Trans Iowa V6 Thoughts: The Winning Bike Of T.I.V5

<====The bike that won Trans Iowa V5

It has been a long time since I felt it was okay to post this picture of the winning bike from Trans Iowa V5. The reason was pretty obvious back on that early May day.

d.p. and I were doing our usual running around, following the leaders of the event, when we made it over to North English and stopped at a convenience store. I remember how bright the sun was and how cool and crisp the air was. It seemed like it was taking an eternity for the riders to show up.

When they did, Joe Meiser was amongst them. Knowing that Joe does a lot of work on Salsa Cycles stuff, I was keen on seeing what it was he would be riding. I had been tipped off beforehand that it might be something special. Well, once he had gone inside the convenience store with the others, d.p. and I figured it out real fast.

Salsa was dabbling in titanium.

We looked in slack jawed wonder at what every bike geek recognizes as the magic grey hue that is titanium and began to speculate, take pictures, and wonder about what was plainly a prototype bike. Of course, that was all forgotten in a snap once the riders came back outside and the chaos of Tim Ek's arrival on the scene drove the bike completely out of our minds.

It wasn't until much later that I came to realize that I probably shouldn't post the pics of the bike. It was a courtesy I figured I ought to observe, especially since the bike ended up being the winning bike. Well, now Salsa has let on that they are doing a titanium El Mariachi, so now that the cat is out of the bag, I thought I'd post about the winning bike from T.I.V5.

It's pretty cool to check out all the different rigs folks use on Trans Iowa events. Everybody has their own take on what is the perfect gravel grinder. Now you never know- you might be looking at a working prototype rig at T.I.V6. It is humbling to think that this little ol' event is worthy of testing future products that cyclists will benefit from later on.

Winter is in full swing now, but that just means I'll have a bit more time to think about T.I.V6. I will be planning, and we'll be out scrounging around on Iowa back roads every chance we get. Stay tuned for more Trans Iowa V6 thoughts in the coming weeks.