Tried and liked 2025

It's December 31, and over on the iBOB list, people have been posting what they tried and liked in 2025. Here's what I have for this year:

 

Selfie during Dairy Roubaix 2025

Liked

- Riding a skinny-tire vintage road bike. My accidental Serotta Colorado frame purchase has turned out to be a good investment. I finally found a nice fork for it (a scarily light Columbus Minimal), and I did a bunch of rides on the bike this year. As long as the pavement is reasonably smooth, I'm really enjoying the ride, despite the 25/28 mm tires. 

- Assos Arm Protectors: https://www.assos.com/us/arm-protector-188424.html Nice sun protection that works for my long arms and doesn't slide down match. And for an Assos product, it's remarkably reasonable in price

- Dairy Roubaix: This is an early-season gravel ride in the Wisconsin Driftless region. I used to do it regularly but hadn't done it since the pandemic. I had an absolute blast this year. The weather was great, as were the roads. I'll likely be back next year.

- A rear rack on my Stevens MTB. I added a rear rack to the early 2000s Stevens MTB that I have at my parents' place in Germany. Having the option to add panniers, in addition the Carradice saddle bag, is really nice. Should've done that a long time ago. 

- Having as many front lights as bikes. My regularly used bikes all have dyno lights. And now I finally have at least one decent battery front light for all of the other bikes. No more annoying switching around of lights.

- Making bike videos: I'm still not fast or super skilled, but I enjoy filming, editing, and narrating my bike adventures. Here's my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ride-or-pie/  

 

Undecided

- For my winter indoor riding I switched back from Training Peaks Virtual to Zwift. Zwift has a whole lot of annoying user interface issue that are much more glaring after coming back from TPV. I also liked the racing experience on TPV more. On the other hand, Zwift's gamification gets me to ride a lot, and it's important to be on the same platform as your real-life friends.

- TPU tubes. I still go back and forth between liking and disliking them. Just yesterday I had a flat that most likely wouldn't have happened with a butyl tube. While on other bikes the tubes have performed great.

- Lumintop B01 front light: One of the battery lights I acquired this year. It doesn't conform with the German cut-off regulations, but it does have a shaped beam that doesn't blind oncoming riders. And it's relatively cheap, has a replaceable battery and seems sturdy. I think I like it, but it hasn't been long enough to be sure.

Disliked

- Not having big goals. I struggled with motivation to ride in the first half of the year. I didn't have any events or tours planned for later in the season, and it showed. I'll have to figure something out for 2026. 

 

Coffeeneuring 2025: Six weeks, seven rides

 I used to be a regular Coffeeneur (and have the patches to prove it). For a few years, though, I have been on a break. I'm not sure why. Probably a lack of new destinations, riding indoors more? Anyways, this year I returned. 

Ride 1: Crossroads Coffeehouse

A mostly overcast fall day took me out to Cross Plains. I'd been to Crossroads Coffeehouse before, but it was a long time ago. It's a very nice coffee shop right on the main street and I had an iced coffee (3/5) and a surprisingly good vegan/gluten free brownie. 

65 km / 40 miles 

 

 

 

Ride 2: Bodihow Brewing in Oregon

My favorite coffee shop in Oregon, Firefly, changed their hours last year and is no longer open on weekends. I considered trying a new-to-me place downtown, Kickback Cafe, but eventually landed on Bodihow Brewing. It's a cool place that combines a bike shop, cafe, and brewpub. During previous visits I had had their beers, and I have to say they definitely beat their coffee. Anyways, it was warm enough to sit outside and the overall ride was excellent.

70 km / 43 mi 

 

 

The Trail of Grades

 

 

Ride 3: Grace Coffee in Verona

The third ride was the first one to take me to a new coffee shop: Grace in Verona. I've been to other Grace locations previously, but this one was new to me. Grace has (had?) a bad reputation among some but I have to say the espresso I had was very good, they have comfortable seats, and staff were friendly.

 

44 km / 27 mi 

 Ride 4: Liv's Drink Emporium in Sun Prairie

I wasn't sure if I'd been here before: I remembered a coffeeneuring ride to this part of Sun Prairie, and how many coffee shops can there be? But the name didn't seem familiar and neither did the interior. Well, after some digging through Strava records, it turns out that I had been in this location, back in 2017, but the shop had a different name and presumably owner back then. The espresso exceeded my expectations and they had a vegan protein bar, which was okay. Notably, I had a blazing tail wind on the way north, which was fun! (And no, I didn't hate the headwind on the way back as much as I had feared.)

 65 km / 40 mi

Ride 5: Alice Good in Verona

Another ride to Verona, but this time to a shop I'd been to before: Alice Good. I really enjoyed my previous visits, but their limited opening hours had prevented me from going there more frequently. I was glad to find out that their hours are much better now and so I headed there on a Friday afternoon. Again, I loved it: Their staff are very friendly, the espresso was excellent, and I also picked up some excellent light roast beans to take home. On the way back I got rained on a little, but that was fine too. 

