Mid South 2020 - A beautiful disaster
The Mid South is more than a bike ride. It’s an event where I found strength I didn’t know I had and didn’t know I needed.
I remember standing in the crowd near the stage as Bobby Wintle started the pre-race meeting. Most pre-race meetings last about 10 minutes, and are very utilitarian, with the sole purpose of communicating pertinent safety information such as dangerous turns, construction, SAG support, etc. And of course a lot of thanking sponsors. Bobby covered all of that, and went a step farther. He speaks with the electricity of a southern preacher, the excitement of a child who destroyed an entire bag of Halloween candy in one sitting, and the motivation and compassion of a loving family member.
As an event organizer myself, I see The Mid South as a different kind of beast. I’d never been to an event where the organizer was so engaged with the participants. These folks are usually behind the scenes with chirping walkie talkies, keeping the show running like butter on a stack of Belgian waffles. I’ve never seen Bobby hold a radio, but I have seen Bobby hug a few thousand people throughout the course of one day.
As you can tell, for me, The Mid South is more than a bike ride. It’s an event where I found strength I didn’t know I had and didn’t know I needed. I’m not fast. I usually try to finish in the top half of the field. Mid South taught me that a lot of times mental strength is more powerful than pure wattage. Watts don’t matter if you stop pedaling.
So how does this apply to a paint job? In 2019 I finished the ride in 7:43:15. It was my first year for Mid South (then Landrun 100). In 2020 I finished in 11:58:58. That’s the difference in a dry and a wet course. For 2020, I was riding a new bike - a Cannondale Topstone Carbon with an Ultegra RX double setup. Not ideal for the conditions but as they say - “Run what ya brung.”
If you’ve never seen the red Oklahoma clay or what it can do to a bike, here’s the gist.
The clay had clogged every nook and cranny of my frame - the stays, behind the cranks, in my pedals, derailleur cage, brake pads, you name it. After cleaning my bike I found that there were rocks the size of the gaps in my chainrings lodged and cemented in place with clay. These rocks gouged my bottom bracket each time I turned the crank.
When I returned home from Stillwater I took the bike down to the frame and cleaned what I could and tossed out anything unsalvageable like seized bearings. First disappointed at the state of my frame, then proud of the battle scars I knew that I had to do something about the exposed carbon surfaces. I reached out to Nick at TW Carbon to talk paint. He’s been painting and repairing frames since 2014. I’ll have more on Nick and TW Carbon in a follow-up story coming soon.
Here is the concept - I wanted something that directly represented the event from a color and graphic standpoint. I knew I wanted lots of flake in the paint because matte jobs are so 2018, and this project was unique and needed to stand out in a mass start (in a non-COVID world). The deep royal purple represents the high respect I have for this race, it’s fellow participants and Bobby and his team. I decided to throw in the pink elevation map as an ode to the red clay and course map. Although it’s not the most climby of courses, I felt that this was still important. The light blue added a lighter contrast to remind me to look up at the sky from time to time. When I enter the pain cave I tend to stare at the road 10 feet in front of me for hours at a time forgetting to enjoy the scenery.
Chris Koty's "Serious Injury By Gravel"
At mile 34, I rode into Cherryville in desperate need of $1 sloppy joes from the general store. Of course,
This story was originally posted on the blog in December 11, 2018.
I asked Chris to write up a little something to recap his first gravel ride on his new Jamis Renegade Expat. He had just completed "Serious Injury By Gravel" a 50 mile crusher with over 3,200 feet of climbing. What a way to break in a new steed. Here's his story.
-Spoked Matt
I had just completed my second ever gravel ride on March 3rd, the Callaway 50 "Lite" event of 37 miles through the windy and empty corn fields and steep hills of northeastern Jefferson City. It would be the last gravel ride on my 2013 Specialized Crosstrail which I have since converted into a rigid daily commuter. I was so depleted from basically being an upright parachute through straight-line winds that I ate an entire 14" Arris' pizza afterward and slept all the way back to St. Louis. But I was also hooked on the challenges and scenery Missouri back roads provide. That meant relegating my Frankenstein Friend to riding to work and the grocery store and finding a new whip more geared towards "shreddin' the grav grav," as the kids say.
That's what brought me to Spoked, where Matt was eager to help and became immediately invested in my bike search. I left the shop with the 2018 Jamis Renegade Expat as a top contender and it didn't take long to pull the trigger. It's a whole lot of bike for the money, featuring Shimano Tiagra components and a steel frame with a carbon composite fork. My only reservation was the baby blue paint job the stock image seemed to suggest but turned out to be a much richer blue in person with sweet topographical graphics (topographics?). Thanks to Matt's excellent customer service and to my slight dismay, the Expat arrived in time for a post-St. Patrick's Day Serious Injury by Gravel, Death by Gravel's more casual, sloppy joe oriented route in Steelville, MO. The two nights before I thoroughly enjoyed using the Expat to hop around from Rolla watering hole to Rolla watering hole (and of course to Donut King, the Rolla donut hole). There are rear rack mounts should you find yourself in a situation where you buy way too many donuts and can't carry the box.
