Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational: Updates & Important News!!

Yard sale at the 2015 GTDRI

First off, due to a conflict with my another event on my calendar, I have to push back the GTDRI to the first weekend of August, Saturday, August 5th.

Okay, now with that solid piece of info nailed down, I have some flexibility in some other areas. This post is for informing anyone that is interested in joining me on this no-drop, casual pace ride on gravel. I have a few ideas to share today and I am looking for feedback from interested parties.

The route this year has a theme and that is dirt roads. They call them Level B Maintenance Roads in Iowa, but essentially they are, for the most part, how all roads in Iowa were during the early 1900's. I don't have a total on mileage yet of the dirt, but expect a lot of it. This poses a risk, because, if it rains, we're in for a lot of rerouting. I may even do an alternative, "rain route", in case it does get wet. It also may be possible to do a truncated route as well.

I also wanted to make a stop at the Broad Street Brewing. As of now, I can have that happen at the 3/4's of the route mark, or we can start and stop there. The place opens at 2:00pm on Saturdays. They  do have food there as well, so I can see how a start/finish there makes more sense.

The Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational is a free, no drop gravel grinder put on by Guitar Ted Productions.

Fine Details: The tentative route is 103 miles. Towns we would start at/pass through are Reinbeck/Traer. We also will be going through Garwin, Iowa, and we will pass right by Dysart, Iowa with an option to stop or go by. The ride would start at 6:00am on Saturday August 5th, 2017. This ride is completely self-supported and YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOURSELF at the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational. There is no sag and no provided support of any kind. A route map of the final course will be made available before the event. This is a NO DROP RIDE. Casual pace. Stops to gather up stragglers will be made. You should have a bicycle in good running condition and have the necessary tools and supplies to service it in the field in case of minor mechanicals. You should be fairly certain that you can complete a 100 mile bicycle ride in tough terrain in possibly very humid and hot conditions. Cell service will be limited in many locations along the route and emergency services may take a long time to reach you in case of an emergency. (Ask me how I know that!) Be prepared! Be Smart!!

Here then are the options I wanted to put to you and have you comment on, if you care to.

• Start at Traer, making Reinbeck a 3/4's of the way through the route stop,then finish in Traer. 
• Start and finish in Reinbeck at the Broad Street Brewing Company. 
• Have a "rain route" at the ready.
• In case of wet weather or rain during the ride, just route on the fly accordingly. (More adventurous)

Okay, that's what I have so far. Let me know what you think