DCC Gravel Extravaganza, Annual Camping Trip
Sat. July 7 to Tues July 10, 2018

Once again the season has arrived for Downriver Cycling Club’s annual camping trip.  This year we are headed to Michigan’s beautiful upper peninsula to spend 4 days riding our bikes through the wilds and environs of both the upper and lower peninsulas. This ride is only open to members of Downriver Cycling Club.  You will have to join our club to participate if not a member already.  Info at www.downrivercycling.org. Non-members may not ride on this ride, no ride waivers allowed.

 We will be camping at the Straits State Park in St. Ignace, Mi in the shadow of the Mackinac Bridge.  We have 2 adjacent campsites.  One is primitive, right on the lakeshore and the other is across the road with full power amenities. Showers and restrooms are nearby. We have room for 12 campers and have 4 already signed up and can accommodate up to 8 more at no cost to DCC members. Any more than that will have to find their own sites at their cost but can join us for the rides.  We will have 2 large tents and space for 2 to 3 more small tents.  We will fine tune this as we get closer to the date.

We will be riding apprx. 260 miles over the four days. THIS IS NOT A RACE. These are absolutely no-drop rides and we will all stick together.  No one will be left behind.  Some of the terrain is quite remote and cell phone coverage could be spotty.  All riders should make sure their bikes are in good working condition and both the rider and bike can handle the distance and terrain.  This is not the place to experiment with repairs. We recommend a CX, Gravel, MTB or Fat Bike.  Road bikes cannot handle the off-road sections (unless you want to walk/run a lot) and there are a lot of them. You will need several tubes and CO2 canisters and/or a small frame pump, basic bike tools, GPS device or cell phone, several water bottles or backpack bladder, energy bars or gels and sunscreen/bug spray.  Bring some cash as not all places accept credit/debit cards. We will provide basic cue sheets and maps as well as first aid kit.

Sat. has a short 31.8 mile ride to the northwest of St. Ignace with a lot of gravel and seasonal roads leaving about 4 or 5 pm.  https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26807711.

Sunday is a 100 mile ride from Mackinac to Petoskey to Cheboygan and back to Mackinac leaving at 9 am.  This route includes the stunning Tunnel of Trees and the famous Leg’s Inn in Cross Village where we will stop for lunch.  There is plenty of gravel and rail trail on this one.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26732072.

Monday’s route is back in the UP leaving at 9 am and we will drive to Cedarville where we will park our cars.  Then Ride On to Drummond Island where we take the ferry across to the island and venture onto this isolated island.  We will have lunch on the island.  We’ll head back via all of the seasonal and gravel roads that I could find.    https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26732088.

We leave the campground on Tues. heading home at 9 am but first we go to Cheboygan to ride a quick 24.4 mile final route on mostly seasonal roads, briefly riding along the Lake Huron shore. https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27571604.

All of the routes are on Ride with GPS, you can follow the links to view.

Meals are the responsibility of each participant.  DCC provides only the campsite. In the past we have worked and shared together to provide breakfast and dinner.  Lunch and stops for snacks are each riders responsibility and will happen during the ride.  Any special dietary or medical needs should be privately discussed and will be accommodated. Alcoholic beverages are a personal choice and responsibility.
Some will ask if they can just ride just one or a few days because of other time commitments or constraints.  This is not a problem except with a big caveat.  Space in the campsites has to favor those who are there for the full 3 night stay. Two or more people could share a car and piggyback the ride. 
We are looking forward to a great ride and sharing many amazing memories of another DCC adventure.

Your host,
Dave Nall
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More details will be posted as they arise.
 

Comfortably Numb

This is a great name for a great song by Pink Floyd.  It is not a great feeling for my hands while cycling long distances on both gravel and our terrible paved roads which are only nominally better than the gravel ones, if that.

As I found myself riding more on gravel and more long-distance randonneur rides I was trying to find a solution to the very uncomfortable numbness in my hands.  The problem was the rough nature of the roads and the repetitive shocks being transferred to my hands.

Gravel has a different dynamic than paved roads.  It has much more of a “rat-a-tat-tat” washboard surface and sudden batches of severe potholes caused by rain washing out the softer materials from the road surface.  It also has freshly laid rocks to fill those voids as well as ruts and soft, sandy stretches all of which require a firm and sensitive grip on the handlebars. Your bike is bouncing all over the place while you try to maintain control at a reasonable speed.

