Virtual Turkey Burn Ride Report: Scott's Iowa Gravel Grind

  This is the sixth installment of Virtual Turkey Burn reports I received this year. NOTE: I VERY lightly edited the submissions where I found a mistake. Images are credited to the authors. Thanks for reading these and for submitting a report if you did so. Remember that some of these reports fall on double-post days, so be sure to scroll down the page to make sure you don't miss any content! 

Looking North from Scott's driveway.

 I don't know if you will use this or not as I did this ride on Tuesday the 26th rather than the dates you had specified. Due to family responsibilities this was the only day that would work for me.  

 Earlier this year I had told a friend that I wanted to ride a century this year as I had never done one that was primarily gravel and I hadn't done one at all since 2007. This looked like it would be my best chance to do this in 2024. I got my son Dylan dropped off at school at 8, was home by 8:15, and was on the bike just before 9. I had care for Dylan until 6 so barring something catastrophic I should have plenty of time. 

When I planned the route I had anticipated a north or northwest wind. The wind Tuesday was from the southwest though. I decided that for better or worse, this was my route since going south takes me quickly to the Des Moines River with no crossings between Runnels and Red Rock and going west takes me into Polk County where there are fewer gravel roads. The maintainer had been in my neighborhood recently so I knew I would have some freshly graded gravel in the first few miles but I was hoping for some winter type smoothness as I got away from home. It turned out that the maintainers had been busy in Jasper, Polk, and Story counties. Thankfully, most of my last 25 miles was in Marion County where the roads were smooth.

My bike for the day was my Salsa Journeyer. With the temperature of 25 when I started and the high for the day of 40 or so I knew clothing choices would play a big factor. While I don't have an old, neglected bike to ride for the day I did wear a jersey/jacket that is more than 25 years old. Under that was a layer of wool, one of silk, and a wind vest. I figured the vest and the silk layer could easily come off if I got warm but I never had to do more than adjust the zipper on my outer layer. I took a chance on my legs and wore a pair of bib tights that I had just gotten and only worn once. I was pretty sure about them being my best chance at keeping to one layer on the bottom half but how would the basically untested chamois hold up all day......turned out great. Nutrition in the cold would also be important. I packed plenty including the bacon and egg rice cakes I had made the previous day. If you don't like or get tired of the sweet stuff these are perfect. They also stayed soft in the cold. I was pretty confident of my fitness but this would be my longest ride in 17 years.

The first six miles were into Prairie City, mostly with a tailwind. After a mile jog west I turned north and found that the maintainer had already gone this way this morning and that he would be coming back as he was only half done. The right side of the road had just been turned over but the left side was yet untouched. I started up the left hoping to get the one mile north before my next turn with no traffic. About a quarter mile in I saw a car coming so I jumped the pile in the middle and rode in the fresh chunk. After meeting the car I could see the maintainer was working his way back to me so it was the chunky stuff for the rest of the mile. 

 

The rest of the first 20 miles was pretty smooth sailing with a nice tailwind and sunshine. At about mile 20 I hit what is probably the best gravel climb in western Jasper County or eastern Polk County. I had been pretty conservative in my pacing so far and stuck with that plan here. Got more of a sweat going than I really wanted to but otherwise felt pretty good. At mile 38 I turned south for the first time. the wind was now 10 mph or so in my face and would be for most of the next 40 miles. It wasn't bad but there were some lengthy stretches that were pretty long grinds, plus the sun was now behind some pretty thick clouds. 

 

Around mile 50 I saw three eagles as I approached a relatively small creek. I am old enough to remember how rare these sighting used to be and always take them as a good sign. This was soon followed by a farmer spraying anhydrous...not such a pleasant experience. About mile 60 I dropped down into the small town of Metz and fondly remembered my old friend John who had grown up there. One of the nicest gentlemen I have ever known. Mile 73 brought me to my one C store, (Convenience store, Editor)in Monroe. After several hours out in the cold by myself I felt a bit like I was walking into a particularly strange land. Water, Gatorade, and a Payday candy bar and I was good to go.

 

 At mile 80 I had a steep hill which fortunately was the last hill into the headwind.  That one hurt as did every hill afterwards. I was a bit concerned because there were lots of hills left at this point as I would be just north of the river on roads that I ride regularly when I want a tough, hilly workout. The wind would mostly be a cross wind and it also felt like it had shifted to be more from the south south east that the southwest it had been in the morning. That and the smooth Marion County roads made the last 22 miles easier than the previous 20 had been. I hit my driveway at mile 102 a couple minutes after 5. Happy I had gotten the ride in and happy to be home. 

 

Thank you for the inspiration.

 

Thank you, Scott! I enjoyed reading this story because I am somewhat familiar with the area Scott rode in having put Trans Iowa race routes through that area several times. For instance, Monroe, Iowa, where Scott stopped for resupply, was a Trans Iowa v6 checkpoint town. 

Stay tuned for one more report!