Trans Iowa Stories: Changes And Challenges

Jeremy Fry riding in Trans Iowa v14. Image by Jon Duke

 "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!  

As I wrestled with the decision to end Trans Iowa, one of my confidants was Jeremy Fry. My partner in recon since Trans Iowa v9. As the days wore on after I had asked for his advice, he kept pressing me for a definitive answer on which way I was going to go with Trans Iowa. "Are you sure you are going to end it, because if you are...", and he wouldn't let up on the pressure for me to make up my mind definitively. Because if this was really going to be it, he wasn't going to be able to help me. He was going to ride in the last Trans Iowa, because he didn't want this last chance to pass him by. 

On the one hand, I couldn't blame him. He had inside information, and he was going to act upon that by entering as a rider. But on the other hand, then I was on my own with the route finding, cue sheet drafting, and mileage checking. I had a very difficult time with the thought of having to do all of that again.

I really had not done everything in terms of course preparation and research since Trans Iowa v8. That was six years before this time, and since that time I had received so much help from Jeremy that I was having a difficult time imagining running the recon without him. Actually, it was part of the reason why I was so despondent when it came to doing the route in the first place. 

 I put in 14 dirt road sections in T.I.v14- One for every year of the event.

That was one emotional downer that weighed on me, but another thing I was wrestling with was how I was going to get cue cards into rider's hands minutes before a 4:00am in the morning start. I really couldn't ask for the riders to come earlier, as the whole 4:00am thing was tough enough as it was. I figured that with some extra volunteer help it could be pulled off without much issue. Here again- I was going to miss Jeremy's presence. I had him kind of tabbed for the lead on that job, but since he would be riding, well- that wasn't going to work. 

Fortunately I had other friends and one of them volunteered himself to take up the slack where Jeremy's absence had left a void. It was Tony McGrane who stepped in as the help in terms of the recon and he filled that gap well. Unfortunately due to my issues with finding a route to recon, the entire process was put off until December. Not at all what I wanted, and I knew better than to push it off that long, but this would be the last time I had to do this. 

The entire route was reconned in one go, fortunately, and that was a big relief. We did have one reroute, and I figured, why not? It wouldn't be a Trans Iowa recon without one. I put in 14 sections of dirt road for the fourteen years of Trans Iowa. My subtle way of tribute to the event without making a big deal out of it. Of course, the entire time I was playing things up as though this was 'business as usual'. I couldn't let on that I was bouncing around in a truck doing Trans Iowa recon for the last time ever when I was doing it. 

That- keeping "The Secret"- was the hard part of the entire production leading up to the event. Coming up with a course. Yes- that was like pulling nails. Having Jeremy not be a part of recon and course production? That was a really big blow to me. But having to put on a facade while doing things leading up to T.I.v14 was the worst. I hated that part, and perhaps it was why I barely remember anything about the last recon at all.

And this all extended to sponsors and other details of the last Trans Iowa. I'll get to how that secret affected those other things in my next edition of "Trans Iowa Stories".