Friday News And Views

Welcome back to normal Fridays at G-Ted Productions! It's another edition of "Friday News And Views"!

I will be humbled and honored to wear this!

Trans Iowa Tidbits:

First up, a few tidbits left over from Trans Iowa that I wanted to pass on here. The image to the left shows a special gift given to me at the finish line of T.I.V9 by Bill Pontious and Pete Jaros. These two fellas are "officers of de Law" and participate in a special bicycle ride that starts from Ground Zero in New York City every anniversary of 9/11. Here's the lowdown from the website:

The Tour de Force's dual mission is to honor the victims of 9/11 by keeping their memory alive through cycling events and to raise funds, to benefit the families of police officers, who were killed in the line of duty, each year, nationwide, making the ultimate sacrifice. The Tour de Force is a registered 501©3 charity with the IRS.

So this is a pretty special jersey and I will definitely wear it with pride and humility. Thanks Bill and Pete! 

Next up, I wanted to share a few links from some of the T.I.V9 race reports I have read. This is not a comprehensive list, but these are the ones I have come across. They are all good reading, so save 'em for later and check out all the different experiences from Trans Iowa V9:

• Matt Gersib's tale
• Amy Oberbroekling's Gear Junkie report
• Jay Barre's account
• Matt Maxwell's story
• Monika Sattler's report. (Women's Open Winner)
• Ari Andonopoulous: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and The Final Chapter.
• Jeff Burnett: Prologue, Cue Sheet Deck 1, Checkpoint 2, Finished!, Epilogue
• Michael Lemberger's Trans Iowa, Part The First  Trans Iowa Part  The second Finally- Part The Third.
• Steve Fuller: Pre-Race,  The Hills Of Jasper County, Good Times And Bad , \ Light and Darkness, and  All Good Things Must Come To An End.
• David Swanson's report: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3
• Tim Ek's Reports that appeared on Salsa Cycles blog: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 
• Paul LaCava's report- a long one! Trans Iowa V9: Sunrise, Sunset, Sunrise 
•  Kevin Doggett's accounting here.Second part with Training, Nutrition, Bike set up. Part 3 HERE, Part 4 HERE. Finally Part 5 is HERE.
• Steve Wagner's detailed account HERE. 
• Paul Errington's "short account" HERE. 
• Chad Ament's story HERE
• Jeremy Kershaw's account as published on "Bicycle Times" website: HERE 

I'm sure there are more, but those are the ones I've seen so far. Feel free to pass on anymore that you've written or read.

3GR Update:

The 3GR will happen Saturday. What is "3GR"? you might ask? Well, it stands for Gravel Grinder Group Ride.  3GR, get it?

Anyway....  I see the usual escape route from Cedar Falls is under water in many spots, so I am moving the start to "higher ground". That would be over at Waterloo's Gates Park swimming pool parking lot and the time will still be 8:30am. The parking lot is just off East Donald Street about two blocks East from the intersection of Donald Street and HWY 63 North. Anyway, it looks like it will be chilly, but sunny tomorrow, so if you want to ride about 30-ish miles of gravel, show up there at that time. Otherwise I'll ride solo. I'm good with that.

The loop will be modified, of course, but if anyone shows up we can decide what to do from that point onward. Once the rivers calm down I'll move the start back to the regular spot, if everyone that normally comes is amenable to that, or......I'd like to do some different loops this year. Maybe I can come up with a few good ones.

Okay, that's all I have this time. Get out and ride this weekend! Happy Mother's Day! Keep the rubber side down, ya'all!