There Is Something In The Air

Pre-start of T.I.v6 Image by A. Andonopoulos

Every year about this time I get these feelings. It is in the timing of when the Sun rises and sets. The greening up of plants and tress. The moist, Earth smells. It all triggers those things I felt when I was putting on Trans Iowa for those fourteen years I did the event. 

I often dream of those mornings when we'd gather on some darkened street. Cars pulling in with bikes on racks, or riders pulling up in twos and threes, torches blazing into the inky dark of a Saturday morning in Hawarden, Decorah, Williamsburg, or Grinnell, Iowa. 

The sounds of anxious, muffled conversations. The clack and grind of cleats on wet pavement. The fog and mist in the air. The tension building up until I tried to herd all the riders into place for my annual "Fatherly Advice" speech. Then the tense moments just before the clock hit 4:00am and the toot of the horn. 

Just before the start of T.I.v5. Image by Corey "Cornbread" Godfrey

The riders are off! The T.I.v10 start image by Craig Cooper

This was, for me, the line of demarcation. The start of any Trans Iowa meant I, or "we" if I had a companion, would be alone for a few hours until we hit the first checkpoint. Early on, in the first few Trans Iowas, I was alone for hours on end, doing final course check in front of the riders. 

Those times are an entirely different story. The start though, that was a very special time for me. The atmosphere was transcendent. From quiet, sleepy repose to an electricity that filled the air - sometimes quite literally - The start period was something which I found energizing. Maybe I was feeding off all the rider's nervous auras. I don't know. I just remember those times with fondness. 

A rare shot of myself leading out a Trans Iowa. This time it is T.I.v9 Image taker unknown

 

MG driving here on the start of T.I.v14. My last time doing this

Yes, there is something about this time of the year which probably will stick with me the rest of my life. Trans Iowa was a labor of love, and yes - I do miss it at times. I am glad it ended when it did and how it did. But that doesn't mean that there aren't things which I miss. I cherish all the memories and times had. 

Sometimes I think I'll get up on Saturday morning on the traditional day of a Trans Iowa start and walk outside at 4:00am and see if I can still see, hear, and smell all those things which I remember so well from those days. Then I think, "Nah! You'll just be disappointed the feelings are not real, or as good as they were once", and I do not get up. It's kind of like the second bite of a doughnut.  The first bite is always fantastic, and you want to replicate that taste again with a second bite, but it never is as good, and every time you try again, it gets worse. So, it is best to stop. Let that first bite be what it was. You'll never replicate those sensory inputs ever again. 

More about Trans Iowa will probably be shared later in the weekend.