Leap Day Excursion

Coffee with Mrs. Guitar Ted and Special Guests at Impact Coffee in Decorah Iowa.

Saturday I had a date. On Leap Day of all things. I mean, how often in life do you get to do something special on Leap Day?

The deal had been set up for March 1st, initially. I was to travel to Decorah, Iowa, a place I was quite familiar with. I've been there to recreate, to put on bike festivals, and to put on Trans Iowa. But I hadn't been there since I had a sit-down with former Almanzo director, Chris Skogen, maybe close to ten years ago now. It'd been a while since I had been there, at any rate. The reason I went this time actually is sort of ironic considering the reason I was there the last time.

Things got switched to Saturday for the meeting at Impact Coffee Bar in Decorah. I was meeting one of the Event Directors of the newly minted Heywood Ride. Emphasis on the ride part. This is not a race, folks. No, this event is geared toward the adventure seeker and for those looking for a personal challenge. I was to interview a long time friend, Marty Larson. He was bringing his daughter along, and I brought along Mrs. Guitar Ted. We found ourselves sat in the spacious interior of Impact Coffee Bar around noon and I proceeded to record the interview which will air on the Riding Gravel Radio Ranch soon. I won't touch on that in this post. You'll have to wait until the podcast goes live. But suffice it to say that for my first effort at a remote recording, I did alright. I think it will turn out fine.

After the interview, two excellent Americanos, and some chatting, it was well past the time to be having some lunch. So, we bid Marty and his lovely daughter goodbye and made our way down Water Street in Decorah to find something good to eat. Mrs Guitar Ted had spotted something Asian when we rolled into town called "Koreana", so off we strolled to see if we couldn't find it.

Lunch. The place is called "Koreana"

After that we took our leisure and strolled the street full of people and shops where there are a lot of cool things to check out. It's amazing to think that this little jewel of a town is in Iowa, tucked away in the corner, as it were, out of the view of the mainstream. I haven't even touched upon the bicycling opportunities there. Mountain biking? Best in Iowa. Gravel? Same. Recreational trail riding? Check! Decorah has two bike shops. It's a stellar area for riding, all within reach of this bustling, vibrant downtown area. By that I mean, you can ride your bike to everything. Mountain bike trails, gravel, and rec paved trails are all within a mile of down town. Frankly, it is probably the coolest town, from a cycling viewpoint, in the Mid-West, and would be the "Bentonville" thing if anyone in the "influencer" crowd paid any mind to Decorah. But......they don't, and really, that's probably for the best. This deal in Decorah didn't pop up due to an inheritance of a billionaire's fortune. It's all grassroots. Take that for what it is worth.

Hallowed ground for those who know.

Of course, I had to give a nod as I passed T-Bock's Sports Bar. The place where two Trans Iowa's had their pre-race meetings at. T.I.v3 was actually on the third floor there, in the old Odd Fellow's space, and T.I.v4 was in T Bock's party room, I think that was in the basement. (Some of you T.I.v4 vets reading this might be able to confirm that) I should also mention that a few T.I. folks actually ate at Mabe's Pizza down the block. Rebels!

For me, T Bock's was where I met some long time friends who I wouldn't have met otherwise. Things change. Places come and go, and I know someday that joint will likely disappear, so it was a bit of a nostalgic feeling which I felt Saturday as I looked at that sign above that doorway and felt all those memories again. But that passed and we moved on into another shop.

It was fun to spend time with Mrs. Guitar Ted, doing things I don't normally get to do, and up there in Decorah again after so long a time. I shouldn't wait so long to go back again, I can say that much. Those hills are calling, and the gravel roads are top notch. Maybe a bit of a trip later this Spring?

Leap Day Excursion

Coffee with Mrs. Guitar Ted and Special Guests at Impact Coffee in Decorah Iowa.

Saturday I had a date. On Leap Day of all things. I mean, how often in life do you get to do something special on Leap Day?

The deal had been set up for March 1st, initially. I was to travel to Decorah, Iowa, a place I was quite familiar with. I've been there to recreate, to put on bike festivals, and to put on Trans Iowa. But I hadn't been there since I had a sit-down with former Almanzo director, Chris Skogen, maybe close to ten years ago now. It'd been a while since I had been there, at any rate. The reason I went this time actually is sort of ironic considering the reason I was there the last time.

Things got switched to Saturday for the meeting at Impact Coffee Bar in Decorah. I was meeting one of the Event Directors of the newly minted Heywood Ride. Emphasis on the ride part. This is not a race, folks. No, this event is geared toward the adventure seeker and for those looking for a personal challenge. I was to interview a long time friend, Marty Larson. He was bringing his daughter along, and I brought along Mrs. Guitar Ted. We found ourselves sat in the spacious interior of Impact Coffee Bar around noon and I proceeded to record the interview which will air on the Riding Gravel Radio Ranch soon. I won't touch on that in this post. You'll have to wait until the podcast goes live. But suffice it to say that for my first effort at a remote recording, I did alright. I think it will turn out fine.

After the interview, two excellent Americanos, and some chatting, it was well past the time to be having some lunch. So, we bid Marty and his lovely daughter goodbye and made our way down Water Street in Decorah to find something good to eat. Mrs Guitar Ted had spotted something Asian when we rolled into town called "Koreana", so off we strolled to see if we couldn't find it.

Lunch. The place is called "Koreana"

After that we took our leisure and strolled the street full of people and shops where there are a lot of cool things to check out. It's amazing to think that this little jewel of a town is in Iowa, tucked away in the corner, as it were, out of the view of the mainstream. I haven't even touched upon the bicycling opportunities there. Mountain biking? Best in Iowa. Gravel? Same. Recreational trail riding? Check! Decorah has two bike shops. It's a stellar area for riding, all within reach of this bustling, vibrant downtown area. By that I mean, you can ride your bike to everything. Mountain bike trails, gravel, and rec paved trails are all within a mile of down town. Frankly, it is probably the coolest town, from a cycling viewpoint, in the Mid-West, and would be the "Bentonville" thing if anyone in the "influencer" crowd paid any mind to Decorah. But......they don't, and really, that's probably for the best. This deal in Decorah didn't pop up due to an inheritance of a billionaire's fortune. It's all grassroots. Take that for what it is worth.

Hallowed ground for those who know.

Of course, I had to give a nod as I passed T-Bock's Sports Bar. The place where two Trans Iowa's had their pre-race meetings at. T.I.v3 was actually on the third floor there, in the old Odd Fellow's space, and T.I.v4 was in T Bock's party room, I think that was in the basement. (Some of you T.I.v4 vets reading this might be able to confirm that) I should also mention that a few T.I. folks actually ate at Mabe's Pizza down the block. Rebels!

