GTDRI '19: Thunder Roads Part 3

The "second stop", such as it was, along County F-17, was a welcomed respite from riding in tough terrain. Jon had been correct, the Level B roads past his "first stop" were the toughest and most technical on the day. Now the Level B's would be less, and the hills would kick in.

There is something about the area around Brooklyn, Iowa that makes riding tougher than around other villages. Well.....that something is hills. Steep, short, and never ending, or seemingly so. One after another. I often used this area in Trans Iowa to great effect. I knew full well what was coming.

I tried every trick I knew. Mental, physical, but there was just no getting around the fact that whatever I had done to myself by helping my neighbor, and exacerbated when I fell earlier, was making riding up hills painful and very, very slow. It may have helped if I had deeper gearing. I could have spun more, which is what I needed to be able to do. Pushing hard was not a recipe for success for myself at this point. It was brutal.

I got about two and a half miles from the last stop and I was cooked. The hills were what I have described. I needed to rest a bit. Then back on for a couple of really, really excruciatingly slow miles. Now here is where something happened that gives you faith in Mankind and hope for the future. Two of my riding companions weren't going to let me flounder alone.

It was amazing to me to see how much work the County was putting into a dirt road. Fresh grading, ditch work, and a low water crossing.

Now I want to mention two important points here. First and foremost- This shepherding of me by these two fine fellows in no way indicts the others on the ride. Their ride was tempered by the fact that the three of us were moving so slowly, and much to their credit, they were waiting on us up the road at two different points. That's by design. It is a "No-Drop" ride, and they were doing their best to balance that with getting the ride done.

Secondly, I actually didn't want anyone waiting on me. That was unwise, of course. The two guys waiting alongside of me knew this. Oh.....they gave me space. But had they truly left me behind, I would have crawled into the nearest ditch and taken a nap. I felt very tired  from trying so hard to pedal. So, it was probably a good thing that these two guys kept an eye out for me after all.

The group was waiting on myself and the two riders shepherding me on the other side of that bull dozer. 

One of the two guys that were keeping an eye out for me while I was struggling.

Well, after the big climb out of the valley where the Level B was being worked on came some big rollers on gravel for a few miles and then the town of Brooklyn. I had hoped to roll into this town knowing it would provide a chance to stretch out on the grass and get some rest for my back. But other plans were made on the road.

I was reduced to walking. I couldn't pedal anymore unless it was down hill. One of the two guys alongside me suggested that they could ride back to Grinnell and fetch their vehicle and come back to Brooklyn to get me, so I agreed, and I soldiered onward to that village. Once there, I was surprised to find the group still lounging around. I figured they would have taken off by the time I arrived.

Arrangements were altered and I ended up waiting for a different ride, but eventually I got back to Grinnell, and I stopped in to Peace Tree to find Doug, Rob, Michaela, and Jon, who was with me, there to have a brew with. After a bit of small talk, Jon announced he was ready to go home, and I was too. We had not seen hide nor hair of anyone else yet and were marveling that they were still out there. Rob, Doug, and Michaela were setting out to find supper, so we left them and I headed over to my vehicle courtesy of Jon's truck. Along the way we saw the guys had rolled in, but after one strong beer, I wasn't up for another and still have the wits and alertness to drive home.

So, that was that. The 14th Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational was over. I'll have some thoughts on gear and some final musings tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

GTDRI '19: Thunder Roads Part 3

The "second stop", such as it was, along County F-17, was a welcomed respite from riding in tough terrain. Jon had been correct, the Level B roads past his "first stop" were the toughest and most technical on the day. Now the Level B's would be less, and the hills would kick in.

There is something about the area around Brooklyn, Iowa that makes riding tougher than around other villages. Well.....that something is hills. Steep, short, and never ending, or seemingly so. One after another. I often used this area in Trans Iowa to great effect. I knew full well what was coming.

I tried every trick I knew. Mental, physical, but there was just no getting around the fact that whatever I had done to myself by helping my neighbor, and exacerbated when I fell earlier, was making riding up hills painful and very, very slow. It may have helped if I had deeper gearing. I could have spun more, which is what I needed to be able to do. Pushing hard was not a recipe for success for myself at this point. It was brutal.

