Trans Iowa V7 Update #17: Details On Pre-Race Meat-Up & Finishline

<===There are no questions where you should be for the Pre-Race Meat-Up on April 22nd!

Trans Iowa Update #17: Pre-Race Meat-Up Details, & Finishline Info:  Okay folks! We're coming in on our final approach to T.I.V7. Here you will learn some more about the Pre-Race Meat-Up and what will be required of each rider.

First And Foremost: This meeting is a required attendance meeting to be able to start the event. You will receive race packets at the meeting and this will include the all important first cue sheets that will lead you to our first Checkpoint. Without attending the meeting, you can't get the race packet, and therefore, no race cue sheets. Got it? No exceptions to this will be allowed.

The Pre-Race Meet-Up will be held at The Grinnell Steakhouse on Highway 146, on the south side of Grinnell. This is very near the interstate and most of the motels. It is located on the East side of the road. The Grinnell Steakhouse is going to offer us the "Grill Your Own" option, as they did last year, where you will have the choice of beef, chicken, pork, or vegetable kabobs. These items will then be grilled over a huge open grill inside the building. We found that this helped promote the "rubbing of shoulders" and sparked conversations with folks so that you can get to know the other Trans Iowa V7 riders a bit. Then we will all consume our vittles while I pontificate upon the race conditions, course hazards, logistical info, and race rules and conduct. When a Q & A period is over, we then will call up each rider individually to get a race packet. Afterward you will be free to go run out and drive your cars up and down the first sections of Trans Iowa V7, muddying up the roads and causing yourselves all sorts of badness which will await you the following morning. (Just ask any T.I.V6 vet what I am talking about.)

At any rate, that is how the order of the evening will go. I suspect we will ask you to arrive again at 5:00pm, have the eats and meeting start at 6:00pm, (No race packets for late comers after this time), and be gone by 7:00pm-7:30pm. Again, I will also be contacting you via e-mail, like last year, to ask about how many folks will be with you and what your meal choice will be. Please be prompt in answering this e-mail when you get it! I will start sending out e-mails starting sometime this coming week. They all won't go out at once, so don't freak out if you do not hear from me right away. I'll keep everyone updated as to the progress of the survey.

Now we do not have a subsidy for the meals, as we did last year,(we are still looking into this though),  so we will all be paying our own tabs. Expect dinner prices to range from $13.00-$18.00 each. I will have it all broken down in the e-mail you will get. Stay tuned.....

<===John Gorilla was one of the few that saw our hang out for the finish of T.I.V6

 Finishline Details: In past Trans Iowa events, we haven't disclosed where the finishline would be. With the past few we have, but remember, a truncated event is entirely possible, so the finishline isn't a set in stone thing. Keep that under advisement.

That said, we have gotten the blessing from the Grinnell Parks department via the Grinnell Chamber Of Commerce to hold the finishline activities at the Lion's Park on the western edge of Grinnell. This is a small, oddly shaped park that most likely won't have much parking. Stay tuned for details on how to approach this if you plan on hanging out there to watch, or to pick up a tired, dusty rider. (Hopefully it'll just be dust!) We have a variance for alcohol consumption, so a beer or two will be okay, but please be advised that we have already been warned that any loud, boisterous activities will result in our being kicked out. Please be nice! There will be a restroom on the premises, but no showers.

I'll have some more details on the finishline coming soon, but they are still being confirmed yet, so I will not announce anything just yet.

Remember: If you can not make it to T.I.V7 for any reason, please inform us as soon as possible! It will be greatly appreciated and will cost us less time and money if we know when you know that you are not going to be here on April 22nd!

 Sponsors: Finally, I wanted to give a shout out to Clif Bar who downloaded a bunch of their fine products on us for the event. We've got five flavors to choose from and we'll be randomly dropping some of these into your race packets, which as described above, you can only get by coming to the Pre-Race Meat-Up.

Not only that, but we will also be downloading a select amount of bars at each checkpoint. Please keep in mind- these are not meant to be the only means of nutrition for you. If you think you'll get by on some Clif Bars, you'll be on a path of failure. Just a fair warning.

That said, they may prove to be a good thing for you. Please keep in mind that we can not guarantee you'll find anything when you get to the second checkpoint. We're only sending out a minumum amount of bars to that area and they may be gone by the time you get there.

Just so you know.

So, is this support? Well........kind of. As I said, don't count on it, and you still have to pedal a few hundred plus miles in a short amount of time. We've had this sort of sponsorship in past Trans Iowas, and we feel it helps promote like-minded companies that are stoked to see things like Trans Iowa happen. We feel it is consistent with the event and the philosophy we've had since day one. Clif Bar is down with Trans Iowa, so we encourage you to check out their products.