For me, T Bock's was where I met some long time friends who I wouldn't have met otherwise. Things change. Places come and go, and I know someday that joint will likely disappear, so it was a bit of a nostalgic feeling which I felt Saturday as I looked at that sign above that doorway and felt all those memories again. But that passed and we moved on into another shop.

It was fun to spend time with Mrs. Guitar Ted, doing things I don't normally get to do, and up there in Decorah again after so long a time. I shouldn't wait so long to go back again, I can say that much. Those hills are calling, and the gravel roads are top notch. Maybe a bit of a trip later this Spring?

Trans Iowa Stories: It Was The Third - But It Was The First

An old iron bridge over the Volga River which I reconned for the Trans Iowa v3 route

"Trans Iowa Stories" is an every Sunday post which helps tell the stories behind the event. You can check out other posts about this subject by going back to earlier Sunday posts on this blog. Thanks and enjoy!

 The Trans Iowa v3 story, from my viewpoint, transitioned Trans Iowa as the event it would be until the end. In that sense, T.I.v3 was the first, or maybe a prototype, of what was to come for the next eleven years for the event, and for me.

Since Jeff was obviously leaving- eventually- I was going to be doing everything on my own by 2007. Well, not quite everything. There was one thing I thought I was going to be getting help with, and that was the cue sheet checking and printing. Now, originally, my understanding was that Jeff and I would run the course to double check the cues before the event. I kept hoping that would happen, but as the event drew nearer, it was increasingly clear that Jeff wasn't going to be able to do that. Then I thought he might actually double check the cues against a map, but he didn't, and he simply printed them, left them to me at the shop, and that was his last direct effort in putting on a Trans Iowa. I did ask him in subsequent years to do the graphics for the header on the site. So, in that way Jeff was a part of Trans Iowa up through T.I.v9, after which I took over the designing of the headers.

Anyway, the cues. Well, I had a "last chance" to check the cues the weekend before Trans Iowa. I didn't get very far. Several miles outside of Decorah, in the rambling hills of Northeast Iowa, I became panicked. I pretty much lost it, because the cues were completely off and unusable. Due to an early mistake which compounded itself further into the cues, the mileages were unreliable and several turns were incorrect. I was going to have to scrap this cue set and start completely from scratch with six days to go before Trans Iowa v3.

I had last minute details to attend to besides this. Prizing, number plates, volunteers, organizing the finish line, detailing events for the pre-race event, post race events, and communicating with racers. Top it all off with Zach Dundas' requests, my family's demands on my time, and working at the bike shop, and well...... How I ever got through that week I haven't a clue.

T.I.v3 complete cue set. (Image courtesy of Cale Wenthur)

First, I rushed home with the correct information in hand and a plan. I rewrote the cues immediately after getting home, and then every evening I stayed up late printing the cues for three straight days. I used a home printer that could do maybe 30 sheets at a crack, and ink cartridges were dying at an alarming rate. I had to go out and buy them two times. Paper was another thing I had to purchase. Then they all had to be cut and bagged by hand with scissors and using sandwich baggies.

I would be up until 1-2am doing this, then getting the cues organized took a bunch of time. Finally, on Thursday, I had that all redone and my family, including my six year old daughter and three year old son, stuffed race bags, and placed everything in boxes and tubs for transport the following day.

It was a big relief to have those cues finished, obviously, but I was also worried to death something later into the course might still be off since I had no chances to recon that against the cue sheets. The other thing was that this cue sheet crisis caused me to worry less about the "other stuff". I just didn't have the time to worry about anything else. But the energy expended to get the extra work done on top of being the only mechanic at the shop during a busy Spring made my wife unhappy. She could see what this event was doing to me, and she didn't particularly like it. Keep in mind that the previous two Trans Iowas were half as much worry and work for me. Now it was all on my shoulders.

Also, interestingly enough, we never made any "big announcements" that Jeff wouldn't be there, or that he was no longer helping to put on the event. We never even thought about doing that. It just evolved and next thing ya know, it's a "Guitar Ted" deal. Jeff? Well, it was as if he had slipped out the back door. Even Zach Dundas, in his excellent write up on Trans Iowa in the book, "The Renegade Sportsman", never brought Jeff's involvement in the event into the story. It was portrayed as if I was the only guy behind it. And at the time of the eve of T.I.v3, that was true.

And I didn't even have time to think about that. I just dove straight in, because what else could I have done? I felt like I had just dodged a huge bullet in getting the cue sheet debacle taken care of, and with no time to catch my breath, I was headed to Decorah to do things I had never done before on my own.

Next: The surreal set up and anger at being stiffed.

Trans Iowa Stories: It Was The Third - But It Was The First

An old iron bridge over the Volga River which I reconned for the Trans Iowa v3 route

"Trans Iowa Stories" is an every Sunday post which helps tell the stories behind the event. You can check out other posts about this subject by going back to earlier Sunday posts on this blog. Thanks and enjoy!

 The Trans Iowa v3 story, from my viewpoint, transitioned Trans Iowa as the event it would be until the end. In that sense, T.I.v3 was the first, or maybe a prototype, of what was to come for the next eleven years for the event, and for me.

Since Jeff was obviously leaving- eventually- I was going to be doing everything on my own by 2007. Well, not quite everything. There was one thing I thought I was going to be getting help with, and that was the cue sheet checking and printing. Now, originally, my understanding was that Jeff and I would run the course to double check the cues before the event. I kept hoping that would happen, but as the event drew nearer, it was increasingly clear that Jeff wasn't going to be able to do that. Then I thought he might actually double check the cues against a map, but he didn't, and he simply printed them, left them to me at the shop, and that was his last direct effort in putting on a Trans Iowa. I did ask him in subsequent years to do the graphics for the header on the site. So, in that way Jeff was a part of Trans Iowa up through T.I.v9, after which I took over the designing of the headers.

Anyway, the cues. Well, I had a "last chance" to check the cues the weekend before Trans Iowa. I didn't get very far. Several miles outside of Decorah, in the rambling hills of Northeast Iowa, I became panicked. I pretty much lost it, because the cues were completely off and unusable. Due to an early mistake which compounded itself further into the cues, the mileages were unreliable and several turns were incorrect. I was going to have to scrap this cue set and start completely from scratch with six days to go before Trans Iowa v3.

I had last minute details to attend to besides this. Prizing, number plates, volunteers, organizing the finish line, detailing events for the pre-race event, post race events, and communicating with racers. Top it all off with Zach Dundas' requests, my family's demands on my time, and working at the bike shop, and well...... How I ever got through that week I haven't a clue.

