Trans Iowa V11 Report: It Was Almost Too Good

The "Truck With No Name" ready to roll

It was almost too good: 

T.I.v11 planning came to a head in the week prior to the event with all the cue sheet production, stuffing the cues into bags, (thanks in no small part to Mrs. Guitar Ted), and getting small details lined up. Things like re-routing supplies, (thanks Bonk King), and the "kit" to implement the reroutes replete with tape, hammers, knives, duct tape, and more that I have to check and replenish just for Trans Iowa. Roster sheets for the pre-race, checkpoints 1 and 2, and the finish line were produced. Pre-race meeting notes, materials for releases, and making sure the numbers made it to the event for the riders, (thanks Ari and the Bonk King), were all things I needed to keep my mind on. Oh.....and I needed to pack my personal items for the weekend as well!

To keep everything straight, I made a checklist that I used to make sure I did not forget any small detail. Just before I left, I reviewed it once again, went over everything in my mind for the packing and where those things were, and then I jumped into the truck and went to fill the tank before leaving town to meet one of my volunteers, Tony, who was to do a ride-a-long for a final check of the roads to checkpoint 1.

A portent of things to come

I got started and just was thinking to myself as I left town. I couldn't believe how smoothly everything seemed to be going so far. I decided that maybe things were almost too good. I just had to have forgotten something, right? So, I began to run the checklist in my mind for the umpteenth time in the past few hours.

Checkpoint 1 stuff? Yep.......Checkpoint 2 stuff? Uh huh........ and so on and so forth. I couldn't come up with anything I was missing. I thought about my checklist and that maybe I should stop and review it once again, and not rely on my memory. Now I could just pull over and look in that black note book.........

The black notebook! The one with all the enlarged county maps where the route was going, with the roster for myself, and with all my notes? I left it on my desk! I wasn't maybe 8 miles out, so I stopped, turned around, and headed back to grab it. Once I retrieved it, I was off again, but I would be late getting down to meet up with Tony. I was hoping he wouldn't be too cross with me about my being tardy. On my way down I ran into heavy, intermittent showers, and I was worried that we may lose the course to conditions too tough to ride in. We'd find out soon enough though. I met Tony at Bikes To You, where, surprisingly, there were many racers milling about and buying up gear to meet with the conditions that were forecast for Saturday. It wasn't looking good......

Despite the showers in the area, we were able to drive the first B Road. It wouldn't look anything like this on Saturday.

The last bit of Sunshine we'd see for T.I.v11. 

Tony was marveling at the scenery and enjoyed the ride along. We finished up by checking into the first B Road past Checkpoint #1 but we dared not drive it as it had been subjected to enough rain that it already looked unrideable by bicycle. The roads were fresh gravel, for the most part, and soft in most places. I understood that if we got the rain that was forecast it would be very difficult to ride on Saturday morning. I just hoped that it might hold off to allow the riders somewhat of a head start against the elements.

I had to fix a tail light on the truck when we got back to town and with that repair made, I was ready to head over to the Grinnell Steakhouse to set up for the Pre-Race Meat-Up.

Next: The Family Reunion