El Salvador

Preparing the Specialized S-Works for the ride from home to the farm.

By home, I mean, riding from my hometown in El Salvador to the Farm which is roughly 45 minutes by vehicle. The terrain is mixed but mostly gravel/clay roads. Downhill from the house to the farm, so the way back will be fun each day.

After being in Iowa all these years, I am slowly beginning to take more and more interest in spending more time back in El Salvador. Though I was born and raised in El Salvador I have lived about two thirds of my life in the United States now. Hard to say I would permanently leave to El Salvador, but I do like the idea of spending two or three months out of each year sometime in the near future in the tropical weather and really moving only by bicycle while there. For now, I will be there for a quick few days.

View from the cockpit of the S-Works.

This Specialized is an iteration from Ron Ultraromance who during Covid shutdown experimented with these frames and prepped a couple of them up for some ATB-ing style of riding. These frames are very light being that these are aluminum, and like Ronnie Romance says, “…tires aired to educated lower pressures make the difference of a comfortable ride versus a ride that will rattle your teeth out, when it comes to aluminum.” (May be a bit off on the wording) but its true, these bikes are so nimble and easy to portage when riding in single-track and you have to walk sections because the trail ran out or a tree or several trees are in the way. While I still love touring on a steel bike, these aluminum bikes, make for perfect local long day jaunts.

The question then becomes, which bike to take? While I thought the decision would be harder, instantly the bikes that came to mind were the S-Works (pictured above), Tumbleweed prospector and the Crust Nor’ Easter. I tend to take the Prospector everywhere and so that one was an easy choice to agree and leave behind this time. After all, I am not camping outdoors, just commuting from home to the farm enjoying a light ride each day in the tropical weather.

The toss-up than, became the Nor-Easter (pictured below) and the Duralcan S-Works. Those two bikes are so nimble! They just ride so nice and are so light! And though the 650B wheel set the Crust provides is much better to cover ground than 26” wheels the Specialized provides I had to go with the S-Works. Crust has made the decision to not make anymore runs of the Nor-Easter moving forward; according to the latest post on the Radavist. Thus, I will hold off on putting the Nor-Easter through the ringer of flying internationally at least for now. Duralcan S-Works frames can still be found, rare but you can still find one on ebay floating around. So should anything happen to that frame, I know I can hopefully take it apart and replace it with another medium.

Crust Nor-Easter

New Mexico: Las Cruces. Day 1

From : March 4th 2025

Entry number one from my trip in New Mexico: Las Cruces (Monumental Loop 2.0) Distance pedaled 40miles.

I find myself heating up my second cup of coffee as I begin to actually cook my breakfast. The clock on my phone marks 9:01am. Funny to think that at first I was struggling bringing my actual camping chair. But as I sit and enjoy the coffee and begin to recall yesterday’s ride, I realize that this is why I agree to haul the extra items that provide comfort once at camp. After all, why go through the hassle of bikepacking if when at camp you won’t have the relaxation that is also part of the trip, at least for me it is.

The ride itself was pretty good considering I had a late start. I believe I left the airbnb in Las Cruces at around 12:45pm. Didn’t hit the actual trail head until about 2pm. The bike probably weighed about 120 lbs. give or take a few poundsI had a long day on the saddle even though I started late. I went until 9pm at night.

Looking back, I recall the moment the sun started to go down, that I desperately wanted the security of a room, kitchen, bathroom and bed. I literally stopped at the only bar I came a crossed wondering if the employees knew any place I could crash for the night. Thankfully (in retrospect) there were no airbnbs or hotels/motels anywhere near by. At this point it was about 7:15pm. I was riding along the side of the road, and cars buzzing by every now and then made me nervous and so I wanted to just be done riding. That was partly the reason, but really I believe that I also delay in actually falling into the raw idea of just being present while on the adventure. Free to sleep anywhere on the trail, after all it is all state land that allows for such a thing. It actually takes me a while to mentally accept that the next few days are supposed to be spent on the saddle, and outside, camping sitting by a fire and enjoying the stars, should the weather allow it.

The point of these types of travels, at least for me, is to pull the comfortable day to day life part of me into the uncomfortable. To pull myself more into those simple, but often more chaotic parts of real life outside of the insulated reality in which most of us find ourselves in the day to day. Take starting a fire for instance. At home all you do is turn a knob and your set. Out in the elements, it can take anywhere from 2 minutes or less to hours if you’re surrounded by wet brush and/or you got rained on and your lighter is wet. And that’s just fire. If your clothes get wet, well, you get the picture.