T.I.v3 complete cue set. (Image courtesy of Cale Wenthur)

First, I rushed home with the correct information in hand and a plan. I rewrote the cues immediately after getting home, and then every evening I stayed up late printing the cues for three straight days. I used a home printer that could do maybe 30 sheets at a crack, and ink cartridges were dying at an alarming rate. I had to go out and buy them two times. Paper was another thing I had to purchase. Then they all had to be cut and bagged by hand with scissors and using sandwich baggies.

I would be up until 1-2am doing this, then getting the cues organized took a bunch of time. Finally, on Thursday, I had that all redone and my family, including my six year old daughter and three year old son, stuffed race bags, and placed everything in boxes and tubs for transport the following day.

It was a big relief to have those cues finished, obviously, but I was also worried to death something later into the course might still be off since I had no chances to recon that against the cue sheets. The other thing was that this cue sheet crisis caused me to worry less about the "other stuff". I just didn't have the time to worry about anything else. But the energy expended to get the extra work done on top of being the only mechanic at the shop during a busy Spring made my wife unhappy. She could see what this event was doing to me, and she didn't particularly like it. Keep in mind that the previous two Trans Iowas were half as much worry and work for me. Now it was all on my shoulders.

Also, interestingly enough, we never made any "big announcements" that Jeff wouldn't be there, or that he was no longer helping to put on the event. We never even thought about doing that. It just evolved and next thing ya know, it's a "Guitar Ted" deal. Jeff? Well, it was as if he had slipped out the back door. Even Zach Dundas, in his excellent write up on Trans Iowa in the book, "The Renegade Sportsman", never brought Jeff's involvement in the event into the story. It was portrayed as if I was the only guy behind it. And at the time of the eve of T.I.v3, that was true.

And I didn't even have time to think about that. I just dove straight in, because what else could I have done? I felt like I had just dodged a huge bullet in getting the cue sheet debacle taken care of, and with no time to catch my breath, I was headed to Decorah to do things I had never done before on my own.

Next: The surreal set up and anger at being stiffed.

Trans Iowa Stories: Changes And Evolution Part 2

Among Jeff Kerkove's many talents was his ability to design graphics. This was for T.I.v2

Last week I detailed some of the lessons learned and the changes those lessons led to during and after Trans Iowa v1. Going into the first one, I was completely blind and awestruck. By the end of it, I had a steely determination to make things better. In other words, I felt I had little purpose or reason to be anything other than a "go-fer" at the beginning, but immediately afterward I had a focus and a fire lit underneath me which gave me the motivation to grab more responsibility for the event. Jeff could have pushed back, and rightfully so, but he had his own priorities which were drawing him down a different path. This dynamic is what eventually led to Jeff leaving me Trans Iowa and going to Colorado to work for Ergon.

Side Track Story: Ironically, Ergon played a big part in the first Trans Iowa and it was this sponsorship which Jeff secured for the event which began his relationship with the company he has worked for up until this very day. Ergon was an unknown company in 2004. They had a presence in Europe, specifically Germany, which was their home country, but in North America, in 2004, no one had ever heard of them. They were trying to crack the market here with a new, radical grip which they said would revolutionize cycling. They had made some overtures to the endurance crowd when, by some way I am still not aware of, Jeff made a connection with them. Whether or not Jeff instigated the relationship or Ergon did is not clear to me, but at any rate, they sent every registered rider a pair of grips to be stuffed into their "goodie bag". This was their initial introduction to the North American market, and it was a major coup of sorts for such a weird event to pull off that sort of deal.

But that wasn't the only big deal Jeff put together. He also was aware of an upstart eyewear company by the name of Tifosi. He managed to get them to send every registered rider a pair of one of their casual wear models, which, as I recall, were orange framed and kind of styled after the classic Ray-Ban glasses. So, for your $20.00 entry fee, which was what it took to cover our insurance bill and nothing more, every rider received about $80.00 worth of goodies, once you include the other bits and baubles Jeff procured from sponsors like Hammer Nutrition and others. That didn't go unnoticed by the riders, by the way.

During v1 I had time for lighthearted stuff, like leaving gnomes alongside the road.

But I digress..... By 2005 in the Summer I had plans to make the next Trans Iowa a much better, much smarter run affair. Jeff was in the throes of a busy, sometimes international, race calendar. The responsibilities of organizing some things began to be my realm. I actually did a recon or two by myself. Route finding was refined. How the checkpoint was going to be facilitated was radically changed with the drop bag idea. The finish line would become our responsibility, and the plan was for Jeff and I both to be there. There were to be two course observers within the last third of the course. We weren't going to miss anyone this time!

Furthermore, after much discussion with riders and the Decorah folks, we decided to move the start time to 4:00am on Saturday and to plan on a 2:00pm Sunday finish to facilitate the longer course and still have a relevant conjoined finish celebration with the Decorah Time Trials. Besides the finish ceremonies, we would have no connection with the Decorah event at all. This was mostly at the Decorah folks insistence, since we were not quite on the same page with regard to organization as that longstanding event. But that said, it was Richard "Deke" Gosen's idea that we have a "DNF call in number" that we were to enforce riders to use in the event of dropping out or emergency. This we did by using my personal cell phone number, which stayed in use throughout until the last Trans Iowa.

Other than upping the entry fee to something like $30.00 due to increased insurance rates, there were no other significant changes to discuss going into our second try at this.

Next: Tales Of v2 Part 1

Trans Iowa Stories: Changes And Evolution Part 2

Among Jeff Kerkove's many talents was his ability to design graphics. This was for T.I.v2

Last week I detailed some of the lessons learned and the changes those lessons led to during and after Trans Iowa v1. Going into the first one, I was completely blind and awestruck. By the end of it, I had a steely determination to make things better. In other words, I felt I had little purpose or reason to be anything other than a "go-fer" at the beginning, but immediately afterward I had a focus and a fire lit underneath me which gave me the motivation to grab more responsibility for the event. Jeff could have pushed back, and rightfully so, but he had his own priorities which were drawing him down a different path. This dynamic is what eventually led to Jeff leaving me Trans Iowa and going to Colorado to work for Ergon.

Side Track Story: Ironically, Ergon played a big part in the first Trans Iowa and it was this sponsorship which Jeff secured for the event which began his relationship with the company he has worked for up until this very day. Ergon was an unknown company in 2004. They had a presence in Europe, specifically Germany, which was their home country, but in North America, in 2004, no one had ever heard of them. They were trying to crack the market here with a new, radical grip which they said would revolutionize cycling. They had made some overtures to the endurance crowd when, by some way I am still not aware of, Jeff made a connection with them. Whether or not Jeff instigated the relationship or Ergon did is not clear to me, but at any rate, they sent every registered rider a pair of grips to be stuffed into their "goodie bag". This was their initial introduction to the North American market, and it was a major coup of sorts for such a weird event to pull off that sort of deal.

