The GTDRI Stories: The Seventh One - Part 2

 "The GTDRI Stories" is a series telling the history, untold tales, and showing the sights from the run of Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitationals. This series will run on Sundays. Thanks for reading!

I mentioned much earlier in this series that every year seemed to have a "surprise rider" show up and for this GTDRI that rider was Craig from Mt. Vernon, Iowa. So, that was nice to see. The seventh running of the GTDRI had nine riders total. Interestingly, three of us were on Fargos, one on a Ti Vaya, and another on a Surly Cross Check. This was no surprise as the early gravel scene in the Mid-West was often dominated by QBP brand bikes being used for gravel duty. 

It was a stunning morning, once again, for the ride. As I look back on the years of the GTDRI, this is one facet of the ride that sticks out for me- That almost every one of these featured a drop-dead gorgeous Sunrise. 

And they say that the Mid-West is boring. Bah! 

The route was set up, as I have mentioned before, in a sort of twin-loop fashion where the morning loop went East and South a bit from Grinnell and the afternoon loop went West and North before coming back to Grinnell again. This arrangement played out perfectly for three of the attending riders. 

Before we got back to Grinnell, we had several fine, smooth Level B Maintenance dirt roads on tap. We stopped in Brooklyn, Iowa for a break and food. Then on just North of Montezuma, Iowa and a stretch of three Level B dirt roads which ended up providing one of the better memories for me of this GTDRI.

Mike Johnson (seated) and Craig Irving at the Brooklyn morning stop on the 2012 GTDRI.

 

Two riders descending a Level B road near Montezuma, Iowa on the 2012 GTDRI

By the time we stopped for a 'nature break' at the bottom of a valley between two hills on a dirt road, it had become beastly hot and humid. The heat was going to be one of the deciding factors in how many of us would make the entire 120 mile ride, if any of us would. I had thoughts back to a couple of years prior where in Northeast Iowa we had to take refuge in a corn field and cut the loop short that year due to excessive heat.

But at this stop those thoughts were chased away. One of the riders was a public defender/lawyer. He was telling us about his job dealing with the nere-do-wells of the area and pronouncing some mild forms of judgement upon such folks who did crimes which caused grief for his clients and himself. Meanwhile, I spied just over his shoulder, one of the attendees of this ride taking a "safety break" (a euphemism for smoking marijuana) off about 20 yards away in the ditch. This scene where someone was firing up a one-hitter while we were being regaled with tales from a public defender was pretty humorous. The names were all withheld then, and shall remain withheld now. But that was some fine irony right there! 

This wild flower-lined road South of Grinnell is a chief memory from the 2012 GTDRI. Riders are Jeremy Fry (L) and Matt Wills.

At this point it was over 100°F Riders (L-R) Jeremy Fry. Mike Johnson, John Mathias Cody Matthias. Matt Wills obscured by Cody here.

One of the recurring themes for several GTDRI's was the late arrival of Jeremy Fry and his "catching us up". He often started GTDRI rides late and would speed on down the course, catch us, then finish out the ride at our casual pace. He did this on the 2011 GTDRI and again on this one. Odd, but I was always glad to have him join us.

The first loop ended near the truck stop at the Southern edge of Grinnell where we took advantage of a Subway sandwich shop. Dennis, Craig, and Courtney ended their rides here for various reasons. So, my plan to have a bail-out option baked into the route proved useful. The heat and humidity were really hard on us that day already, and it would get worse. 

This stunning shot was taken by Celeste Mathias on E 84th St. N. in Jasper County, Iowa.

Another by Celestes Mathias. This time on N 99th Ave E in Jasper County.

We were really fortunate to have skirted a big thunderstorm, but get close enough that we were cooled by some of its precipitation. It came at the right time and probably helped most of us along to finish the ride. This brought out my tendency to revive when things cool off or get rainy, or both. 

Jeremy Fry never let me live this down, because before the rain came I was literally the anchor for the group, lagging far behind and having to make everyone wait on me. But when the rains came, it was as if I had taken some sort of illegal performance enhancing drug. I was gone! Going up the steeps like a goat on caffeine. Jeremy was calling me "Contador", after a then well-known professional road racer. 

This ride, as I stated earlier was one of the classic GTDRI's and since there is more remembrances than I can stuff into one post, or two, there will be a third and final post on the seventh GTDRI next Sunday.