The GTDRI Stories: The 14th One - Part 1

"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!

Generally speaking, I usually have the worst pre-event habits ever. Then again, on this version of the GTDRI, I one-upped myself by helping a neighbor move a fiberglass pick-up topper. Yeah......

See, my old neighbor was an industrious fellow but he wasn't real good at picking his friends, and he sometimes had ambitions that outpaced his abilities to accomplish certain tasks. This pick-up topper being one of those examples of both. 

he had a wiry, thin young man as an assistant and while my neighbor was in pretty good physical shape, and was a weight lifter on the side, this thin friend of his was not only weak, but not the brightest bulb on the shelf either. I was casually keeping tabs on the two as they were unbolting the topper from the truck. Then it happened. They were trying to move it with just the two of them. 

And as I watched I felt compelled to lend a hand. It was all good until we were trying to lift the topper over the gate of the neighbor's privacy fence and the neighbor barked out a command to the wiry fellow. He dropped his end to move into a different position. That weighted me in a very akward way and something pulled in my back. Nothing bad, but yeah..... 

And then, of course, this was the day before I was to leave for the GTDRI, and I didn't get to bed early, and the alarm went off at 3:00am. So......  I wasn't in a very good spot right off the bat.

After two years of riding other's bikes, I had my own on this GTDRI.

The participants in the 2018 GTDRI. Image courtesy of Rob Evans.

There were 14 of us in all. (I know, there are only twelve in the image.) A few more than average, but a great showing. A really good contingent from the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area came along this time. Probably the most on a GTDRI ever. 

The weather was forecast to be typically hot, humid, and there was a 25% chance of rain. No one was very worried about the weather at the beginning, I can say that. This would change later on.

Rolling out.

The Sunrise was spectacular.

The very beginning of the ride was fantastic with powdery, dry Level B roads a plenty. This part of the course was also flatter, but not flat by any stretch. Rolling hills? Yes, let's go with that. The pace was okay. The weather early on was perfect as clouds kept the scorching Sun at bay. But then a foreboding came over me after a brief stop to gather up the crew. I had looked at a radar image and it showed a thunderstorm complex moving in from the Northwest. 

Iowa was the home of the late 19th Century Grange movement. this building is a Grange building.

While several of us thought that the system might move off to the North and East of where we were, I was worried. I knew we were going to be out in very remote parts of Powesheik County and getting under cover, if needed, might be an issue. We weren't scheduled to ride through any towns until about Mile 80. 

In fact, we had to have one of the local riders named Jon Duke to help us by having his truck and a cache of water parked at about 30 miles into the course. Not only did Jon have water for us, but he had other soft drinks, food, and candy available. It was a mini-convenience store in an old Dodge truck. 

Storm clouds were thickening all around as we were approaching our first remote rest stop.

Jon Duke's oasis saved the ride!

Chatter was heard at the stop about the weather, but still the riders were game to continue, and they were having a lot of fun. We sat there around Jon's truck for a good half an hour before we started making a move to get on our way. 

Jon, who knew these roads well, mentioned to me that the next section of the course would offer some of the most technical, fast, and difficult Level B Roads all day. This made me worry more. I hadn't reconned anything on this course, and having other riders doing really difficult Level B's with weather in the area was ratcheting up my anxiety levels. 

It was 30 miles to another planned roadside oasis. Rob Evans girlfriend was to meet us at that point with more refreshments. What happened in between Jon's stop and Rob's stop was maybe the most awesome bit of riding of any GTDRI. That said, it was also the bit where I met my undoing. 

Note: Next week the GTDRI Stories will be taking a break for a special post for the last day of 2023. Look for "The GTDRI Stories: The 14th One - Part 2 " on Sunday, January 7th.