I got about two and a half miles from the last stop and I was cooked. The hills were what I have described. I needed to rest a bit. Then back on for a couple of really, really excruciatingly slow miles. Now here is where something happened that gives you faith in Mankind and hope for the future. Two of my riding companions weren't going to let me flounder alone.

It was amazing to me to see how much work the County was putting into a dirt road. Fresh grading, ditch work, and a low water crossing.

Now I want to mention two important points here. First and foremost- This shepherding of me by these two fine fellows in no way indicts the others on the ride. Their ride was tempered by the fact that the three of us were moving so slowly, and much to their credit, they were waiting on us up the road at two different points. That's by design. It is a "No-Drop" ride, and they were doing their best to balance that with getting the ride done.

Secondly, I actually didn't want anyone waiting on me. That was unwise, of course. The two guys waiting alongside of me knew this. Oh.....they gave me space. But had they truly left me behind, I would have crawled into the nearest ditch and taken a nap. I felt very tired  from trying so hard to pedal. So, it was probably a good thing that these two guys kept an eye out for me after all.

The group was waiting on myself and the two riders shepherding me on the other side of that bull dozer. 

One of the two guys that were keeping an eye out for me while I was struggling.

Well, after the big climb out of the valley where the Level B was being worked on came some big rollers on gravel for a few miles and then the town of Brooklyn. I had hoped to roll into this town knowing it would provide a chance to stretch out on the grass and get some rest for my back. But other plans were made on the road.

I was reduced to walking. I couldn't pedal anymore unless it was down hill. One of the two guys alongside me suggested that they could ride back to Grinnell and fetch their vehicle and come back to Brooklyn to get me, so I agreed, and I soldiered onward to that village. Once there, I was surprised to find the group still lounging around. I figured they would have taken off by the time I arrived.

Arrangements were altered and I ended up waiting for a different ride, but eventually I got back to Grinnell, and I stopped in to Peace Tree to find Doug, Rob, Michaela, and Jon, who was with me, there to have a brew with. After a bit of small talk, Jon announced he was ready to go home, and I was too. We had not seen hide nor hair of anyone else yet and were marveling that they were still out there. Rob, Doug, and Michaela were setting out to find supper, so we left them and I headed over to my vehicle courtesy of Jon's truck. Along the way we saw the guys had rolled in, but after one strong beer, I wasn't up for another and still have the wits and alertness to drive home.

So, that was that. The 14th Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational was over. I'll have some thoughts on gear and some final musings tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

GTDRI '19: Thunder Roads Part 2

Nick looking ahead at another mile of Level B road

At the rest stop at Mile 30-ish, Jon, who is a local rider to Grinnell and does a lot of gravel miles, was telling me the next few Level B sectors were some of his favorites. He also mentioned that they would be rougher, less kind to "bombing" down hill on, and actually were closed up until recently for "repairs". What repairs a Level B Maintenance road might need were something new to me, but Jon did mention a tractor went off one into a deep ditch, so...... That was encouraging! 

As the person who made the route, I was concerned that perhaps there might be a few riders not as well versed in handling and whatnot and that this section might prove to be their undoing. Fortunately, that wasn't the case, but let me say this: those Level B's were fast, rough, and dangerous! I was topping out at well over 30mph and the bike was getting hammered. Sometimes I'd get kicked sideways a bit, and I was puckering up, thankful I did not cut down a tire at those high speeds. In fact, I remember thinking that if anything were to break on this ride, it would have happened back on those roads.

In fact, one thing did break, just not on my bike. It was New York Roll, and- of course - it was a tire. That guy has the worst luck with tires. Anyway, we stopped and he got a tube in it and off we went again. In the rain. Oh......yeah.....it started raining. 

The thunder increased in consistency after the first stop for resupply and then as soon as we were off again it sprinkled and went to a very light rain. But that wasn't the worst of it. Nope. I saw lightning in the distance. I mentioned it at one point while riding alongside Tony and he said, "I'm not even going to look!" Well, because he didn't want to know if he was in danger? Maybe. This made me contemplate stopping the ride, actually. However; our little stop for N.Y. Roll's tire issues seemed to have allowed the storm to progress beyond our vicinity. The rain actually was letting up too. So I ditched those thoughts for the time being.