But that wasn't the only big deal Jeff put together. He also was aware of an upstart eyewear company by the name of Tifosi. He managed to get them to send every registered rider a pair of one of their casual wear models, which, as I recall, were orange framed and kind of styled after the classic Ray-Ban glasses. So, for your $20.00 entry fee, which was what it took to cover our insurance bill and nothing more, every rider received about $80.00 worth of goodies, once you include the other bits and baubles Jeff procured from sponsors like Hammer Nutrition and others. That didn't go unnoticed by the riders, by the way.

During v1 I had time for lighthearted stuff, like leaving gnomes alongside the road.

But I digress..... By 2005 in the Summer I had plans to make the next Trans Iowa a much better, much smarter run affair. Jeff was in the throes of a busy, sometimes international, race calendar. The responsibilities of organizing some things began to be my realm. I actually did a recon or two by myself. Route finding was refined. How the checkpoint was going to be facilitated was radically changed with the drop bag idea. The finish line would become our responsibility, and the plan was for Jeff and I both to be there. There were to be two course observers within the last third of the course. We weren't going to miss anyone this time!

Furthermore, after much discussion with riders and the Decorah folks, we decided to move the start time to 4:00am on Saturday and to plan on a 2:00pm Sunday finish to facilitate the longer course and still have a relevant conjoined finish celebration with the Decorah Time Trials. Besides the finish ceremonies, we would have no connection with the Decorah event at all. This was mostly at the Decorah folks insistence, since we were not quite on the same page with regard to organization as that longstanding event. But that said, it was Richard "Deke" Gosen's idea that we have a "DNF call in number" that we were to enforce riders to use in the event of dropping out or emergency. This we did by using my personal cell phone number, which stayed in use throughout until the last Trans Iowa.

Other than upping the entry fee to something like $30.00 due to increased insurance rates, there were no other significant changes to discuss going into our second try at this.

Next: Tales Of v2 Part 1

Minus Ten Review 2009-2

The only image all week ten years ago.

Ten years ago this week in 2009 I was thinking a lot about the economic crisis we all were going through. Gas was sub 2 dollars a gallon, and I figured that couldn't last long. I thought eventually gas would go back up and we'd all be not attending races or traveling to ride as much as we used to.

I was wrong.....

Speaking of events, in an early "Gravel Grinder News" post, (it was a part of this blog before I broke it off on its own), I was talking about how the DK200 had opened up registration. For the single, 200 mile distance. That was all they did then. And........they had increased the field limit to 100 riders!

This would be pretty much the last time the DK200 had what would be called a "small field" of entrants. It was the end of an era for that event. I also reported on a brand new event in Michigan. It would later become the largest gravel event, in terms of attendance, in the USA. Maybe the world. Barry-Roubaix started out as a humble little gravel event no one knew about in 2009. My......how times have changed! 

Finally, I had a unique sponsor come onboard for the then upcoming Trans Iowa v5, which would be the first that had nothing to do with Decorah, Iowa. It was to be held in Williamsburg, Iowa. The sponsor was Ritchey Design, and they wanted to send us rim strips and tubes. I had to poll the riders to get tire sizes and diameters down so Ritchey could send the correct sizes and amounts. This proved to end up being an early poll on what tire size was "best" for gravel riding as determined by a random sampling of Trans Iowa riders.

This turned up the 700c X 35mm-40mm size as being the largest segment of the tire market in the small, new gravel scene. Keep in mind that there were no "gravel tires" then, no tubeless tires for gravel, and wheel size was yet to be squared away in a lot of people's minds. I think this was when the whole thing got settled though.

The idea of 700c x 38mm tires as being the baseline for gravel tires drove early design for the first gravel bikes. The Salsa offerings being notable here. Of course, that evolved to bigger sizes now, but that wasn't what was considered as being "good" in 2009. It's an interesting tidbit of gravel history.

Minus Ten Review 2009-2

The only image all week ten years ago.

Ten years ago this week in 2009 I was thinking a lot about the economic crisis we all were going through. Gas was sub 2 dollars a gallon, and I figured that couldn't last long. I thought eventually gas would go back up and we'd all be not attending races or traveling to ride as much as we used to.

I was wrong.....

Speaking of events, in an early "Gravel Grinder News" post, (it was a part of this blog before I broke it off on its own), I was talking about how the DK200 had opened up registration. For the single, 200 mile distance. That was all they did then. And........they had increased the field limit to 100 riders!

This would be pretty much the last time the DK200 had what would be called a "small field" of entrants. It was the end of an era for that event. I also reported on a brand new event in Michigan. It would later become the largest gravel event, in terms of attendance, in the USA. Maybe the world. Barry-Roubaix started out as a humble little gravel event no one knew about in 2009. My......how times have changed! 

Finally, I had a unique sponsor come onboard for the then upcoming Trans Iowa v5, which would be the first that had nothing to do with Decorah, Iowa. It was to be held in Williamsburg, Iowa. The sponsor was Ritchey Design, and they wanted to send us rim strips and tubes. I had to poll the riders to get tire sizes and diameters down so Ritchey could send the correct sizes and amounts. This proved to end up being an early poll on what tire size was "best" for gravel riding as determined by a random sampling of Trans Iowa riders.

This turned up the 700c X 35mm-40mm size as being the largest segment of the tire market in the small, new gravel scene. Keep in mind that there were no "gravel tires" then, no tubeless tires for gravel, and wheel size was yet to be squared away in a lot of people's minds. I think this was when the whole thing got settled though.

The idea of 700c x 38mm tires as being the baseline for gravel tires drove early design for the first gravel bikes. The Salsa offerings being notable here. Of course, that evolved to bigger sizes now, but that wasn't what was considered as being "good" in 2009. It's an interesting tidbit of gravel history.

Minus Ten Review -25

I got this old El Mariachi from a friend at the time. What a great bike that was!

Ten years ago on the blog here I was gabbing about all sorts of things. I got an old El Mariachi demo fleet bike from a then friend of mine. That was a great bike too. Then later in the week I was up in the Twin Cities for the media launch of the Salsa "Big Mama" full suspension bike. Remember that one? It was pretty rad at that time, but it quickly fell off the back as geometry, standards for frames, and more were quickly changing for 29"ers. For instance, the Big Mama had a head tube angle of 71°. Imagine a bike with that steep of a head angle today!

Then there was a move to ban bicycle group rides in Dallas County by way of making the requirements to have such a ride so burdensome that the ordinance would effectively wipe out any chance of organized rides happening in that county. Here's a snippet from back then:

On June 24th at 9:30 am the Dallas County Board of Supervisors will meet at the Adel City Hall, 301 S. 10th Street Adel, IA 50003, to discuss an ordinance that will require bicycle events to obtain $1 million insurance policies for bicycle events. This could effect rides as small as 10-20 people.