On Sunday, the Expat proved to be a worthy companion through the entire 51.2 miles and 3291 feet of climbing with all stock components. The gearing was just enough for the steep climbs and allowed me to send-it righteously in the downhill sections. At mile 34, I rode into Cherryville in desperate need of $1 sloppy joes from the general store. Of course, I saw Matt there, but I'm not sure how many sloppy joes he ate.
The saddle was surprisingly comfortable for the entire 5-hour ride, and I do not plan on swapping it out anytime soon. The Clement XPlor's were great around town and in loose gravel. I'm looking forward to making use of the 5 separate bottle cage mounts to put out a small fire someday, or just stash a peanut butter jar full of hotdogs under my cranks and on both blades of the fork. Basically what I'm trying to say is that you can ride the Expat to your favorite donut/sloppy joe/hotdog establishment no matter the location.
-Chris Koty
James' 24 Hour Test Ride or "Why am I Mr. Pink?"
On January 14th our pals over at All-City released the new Mr. Pink road bike. We were lucky to be one of the few shops to have a few in stock on the day of the launch. All-City had been leaking little tid-bits for a few days leading up to the launch. Judging by the reaction on social media we knew the new Mr. Pink was going to be huge!
As a shop owner, it can be hard to communicate how certain bikes ride. A 15 minute test ride around the block will give you a pretty good idea of fit and feel, but how it will handle on different road services, in varying weather conditions or up that long hill on your commute to work isn't easy to determine from inside the shop.
We've never had anyone come back from an All-City test ride unsatisfied but we thought, "What if you could test ride a bike for 24 hours? Then you'd really know, with all certainty, how a bike feels before you take it home." So we decided to run a contest allowing the lucky winner to own a brand new Mr. Pink for an entire day.
James was the lucky winner and he was kind enough to write up a little review for everyone documenting his day in the life. Thanks James.
-Spoked Matt
Why am I Mr. Pink?
Smooth, fast, beautiful, and practical.
Ever since I saw the cherry red Mr. Pink on a shop floor in 2014, I have wanted one. Columbus steel, clearance for huge tires (32s - or some 35s!), fender mounts, and great style. Road, commuting, gravel - this is a bike that could take you a lot of places. I ended up buying a different All-City that day (Nature Boy) - and three others since then (Space Horse, Nature Boy Zona, and Log Lady) - but it had always stayed in my mind.
Fast forward to 2017.
Over the last few years, All-City has been tweaking and improving their lineup, and the Mr. Pink is no exception. Gone are the PF30 bottom bracket, ten speed Shimano/FSA groupset, mixed cockpit components, and steel fork. The 2016 model introduced the BSA bottom bracket and Rival 22 group, and the latest iteration adds a matching Zipp cockpit and a slick Whisky carbon fork that was engineered specifically to match this bike. The complete build package is as nice as anything All-City has ever put together, and the Merckx Team Motorola-inspired paintjob is just killer.
The ride.
Spoked Bikes & Stuff raffled a 24-hour test ride as part of their 2017 Mr. Pink Release Party in January. As someone who has wanted one of these bikes for years, I jumped at the opportunity and was fortunate enough to win. The next weekend's forecast was unseasonable - sun all day, and temps in the mid-70s! I installed a saddle that I am familiar with, as well as a set of iSSi road pedals provided by Spoked, and met up with a couple of friends to hit the road. Over the next few hours, I ended up riding fifty six miles total, through road, gravel, grass, and dirt. The Mr. Pink took everything I threw at it like a champ.
Verdict.
The carbon fork was an upgrade that I was a little skeptical about on paper. I have steel forks on most of my bikes, including my All-Citys. I like the way they look, and really like the way they ride - predictable and solid, but comfortable at the same time. That said, the combination of the Columbus Zona frame with the new Whisky carbon fork makes this bike. It's lighter, sure, so obviously it's going to climb better, but it really eats up the chatter you'll encounter on gravel and rough roads, and even riding on the stock 28c tires, I was as comfortable after a half century as I have ever been. The Rival 22 groupset was practically invisible, which is about as high of praise as I can offer a shift group, especially on a bike I had not ridden before. Never had to think about it, which made it easier to take in the scenery and environment. All-City even thoughtfully spec'ed a WiFli rear derailleur so that you can install an 11-32 cassette for steeper climbs. Add in a set of 32 or 35c tires, there really wouldn't be a limit to the "enduro gravel adventure all-road" rides that you can do. The off-the-rack Mr. Pink has become a legit choice to be one's 'only' road bike.