Now the route would go up North and into a short foray into Tama County to some ridge road I found on the map. Then it was back South to the county line with Iowa County.

Rain made the roads wet, but not too wet.

The rain moved on- for the time being- and we got a brief respite full of Sunshine.

I managed to find several multiple mile sectors of Level B roads which prompted Steve at one point to remark to me that he thought this was extraordinary. He was loving the route so far, and was amazed at the roads in Poweshiek County. Now, this requires a bit of background to fully understand the weight of Steve's comments.

Steve has done a few Trans Iowas, finishing a couple at least, and is well versed in the area around Grinnell as far as what I provided as routes for Trans Iowa. However; he was not aware of the rich amount of dirt roads in this vicinity simply because I could not put many of these roads into a Springtime event. They simply are not, very often, rideable at that time of year. So, I avoided these Poweshiek dirt roads like the plague, with rare exceptions. (They also were mostly on this route, by the way)

So, Steve's amazement at the roads is to be noted since many folks that have ridden in the area probably have done so in Spring. Summer riding in Poweshiek County opens up many more options, and I was taking full advantage with this fact for this GTDRI.

This picture is out of focus due to rain, but I liked how it turned out anyway. Almost like a watercolor. 

I didn't take too many images of straight up gravel roads, but this one turned out well that I did take.

Thunder rolled off in the distance, rain was intermittent, but up to this point it hadn't rained hard or anything near to it. We were all in good spirits, and although I felt a bit fatigued, my back, (remember the pre-event event I mentioned?) was fine, really. I was surprised I'd put in this many miles riding so well, to be honest. Long rides have been sorely lacking, and I was pushing my mileage out to the longest ride of the year if I could keep this up.

During one stop to gather folks back up, we learned that Doug from Lincoln wanted to bail out. Unfortunately at the point he was at, it was better for him to soldier on to the next resupply at mile 60-ish and then catch a ride with Michaela who was supposed to rendezvous with us there at a pre-determined point.

(L-R) Tom C, N.Y. Roll (shirtless, of course!), Dangerous Dan, and Jon.

Beautiful views from Blue Jay Hollow in Tama County.

The sector that took us up into Tama County was going to go up on a ridge, but before we got there I noted that, for some bizarre reason, I avoided a perfectly cool Level B road on 400th in Poweshiek County that we used in T.I.v14. I was pretty disgusted with myself for that omission. But the ridge road in Tama County made me forget about that quickly. It was, in a word, beautiful, even though it was grey, raining, and the light sucked. I'm going back to ride that again soon. It was that good. My shots here do it no justice.

We stopped here to get out of the rain, and to regroup.

The entire ride up on the ridge was in a steady, light rain. The roads had been so dry that this didn't matter, and in fact, it was knocking down the dust a bit. We were still kicking up dust despite the precipitation though.

Eventually we rolled up on the fast guys and saw that they were taking their leisure under some pine trees to get out of the steady rain. Tony had been riding with me and as I rolled to a stop, my front wheel caught a small rut and dumped me on the grass of the farm yard pretty heavily. Tony asked if I was okay, and I said I was, but......I wasn't really. That hurt my back when I hit, and after that. I wasn't the same.

Probably 100% sand here. It was the sandiest Level B I have ever ridden on.

(L-R) Nick, Tom C, Doug from Lincoln in the background, and David. Kyle is obscured here. Second resupply stop at Mile 60.

I soldiered on to the Mile 60-ish resupply. Michaela had a great selection of drink and chips! (Thank You!!) I knew something wasn't right here. My back was tightening up, and I was game to move on, but I knew it wasn't going to be good. Rob decided to bail out here with Doug, and so we were down to 12 riders.

Next: Thunder Roads Part 3, and the conclusion of the GTDRI '19 report.

