Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep

Where to rest? The Black Hills BackBone and DoubleBackBone are long, remote rides.

Conceived as a continuous through-ride, the 310 mile Black Hills BackBone readily lends itself to a multi-day tour, whether self or fully supported. At 640 miles, the DoubleBackBone even more so. Overnight options abound, once near the Black Hills. Pull out a map, or two, and dream up a tour.

Power breakfast meeting at Black Fox, plotting a return ride from the 2016 Pedal Power Campout.
Black Fox is a sweet little USFS campground right on the Black Hills BackBone route at Mile 178.7

If riding with a support vehicle, it's easy. As a well developed tourist destination, the Black Hills offer a wide assortment of hotels, motels, BnB's, RV parks and campgrounds. Ride whatever distance the day brings, shuttle to your home for the night and then shuttle back to start the next day.

That's how our Black Hills BackBone turned out in 2017, because none of the three days went according to plan. In the heat and wind of a Fourth of July weekend, we planned for Day 1 of 133 miles to Spearfish (rode 113 miles to Fruitdale), Day 2 of 94 miles to Custer (rode 84 miles to Deerfield), and Day 3 of 83 miles to the border (rode 113 miles to the border). With the support of shuttle vehicles and BnB overnights in Spearfish and Custer, the riders and crew adapted to create a memorable weekend. For a six part report of that ride, go to these posts. An Idea Takes Shape; Gathering; Crossing the Northern Prairie; Up and Into the Black Hills; Focus on the Finish; A Weekend to Remember.

If riding the BackBone self-supported, one must cross the Northern Prairie before entering the Black Hills. Although hard packed with relatively minor elevation gain, those roads starkly expose one to the elements and offer little respite over 100 miles of gravel crossing mostly private land. After Picnic Spring Campground near the North Dakota border, the BackBone eventually skirts a campground at the Rocky Point Recreation Area by Orman Dam (mile 109.0). Then it's another 24 miles of hilly, thicker gravel to Spearfish (mile 133.0), which offers many overnight options.

After Spearfish, there are a couple of campgrounds right on the BackBone, including the popular Black Fox USFS (mile 178.7) and White Tail USFS (mile 195.4), as well as a few just off the BackBone, including Timon USFS (east of Tinton Road just past Big Hill), Mountain Meadows (east of White Tail USFS), several around Custer (mile 227.7), and Elk Mountain in Wind Cave National Park (south at mile 247.8).

Another night at the Black Fox USFS campground, here at the 2017 Bikepack Extravaganza.
Jim Meyer, Jay Erickson and Robert Cota, with Christopher Grady and Jason Thorman in the background.

Continuing onto the DoubleBackBone, Edgemont (mile 360.3) sports a spartan city campground and a little further up the road is Red Bank USFS (mile 440.0). Just off the DoubleBackBone, one can explore Jewell Cave National Monument (east at mile 412.7) and Beaver Creek USFS. North of Spearfish (mile 494.0), one rides by Rocky Point again (mile 518.0), but very few options exist thereafter to Camp Crook or to the North Dakota border.

Motels and cabins may be found throughout the Black Hills, including Spearfish, Trailshead Lodge atop O'Neil Pass, Mountain Meadows on the east side of Deerfield Reservoir, Custer, Edgemont and Spearfish. Check the map, though. There's not much development of any kind on the DoubleBackBone north of Edgemont to Spearfish, or north of Rocky Point to Camp Crook.

For the spunky self-supported rider, dispersed camping offers the most flexibility. Once up and into the Black Hills, the BackBone mostly passes through the Black Hills National Forest, with dispersed camping available most anywhere that is not developed. Check the Forest Service regulations beforehand. You may be able to simply ride until you're done for the day and disperse camp nearby.

For the Black Hills BackBone, I still plan to complete a continuous ride at some point. For the DoubleBackBone, I'd like to ride it self-supported over however many days it takes, camping dispersed along the way. It's all just a matter of time.

Right now, it's time to rest.

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

In the midst of some February blahs, there's nothing like a light hearted bicycle scene from a 50 year old western to brighten spirits.

This song and scene from the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid always picks me up.
Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head.

Keep smiling. Keep riding. See you out there.

Raindrops are falling on my head
And just like the guy whose feet are too big for his bed
Nothing seems to fit
Those raindrops are falling on my head, they keep falling

So I just did me some talking to the sun
And I said I didn't like the way he got things done
Sleeping on the job
Those raindrops are falling on my head, they keep fallin'

But there's one thing I know
The blues they send to meet me
Won't defeat me, it won't be long
'Till happiness steps up to greet me

Raindrops keep falling on my head
But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turning red
Crying's not for me
'Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complaining
Because I'm…

Raindrops keep falling on my head
But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turning red
Crying's not for me
'Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complaining
Because I'm free
Nothing's worrying me
It won't be long 'till happiness steps up to greet me

Raindrops keep falling on my head
But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turning red
Crying's not for me
'Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complaining
Because I'm free 'cause nothing's worrying me

Burt Bacharach and Hal David (1969)

Single Speed, It Is

It's a subtle thing. The pull to simplicity. To just get out there. To just be.

