The GTDRI Stories: Long Live The Death Ride

The Guitar Ted Death Ride 2020 - The Ride To Indy

"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 ran on Sundays. Thanks for reading!

While 2020 rolled on I had gotten the idea to try and ride every gravel and dirt road that I had never been on in Black Hawk County. Now, I had ridden a lot of the county, but a lot of it I had not ever seen before. This project took on a life of its own. I called it "The Quest" and in light of that, almost every ride I was doing was - in part - to satisfy that idea. 

I did make two exceptions to that "rule" for 2020. One was the Single Speed Century I did with Jeremy Fry  and the other was the day I took off on my solo "death ride" during the Summer. I had a 100+ mile route all figured out and I set off while it was still dark one day to accomplish the feat and score my first solo "death ride" since probably the early 2000's. 

In that sense, the whole idea of a long, all-day ride for me had come full circle. Instead of getting all I could in one single day on a road bike because I didn't get to ride much I was now doing this for the challenge of it. But the idea was pretty much the same. Ride all day, as far as I wanted to or could, and accomplish more than I thought I ever could. 

That ride in 2020 ended in a big-time bonk, so that was just like old times! I ended up in Independence, Iowa, and I had to have Mrs. Guitar Ted come and bail me out. 2021 saw my Tour of Black Hawk County serve as my death ride for the year. Unfortunately, due to my big schedule change which was prompted by my hiring at the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective, I did not get a death ride in for 2022.

A scene from my Tour of Black Hawk County in 2021.

A scene from the 2023 GTDR

I did manage to score a death ride this past year, and I am hoping to do another in 2024. Just what it will be has not yet been determined, but the point is that this idea isn't "dead", it just went back to its roots! 

Long Live The Death Ride!

Thanks for reading the GTDRI Stories Series. This is the last post in the series, but it won't be the last story told about this ride idea of mine. Stay tuned for more.......