Perhaps, the philosopher Seneca said it best in his quote stating, “Set aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with coarse and rough dress, saying to yourself the while: ‘Is this the condition that I feared?’” Though this has more to do with facing the fear of poverty, it lends perspective in getting the mind/psyche aligned with the task at hand. In living a simple existance while on the road, that is.

Trail head: Organ Mountain Desert Peaks

As I continue to sip away at my last bit of coffee, and the last of the breakfast; I now start to put the last of the gear away and pack all things. The ride for the day should be pretty good, the day is looking very promising with the sun out and in the high sixties. Hoping to allow for another 40 mile day or hopefully more?

Gear Up

by Herb Dardano

The goal here is to share my thoughts on what I believe are the most important pieces of equipment in order to enjoy a pleasant or semi pleasant ride on cold or sub-zero temperatures. Assuming you already have descent winter pants and coat or coats on; the most important parts to keep warm are your extremities. (Opinion piece here) These include your head, eyes, nose, hands and feet. Hands and feet are probably the one that really start to get very cold and painful on a longish winter ride. Keep in mind, pain may arise from just a few minutes of riding if your layers are not thick enough.

If you have experienced a ride in sub-zero or close to zero temps before (going off of degrees F), then you know how painful it can be. It will force you to either stop or turn around and call it quits. Poor head cover will feel like a major throbbing headache. I have experienced all of the above in the past. Another tricky situation to keep in mind are layers. While these can improve the ride significantly not knowing which layers to use may result in lots of sweating which can lead to dangerous cooling body temps (more on this topic later).

In conclusion, most of the gear I will share with you is not specific to cycling. When it comes to winter riding, your winter hiking gear will actually work better. Synthetic clothes seem to not breath well making you sweat more. For this reason, wool is your best friend! The boots and the gloves are actually winter hiking gear that work very well for me. The boots are specially super light and are almost 90% wool which keep your toes and feet pretty comfortable for at least 40 to 90 minutes. If the temps are in the 30s or below I always put on a plastic bag on top of the socks. This allows your feet to stay even warmer. I have not experienced sweaty feet, but I do understand each person may have a different experience as far as sweat goes. You will need to experiment what works best for you. In my opinion, life is a constant flow of experience and exploration. Don’t know where I heard/read this.

Here is the list of the items and brands so you can have an idea. (Not paid advertising, just giving you and idea and letting you know what I use in case you are interested).

Vasque Lost 40s

Gear list:

Gloves: Gordini Gore-Tex plus-warm (most REI or out door gear shops should carry these)

Boots: Vasque Lost 40s (These are discontinued, can still be found on ebay in descent shape)

Hats: Wool Hat, Full Face Mask

Scarf: Wool Neck Warmer (this has been an awesome addition, from AmundsenSports)

Socks: Vagabond Wool Socks (reach all the way to my knees, classic from Amundsen Sports)

Eye Protection: Cateye Photochromic Glasses (Amazon)

Essentially what I have figured out and continue to figure, came from trial and error and also from bikepacking.com if you have not heard of this site. You should definitely go check it out! Its pretty awesome and a great resource if you are into bikepacking or just getting started. (Note that this is not paid advertising, just mentioning a tool that has helped me a lot in this whole bike-packing life style).

Thanks for reading today’s post! Hope you can get yourself a nice ride today, and some much needed sunlight.

Winter Riding and Why.

Tips I’ve learned the last five years cycling in trails around home in Iowa.

Gear that I must have on every ride. I will cover each body section/part one journal entry at a time.

At the moment for the new year, I’ve decided that I want to push myself and stay on the bike every day for the month of January. Since its easy to push it back and say “tomorrow I will do it.” Its my challenge now to make sure I don’t let that be the case. Let me tell ya, it already feels like on most days, I don’t want to get on that saddle and go for those easy 10 miles. However, once those miles have been ridden, its night and day how much better I feel.

Interesting because two of my best friends both live in warm weather areas, well one of them, the other one just travels enough to warm weather areas. Anyhow, they both dislike the winter and its short days. I probably feel the same way but truth be told, its the knack of mine, to go outside and do something physical, be it a walk, run or ride outside where I can get some of that winter sun even; that I actually rid myself of that depressing feeling most people experience in the cold weather after the snow flakes fall, the snow settles and the wind has created week long drifts.