Trans Iowa Stories: A Special Summer

A big ride in May of 2010 with David set the tone for the Summer and Fall

"Trans Iowa Stories" is an every Sunday post which helps tell the stories behind the event. You can check out other posts about this subject by going back to earlier Sunday posts on this blog. Thanks and enjoy!

I guess it was a situation where I was looking past some signs which I see a bit more clearly now looking back. It's that way, isn't it? But in the shadow of T.I.v6 I was not seeing things clearly. In fact, I was just too dang busy to notice those indications that something might be amiss with how we were doing Trans Iowa and what David Pals might be going through in life. The whole deal with the cue sheet production was completely forgotten about, but that should have thrown up a red flag. Or at least got me to thinking. But as I said, I was just too consumed by all the other crap in my life at the time.

I had work, where I was pretty much the only mechanic in a very busy shop. I had three websites I was trying to keep afloat with "The Cyclistsite", "Gravel Grinder News", and "Twentynine Inches". I had a young family, this blog, and Trans Iowa. Then trying to do Dirty Kanza, another festival in the Fall, and the GTDRI ride I always put on every July. Hoo! No wonder I was blinded to the signs.

And David was so kind, really. It was he that suggested we get together to do more riding which could get me ready for the DK 200 and ostensibly be recon missions for Trans Iowa, if we wanted that. This gesture made 2010 one of the better riding years of my life. We started with a monstrous 80 miler in Jasper County, which outlined ideas for T.I.v7, and future Trans Iowas as well. That was just the beginning of the fun though.

David smiles as I take a pic on one of several night time gravel rides we did in Tama County.

The Dirty Kanza came and went, but throughout June and into the first part of July David and I met for rides in Tama County in the evenings. David was getting set for the "Trans Wisconsin" event, and we pretty much just were having fun, really. We'd almost always get a little lost, and we always would stop, shut down our crude lights, and have a sip from a flask while we silently partook of the starry show in the black skies.

Following David on the Creamery Trail, which became a feature of the T.I.v7 course.

After a break during late July and most of August, we got back together again and started concentrating on Trans Iowa v7 course recon in earnest. The goal was to ride most of it all by bicycle, and to complete it before Winter set in. We were going to be fully prepared this time! No late spring craziness. I guess this put me off the scent, so to speak. Looking back, David never really ever spoke about his job or his personal life, as one might do when you are enveloped in the night and secrets are easier to tell. But I have to say that I never really felt like I knew anything about what was going on in his life, and I was never bright enough, or sensitive enough to dig into that with him. We were doing Trans Iowa business, mostly, and talking bikes, of course.

Another night recon somewhere in Iowa for T.I.v7 with David Pals.

And we came up with some great ideas. David, truth be known, was of the mind that this event really be focused upon self-support. I don't think many folks can begin to understand his strong influence upon the event. It was David, not myself, that shook up the ideas and set me straight when I needed it. This was especially true in 2010.

David felt that by having three checkpoints it made the event too easy to break into "bite-sized chunks". He suggested we strike the third checkpoint, making the second one fall at, what would essentially be, the furthest point out from the start. His thinking was that by making that checkpoint fall at the approximate mid-point of Trans Iowa's distance, it would encourage people to decide if they were up to it to continue on, (clear headed decision making), and if they decided to carry on, it would be a tougher challenge. This sounded really good to me, so that's why the third checkpoint idea was dropped. Besides, the entire idea behind having three checkpoints was to better observe and track riders, but by this point we were fairly confident that we could handle this on our own.

Plus, we were going to have an extra set of "eyes" out there anyway with Trans Iowa vet, Steve Fuller taking images for us. So, we made that change, and it stuck for the entirety of the lifetime of Trans Iowa. But you should all understand that this was a David Pals idea, not a "Guitar Ted" idea. David was instrumental in keeping the event to its original intentions where, had I not had him along for the ride, I may have not been quite so smart and wise in some areas. Certainly, Trans Iowa was the better because of David's involvement.

On the last bicycle recon in October of 2010. Image by David Pals

Still, there was that lingering issue which wasn't resolved and which I was blind to. In fact, I figured everything was on the up and up. We were nailing recon, getting it sewn up by late Fall, and David had some awesome course ideas, some of which I saw, and some of which he told me about, where it was parts of the course I hadn't seen yet.

Bicycle recon of the course nearly completed near the Amana Colonies.

The last bit we drove, but by November 1st recon was done. We had everything figured out, and registration was about to kick off. We were upping the head count to 100 riders now, and I have to tell you, I was giddy. I thought there was no way this wasn't going to be good, as long as the weather was cooperating in April.

Once again, David volunteered to compile the cues, and I didn't bat an eyelash. I was maybe overconfident, I don't know. Probably just too blind and unaware. But after all of this camaraderie, collaboration, and time spent together having a ball riding at night in the Summer of 2010, I just couldn't see how in the world it wasn't going to work out right in the end.

Hold that thought.......

Next: It's About The People: Part 2