 

 

 

45 km / 28 mi

 
 

Ride 6: Fat Cat Coffee Works in New Glarus

Mid November. But warm enough to wear knickers and sit outside, with a cold brew coffee! I spontaneously took the day off and set out for the longest coffeeneuring expedition of the year: Fat Cat Coffee Works in New Glarus is an old favorite, right off the Badger State Trail. I included some detours and new-to-me roads and it was all glorious. The coffee itself was as usual: Fine but nothing to rave about. But I didn't care in the slightest on a day like that. 

 

  

108 km / 67 mi

Ride 7: Barriques in Middleton

My buddy Ben had sold me on a new Zwift race series, schedule at 7:45 am on Sundays. The race was long and extremely hard. But it was also another uncharacteristically warm and sunny day and so Nicole and I headed out to Middleton for the last Coffeeneuring ride. Another destination that I'd been too many times: Barriques. While I don't like their filtered coffees, the espresso is reliably decent. 

 26 km / 16 mi

Videos from the Alps!

 It's been awfully quiet here, and that's because I have poured most of my creative energy into video editing. With tons of footage from an eleven-day trip through the Alps, I'm slowly creating one episode after the other. So far I have a teaser and full episodes for days one and two. I hope you'll enjoy them! And if you'd rather read a written account of our trip, head over to Ben's blog. He has a great day-by-day account with lots of beautiful photos.

Tried and liked 2024

 I thought I didn't have a lot for this year's edition of tried-and-liked. But once you get going, things add up.

Tried and liked

• Ortlieb Seat Pack (16.5l): For a bike touring adventure (see below), I needed a big seat bag to supplement my front rando bag. The Ortlieb works well on my tall low-trail bike with an almost level top tube. However, I have juuust enough seat post showing to make it work. I also got to experience the droopy behavior that I had read about. It happens when the bag is not packed tightly enough (and you can buy accessory straps to prevent it). But my bike is tall enough that there is no risk of the bag touching the rear wheel

Droopy seat bag

 

• Bike touring the Alps. Went on an 11-day trips through the Alps with a friend. We packed light and slept in hotels and it was amazing.
  
  
  

• Taking videos of rides: In prep for the Alps trip, I bought a DJI Action 4 cam and worked on my editing skills. Editing takes a lot of time, but it's also a fun way to reminisce about your rides. Here's my little YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@ride-or-pie

• Rene Herse Nuda mini pump: It's amazingly light and small, and it worked well enough when I had a flat on my skinny tire road bike.

• Selling a couple bikes/frames: I sold a record number of bikes, that is, three, this year. It felt good to pass on bikes that didn't get ridden/loved enough.

• Replacing the battery on my Wahoo Elemnt: Repairing things that are probably not really meant to be repaired is very satisfying. The computer is five years old now and I don't feel a strong urge to upgrade now that the battery capacity has been restored.

Wahoo surgery

To be determined

• Ass Savers Win Wing fenders: I bought these recently and have had only one or two wet rides to test them with. Easy to install, extremely light, and they do seem to work. 

Ass Savers Win Wing fender

 

• Chain waxing: I hopped on the wax train this fall, with a cheap used crock pot setup. The process is not too bad and I like the results immediately after waxing. But it seems that the drivetrain gets noisy pretty quickly. I'm not sure if I can deal with the frequency of rewaxing that seems to be required. Maybe fancier equipment would help? Probably not, though.

• Indievelo/TrainingPeaks Virtual: A new-ish indoor training platform with a focus on racing. I decided to give this a try instead of Zwift. I like the racing experience better than Zwift so far, but it's still a small platform. So often you end up racing against bots. The bots are implemented very well, though.

 

I'm a YouTuber now

 It's been a while since I've published here. It's not for a lack of riding -- I've ridden more than ever this year. The reason is that I bought an Osmo Action 4 camera and am trying my hand at ride videos. Video editing has a steep learning curve, but I think I'm getting better. Here are a couple videos I produced in the past months.

An overnight trip to Beaver Dam, with headwind both ways

 

 

The Great Sauk State Trail

My first Permanent in 2024

Madison to Chicago and back, by train an fixed gear bike

2023 Ride Highlights

 It's 4:46 pm on New Year's Eve. Will I be able to put together a post with ride highlights for the year? Sure! No particular order. Just memorable rides, for one reason or the other.

A 200k with Ben

Ben and I have big plans. So we rode my 200k permanent route together. We probably went a little fast, had some mechanical and biomechanical issues, but overall it went well!

Full Moon on a parking garage

Not every memorable ride needs to be long. After a friend's birthday party I decided to explore a large new development. A new parking structure was still empty but kinda open. On top I got a great view and the full moon. 

Pick Me Up at the Border

For the first time, I actually rode all the way to the Illinois border and back on this ride. As per usual, the weather was questionable, and I didn't actually enjoy the ride too much. But it was good to check this one off. 

