Gents Race: The Final Run: Part 1

I got down to Steve and Kathy's place on Friday

The last run of the (Renegade) Gents Race happened over the weekend. My plan was arranged such that I would be leaving Friday afternoon to drive the two hours down to Captain Steve's place and stay the night in his guest room. (THANK YOU Steve and Kathy!)

So, the drive went well. It was a pleasant day, but rain was forecast over night and snow was a possibility as well, but probably further North than where the Gents Race course was. Steve and I figured it might start out wet, but that eventually, with those Northwest winds, it would dry up fairly quickly. 

Steve and Kathy treated me to a fine Mexican dinner at a local eatery. Then we retired to their home where we capped of the evening with a couple glasses of whiskey and some great conversation. It was really good to catch up with Steve in this setting. Generally we are doing that on-the-fly during the event, and well, it isn't the same as a nice, relaxed, sit-down conversation. 

I got a good night's sleep and was up by 6:00am for our 8:40-something start time. Steve and I had a cuppa Joe and hit the road North for Slater, Iowa and the start venue at the Nitehawk bar. 

Steve getting ready at the parking lot just South of the start venue.

 Well, we got rain but we did not see a ton of puddles or standing water on the way up, so I was hopeful that we'd have firm roads. Once we got there, it was pretty chilly and windy. The temperatures were in the upper 30's at the start, so I had on my Showers Pass rain jacket which makes a great windbreaker and would shed water and mud well enough should we run across that.

Meanwhile, back in Waterloo, my wife texted me this image of the snow falling there Saturday morning.

Thankfully it did not snow, like it was back at home. I spoke with a few folks who drove down that morning from Waterloo and they said that it was very slippery with lots of cars in the ditch. Whew! When I heard that I was sure glad I came down on Friday afternoon!

The conga line forms outside the porta-potties in the lot at the Nitehawk.

Well, the team assembled and we had one sub in Christopher who was filling Sam's usual place on the team. This would be the Careless Whispers last go-round at the Gents Race. We were at every Gents Race save last year's event because it was postponed until June and that didn't work for us. So, ten years of Gents Races for us. (There was no Gents Race in 2020, of course)

Suddenly it was time to go! I'll get into what happened at the start and up to the end of the event tomorrow.