessary to have me link to a ride or post about it here. That's cool. I get that. So, in the interest of clearing up a few misunderstandings, or potential ones, I am going to reiterate and clarify a few salient points on what it is that this site is about, and what I require to have information show up here.

Event Type: Race, ride, tour, or any combination of the three, it really doesn't matter, but the content of unpaved to paved must be at least 60/40- unpaved to paved, and not more than 10-20% mountain bike terrain/single track. Gravel, dirt, and rock paths and roads are the focus here. Although urban areas are okay, it doesn't normally pan out that you'll find these sorts of roads in an urban landscape, so by default, these almost always end up being rural affairs. Finally, if you ask to have a ride posted, let me know what type of roads, and the approximate ratio of paved to unpaved is, so I can disseminate that to my readers more clearly.

Event/Ride Info: I'll gladly post any ride, race. or tour if you provide a clear and easy way to get information on-line about your event. Sounds simple enough, but I have gotten links for events that I can't find any specific information about at the link I get directed to. If I can't figure it out, I won't post it, and I won't chase you down to get it clarified.

Make your link one that goes directly to the ride description, date, and any pertinent links folks will need to use to contact, register, or get more information. Bad links include club sites, where tons of info show up, or links to outdated pages, or what have you. Make your link clear, and one that goes just to your specified ride, please.

Most all of you that make use of Gravel Grinder News to promote links to rides get it right. You folks are great. I appreciate you. This is just for a very small percentage of folks that seem to not understand these things, or don't know how the site works. Hopefully, this clears up any confusion out there.

Oregon Stampede 2011

The Oregon Stampede 2011: I just received notification about the next Oregon Stampede today which will happen September 10th, and the registration is open. NOW!

Here are the pertinent details....

• September 10, 2011 – 7:00 a.m. start time
• 127 miles
• ~9,000 ft elevation gain
• ~60% dirt
• Limited to 75 riders – no exceptions

Need more info? Link to registration? Go see their site here!