In 2015, I didn't realize that the GTDRI for that year was the 10th anniversary one until it was too late. I had the ball rolling to do the same route as the crash-marred 2014 route just to get "revenge", and that was all that mattered. But looking back on it, I wished I had marked the occasion a bit better. That's definitely one regret I have concerning the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational.
So, to sort of make up for that, I decided to resurrect the first year's course with a few modifications to make it make more sense. For instance, I cut out the town of Steamboat Rock since that town used to have a convenience store, but in 2016 it was no longer there. I also moved the start to make things more accommodating for out-of-town riders.
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| A trace of the modified Guitar Ted Death Ride course for 2016 |
So, I had not been on a lot of these roads, but some of them I had and recently. We ran the 12th Trans Iowa over some of the same roads and that meant that I did not have to worry about recon for that bit.But there were some roads I hadn't been on for a long time that I wanted to recheck for this route.
Time was tight, but I managed a couple of recon rides in the first part of July. One I did with Martin Bunge, who had ridden the 2015 GTDRI and was in town that day and decided to join me for a giant 80+ mile loop.
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| Martin taking a gander at the old Geneseo School as we passed by on the proposed GTDRI route for 2016. |
With so much going on I never had the time, nor did I intend to, recon the entire course. Some of it would be left to chance. Some of it I had been on within the last year, so I banked on the roads being okay. Besides, I always wanted to have a bit of a question mark regarding the route just to keep things interesting for myself.
I was also still nursing along that shoulder issue and I was still relegated to using a Fargo, just that this time it was my Gen I Fargo, not the "Fat Fargo", which, if you are keeping up on the "Fat Tires On Gravel" series, you'll know that bike was mothballed, for the most part, then torn down and sold off.
All this riding in July would eventually pay off with my first, and only finish of Gravel Worlds later on after this GTDRI. So, all the riding condensed into this time period for the GTDRI and that ride itself ended up becoming good training for that Gravel Worlds.
Next: The 11th GTDRI - Part 1
I was out in the country week before last when I heard a helicopter obviously very close. As I rounded the the bend I saw it. It was crop dusting. I knew they existed but this was the first one I'd ever seen in action. I noticed the field was kinda small and lined with tall trees so I guess that made it ideal for the copter vs the usual Air Tractor plane. Those pilots definitely have some skills.
ReplyDelete@Phillip Cowan - The helicopter sprayers are much more common in Iowa nowadays. You rarely see the planes anymore. And of course, the newest twist in crop dusting is the use of drones. I see the entire manned aircraft crop dusting thing as something on its way out. Celebrate those pilots while we can!
ReplyDelete75 is THE distance for Gravel Worlds IMO, come over to the dark side... it's nice and shady here.
ReplyDelete@Rydn9ers - I'd LOVE nothing more than to join you all on the 75 miler, but I work Saturdays and getting time off is difficult, plus I miss getting paid a day.
ReplyDeleteMG has a space for me in his back yard to camp and many folks would pull whatever strings they could to get me there, but unfortunately my situation doesn't allow for it right now.
Ironically I do have the following Saturday off as the shop has been forced to close due to a downtown festival which will essentially cut us off from access by the public for the day. (And I am allowed by the Board to make that day up, since i did not take it off voluntarily)
And so it goes.....