Announcing The C.O.G. 100 Iowa Gravel Single Speed Championship

The "official logo" for the Creatures Of Gravel 100.

Okay, many of you might remember my "Single Speed Spit Ballin'" posts a few weeks ago. I proposed that there be a Single Speed Gravel Championship for gravel grinders. I bounced the idea off you, my dear readers, and you gave me some great feedback. So, here's the deal. This is going to happen. Here are some details for you to chew on now......

First off, the date and time: We're going to set this off on March 30th, 2019 and the start time will be 8:00am. The date was chosen since it fits into the Spring calendar around here, and probably won't affect anyone that is a dedicated single speeder. There probably will be an Iowa gravel crit that day, like usual, but I don't think those folks that do that event are going to be our target audience, for the most part. There may be gravel events in other states. Cool. This is about Iowa. That said, out of staters are certainly welcome to be a part of this.

The start time is set so we can have a cut-off time of 6:00pm for the event. The racers and folks with them will be encouraged to come to downtown and revel in the day's glories.

The Place: I had two venues in mind. Many of you commented one way or the other, but an offer that came through via e-mail has swung me over to having this event out of Grinnell, Iowa. This makes sense from a logistical point of view. Of course, I know the roads around there well, so a course will be easy to pick. But there is a lot more to it than that. The city is centrally located, accessible by interstate, (it's basically right off I-80), and they have plentiful motel and restaurant choices. Add in to that that the city knows me and wants us to come and do this, well....... The decision was easy.

The Rules: Single speed means single speed. No jimmied up geared rigs here. Sorry. It's easier on me to keep it to a simple SS drive train in terms of doing this event. Fixed is cool, of course, but there are no extras for you in riding fixed other than high fives and awe from your bike friends. Fat bike? Sure, as long as it is single speed. Again- no special class for this. There will be a simple Women's and Men's winner. No age groups. None of that non-sense here.

Self-supported, of course. "Trans Iowa" style rules in effect here. This will include cue sheet navigation and you won't get the cues until just before you start. Race number protocol will be in effect, just like I always had for TI.

Registration: This will open soon at a time yet to be announced. It will be on-line using Tikly, most likely. (No fees) There will be a fee to enter the event as this will have insurance. I typically never had insurance for a Trans Iowa. Anyway...... We're not going to charge for anything more other than to cover the insurance fees. That price will be announced later. No Day Of Event Registrations. Field limit? Maybe. We haven't gotten that far, honestly. Stay tuned......

Information: Most people do fancy pants "dot com" sites of Facebook for events. I won't do either of those. Nope. You're gonna get a blog page site. Future updates and info will be there. Stay tuned for the address.......