GTDRI '19: Thunder Roads Part 2

Nick looking ahead at another mile of Level B road

At the rest stop at Mile 30-ish, Jon, who is a local rider to Grinnell and does a lot of gravel miles, was telling me the next few Level B sectors were some of his favorites. He also mentioned that they would be rougher, less kind to "bombing" down hill on, and actually were closed up until recently for "repairs". What repairs a Level B Maintenance road might need were something new to me, but Jon did mention a tractor went off one into a deep ditch, so...... That was encouraging! 

As the person who made the route, I was concerned that perhaps there might be a few riders not as well versed in handling and whatnot and that this section might prove to be their undoing. Fortunately, that wasn't the case, but let me say this: those Level B's were fast, rough, and dangerous! I was topping out at well over 30mph and the bike was getting hammered. Sometimes I'd get kicked sideways a bit, and I was puckering up, thankful I did not cut down a tire at those high speeds. In fact, I remember thinking that if anything were to break on this ride, it would have happened back on those roads.

In fact, one thing did break, just not on my bike. It was New York Roll, and- of course - it was a tire. That guy has the worst luck with tires. Anyway, we stopped and he got a tube in it and off we went again. In the rain. Oh......yeah.....it started raining. 

The thunder increased in consistency after the first stop for resupply and then as soon as we were off again it sprinkled and went to a very light rain. But that wasn't the worst of it. Nope. I saw lightning in the distance. I mentioned it at one point while riding alongside Tony and he said, "I'm not even going to look!" Well, because he didn't want to know if he was in danger? Maybe. This made me contemplate stopping the ride, actually. However; our little stop for N.Y. Roll's tire issues seemed to have allowed the storm to progress beyond our vicinity. The rain actually was letting up too. So I ditched those thoughts for the time being.

Now the route would go up North and into a short foray into Tama County to some ridge road I found on the map. Then it was back South to the county line with Iowa County.

Rain made the roads wet, but not too wet.

The rain moved on- for the time being- and we got a brief respite full of Sunshine.

I managed to find several multiple mile sectors of Level B roads which prompted Steve at one point to remark to me that he thought this was extraordinary. He was loving the route so far, and was amazed at the roads in Poweshiek County. Now, this requires a bit of background to fully understand the weight of Steve's comments.

Steve has done a few Trans Iowas, finishing a couple at least, and is well versed in the area around Grinnell as far as what I provided as routes for Trans Iowa. However; he was not aware of the rich amount of dirt roads in this vicinity simply because I could not put many of these roads into a Springtime event. They simply are not, very often, rideable at that time of year. So, I avoided these Poweshiek dirt roads like the plague, with rare exceptions. (They also were mostly on this route, by the way)

So, Steve's amazement at the roads is to be noted since many folks that have ridden in the area probably have done so in Spring. Summer riding in Poweshiek County opens up many more options, and I was taking full advantage with this fact for this GTDRI.

This picture is out of focus due to rain, but I liked how it turned out anyway. Almost like a watercolor. 

I didn't take too many images of straight up gravel roads, but this one turned out well that I did take.

Thunder rolled off in the distance, rain was intermittent, but up to this point it hadn't rained hard or anything near to it. We were all in good spirits, and although I felt a bit fatigued, my back, (remember the pre-event event I mentioned?) was fine, really. I was surprised I'd put in this many miles riding so well, to be honest. Long rides have been sorely lacking, and I was pushing my mileage out to the longest ride of the year if I could keep this up.

During one stop to gather folks back up, we learned that Doug from Lincoln wanted to bail out. Unfortunately at the point he was at, it was better for him to soldier on to the next resupply at mile 60-ish and then catch a ride with Michaela who was supposed to rendezvous with us there at a pre-determined point.

(L-R) Tom C, N.Y. Roll (shirtless, of course!), Dangerous Dan, and Jon.

Beautiful views from Blue Jay Hollow in Tama County.

The sector that took us up into Tama County was going to go up on a ridge, but before we got there I noted that, for some bizarre reason, I avoided a perfectly cool Level B road on 400th in Poweshiek County that we used in T.I.v14. I was pretty disgusted with myself for that omission. But the ridge road in Tama County made me forget about that quickly. It was, in a word, beautiful, even though it was grey, raining, and the light sucked. I'm going back to ride that again soon. It was that good. My shots here do it no justice.

