Trans Iowa Stories: Rolling Into The Home Stretch

 "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!

As I sit here thinking about Trans Iowa in 2020, I am often reminded how Trans Iowa affected people's lives, even up to the current times. I still get folks telling me that the event has piqued their interest and that they maybe wish they could have done the thing. There are people on forums asking about old Trans Iowa routes, (yes- I see you!), and I know that with the passing of the Almanzo, DK200, and Trans Iowa, a lot of people are seeing the past in gravel events as something to be longed for.

It's interesting to consider, but as for me, yeah.....that ship has sailed. 

Now days it is enough to tell these stories and as I think about how this series is going to wrap up, I am thinking about T.I.v9-v14 as representing the "Home Stretch" years of Trans Iowa. I've often mentioned here in these stories how I felt that T.I.v7 and v8 were the pivotal years. The really big, important years for the event, in my opinion, were those two years. This is why I spent so much time really detailing out those two particular Trans Iowa events.

Moving away from those difficult, "middle years" of Trans Iowa, the events of these stories will necessarily start to focus on more abstract ideas, particular scenes, and my experiences during these last five Trans Iowa events I will be writing about. Today's entry is about how I feel about entering this era of Trans Iowa now looking back.

By 2010, the DK200 moved to becoming the big time event it became. T.I super-volunteer J. Fry shown.

I cannot escape the feeling today that Trans Iowa v9 represented a sea change in gravel events and Trans Iowa's perception in the niche of gravel event history. Trans Iowa was one of the "big deals" in the gravel event world to start out with, but my dogged insistence that things stay the same, as far as the event's format and feel were concerned, really pushed Trans Iowa downward in the 'world's view of gravel events'. With the Dirty Kanza 200, which by 2011-2012 had shifted to a next-level format, and with the appearance of each newer gravel event, we really saw Trans Iowa become a smaller, more niche, more esoteric, bizarre, weird event. Legendary? Maybe. Oddball? Totally.

Added to this was the rise of Social Media during these latter years of Trans Iowa along with the reliance of cyclists on more electronic technology. The combination of these two things were the results of the slow change from the "Analog Era" to the new "Digital Era" where lifestyles, social mores, and perceptions about what matters have totally changed. These larger events and cultural changes really affected gravel events and Trans Iowa was no exception.

You could see this as riders became less worried about how far they could push themselves with almost zero outside social awareness of their 'growth' to an almost insatiable desire to make every nuance of their gravel riding a social media 'event' and/or an opportunity to get sponsored by a cycling company and gain 'notoriety', fame, and social credibility. This has extended to some folks becoming 'agents of social awareness' as certain people have taken up the mantle of becoming directors of what is wrong and what is right for gravel events. In some cases, these changes (almost blackmail-like in their applications) are long overdue corrections to wrongs that were done consciously or unconsciously. In other cases they are over-reaching, preachy, and off-putting. But what matters to these stories is that all of this was percolating to the forefront during the latter years of Trans Iowa and were wearing me down with more cares. As if the event itself wasn't enough.......

Getting back to Trans Iowa v9 now, I look back on it as the event where gravel was starting to become marketable. Companies were starting to wheedle their way into the scene, sometimes honestly, sometimes with ulterior motives, and were using the platforms of Trans Iowa, the DK200, and Almanzo to promote their standing and their wares within the gravel community. Gravel was 'growing-up', and riders who were there at the beginning were starting to get turned off as the niche was becoming more popular with more riders.

The very first Trans Iowa Radio update hosted by Mountain Bike Radio.

By 2013 gravel grinding was getting to be a big deal. Money was being poured into the segment by the bicycle industry, and Trans Iowa saw a big influence from this as Salsa Cycles focused on this event and the DK200 to help launch their Warbird gravel race bike. Later on, WTB would use the Trans Iowa platform to introduce its first gravel tires, and later on, their purpose-built for gravel Riddler and Resolute tires, both of which were heavily influenced by Trans Iowa in their designs.

Social media became a much bigger part of Trans Iowa with v9 as RidingGravel.com and Mountainbike Radio facilitated a call-in "Trans Iowa Radio" feature where riders could share their experiences live as they happened. Twitter and Facebook were utilized by riders in the event to share virtually their Trans Iowa experiences. Images went out instantaneously to the world via social media. It all sounded good, and on the up-and-up, but these changes also brought with them challenges, which I will be getting around to.

Next:My take on technology's effects upon Trans Iowa and a hint at what I would have done differently.