Trans Iowa: A Word Or Three About Registration And Future Events

Me working recon, March 2011

The registration for another Trans Iowa just finished up a week ago, and I have had a few comments made via e-mail or by comments on the blog that I wanted to address. Plus I may have a few other words here concerning Trans Iowa to share.

Post Card Entries: First of all, there were a lot of fouled up Rookie post card entries this time. I was asked if so-and-so's card came in, and why a friend got a notification that a card was received and this person did not.  Here's the truth in a nutshell. If you cannot write legibly, get all the information I ask for down correctly, or get your card here in a timely manner, (I allotted three weeks to do so), then you are not going to hear from me. Period. I don't have time to e-mail everyone, and I don't want to mess with the inevitable "Oh! Can I send you another card? Can I have a little more time?" or whatever. Nope. You get one shot at getting it right.

Those that did deserved a response. That they got. The others weren't going to get my attention because they didn't do the very simple thing I asked of them right, or at all. Really- Some folks just sent their name and e-mail. Blatantly disregarding my requirements, which were super easy. Others, even after I've hammered on this for years, still didn't write their cards out legibly. And this year I had others look at them, so it wasn't just based upon my viewpoint. Then there were folks that left out how to get a hold of their support person, or substituted words in the rule I had them transcribe. I had an e-mail address ping back, so that one was tossed as well.

How many were there? I didn't keep track, but there were easily two dozen, and that includes the cards that came in late.

Lottery Drawing: I thought the lottery drawing was a success. There were going to be hurt feelings no matter what, and you'll get that because many folks really wanted to give this one a go, but only 40 cards were going to be drawn from a pool of 73. That's the way it goes. I thought it was fairly done, and it kept it random. Would I have wanted to see something different happen with the lottery? Oh yeah.....  There are people I would have wanted to have had their card drawn out, but in a completely random drawing, that isn't going to happen. It is what it is, and there was way less drama doing things this way than the way we used to do the roster for the Rookies. Way less!! And that's good for everyone.

How Do You Get In The Next One? I had this comment land on the blog from the original T.I. v12 announcement back in August just yesterday. First off, the web site for Trans Iowa is where you need to pay attention. This blog is where I flesh things out, but details on "how-when-where-and why" first get announced there. Not here. Pay attention to the T.I. website and you'll be golden. But then there is this.......

The Future: Like I have said- we're a lot closer to the end than the beginning. I'm not going to continue running Trans Iowa forever, or much longer. I was going to quit at ten of these, but decided to pull off another, which got truncated, so I decided to do one more. Will there be another one? Maybe......maybe not. It all depends upon how this T.I.v12 goes and if I am still having fun. Once it gets to be no fun, for whatever reason, I don't see myself continuing this. The people are why I do it, then the next motivator is that I like setting things up- the recon, riding some parts of it, and finally, there is the actual event, which is mostly fun. Notice that these are all the benefits I derive from putting on a Trans Iowa. That's it. Not for money, things, or whatever. That doesn't even come close, as I don't make money on it, (I lose money), I don't get prizes, (I get more wear and tear on my truck and myself), and I miss my family and riding bicycles more because of it.

Finally, once I do decide not to continue on, that's the end of Trans Iowa forever. There will be none of this "handing it over to someone else" stuff. Not gonna happen. If someone wants to do something else, then they can put on whatever event they want to, but it won't be Trans Iowa. It will be something very different. Trust me......I don't know anyone that will do what I do for free to put on an event like Trans Iowa. If there were people like that, they would be doing what I do, only they aren't that I know of. If I am wrong, you can let me know. I don't think I am.

UPDATE: I was asked if a list of the lottery winners/starters was available. (Yes......really!) Go to the Trans Iowa v12 site, scroll down to the ROSTER and take a look. Sometimes I think I must be speaking a foreign language here........