Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational 2016 Details

The road to the 2016 GTDRI leads backwards....

I was checking into some stuff on a mapping program I use and I stumbled across the original route plans for the very first Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational back in 2006. I tucked that away for later planning for this ride. Now I am going to bring out the finer details on what to expect for this coming July. It seems to be the time of the year to plan our calendars, so this is why I am getting into this now. Just in case you may want to join in the festivities.

Oh yeah..........this isn't an exclusive ride. Anyone that feels like they are up to the challenge can make the trip over and ride with whomever shows up. The day the ride will be on is July 30th, which is a Saturday. The ride will start and end in Waterloo, Iowa at a bit different spot than the original ride did, (I'll get into that in a bit), and due to the length of the ride, you may want to make provisions for staying overnight on Saturday. Why? Because this ride will end up being about 150 miles in length. Not like the one a few years ago though! I'll explain........

A few years back the GTDRI was run in Jackson County, near the Eastern border of Iowa, and it is super hilly out that way. That 150-ish mile day was super brutal and took riders into far into darkness that evening. This edition will not be anywhere near as hilly, and when we did it the first time, we took it into darkness, but we sat at a few places waaaay longer than we should have, so I think this route is doable in a reasonable amount of time, but whatever. I'm doing it, and you can too, if you want to.

There will be a lot more  roads that look like this on the 2016 GTDRI.

The Route:

The original route started and ended in Pfieffer Park in Cedar Falls, Iowa in 2006, due to concerns for people camping in George Wyth State Park. The ride was supposed to start South of Waterloo, and I am going to do that, only I am moving the start from its original spot to a park where cars can be left for the day. This park is at the corner of West 4th Street and Shaulis Road. The gravel is very close to this park, so we won't have much pavement to deal with.

Once out on the gravel, the route will take us over gentle rollers South to Traer, Iowa, where our first stop will be after about 25 miles of riding. Here we'll have our "breakfast" stop. After re-supply, we will head South further into Tama County and across to the West. This section will be quite hilly and challenging with a couple Level B Roads sprinkled in. After we reach our Southernmost point just North of the Meskwakie Casino, we will head back due North to Gladbrook, and there will be another stop for "lunch" and re-supply. That's about 60-ish miles into it, as I recall.

Leaving Gladbrook to the North, the roads get less hilly eventually, and our route will then enter Grundy County where things will turn East at a Level B and flatten out significantly. A long stretch West and then North along the Iowa River Valley leads us into the deep valley where we will find Steamboat Rock, and if we're lucky, another re-supply place, but I need to double check on that since the original convenience store we used has closed up. Anyway, we'll leave Northward, and meander around and cross the Iowa River a couple of times before heading back due East on 150th straight out of Hardin County and back across Grundy County until we get close to Cedar Falls. Here I will deviate from the original course and go back South, and eventually through Hudson, Iowa, where you could make one last stop, or ride the last five miles or so back to your cars and call it a day.

More Soon....

I did the original ride on a single speed 29"er, so it isn't all that hard. I'll have more fine details as the day approaches, but if you have a hankering to do a long gravel road ride and see some nice Iowa countryside, plan on coming along. Questions? Ask away......