Is there a sweeter phrase in the English language than “gravel spill?”
Get there while you can! I’m not sure if traffic is backed up like that because all the local gravelistas have descended upon it, or simply because the motorists aren’t using appropriate gravel vehicles:
Now there’s a car that was way ahead of its time:
Imagine the attention you’d get at the start of your local “alt cycling” (another awful term) get-together if you showed up in your Subaru Gravel Express with your Crust on the hitch rack…though this particular specimen does pose quite a dilemma for the typical car dork:
The car dork thing where they use “daily” as a verb is at least as annoying as any term bike dorks use, though someone somewhere is composing a Reddit post about how they daily (eew) a Curst Nor’Easter build (ugh) with alt bars (gag), Campy brifters (gack), and an XTR M900 rear mech (blech)* even as I type this.
*[It’s perfectly fine to say “mech” if you’re British and that’s how you were raised, but if you’re a West Greenlander and you’ve appropriated the word “mech” for derailleur I find it deeply offensive. Yes, ordinarily I’d be in favor of the term with fewer syllables…but not this time! Do you also call the elevator the “lift,” or the garbage can the “bin?” I’m sure you don’t, unless you enjoy getting punched in the nose.]
Speaking of gravel, it’s so, so over for the non-motorized bicycle:
By the way, this opening paragraph would have totally won my Spirit of Gravel contest if it had been sent to me as an entry:
There is one word in the outdoor gear space that runs the risk of being terminally overused. It’s the word gravel. Whether it’s referring to gravel running shoes or the popularity of gravel bikes, the term conveys both a nonconformist punk sensibility and marketing hype. (These two things don’t contradict each other.) Yay! It’s a road bike, but with bigger tires! It’s a mountain bike (MTB), but with no suspension and drop bars! It’s the bike you already own, just more expensive!
I know one winner has already received his prize, though the second package may still be making its way out west.
But yeah, the non-motorized bike is absolutely about to go the way of the rim brake, and here’s why:
Honestly, it’s hard to tell if I would’ve felt different about this bike if I were younger. As it stands, I’m safely in my 40s. While I still feel mostly the same as I did when I was 28 when I’m just walking around, I just don’t have the same power or endurance. (I still work out, but honestly a lot less than I did before I had kids.)
Riding on Leif Erikson on the Wanderosa brings that all back. This trail is one of the great blessings of living in Portland. It’s a major urban park that’s easy to access but also feels remote and covered in trees. I’ve spent so many years just running up to Leif Erikson during the workday to get in a trail run or meet some friends for a hike, and it’s gotten harder to find the time or energy as I’ve gotten older. The Wanderosa makes it a blast again to rocket along without my teeth rattling around in my head or not being able to keep up with my friends. It just brings me back to the time when the most fun thing I could think to do on the weekend was cover a dozen miles doing something, then hang out without my hip flexors burning.
That’s it, it’s over. Am I thrilled about it personally? No. Will I be riding non-motorized, non-suspended bikes with rim brakes and level top tubes and skinny tires with tubes in them for as long as I’m still able to lift my leg over them without having to employ some sort of pulley system in order to do so? Yes. But I’m mature enough to know when I’m beat. (In fact, I’m so mature I can barely lift my leg over a bike with a level top tube.) Read the above review again without prejudice, and remember that convenience always wins. The end.
Of course, that review is of an “entry level” model, and it’s “only” $7,999. If you want a higher-end e-gravel bike you might consider contracting something a little more Viral:
Here’s the story:
Today Domahidy is running Viral bikes out of a new headquarters with roots in the burgeoning epicenter of bike innovation in America, Bentonville. According to Visit Bentonville Viral is “a boutique titanium bike brand that’s spent nine years perfecting its revolutionary approach to mountain bike design.” Visit Bentonville also says that “At the core of every Viral bike is a 12-speed internal gearbox that eliminates traditional derailleurs, cassettes, and chains, replacing them with a sealed drivetrain and Gates belt drive system.”
Wait. They spent nine years and couldn’t come up with a better name than Viral? Maybe it’s different for the Internet generation since the connotation has changed, but as someone old enough to be thinking about how much longer I’ll be able to lift my leg over a bike I could never ride around on one that says “Viral” on it. Gross! It might as well say Septic, or Purulent, or Pathogenic. Yes, granted, in my teens I used to parade around in t-shirts that said pretty much just that:
But at this point in my life it’s just not the sort of thing I want emblazoned on my expensive high-end bicycle.
Harrumph. Keep your diseases and your motors to yourself.