We stopped here to get out of the rain, and to regroup.

The entire ride up on the ridge was in a steady, light rain. The roads had been so dry that this didn't matter, and in fact, it was knocking down the dust a bit. We were still kicking up dust despite the precipitation though.

Eventually we rolled up on the fast guys and saw that they were taking their leisure under some pine trees to get out of the steady rain. Tony had been riding with me and as I rolled to a stop, my front wheel caught a small rut and dumped me on the grass of the farm yard pretty heavily. Tony asked if I was okay, and I said I was, but......I wasn't really. That hurt my back when I hit, and after that. I wasn't the same.

Probably 100% sand here. It was the sandiest Level B I have ever ridden on.

(L-R) Nick, Tom C, Doug from Lincoln in the background, and David. Kyle is obscured here. Second resupply stop at Mile 60.

I soldiered on to the Mile 60-ish resupply. Michaela had a great selection of drink and chips! (Thank You!!) I knew something wasn't right here. My back was tightening up, and I was game to move on, but I knew it wasn't going to be good. Rob decided to bail out here with Doug, and so we were down to 12 riders.

Next: Thunder Roads Part 3, and the conclusion of the GTDRI '19 report.

GTDRI '19: Thunder Roads Part 1

I even remembered my shoes!

This year's Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational will be remembered for several reasons, but I've chosen to call it the "Thunder Roads" edition for an obvious reason. Well.....if you were on the ride, you'd understand. We'll get into that later. But for now I will say that this was the Poweshiek County version of the last two years of GTDRI's where the route was made up of a large percentage of dirt, or Level B Maintenance, roads. I started doing this as a homage, of sorts, to the Pirate Cycling League's "Tour of Dirt Roads", a ride they have held annually for 12 years, I think, and takes in as many Nebraska Minimum Maintenance roads (MMR's), as possible.

So, after two successful years of doing my version of that, I decided to move it down to Poweshiek County, and base the ride out of Grinnell, knowing full well that this would be a much more difficult route due to the hills. To that end I originally was going to make it a metric century (63 miles) or thereabouts, and not the 100 plus mile affair I generally do. However, after the second draft of the route I found some things I felt might be intriguing and it ended up becoming a 92 mile route.

So, anyway..... Almost a hundy! And with those big hills and potentially rough Level B Roads, it wasn't going to be easy. The forecast called for upper 80's, humidity, and a 25% chance of rain. In other words, typical GTDRI weather. At least there was to be some wind, which is always better than nothing and then having it hot and humid on top of that. That's a recipe for a brutal day.

Heading out on the 14th Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational. Fittingly, there were 14 riders.

Well, despite my best laid plans, I managed to screw up my pre-event preparations by being a good neighbor. See, my neighbor and his assistant were trying to remove and move a fiberglass pick-up topper to his backyard. Seeing their struggle, I offered to lend a hand. Well, one thing led to another, a hand let go, putting the weight on me, and......tweaked lower back. There was no popping, or weird sensations, but I could feel the pain and knew I had compromised myself. Nothing I could do at that point but just show up and go as far as I could Saturday.

I had to get up at 3:45am just to make it down there on time. I was pleased to have the Silca Maratona Minimo bag which has helped me to remember stuff much better than before. So, no forgotten togs this time! I arrived with ten minutes to spare and there were 13 others that showed up including locals Tom C, Nick,Tom S, Tony McGrane, Dangerous Dan and N.Y. Roll. There were three guys from Grinnell (Tim, David, and Jon), and the "Long Distance Award" went to Rob Evans and his friend Doug who came with Rob's girlfriend Michaela who ran support for us later in the ride. They drove up from Lincoln, NE. Kyle P cane along again, and Steve showed up from Des Moines with his full suspension fat bike set up with 27.5+ wheels. He's training for a bikepacking race, so he had full kit onboard.

