Trans Iowa Stories; The People of Hawarden

In this post we will learn a bit about the pivotal role the community of Hawarden, Iowa played in getting Trans Iowa off the ground. 

In the early stages of planning the idea of Trans Iowa out, Jeff and I were discussing what the route should look like. Of course, one of the most important parts of this puzzle was the starting point. That choice was narrowed down significantly by two factors: the start had to be on the Western border of Iowa. The second was that the route had to pass through Jeff's home town of Algona, Iowa.

Algona was in the Northern tier of the state. This pretty much eliminated any Western border town in the Southwestern part of Iowa, or really, in the middle of the Western side, since this would increase the mileage so much to get through Algona that the idea would have been impossible to stage in one weekend. So, we were limited to the Northwest corner of the state, and the only town that made any sense to Jeff and I was Hawarden.

Hawarden is a town of about 2,500 residents and had hosted the start of a few RAGBRAI rides in the past. We reasoned that this might make the residents more amenable to cyclists. Jeff took it from that point. My only concern with the town after we had chosen the site as the start of the first Trans Iowa was routing from that point on Eastward. Jeff, however, had a plan to execute that involved a lot of players.

Jeff even managed to secure the West Sioux High School parking lot as a parking lot/start area for T.I.v1 (Image credit- Dave Kerkove)

One of the things that motivated Jeff was the elimination, as much as possible, of costs to participate in this adventure. At that time it was not unheard of for solo 24 hour racing entry fees to eclipse the $300.00 mark. Jeff thought this was an unfair burden on the solo entrants since team fees were similar but could be spread across four or more entrants. Jeff wasn't alone in his feelings about this, so he strove to find unique ways to entice his fellow endurance MTB racing buds to come to Iowa. One of the ways he managed this was to find several 'host homes'.

Jeff probably secured at least a half a dozen, or more, residential homes for incoming riders. Families that were willing to put up a rider or two were contacted through a call put out by the Chamber of Commerce, if I recall correctly. Jeff, myself, and two other Trans Iowa racers were put up by one family alone. It was an extraordinary show of trust in an event no one had heard of, not to mention the crazies that were coming to do it. My mind still has a hard time wrapping around that idea, but the people of Hawarden were willing to welcome complete strangers doing a super weird cycling event with wide open arms.

Jeff was the middle man in regard to dealing with the City and the riders. He facilitated the hooking up of riders with homes by sending out periodic e-mail "newsletters", as he called them, which kept everyone up to date as to the status of their "housing requests". It was an extraordinary feat which he pulled off two years in a row. Furthermore, he also negotiated a free side room in the local Pizza Ranch for the pre-race meeting where the restaurant also provided a spaghetti meal for the riders at a nominal fee. This "hobnobbing time" amongst racers was the precursor to the "Pre-Race Meat-Up" we used to have years later because I saw how the event was enhanced by this simple little deal Jeff set up for the first two Trans Iowas with the people of Hawarden.

In closing, I can only say from personal experience that our host home, the same for two years, was made up of a couple that were extremely gracious and giving. I recall both years getting a free, hearty breakfast, coffee, and juice which was cooked up by the man of the house. What a great experience! But ours was just one of many like stories in the town. In my opinion, the way we/Trans Iowa were accepted and encouraged by this town is one of the unsung stories that remains integral to the way the event was received by riders who came to join in the madness that became the Trans Iowa story.

Next: The Dissenters. Not everyone was enamored of the ways Jeff and I were going about this crazy event. Find out who they were and why they were upset next week.