Trans Iowa Stories: The Table Is Set

The digitized header art I did for T.I.v12.

 "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 clicking on the "Trans Iowa Stories" link under the blog header. Thanks and enjoy! 

One thing I always was mulling over and over in my mind when planning a Trans Iowa was how difficult the course was, or was not, and if I had the balance right. Of course, I thought waaaaay too much about it, because in the end, many things out of my control were factors in making whatever it was I did hard, harder, or impossible, depending upon the year. For example, I could have had a dead flat course to start out T.I.v11 with, had no dirt roads, and yet the event still probably wouldn't have gone through to its conclusion, such were the effects of the weather that day. 

Then take the road conditions, as another example, which if they were all fresh graveled, that alone was going to put a big dent in the amount of finishers. Of course, many riders joked around that I had close connections with the various county maintenance departments, but that was merely hyperbole and fantasy. Fresh gravel was either a big part of the event, or it wasn't, and was another huge factor beyond my control. So, why I fretted as much as I did...... Yeah, big waste of energy, but I cared. So, sue me. 

Somewhere on the T.I.v12 route

In the instance of Trans Iowa v12 I thought I had perhaps made a big mistake by driving the course up near Waterloo just to get Petrie Road in the course. There weren't any of those big rollers going North, and Level B roads were rarer up the way we had to go. And that 'way' was pretty much a straight line North, as I much as I could go in a straight line . No veering to take in good dirt because the overall distance was already pushing the limits. 

Then there were thoughts about how the direction of the course overall would be affected by the winds. Typically in Iowa we get Northwestern or Southwestern winds. Especially in Spring. However; for T.I.v8, v10, and v11 we had beastly East winds. I was baffled. But with a mostly North/South loop, I figured that, if the winds were from one of the two traditional directions, we'd get a big headwind for about half the course. I mean, it couldn't blow hard from the East again, could it? 

Ah! So much tossing and turning over all of that was most of what occupied my mind at times. However; there was more than that to think about, of course. I had sponsors to get lined up and get donated prizes from. T.I.v12 would also serve as my clearing house for past Trans Iowa stuff I needed to get out of my hair. Things like leftover tires from v11, (six sets), leftover prizing from the T.I.v10 prizing table, leftover T.I.v10 t-shirts, leftover T.I.v11 volunteer t-shirts, and more of the like. There was so much stuff leftover that before I received more prizing I had enough items so that every rider would receive something. 

Speaking of WTB tires, this stretch of Trans Iowa was marked by a few really remarkable things concerning WTB, Will Ritchie, who worked for them, and the event. We had already received WTB Nano 40's for T.I.v11. Cases of them, and I had these in my basement for probably a couple months ahead of Trans Iowa that year. Well, word got around that I had all these new to the market tires and dealers were scrambling to get their hands on this hot, new model. The distributors were quickly stripped of the initial shipment and so I started getting requests from dealers to sell them the Nano 40's! 

Talk about awkward. Those phone calls were never any fun, and I heard from more than one source that I was being slagged for having tires that dealers could be selling. I just never thought about being put into that spot until it happened. Had I known better I would have kept my big mouth shut, but I was supposed to promote my sponsors, right? Anyway.....

So for T.I.v12, I knew ahead of time that once again- we were getting cases of tires, but I asked that WTB kind of make sure that dealers knew this wasn't me hoarding tires. Now I don't know if the situation was different for v12, but at least I didn't have to field calls and emails for tires anymore. 

The next big deal I was made aware of was that two sets of the brand new, no-one-knows-about (at that time) Riddler tires were going to be debuted at Trans Iowa. Now, that was unprecedented. Tires debuted at things like Interbike, or at a big press camp, or maybe at a huge event like Sea Otter, not at some po-dunk gravel race called Trans Iowa. But yes- WTB was going to do this, and they flew the tires out special just for us! I guess I maybe am the only one that ever saw the gravity of these actions that WTB made on behalf of Trans Iowa. But trust me- that was unreal. Tell me where else that sort of thing has happened since? 

Yeah...... I'm here waiting. 

So, the whole enchilada was wrapping up again toward the point. The critical point of actually putting the event on and conducting what little I could of it. I had responsibilities and I had some logistical puzzles, but in the end, once we honked the horn and moved off from in front of Bikes To You at 4:00am, it was all in the hands of a rag-tag group of intrepid cyclists. I set the table, but how the event unfolded? Yeah, I was just along for that ride. All I could do from that point was hope that it would be another good one. 

Next: A Wrench In The Works