A few words were said, a starting line image taken, and then we got rolling a bit after 6:00am. It was breezy, partly cloudy, and comfortable at the start. The route headed off North to start and then kind of did a squirrely loop to the South and east before heading back North again. The plan was to get to mile 30 where Jon from Grinnell had kindly parked his truck with water for resupply.

Sunrise is considered by Tony as we headed North on the beginning of the route. 

Tony again, this time on one of the early Level B sections.

The early morning breeze was kind of keeping the temperatures at bay, and really, it was quite comfortable in the opening hours of the ride. I somehow was kept on the front of the group for most of the opening third of the ride, and keeping these horses under 12mph was a tough ask, but I did my best.

The riders hung together well at the beginning, but after all, the hills weren't very steep here and the Level B's we encountered were super smooth, bordering on powdery. In fact, it was very dry and dusty to start out with. Much dustier than I had thought about it being. Of course, that would get taken care of later on in the day, as we would find out.

Level B #2 on the day.

This isn't a barn, or a schoolhouse. It's a Grange. Look it up.

The route took us from the Western border of Poweshiek County and then back along the Northern third of the County to the east. We never went south of I-80, by the way. There just are so many cool roads that a complete survey of them all, just in this county, would take weeks. So, I kept the route up into the Northern third of the county. There are soooo many Level B Roads I actually had to miss several just to make a route that made sense.

Along about an hour and a half, maybe two hours in, we began to hear rumbles. It was like hearing a truck empty dumpsters through a building's walls. Far off, but unmistakable. We started to view clouds gathering to the Northwest of us. At one point, Steve had his phone out while we were waiting for everyone to get back together and mentioned it looked like the rain might miss us to the Northeast. I was hopeful this might be the case.

Rob Evans riding under the eaves of some distant thunderstorm.

The rumbling got louder, the skies became more foreboding. I was sure hoping that Steve's earlier prediction that the system would miss us was correct. Every time I assessed the situation, whether during a stop or while riding, I was encouraged by how far off the system seemed to be. At any rate, it was keeping the Sun at bay, and therefore, the temperatures weren't scorching, but actually rather pleasantly hot. Surprisingly, I felt pretty good so far into the ride.

Tom Claver, the only single speed rider in the bunch, cruising up a Level B.

Eventually we reached the truck of Jon''s at Mile 30-ish and his cached supplies of water. Not only did he have water, but a two liter bottle of Coca Cola, pastries, and Starbucks Double Shot Latte's! More of a cafe' in the hinterlands, I'd say. Thanks Jon!

Riders avail themselves of Jon's offerings at about Mile 30 or so. 

This concluded the first third of the ride. There were a LOT more Level B Roads, hills, gravel, and more to come. Stay tuned for Part 2 coming tomorrow of the "GTDRI '19 Thunder Roads" report.

GTDRI '19: Thunder Roads Part 1

I even remembered my shoes!

This year's Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational will be remembered for several reasons, but I've chosen to call it the "Thunder Roads" edition for an obvious reason. Well.....if you were on the ride, you'd understand. We'll get into that later. But for now I will say that this was the Poweshiek County version of the last two years of GTDRI's where the route was made up of a large percentage of dirt, or Level B Maintenance, roads. I started doing this as a homage, of sorts, to the Pirate Cycling League's "Tour of Dirt Roads", a ride they have held annually for 12 years, I think, and takes in as many Nebraska Minimum Maintenance roads (MMR's), as possible.

So, after two successful years of doing my version of that, I decided to move it down to Poweshiek County, and base the ride out of Grinnell, knowing full well that this would be a much more difficult route due to the hills. To that end I originally was going to make it a metric century (63 miles) or thereabouts, and not the 100 plus mile affair I generally do. However, after the second draft of the route I found some things I felt might be intriguing and it ended up becoming a 92 mile route.

So, anyway..... Almost a hundy! And with those big hills and potentially rough Level B Roads, it wasn't going to be easy. The forecast called for upper 80's, humidity, and a 25% chance of rain. In other words, typical GTDRI weather. At least there was to be some wind, which is always better than nothing and then having it hot and humid on top of that. That's a recipe for a brutal day.

