Minus Ten Review- 14

One of the 29"ers I got in '06 became a test mule for everything.

Ten years ago on the blog I was amped up about all the Sea Otter news that was forthcoming and Trans Iowa v3, which was also coming really quickly. In fact, I was going to Sea Otter and this would be my first Sea Otter trip. After doing that three times and Trans Iowa right afterward on its heels, I said "no mas!" Trans Iowa right after Sea Otter was just stupid. 

Anyway, There were crazy things happening. Fox announced a 29"er fork.That fork was rumored to be getting spec'ed on Trek bikes. Wait! Trek 29"ers, or were they going on those 69"ers? As it turned out, it was the 69"er. I said at the time, "Look, if it's true, (and we'll know by this time next week) it'll be the most resounding thud in marketing since Ford rolled out the Edsel. Incredibly stupid......." And it turned out that it was exactly that from a marketing standpoint.

But the big thing for me was the whole going to Sea otter deal. I had been to California once, but this was different. It would be the "mid-coast" and this trip would be a high water mark for me. Of course, that will all have to wait until the next "Minus Ten Review". 

Trans Iowa v3 was coming fast and I felt very ill prepared. By this point I finally found out that I would be producing the event all on my own. Jeff Kerkove was with Ergon now, and his last effort in a direct way for Trans Iowa was producing the cues from my drafts. However; it didn't turn out correctly and he didn't take the time to verify the way it laid out. He didn't really have the focus or the time to take care of that, since he was very busy forging a new path for himself. It wouldn't be the last time I got burned by a similar situation. However; the rest of this story will have to wait for a later "Minus Ten Review" as well.