Fortunately that never happened!

Then a significant date in Trans Iowa history happened, which was a bicycle ride and blog post about it that had nothing at all to do with Trans Iowa. You can read that post HERE.  If you click that link you will read about the day that the second Big Wheeled Ballyhoo was to take place in Decorah, Iowa, but did not happen due to the raging flooding that affected Decorah and Iowa that year in general. 

How in the world is this tied to Trans Iowa? Well, after that blog post was published, I received an e-mail from a disgruntled, influential member of the Decorah cycling community who shall remain nameless here. Who it was doesn't matter today. The person in question was offended greatly that I had suggested certain things were the way I described them in my post. I had a back and forth e-mail conversation with the individual to settle our differences, but, this individual asked that I ".....not consider Decorah for any future cycling events." With the situation being what it was in 2008, and my initial plans for doing another Trans Iowa out of Decorah for 2009, I had to stop and reconsider those plans. I discussed the situation with my then co-director, David Pals, and we agreed that this was now not a welcome home for Trans Iowa. Such sway this person held over cycling matters in Decorah at that time would have made planning difficult at best. So we decided to move Trans Iowa's start for the second time in its history.  

That story will come up later this year....... 

Minus Ten Review -25

I got this old El Mariachi from a friend at the time. What a great bike that was!

Ten years ago on the blog here I was gabbing about all sorts of things. I got an old El Mariachi demo fleet bike from a then friend of mine. That was a great bike too. Then later in the week I was up in the Twin Cities for the media launch of the Salsa "Big Mama" full suspension bike. Remember that one? It was pretty rad at that time, but it quickly fell off the back as geometry, standards for frames, and more were quickly changing for 29"ers. For instance, the Big Mama had a head tube angle of 71°. Imagine a bike with that steep of a head angle today!

Then there was a move to ban bicycle group rides in Dallas County by way of making the requirements to have such a ride so burdensome that the ordinance would effectively wipe out any chance of organized rides happening in that county. Here's a snippet from back then:

On June 24th at 9:30 am the Dallas County Board of Supervisors will meet at the Adel City Hall, 301 S. 10th Street Adel, IA 50003, to discuss an ordinance that will require bicycle events to obtain $1 million insurance policies for bicycle events. This could effect rides as small as 10-20 people.

Fortunately that never happened!

Then a significant date in Trans Iowa history happened, which was a bicycle ride and blog post about it that had nothing at all to do with Trans Iowa. You can read that post HERE.  If you click that link you will read about the day that the second Big Wheeled Ballyhoo was to take place in Decorah, Iowa, but did not happen due to the raging flooding that affected Decorah and Iowa that year in general. 

How in the world is this tied to Trans Iowa? Well, after that blog post was published, I received an e-mail from a disgruntled, influential member of the Decorah cycling community who shall remain nameless here. Who it was doesn't matter today. The person in question was offended greatly that I had suggested certain things were the way I described them in my post. I had a back and forth e-mail conversation with the individual to settle our differences, but, this individual asked that I ".....not consider Decorah for any future cycling events." With the situation being what it was in 2008, and my initial plans for doing another Trans Iowa out of Decorah for 2009, I had to stop and reconsider those plans. I discussed the situation with my then co-director, David Pals, and we agreed that this was now not a welcome home for Trans Iowa. Such sway this person held over cycling matters in Decorah at that time would have made planning difficult at best. So we decided to move Trans Iowa's start for the second time in its history.  

That story will come up later this year....... 

Minus Ten Review- 23 & 24

The Upper Iowa River at Decorah, June, 2008

Ten years ago, at the start of June, I had a bit of a discussion on crank sets concerning gearing and crank arm length for 29"ers. Oddly enough, going back to the earliest days of 29"ers in the late 90's, a bunch of Crested Butte residents on running the wagon wheelers decided that 170mm length crank arms was the schiznit for riding these new big wheels. I'm not sure why, or how they arrived at this, but it was out there in the early days. Run 170mm length arms. It's the way to do this dance. So, I did just that.

Now, I didn't do that right away. My very first 29"er had 177.5mm arms. That's right- 177.5mm arms. Anyone with a background in BMX or vintage mtb will know right off what I am referring to. That would be Cooks Brothers cranks. I still have them.........somewhere around here! Anyway......

I also was talking about the Big Wheeled Ballyhoo. That was a 29"er demo/get together/festival we had planned up in Decorah. Well.......I say "we", but the reality was that it was "me". My partner at the time in Twenty Nine Inches was, let's say, "flaky"? Yeah...... Nuff said..... The point is that I was left doing all the heavy lifting on that project and I had a ton of time and effort into it. Then the rains came.

I've already mentioned it in previous "Minus Ten Review" posts this year, but 2008 was a really rough year in terms of weather in Iowa. The "Flood of 2008" won't soon be forgotten around here. That was the highest the water has ever been in many Iowa rivers since that date or before it. You can still go to many bridges and dikes in Iowa and see the high water marks people immortalized from this 2008 flood.

I was sent the image on today's post two weeks before the Big Wheeled Ballyhoo was to take place. On the left of center is where the people were to camp and set up the demo booths. It was under 15 feet of water at this point.

While the trails were high and dry in the bluffs, I had to make a call within a few days time of receiving this image to advise vendors. Many of which had to send demo vans from the Southwestern US. They needed advance notice on whether to come or not. If the event was to be cancelled, giving them two weeks notice would allow them to salvage something out of their plans by setting up demos elsewhere. So, I made the call to cancel the Big Wheeled Ballyhoo.

While this had nothing at all to do with Trans Iowa, this decision would shape what I would do with that event for the next decade. Stay tuned for why that was........

Minus Ten Review- 23 & 24

The Upper Iowa River at Decorah, June, 2008

Ten years ago, at the start of June, I had a bit of a discussion on crank sets concerning gearing and crank arm length for 29"ers. Oddly enough, going back to the earliest days of 29"ers in the late 90's, a bunch of Crested Butte residents on running the wagon wheelers decided that 170mm length crank arms was the schiznit for riding these new big wheels. I'm not sure why, or how they arrived at this, but it was out there in the early days. Run 170mm length arms. It's the way to do this dance. So, I did just that.

Now, I didn't do that right away. My very first 29"er had 177.5mm arms. That's right- 177.5mm arms. Anyone with a background in BMX or vintage mtb will know right off what I am referring to. That would be Cooks Brothers cranks. I still have them.........somewhere around here! Anyway......