On the paved roads we have a multitude of different elements to challenge the hands.  Patches on top of patches, crumbling patches leaving gaping holes, cracks that keep growing despite all attempts to fill, longitudinal cracks that travel with you, railroad tracks of varying quality and my personal favorite-the chop-often found on chip sealed roads and appearing every 10 to 15 feet for miles on end or so it seems.
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Like most cyclists I have tried everything to alleviate the vibrations from the road surfaces.  Wider tires with lower pressures helped a bit but you can only go so far with this before pinch flats and/or clearance problems stop any further progress.  Gel pads under thicker handlebar tape helped as well but again there is a limit to how thick you can go.

All of these helped to reduce the numbness and slow it down but did not eliminate it.  I was soon ready to give up and just accept that numb hands and fingers were the price we pay to ride a lot of miles.  This winter I read an article on one of the Gravel Ride sites on Facebook and they had just reviewed the Shockstop Stem by Redshift Sports.  I had seen references to various suspension components in the past and pretty much dismissed them as overly complicated and bizarre contraptions that lasted until the check/credit card payment method closed.  There were things for the seat stem, the seat and various other components.  Trek had introduced their ISO Speed on the Domane and Madone as well as a variation on the front headtube.  Specialialized had their Zertz inserts on the seatstays and front fork as well as a spring system in the headtube.  Other manufacturers had tried to find a solution to the issue of isolation of road shock but none had really solved the problem. The quandary was how to isolate the shock while maintaining positive control of the bike over rough surfaces.

I was now intrigued by the Shockstop Stem.  I was upgrading my gravel bike with better components and thought why not try this new stem.  Amazon had it in stock and I could always return it if it did not live up to its billing. I had nothing to lose so I placed the order and 2 days later my new stem arrived. The unit was nicely packaged and seemed well-made.  The instructions were easy to follow and a link to a Youtube video helped me understand exactly how it worked.  The unit uses a variety of elastomers to maintain a tension on the stem depending on the riders weight and that allows a very slight movement of the stem in response to shock inputs delivered through the front wheel and fork which are the main generators of vibration and resultant numbness of the hands and fingers.

The real test began when I began riding the course for the Waterloo Grit & Gravel in the Pinckney Rec. Area.  I had signed up for the race and had recruited a team from Downriver Cycling Club.  I knew the course was a bit rough in spots and could be a challenge.  I could immediately tell the difference in ride quality on my bike with the new Shockstop stem. I rode the course on 4 different occasions before the race.   I was also riding our Winter Wednesdays Gravel Rides as well as long solo gravel rides.  This stem was a winner.  I could still feel the road thru the bars but the shock was gone.  The control of the bike was not compromised in any way and in fact was enhanced since I could now ride faster over varied surfaces. 

This season was also to be a full Randonneuring year with rides up to 600 km.  The previous year had me completing many 100+ mile  rides on my road bikes.  Again there was an issue of numbness due to the shock of our pitifully maintained roads.  Shockstop seemed to be the answer so I ordered another.  Did a few rides and once again saw an immediate improvement with no loss of control.  On Sat. March 31 I did a randonneur Populaire with the Randonneurs Ontario club.  The roads in Ontario are on a par with ours since we have very similar climates and geology.  The Shockstop stem handled the roads with aplomb.  I had no numbness whatsoever.

This past Sunday I took my other road bike on a reconnaissance ride for our upcoming MGST.  It is a Trek Domane which handles rough roads better than most with its Isospeed technology.  It does not have a Shockstop stem. It does have gel pads on the bars and thicker bar tape.  Even with those I could tell right away that there was a huge difference between my bikes that had the new stem.  When I got back home I ordered a new stem for the Domane knowing a superior ride was waiting for me.
So, dear riders if you are having issues with numbness from riding long distances on gravel and poor roads you need to take a serious look at the Shockstop Stem by Redshift Sports.  Read the reviews from people like me who find it to be an impressive product. 
I wish I was a paid spokesperson for Redshift, but I am not.  It is just a really well-made American product.

See you on the road,

Dave Nall

Our first touring post will begin a dialog for all DCC members and other interested parties to share everything related to cycling.  Touring is much more than just rides.  In future installments we will look at equipment, attitude, techniques, rides (of course), racing and other items of interest.  I do not claim to be the final word in any subject, let alone cycling.  My interest and intent is to explore all facets of this incredible sport we all enjoy and to share what I find with you.  I look forward to your comments and questions as we begin this journey.
Our format is changing.  Previously, the Touring column ran in our printed newsletter.  Now that we have transitioned to a new format for disseminating info to DCC members, so does the touring column.  Free from the confines of the rigid publishing schedule of our newsletter, the touring column will publish more frequently and cover more topics.
Thanks,
Dave Nall