Trans Iowa Stories: Moving On

Taking notes at the T.I.v8 finish line. Image by Steve Fuller

"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! 

Moving past Trans Iowa v8 was a lot easier and calmer affair than the previous year. It was such a contrast in post-event feelings that it was remarkable. Yet for all of the good stuff, I still had to work through a lot of the past Trans Iowa stuff that had happened.

My sounding board for these issues was Trans Iowa veteran and finisher, Tim Ek. I cannot say exactly why it worked out that Tim and I were able to have these intimate, private conversations via email for several years, but I am so blessed that it did happen. Tim is wise, reasoned, and experienced. He also had a great way of expressing things which always resonated with me deeply. Without his steady hand of wisdom that he shared with me, I know I would have been in the weeds when it came to working through some of my troubled feelings and insecurities.

I credit Tim for a lot of my grounding when it came to decisions for Trans Iowa's 'middle years', as it were. While I cannot divulge our honored conversations, I will tell you that without those emails, I would not have been able to do what I did for later Trans Iowa events. Thank you Tim Ek. If you ever read these words, please understand that what you did meant, and still means, the world to me. Thank you!

Another victim of one of T.I.v8's Level B roads. Image by Steve Fuller.

Other feedback was important to me as well. MG, who only a year previous was madder than a wet hornet at me for my poor cues, was complimentary and afterward, we became even deeper friends than we had been previous to Trans Iowa v7. Obviously, this has meant a lot to me, not only then, but right up to the current times. In fact, MG ended up becoming my driver for the final three Trans Iowa events, and the last one was a super special time I will never forget. But I am jumping ahead here a bit........

Others chimed in, telling me that they were amazed by the level of organization, the spot-on cues for 300+ miles, and by the event's participants and especially the volunteer corps. (I'll be doing a special edition "Trans Iowa Stories" on volunteers soon) Of course, this affirmed my determined efforts for the bulk of 2011/2012 to do the best I could do. But it also did something else.

Moving on, I had now benefited from all that thinking, effort, and changes made which produced a much better Trans Iowa experience for all. The heavy lifting was done, and I relied upon that for the duration of the event going forward post-T.I.v8. Of course, there were changes and challenges, but the 'bones' of the event had now matured into something solid. A firm foundation to build upon now had been established after many trial and error Trans Iowas. There would never again be a "T.I.v7"-like debacle with regard to missteps made by myself as the event director. No more fretting about event production involving the route or cues ever again. No more worries about host towns or event venues ever again. These things went away after Trans Iowa v8.

The one thing that never did go away was the worries about the people in the event. From volunteers, to people in the pass-through towns and in checkpoints, to the riders, of course. These issues are eventually what would drive me out of putting on a Trans Iowa again the way that I did it. Charles Showalter, a finisher of Trans Iowa v8, put it thusly in an email he sent me post-T.I.v8:

"From the pre-race meeting up until the finish line, I was completely amazed with this event. The entire time I kept thinking, “I can’t imagine how much work this took” and “How is this free?!?!” I even mentioned to my friend and training partner, Craig Irving, when we were sitting at the steakhouse, that it’s pretty remarkable that all of this is put together for an unsanctioned race with no entry fee."

T.I. v8 was probably one of the most beautiful T.I.s any rider had seen since V3 (Image by Steve Fuller)

Indeed, "how that was free" is a fair question. The answer: It wasn't "free". It took a lot of work, as Charles noted, and it took a lot of trust. That was the hardest part of any Trans Iowa for me. To 'trust' in things that were far out of my control. I put a ton of faith in the riders, the processes, the volunteers, and none more so than God. You may not be a "believer", but trust me on this- I would not have continued Trans Iowa past v3 without my Faith.

Moving on would have been impossible for me without that.

Next: Two To Go