I also was talking about the Big Wheeled Ballyhoo. That was a 29"er demo/get together/festival we had planned up in Decorah. Well.......I say "we", but the reality was that it was "me". My partner at the time in Twenty Nine Inches was, let's say, "flaky"? Yeah...... Nuff said..... The point is that I was left doing all the heavy lifting on that project and I had a ton of time and effort into it. Then the rains came.

I've already mentioned it in previous "Minus Ten Review" posts this year, but 2008 was a really rough year in terms of weather in Iowa. The "Flood of 2008" won't soon be forgotten around here. That was the highest the water has ever been in many Iowa rivers since that date or before it. You can still go to many bridges and dikes in Iowa and see the high water marks people immortalized from this 2008 flood.

I was sent the image on today's post two weeks before the Big Wheeled Ballyhoo was to take place. On the left of center is where the people were to camp and set up the demo booths. It was under 15 feet of water at this point.

While the trails were high and dry in the bluffs, I had to make a call within a few days time of receiving this image to advise vendors. Many of which had to send demo vans from the Southwestern US. They needed advance notice on whether to come or not. If the event was to be cancelled, giving them two weeks notice would allow them to salvage something out of their plans by setting up demos elsewhere. So, I made the call to cancel the Big Wheeled Ballyhoo.

While this had nothing at all to do with Trans Iowa, this decision would shape what I would do with that event for the next decade. Stay tuned for why that was........

Minus Ten Review - 11

Siren "Song" 29"er

Ten years ago this week on the blog I was talking about many varied subjects. First notable thing was commuting by bicycle. Gas was approaching $4.00/gallon and many folks were thinking commuting by bicycle was in the imminent future.

Well, we all know how that turned out! Istill cannot believe gas prices haven't been anywhere near that level now for almost a decade.

The other thing I was gabbing about was the planning for the next Big Wheeled Ballyhoo. I had gone up to Decorah, Iowa to meet with the trail group there to discuss ideas for the event. It was fun.......then. Several months later it was not so much fun, but that pivotal story will have to wait for later.

There was a lot of tubeless tire converting going on in advance of my trip to Texas to see my in laws and ride at Franklin Mountain State Park. This would be my second trip with bicycles to this area. I set up my first set of tires with the now famous "MG's Secret Sauce" tubeless goo and another wheelset with Stan's.

I also was taking the fetching Siren Song single speed soft tail mountain bike along for the ride. I was pretty stoked to try this rig and I was honored to once again ride a small builder's bike. But not all was well in the custom bike builder's world and at about this time Badger Cycles was imploding and since I had one of their bikes it was making me a target for some nasty comments. It is one of the reasons I put the bike away for many years, with only brief encounters with the outside world.

Minus Ten Review - 11

Siren "Song" 29"er

Ten years ago this week on the blog I was talking about many varied subjects. First notable thing was commuting by bicycle. Gas was approaching $4.00/gallon and many folks were thinking commuting by bicycle was in the imminent future.

Well, we all know how that turned out! Istill cannot believe gas prices haven't been anywhere near that level now for almost a decade.

The other thing I was gabbing about was the planning for the next Big Wheeled Ballyhoo. I had gone up to Decorah, Iowa to meet with the trail group there to discuss ideas for the event. It was fun.......then. Several months later it was not so much fun, but that pivotal story will have to wait for later.

There was a lot of tubeless tire converting going on in advance of my trip to Texas to see my in laws and ride at Franklin Mountain State Park. This would be my second trip with bicycles to this area. I set up my first set of tires with the now famous "MG's Secret Sauce" tubeless goo and another wheelset with Stan's.

I also was taking the fetching Siren Song single speed soft tail mountain bike along for the ride. I was pretty stoked to try this rig and I was honored to once again ride a small builder's bike. But not all was well in the custom bike builder's world and at about this time Badger Cycles was imploding and since I had one of their bikes it was making me a target for some nasty comments. It is one of the reasons I put the bike away for many years, with only brief encounters with the outside world.

Minus Ten Review- 25

Vendor bikes at the Big Wheeled Ballyhoo demo in Decorah, Iowa

Ten years ago this week I was involved in this festival/demo in Decorah Iowa that I wanted to call "The Midwest 29"er Meetup". In fact, I didn't want it to be anything else but an actual meeting of riders. All I wanted to have happen was to have riders have fun and ride bikes.

Instead, I let the guy who owned Twenty Nine Inches at that time talk me in to something else.

Boy, do I ever regret letting that happen. 

Which taught me a lesson: Don't ever let anyone talk you out of your dream or vision of how you see something going if you really believe in it. It will never be a success if you let that happen.

So it was to be with this deal called the "Big Wheeled Ballyhoo". It never really worked out, and I never really felt good about it. We had to cancel it due to weather in 2008 and in 2009 I gave it one more shot with help from good friends, and in an effort to start to turn it back in to the thing I thought it should be. Well, it snowed 8 or 9 inches, or some ridiculous thing, on that one. Plus, it happened that I couldn't even be there due to a member of the family having a health serious issue, which required me to stay home.

In short, The Big Wheeled Ballyhoo was doomed. I just wasn't meant to be, in my opinion.

Brandon, a mechanic for Milltown Cycles, riding Ben Witt's 36"er.

Oh, there were some good things that happened at that first Ballyhoo. We got  to hang out with some great folks. There were some cool bikes to check out including the first ever, (I might be mistaken here), ride by anyone of a G2 geometry Fisher Paragon with the brand new Fox fork for 29"ers. If we weren't the first, we were close to it.

Of course, there were the previously mentioned lessons learned. Invaluable to me going forward in regard to putting on Trans Iowa. At this point ten years ago, Trans Iowa was a dead idea to me, but when it was resurrected not more than a couple of months later, the Ballyhoo experiences were what I leaned on. Those experiences steeled my desire to keep Trans Iowa true to its roots and to not let anybody talk me out of that.

I also learned who some of my friends were and who supported what I believed in and who did not. Character was shown and taken note of. The entirety of the Ballyhoo experience was good in that I made some good friends, learned who I could trust, and left the rest behind. I do not regret ever doing it, but it was not a pleasant experience overall.

Sometimes learning things and growing up is hard.

Minus Ten Review- 25

Vendor bikes at the Big Wheeled Ballyhoo demo in Decorah, Iowa

Ten years ago this week I was involved in this festival/demo in Decorah Iowa that I wanted to call "The Midwest 29"er Meetup". In fact, I didn't want it to be anything else but an actual meeting of riders. All I wanted to have happen was to have riders have fun and ride bikes.

Instead, I let the guy who owned Twenty Nine Inches at that time talk me in to something else.

Boy, do I ever regret letting that happen. 

Which taught me a lesson: Don't ever let anyone talk you out of your dream or vision of how you see something going if you really believe in it. It will never be a success if you let that happen.