Heading out on the 14th Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational. Fittingly, there were 14 riders.

Well, despite my best laid plans, I managed to screw up my pre-event preparations by being a good neighbor. See, my neighbor and his assistant were trying to remove and move a fiberglass pick-up topper to his backyard. Seeing their struggle, I offered to lend a hand. Well, one thing led to another, a hand let go, putting the weight on me, and......tweaked lower back. There was no popping, or weird sensations, but I could feel the pain and knew I had compromised myself. Nothing I could do at that point but just show up and go as far as I could Saturday.

I had to get up at 3:45am just to make it down there on time. I was pleased to have the Silca Maratona Minimo bag which has helped me to remember stuff much better than before. So, no forgotten togs this time! I arrived with ten minutes to spare and there were 13 others that showed up including locals Tom C, Nick,Tom S, Tony McGrane, Dangerous Dan and N.Y. Roll. There were three guys from Grinnell (Tim, David, and Jon), and the "Long Distance Award" went to Rob Evans and his friend Doug who came with Rob's girlfriend Michaela who ran support for us later in the ride. They drove up from Lincoln, NE. Kyle P cane along again, and Steve showed up from Des Moines with his full suspension fat bike set up with 27.5+ wheels. He's training for a bikepacking race, so he had full kit onboard.

A few words were said, a starting line image taken, and then we got rolling a bit after 6:00am. It was breezy, partly cloudy, and comfortable at the start. The route headed off North to start and then kind of did a squirrely loop to the South and east before heading back North again. The plan was to get to mile 30 where Jon from Grinnell had kindly parked his truck with water for resupply.

Sunrise is considered by Tony as we headed North on the beginning of the route. 

Tony again, this time on one of the early Level B sections.

The early morning breeze was kind of keeping the temperatures at bay, and really, it was quite comfortable in the opening hours of the ride. I somehow was kept on the front of the group for most of the opening third of the ride, and keeping these horses under 12mph was a tough ask, but I did my best.

The riders hung together well at the beginning, but after all, the hills weren't very steep here and the Level B's we encountered were super smooth, bordering on powdery. In fact, it was very dry and dusty to start out with. Much dustier than I had thought about it being. Of course, that would get taken care of later on in the day, as we would find out.

Level B #2 on the day.

This isn't a barn, or a schoolhouse. It's a Grange. Look it up.

The route took us from the Western border of Poweshiek County and then back along the Northern third of the County to the east. We never went south of I-80, by the way. There just are so many cool roads that a complete survey of them all, just in this county, would take weeks. So, I kept the route up into the Northern third of the county. There are soooo many Level B Roads I actually had to miss several just to make a route that made sense.

Along about an hour and a half, maybe two hours in, we began to hear rumbles. It was like hearing a truck empty dumpsters through a building's walls. Far off, but unmistakable. We started to view clouds gathering to the Northwest of us. At one point, Steve had his phone out while we were waiting for everyone to get back together and mentioned it looked like the rain might miss us to the Northeast. I was hopeful this might be the case.

Rob Evans riding under the eaves of some distant thunderstorm.

The rumbling got louder, the skies became more foreboding. I was sure hoping that Steve's earlier prediction that the system would miss us was correct. Every time I assessed the situation, whether during a stop or while riding, I was encouraged by how far off the system seemed to be. At any rate, it was keeping the Sun at bay, and therefore, the temperatures weren't scorching, but actually rather pleasantly hot. Surprisingly, I felt pretty good so far into the ride.

Tom Claver, the only single speed rider in the bunch, cruising up a Level B.

Eventually we reached the truck of Jon''s at Mile 30-ish and his cached supplies of water. Not only did he have water, but a two liter bottle of Coca Cola, pastries, and Starbucks Double Shot Latte's! More of a cafe' in the hinterlands, I'd say. Thanks Jon!

Riders avail themselves of Jon's offerings at about Mile 30 or so. 

This concluded the first third of the ride. There were a LOT more Level B Roads, hills, gravel, and more to come. Stay tuned for Part 2 coming tomorrow of the "GTDRI '19 Thunder Roads" report.