Trans Iowa V12: Heroes

Wally Kilburg, photographer and TI hero, making us look like heroes.

You know, a lot of the time we tend to focus on the winners, or the people we think are steering the ship in an organization, team, or event. However; in any endeavor, I am of the opinion that there are unsung heroes. People that have much more importance than we may know.

There are time limits in Trans Iowa, and as many of you know, if you miss them, you are done, in terms of the event. It was set up this way to weed out slower folks and so we wouldn't have to be standing at the finish line and checkpoints waiting on riders for hours and hours. We have jobs and families, so waiting until Monday morning for you to finish is not an option. By missing a checkpoint, you don't get cues for the next section, so your ride is essentially done. However, back in T.I.v8, a few riders figured out that if they made checkpoint two, the last one, that they could finish on the route despite missing the 2:00pm cut off time.

Since then we've had probably at least one person a year, with exception of last year, that came in far past the cut off time. So it was to be again this year. Three folks who gutted it out, despite knowing that they had no chance of getting an "official finish".

A couple of heroes, just for one day. Image by Jon Vandis.

Two of these folks were first timers to the event. Crystal Wintle and Jon Vandis. Thinking about that, it occurs to me that if you, or most anyone else I know of, were knowingly going to fall short of a challenge, especially one so tough, I think most of us would just throw in the towel. I mean, why torture yourself? 

I don't know the answer to that, but I do know that when I drove away from T.I.v12's finish area, it was just as we left it. A nice green park. No traces of Trans Iowa ever having been there were evident, yet here these two are, smiling like champions where that finish line was for them. They reached the end of the cues, and took away a personal satisfaction that they had just knocked off 340 miles in one sitting. Amazing! Truly heroic.

There were three of these folks though, like I said before, and perhaps the last fellow out on the course of T.I.v12 is the most curious, in a way.

Scott McConnell coming to the intersection of E 84th St N & HWY 14

His name is Scott McConnell. A past Tour Divide finisher, Scott has finished outside the time limit at Trans Iowa three times now. Three. That's absolutely incredible, and I'll tell you why....

Just the other day a few of us were remarking on how the fast guys are out there for what? 24 hours to 30 hours? Okay, so taking that into account, think about this image of Scott, the last image I took during T.I.v12, well......actually after it was over! Anyway, consider that in this image Scott is still 15 miles out and it is 4:00pm in the afternoon! That's 36 hours folks, and he was battling 20+ mph head winds, heat, fatigue, and still finished the route later that afternoon. 

Now, I don't give out any "Official" recognition for finishing outside the time limits of Trans Iowa. It is a challenge that you either overcome, or that you do not overcome. However; that doesn't mean these folks aren't champions. It doesn't make them "less" for not being on the "official finisher's list", and in many ways, I feel they are the toughest, most determined Trans Iowa riders the event has ever seen. You could call them my heroes.

Heroes, just for one day......

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