So it was to be with this deal called the "Big Wheeled Ballyhoo". It never really worked out, and I never really felt good about it. We had to cancel it due to weather in 2008 and in 2009 I gave it one more shot with help from good friends, and in an effort to start to turn it back in to the thing I thought it should be. Well, it snowed 8 or 9 inches, or some ridiculous thing, on that one. Plus, it happened that I couldn't even be there due to a member of the family having a health serious issue, which required me to stay home.

In short, The Big Wheeled Ballyhoo was doomed. I just wasn't meant to be, in my opinion.

Brandon, a mechanic for Milltown Cycles, riding Ben Witt's 36"er.

Oh, there were some good things that happened at that first Ballyhoo. We got  to hang out with some great folks. There were some cool bikes to check out including the first ever, (I might be mistaken here), ride by anyone of a G2 geometry Fisher Paragon with the brand new Fox fork for 29"ers. If we weren't the first, we were close to it.

Of course, there were the previously mentioned lessons learned. Invaluable to me going forward in regard to putting on Trans Iowa. At this point ten years ago, Trans Iowa was a dead idea to me, but when it was resurrected not more than a couple of months later, the Ballyhoo experiences were what I leaned on. Those experiences steeled my desire to keep Trans Iowa true to its roots and to not let anybody talk me out of that.

I also learned who some of my friends were and who supported what I believed in and who did not. Character was shown and taken note of. The entirety of the Ballyhoo experience was good in that I made some good friends, learned who I could trust, and left the rest behind. I do not regret ever doing it, but it was not a pleasant experience overall.

Sometimes learning things and growing up is hard.

Minus Ten Review- 1

Oh yeah..... Another year of looking back. This time it will be all about what I was up to here in 2007. So, just a few words about the year in general before I kick things off. 2007 was a pivotal year for me and the blog. In '06, things went from local only to national in scale. 2007 brought even more scope and really was the year that kicked me off in the general direction I have been in ever since then. It also was the year that I was kind of "kicked out of the nest", as it were, since Jeff Kerkove left for Ergon, Buchannondale was gone by this time a decade ago, and I had no foils, no riding partners, and certainly, no real encouragement here locally. Most of the folks I would be riding with in '06 and '07 would move on to support the other local shop here and since I worked for the competitor, I was kind of left outside of the loop.

I rode the XXIX+G on a gravel group ride with Jeff Kerkove for the last time ever in January of '07.

That persisted to be the case for a lot of the past decade, which I never really went out of my way to try to change, because it was/is what it is. Besides, I was dedicated to raising my family and I was very busy at times when others had time to do group rides, etc. In fact, it still is that way for me. I'm not complaining, I am just relating that at this time in '07, things changed in that way. One of the things I had going on, which none of the local cyclists here had, was an event of such magnitude that it consumed a lot of my off time. That being Trans Iowa, of course. Then there was the second Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational, and a plan to do a "festival" type 29"er based event in Decorah, Iowa. So, it wasn't like I didn't have other things going on and was sitting around waiting for an invitation to ride somewhere.

Trans Iowa was in a pivotal year, although I had no idea going in just how big of a deal T.I.v3 would be. All I knew was that the responsibility for the course recon and planning of the event was now all mine to bear. Jeff was off doing things to solidify his intentions to move to Colorado and work for Ergon, who were courting him throughout the Winter of '06.'07. So, this meant that for the first time I was in charge of the meeting venue, the details regarding lodging, the City relations, and prizing/sponsorship. All things Jeff had expertly done for Trans Iowa the first two years in.

The first year I used this bridge over the Volga River in a route was for T.I.v3

In fact, ten years ago Trans Iowa recon was what the blog was all about for the most part. I headed out on my own to see a major portion of the route which came out and back to Decorah for the first time ever.

I was pretty pleased with the route to the North, but bringing it around closer to the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area was a bit of an issue since the terrain was not as demanding as it was up there around Decorah. The route had a couple of iron gabled bridges on it which I was pretty happy to have found. I always throw those in if I see them and they make sense for the course. Sometimes they haven't made sense to use, but I've been lucky to find many of these throughout the years that did work out. Like barns, these bridges are slowly decaying. They are being shut down or replaced with modern, boring cement bridges at a rapid pace. I figure we should use them while we can.

Of course, there was the last gravel group ride I was on with Jeff. He had been doing these for a while in '05 and '06, and this was one of the only ones I had been available for to go along on. I rode the new to me Raleigh XXIX+G with a few modifications. It was........not the greatest bike. I think I touched on this before, but the geometry for forks and the geometry for frames were not yet refined for 29"ers, so that was a bit of a nit I had with that old bike, and I never really was able to resolve it. I tried all sorts of oddball set ups on it with the hope that something would click. But as with the Salsa Dos Niner I had, nothing really settled with me, although there were various tries at getting those bikes "right".

Minus Ten Review- 1

Oh yeah..... Another year of looking back. This time it will be all about what I was up to here in 2007. So, just a few words about the year in general before I kick things off. 2007 was a pivotal year for me and the blog. In '06, things went from local only to national in scale. 2007 brought even more scope and really was the year that kicked me off in the general direction I have been in ever since then. It also was the year that I was kind of "kicked out of the nest", as it were, since Jeff Kerkove left for Ergon, Buchannondale was gone by this time a decade ago, and I had no foils, no riding partners, and certainly, no real encouragement here locally. Most of the folks I would be riding with in '06 and '07 would move on to support the other local shop here and since I worked for the competitor, I was kind of left outside of the loop.

I rode the XXIX+G on a gravel group ride with Jeff Kerkove for the last time ever in January of '07.

That persisted to be the case for a lot of the past decade, which I never really went out of my way to try to change, because it was/is what it is. Besides, I was dedicated to raising my family and I was very busy at times when others had time to do group rides, etc. In fact, it still is that way for me. I'm not complaining, I am just relating that at this time in '07, things changed in that way. One of the things I had going on, which none of the local cyclists here had, was an event of such magnitude that it consumed a lot of my off time. That being Trans Iowa, of course. Then there was the second Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational, and a plan to do a "festival" type 29"er based event in Decorah, Iowa. So, it wasn't like I didn't have other things going on and was sitting around waiting for an invitation to ride somewhere.

Trans Iowa was in a pivotal year, although I had no idea going in just how big of a deal T.I.v3 would be. All I knew was that the responsibility for the course recon and planning of the event was now all mine to bear. Jeff was off doing things to solidify his intentions to move to Colorado and work for Ergon, who were courting him throughout the Winter of '06.'07. So, this meant that for the first time I was in charge of the meeting venue, the details regarding lodging, the City relations, and prizing/sponsorship. All things Jeff had expertly done for Trans Iowa the first two years in.