Birthday Ride for Nicole

We celebrated Nicole's birthday at Dot's Tavern, right off the Badger State Trail. Beautiful evening/night ride.

Wright Stuff Century, extended version

Another good one with Ben. The Wright Stuff Century used to start in Middleton, but this year the start was farther away, at Brigham County Park. Ben and I rode to the start from Madison and then did the "short" route. 

Zugspitze mini golf

My riding in Germany was cut short because of injury. But this was a fabulous ride in the German Alps. I biked; Nicole took the train, and we met up for mini golf in the most spectacular setting.

A ride that shouldn't have happened

Knees were wrecked from hiking and there was record heat. I abandoned along the route but probably shouldn't even have started.

Ride for your Life

The biggest advocacy ride Madison has ever seen.

 

Wind, mud, CX

Like every year, I rode to the Trek Cyclocross World Cup. It was windy, wet, and muddy. 

MKE x MSN Sandhill Station Camping

A meeting of urbanism/street safety/bike advocacy folks from Milwaukee and Madison. Not quite at the halfway point.

Fetch the Keg

Madison Bike Week: Get beer donated from Hop Garden, pick up by bike. Make it a group ride. Suffer on the hills on your fixie.

Credit: Ben Sandee

Kites on the Lake

I didn't get many frozen lake rides in this year, but this was a good one. Kite festival on the Lake.

 

Camping with Nicole

Our tent leaked. It was a wonderful camping trip to Sandhill Station nonetheless. 

 

Another 200k

Dipping into Illinois again for some, uh, shopping and tile collecting.

 Not the Ride Across Wisconsin but

Went for a spontaneous ride without a fixed route and ended up on the Ride Across Wisconsin route, going the opposite direction. It was awesome to see the endless string of the people on the ride.

First impressions: Adidas Velosamba: vegan, good looking, no crunch

 

For years, my casual cycling shoe of choice was the Giro Rumble VR. I extensively reviewed the shoes on this blog. While I've had my complaints about them, on balance they were a great shoe and the ended up lasting longer than I thought. I actually still have an unused spare pair in the closet. But when it was time to retire the current pair, I was curious to try something different. 

 

 

The Adidas Velosamba struck me as an interesting option. I'm German, and even though I never owned an actual Samba shoe, the aesthetic appeals to me. Add to that they're vegan and Adidas was selling them at a discount. 

I bought the shoes just before winter and so for several months I didn't actually have a chance to wear them. But now winter is nearing its end and I've worn them enough to write up my initial impressions. These impressions are heavily influenced by my experience with the Giro Rumble VR: Are the Velosambas better? Is that even a sensible question to ask? We'll return to that at the end of the post. 

Let's start with the looks. The shoes come in 7 different styles, from the classic black with gum sole and white stripes, some more colorful options, and finally an all white shoe. If you know me, you would be surprised that I went for the all-white shoe! Is a white cycling shoe actually practical? I had my doubts, but in the end those were the ones on sale at the steepest discount while still being available in my size. So I was willing to take a gamble. When the shoes arrived, I was really pleased: The white is bright, and slight iridescent under light. The upper material is mostly very smooth plastic and probably cleans up fairly well. At the front of the shoe, there is some fake suede leather, which probably is more challenging to keep clean. The laces are white as well, with black ends as a color accent. 

 

Functionally, the Velosamba has a few nice features: The lace retention system is well thought out. You can tuck the laces under an elastic band, which is easily lifted with a little pull tab. The cutout for the SPD cleats also seems to be well thought out: These so far have been the least crunchy bike shoes I've ever owned! Maybe this will change as the shoes wear, but it's unlike the Giros, which were crunchy from the get go. 

 

Clever lace retention tab

 

Speaking of the sole: it seems to be a decent compromise between stiffness for biking and flex for walking. This makes them a great choice for my use case, where I want want a shoe that can easily transition from the bike to walking around town. It appears that the Velosamba is cut lower around the ankles and the heel compared to the Giros. This probably provides less support but probably won't be an issue for me: I often ride with shoe laces barely tightened, but I can see how for some people this might be a problem on longer rides/walks. At any rate, I have neither biked nor walked for longer distances in the shoes so far, and so I'll hold off on a final verdict.

Nicely recessed cleats make for a quiet walk

 

 

My main concern so far is the breathability of the shoes. Adidas proudly (annoyingly?) pronounces on the insole ,"End Plastic Waste" and states that the shoes is partially made from recycled plastic. Greenwashing aside, the material does indeed appear plastic-y and breathable at all. Again, I haven't worn the shoes enough to truly judge this.

So let's come back to the comparison with the Giro Rumble VR. In a head to head comparison, Adidas wins in these areas: 

• looks 
• less crunch
• lace retention 
• walking/standing comfort (to be confirmed)
  

The Giros are ahead in: 

• breathabilty
• price
• foot support

Once I've had the chance to wear the Velosambas for a few months I'll post a follow-up to these first impression. So far I'm really happy with my purchase.

Adidas Velosamba at Amazon 

Velosamba at Adidas