GTDRI Update

A hamburger in Strawberry Point circa 2009

The Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational:

 Every year since 2006 I have done a long, group ride style gravel road bicycle ride and have invited anyone that wanted to come to show up. I gave the ride this ludicrous name but don't let that scare you off. Trust me......you're invited. 

I came up with a route for the '09 edition that I really liked a lot. It was about 120 miles long, and it featured a boat load of climbing. The '09 version was completed by all who came out that year, but it was unusually cool that year and the heat and Sun were pretty much non-factors for the day. The next year, I attempted the same rote and got my rear end kicked because it was a more typical July day. I've always wanted to come back to this one and give it another go because of that.

Well, since then this little ride has garnered more attention and riders than we used to have show up, and I also wanted to make the route a bit more "doable" for anyone. So for those two reasons this time we'll be riding similar roads, but I modified where we'll start out and cut off some of the mileage to make it a more manageable day.  

There will be more coming soon on this ride, but for now, here are the finer details......

• The ride is happening on the 26th of July, so if you're doing RABRAI, well that's too bad! 
• The ride will start from Backbone State Park which is just South of Strawberry Point, Iowa. 
• The ride will start at 6:00am. (Shouldn't need lights, but bring 'em if you are so inclined)
• We should finish back at Backbone by around 6-7pm.
• The ride will be 106-ish miles in length. 
• A very conservative estimate of 6,000-7,000ft of climbing. (Likely more than that.) 
• Friday night I will be camping at Backbone if anyone wants to join me. 

Stay tuned........