And it always seems to lead me to a bicycle. The most simple one. A rigid single speed.

I have commuted single speed or fixed since the mid 90's, raced cyclocross single speed beginning in the late 90's, and mountain biked exclusively rigid single speed from 2003-2018. Single speed speaks to me.

Even for gravel, at first. Throughout 2013, my first season riding gravel events, I rode my Torelli cyclocross single speed all over, including the Gold Rush, Odin's Revenge and Gravel Worlds. I loved gravel events, but not so much the cyclocross bike's quick handling or single speed. I searched for a more capable bike for those long rough road rides.

Eventually, I landed on the Black Mountain Cycles Monster Cross bike for a go anywhere geared road bike. But I hedged. A significant part of my purchasing decision was Mike Varley's perceptive design detail of old school semi-horizontal dropouts, which allowed an easy in-the-field conversion to single speed. Of course, that also left open the possibility of a more permanent single speed.

Black Mountain Cycles Monster Cross set up for all day single speeding on most any road. 

After four memorable seasons riding gravel geared, I somehow entered the single speed class in the 2018 Gold Rush Gravel Grinder. I still don't know what prompted that, other than just to see if I still could. A Single Speed Gold Rush.

With that taste of gravel single speed still lingering, Mark Stevenson (aka Guitar Ted) and Dave Roll (aka N.Y. Roll) announced the C.O.G. 100 Iowa Gravel Single Speed Championship, a self-supported, self-navigated, no frills 100+ mile gravel race. It's just you, your fellow riders and whatever you discover out there on an unknown, unmarked course. With the C.O.G. 100 featuring just about everything I love about grass roots gravel, I had to find a way to make it there. Keeping It Real - The C.O.G. 100.

Once cleared by work and home for another Grinnell road trip, I spent a quiet winter afternoon converting the Black Mountain to a single speed complying with the C.O.G. 100 requirements of one chain ring, one cog, no front derailleur, no shifters, no shift cables, and no cassette/freewheel.

One chain ring + one chain guard = same bolts from the removed double chain ring setup.

I first removed the front derailleur, rear derailleur and shift cables. I then removed the Salsa Cowbell handlebars, complete with its shifters, and simply installed slightly wider Salsa CowChipper handlebars with brake levers only. Easy-peasy.

The one chain ring rule required removing two chain rings and installing just one. Lacking the niceties of shorter bolts to make this work, I found in my shrinking parts bin an old Salsa chain ring with 42 shark teeth. A few minutes with a hacksaw turned that unusable chain ring into a shade tree mechanic chain guard. Problem solved.

Old cassette spacers align the cog with the chain ring and help secure it to the dropout.

The one cog rule required removing the cassette and installing just one cog. My simple solution for a single speed rear wheel was to use my existing wheel with a BMX single speed cog aligned with the front chain ring and held in place with spacers extracted from old cassettes. Another shade tree mechanic fix.

Not much left. Shorten the chain to an appropriate length, tighten the chain to an appropriate tension by sliding the rear wheel back and up the semi-horizontal dropout and secure it all with a stout quick release. That's it.

Chain tension adjusted by sliding the rear axle along the semi-horizontal dropout. No brake adjustment necessary.

This set up will not get onto the cover of Single Speed Today. But, yes, it works well. I have ridden and raced many years on trails and cyclocross courses on similar setups.

Now, it's time for the C.O.G. 100.


Addendum 1.  This post describes what I did, but not how. For a post describing how to convert a bike to single speed in the field, as in during an event, go to this post. Field Conversion to Single Speed. The only additional steps for the C.O.G. 100 are to remove some extra stuff (the derailleurs, shifters, shift cables, cassette and a front chain ring) and install a single rear cog.

Addendum 2.  The chain tension must be loose enough to operate, but not so loose as to slip off. The operational tolerance here is not high. If your frame lacks a semi-horizontal dropout, you most likely will have to maintain chain tension another way, such as an eccentric bottom bracket, an eccentric rear hub, or a chain tensioner like a rear derailleur or a Surly Singulator. Sheldon Brown - Single Speed Conversion.

Addendum 3.  Of course, a primo set up includes a single speed specific rear wheel with a single speed freewheel held with a bolt on skewer. I've built several wheels like this over the years and still have one for my commuter bike (Surly hub, WTB rim, White Industries ENO freewheel). I would do this on the Black Mountain if I were committed to running single speed for more than an event or two.

Fear Not

I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear, Dune, Frank Herbert (1965).

Fear.

Fear to imagine.
Fear to believe.

Fear to begin.
Fear to succeed.

Fear to fail.
Fear to be.

Fear.



I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear, Dune, Frank Herbert (1965).