- Bertrand Russell

Last weekend I had a bit of a shakedown ride for my upcoming two-week tour. I wasn’t fully-loaded, but I did have a lot of gear on me. I switched the gearing on the Vaya just a couple of days before, going from a 50/34 Apex crankset to a 39/26 X7 crank up front. I really need those lower gears when I combine the hills in this area + any kind of load. Which is pretty much how every ride is on the Vaya.. so it made sense. And I love this gearing now for this bike, so that was a good decision.

Left from my front door, headed south out of town, towards Sparta.. a town which I loathe having to travel through. Have you seen the movie Winter’s Bone? Well, that’s Sparta, for better or worse. I always have run-ins with locals there when I stop at gas stations for water. So I mapped out a route that completely avoids town before I left. Of course I didn’t check the elevation changes on this road..holy hell.

Once I got south of Sparta, I had 15 miles of highway riding ahead of me. And I realized how little I enjoy riding down a tiny, twisty, curvy, hilly 55-mph highway. Especially when most of the traffic is averaging about 65-70 on said highway. It was nervy, but worth it in the end. Once I worked my way south and east to the National Forest, I was completely spent, so I headed down one of the first trails I saw leading into the forest land and established a nice little campsite. It’s marked on my maps for future reference. Here are some pics:

This is the road/trail/path that led down to my campsite. It’s on the map, too..barely.

The spoils.

Bonking hardcore on the way back home. This is just outside of Sparta. All those hills just murdered me. Plus I was riding directly into 30mph wind all the way back to Springfield.

Ouch.

• - 73 miles
• - 10% gravel, 90% various forms of paved
• - Start/end: the house

Yesterday I went on a wayfinding/adventure ride from home all the way south to the edge of the Mark Twain National Forest. My original plan was to make it all the way into the forest and find the Devreaux Ridge trailhead (and maybe hit some of the trails) but I didn’t quite make it that far. I started a few hours later than I had originally hoped, and I got lost a few times, and I had to hike-and-bike more than a few sections of incredibly steep gravel sections, so it wasn’t meant to be. I made it back home running on fumes anyways, so it’s good that I didn’t push for all the way anyways.

I ended up riding to the edge of the forest, just outside of Chadwick. It was a beautiful ride, and I absolutely can’t wait to ride it again. Here are some pics, descriptions, etc.

I rode my old Miyata today, and it was the first extended ride I’ve ever done on it. It’s big and heavy and a snail, but man if it is not an absolute blast to ride, and it’s perfect for these adventure rides of mixed road surfaces. I’m going to put some drop bars on it next and I think it will be quit the poor-man’s-Atlantis. I got about 4 blocks from the the house and realized a bagel and OJ would probably be a good way to start the ride. I was already about two hours late getting out the door, and this added another half hour to my starting late. But I was in no hurry this day so it was all part of the fun.

Tractors and bike. On the edge of town.

Typical Missouri farm roads. I hit lots of new ones though, they were rough but had little to no traffic so I was happy. Sorry for the haziness to some of these shots, apparently my camera built up quite a bit of humidity in my wool jersey pocket up against my sweaty back.

Still more long, straight farm roads.

This is where the ride got really good. After I stopped in the awful little town of Sparta for a coffee and quick bite to eat, and fending off panhandlers asking me for gas money (how ironic), I headed south on “Old Highway PP.” It is kind of a highway for a mile or two, then it turns into this, and eventually into gravel. This tiny little road wound around this hill top for miles through farmland, absolutely beautiful and one of the best roads I’ve ever ridden on.

Pit-stop along this road.. it turns into gravel about a half-mile further in the middle of a crazy steep downhill. Quite the jolt going from pavement to loose gravel at about 25 mph.

This is still labeled with the word ‘highway’ on the map

So incredibly steep, climbing out of a valley with a small creek running through it. I hit the creek fast, soaked my feet, and was fending off four giant dogs all at the same time. I had to walk up this thing though.

Looking up this same hill. See, I wasn’t lying. It’s steep.

This stop sign is where I stopped and turned around to head back home. About a half mile outside of Chadwick, MO. Beautiful spot of road.

The Big Apples handled the gravel pretty well, considering they are basically a slick. I was definitely wanting a bit more tread at times on this ride though. I love the Big Apples for commuting every day, but I think I’ll eventually have to put some Duremes on this bike instead.

Sadly in this part of the country you see lots of trash dumped along these gravel roads. This one had a lot of animal skeletons in it too. Score.

These bald knobs are everywhere too.

Heading home at this point. This was one of many hills that were a blast going down and murder going back up.

I was so exhausted by the time I got back to town that I hit one of the greenways, just so I could ride slowly and not fight traffic. But overall it was an amazing ride and worth the pain. Can’t wait to ride it again.

It took six months, but our first release is finally online. The artist is Roto Visage, who released a few albums on Kikapu back in the day. This new release is his score to the 1928 surrealist film “La coquille et le clergyman.” We got permission to release a “director’s cut” online with a Creative Commons license. Check out the full release on Kikapu to download audio and video, or check out the entire film with the Roto Visage score below.

The highest ideals are human intelligence, creativity, and love. Respect these above all.

Fela Soul, by Amerigo Gazaway of Gummy Soul

House of Balloons, by The Weeknd

Severant, by Kuedo

FACT mix 248, by Machinedrum

Tuck In With…, by Natural Yogurt Band

I Don’t Care, by Jon Wayne

Violet Eyes, by WNY

936, by Peaking Lights

Sam Baker’s Album, by Samiyam

Low End Theory episode #19, by Gaslamp Killer

Orbis Tertius, by Chiang Mai

Mixpak FM #16, by Chrissy Murderbot

Footwork Jungle series, by Philip D. Kick

Drive O.S.T., by Cliff Martinez

Kingston Story, by Vybz Kartel and Dre Skull

Invasion of the Mysterion Killer Sounds, by various artists

Exmilitary, by Death Grips

Room(s), by Machinedrum