The first year I used this bridge over the Volga River in a route was for T.I.v3

In fact, ten years ago Trans Iowa recon was what the blog was all about for the most part. I headed out on my own to see a major portion of the route which came out and back to Decorah for the first time ever.

I was pretty pleased with the route to the North, but bringing it around closer to the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area was a bit of an issue since the terrain was not as demanding as it was up there around Decorah. The route had a couple of iron gabled bridges on it which I was pretty happy to have found. I always throw those in if I see them and they make sense for the course. Sometimes they haven't made sense to use, but I've been lucky to find many of these throughout the years that did work out. Like barns, these bridges are slowly decaying. They are being shut down or replaced with modern, boring cement bridges at a rapid pace. I figure we should use them while we can.

Of course, there was the last gravel group ride I was on with Jeff. He had been doing these for a while in '05 and '06, and this was one of the only ones I had been available for to go along on. I rode the new to me Raleigh XXIX+G with a few modifications. It was........not the greatest bike. I think I touched on this before, but the geometry for forks and the geometry for frames were not yet refined for 29"ers, so that was a bit of a nit I had with that old bike, and I never really was able to resolve it. I tried all sorts of oddball set ups on it with the hope that something would click. But as with the Salsa Dos Niner I had, nothing really settled with me, although there were various tries at getting those bikes "right".

Trans Iowa: Ten Years Of Tales #22

In mid-November, the idea of Trans Iowa was hatched. The year was 2004. In the ten years since then there have been many stories and memories. These posts will tell of the most prominent ones to my mind. Maybe I'll even spill the beans on some things you never knew....

A bucolic scene from the recon of T.I.v5's course

 During the planning and running of Trans Iowa v4, David Pals and I talked some about the concept of Trans Iowa now that it had gone to a loop course. It could be done anywhere within Iowa, so why not move it around? It was an intriguing idea, but there were some reasons why I wasn't quite ready to move on just yet.

For one thing, I had a few ideas I had yet to explore for routes up that way. Secondly, I liked Decorah, (still do), a lot, and finally, I have a tendency to stick to things as long as they are good to me. Decorah had been nothing but awesome to me/Trans Iowa all along since day one. Sure- there were some reprimands and tough learning to be taken in along with the growing pains of Trans Iowa, but Decorah, and its people were good to me and the event.

However; that all changed in a day in the Summer of 2008. Suffice it to say that a number of events that year were affected negatively by the weather. An event I was roped into putting on, organizing it mostly by myself, was part of that. It was the "Big Wheeled Ballyhoo". A celebration of 29"ers, company demos, and hooliganism that had its first edition the year before in Decorah. I was assisted in that endeavor by the guy I was working for at Twenty Nine Inches at the time, but for the 2nd edition, he bailed out on me and stuck me with making all the decisions concerning it. Not what I wanted.

Anyway, the crux of this story is that I was put upon to call off the event, or not, due to flooding, possible trail damage, and no camping area available for attendees or a solid answer on where the demo trucks could go. It was getting right down to it. On one hand I had Decorah folks giving me some conflicting info and on the other hand I had vendors wanting to know if they should bother to make the trip or not. I decided to just make the safe decision and I called off the event.

Decorah folks said they would ride anyway, and actually, by the date of the cancelled event, it was beautiful. Go figure. Well, I went up for the entire afternoon and saw no one there that was supposed to be riding. I wrote about it on my blog, and suddenly, a very upset Decorah person with major ties and influence in the cycling community there was assailing me with e-mails and ended by saying, "........please do not consider Decorah for any future events."

Have a seat! More strangeness on the T.I.v5 route during recon

Well, I was a bit shook up by that. I shared it with David and he suggested we give them what they asked for and frankly, I agreed. There wasn't anything I could have changed about what had happened, I didn't feel like I/we had done anything wrong,  and I didn't feel that I, or Trans Iowa, needed to poke a stick at any sore feelings anymore by coming back to Decorah, so we moved on, but where to go?

David suggested we go south to Williamsburg, an area he was very familiar with. He said there were some really cool roads down  that way, so I agreed to look at that.

Looking back, Trans Iowa v4 was a transitional period for Trans Iowa. The last one having anything to do with Decorah, the first that had two checkpoints, and the beginnings of many friendships and the end of some other relationships. Things done at Trans Iowa v4 were the skeletons of ideas fleshed out in years to come. It was the first Trans Iowa that had a winner other than Ira Ryan!

Beginning with Trans Iowa v3 and ending with the final cutting of the cord with Decorah after T.I.v4, I felt like Trans Iowa became the event I had adopted as my responsibility alone. There was no more Jeff Kerkove, no Mike Curiak, and no more Decorah influences. Decisions on Trans Iowa going forward were all going to have to go through me. Yes- I had help and welcomed help, but in the end, it was here at this point that I recall feeling responsible for everything  about Trans Iowa.

Next: Changes......

Trans Iowa: Ten Years Of Tales #22

In mid-November, the idea of Trans Iowa was hatched. The year was 2004. In the ten years since then there have been many stories and memories. These posts will tell of the most prominent ones to my mind. Maybe I'll even spill the beans on some things you never knew....

A bucolic scene from the recon of T.I.v5's course

 During the planning and running of Trans Iowa v4, David Pals and I talked some about the concept of Trans Iowa now that it had gone to a loop course. It could be done anywhere within Iowa, so why not move it around? It was an intriguing idea, but there were some reasons why I wasn't quite ready to move on just yet.

For one thing, I had a few ideas I had yet to explore for routes up that way. Secondly, I liked Decorah, (still do), a lot, and finally, I have a tendency to stick to things as long as they are good to me. Decorah had been nothing but awesome to me/Trans Iowa all along since day one. Sure- there were some reprimands and tough learning to be taken in along with the growing pains of Trans Iowa, but Decorah, and its people were good to me and the event.

However; that all changed in a day in the Summer of 2008. Suffice it to say that a number of events that year were affected negatively by the weather. An event I was roped into putting on, organizing it mostly by myself, was part of that. It was the "Big Wheeled Ballyhoo". A celebration of 29"ers, company demos, and hooliganism that had its first edition the year before in Decorah. I was assisted in that endeavor by the guy I was working for at Twenty Nine Inches at the time, but for the 2nd edition, he bailed out on me and stuck me with making all the decisions concerning it. Not what I wanted.

Anyway, the crux of this story is that I was put upon to call off the event, or not, due to flooding, possible trail damage, and no camping area available for attendees or a solid answer on where the demo trucks could go. It was getting right down to it. On one hand I had Decorah folks giving me some conflicting info and on the other hand I had vendors wanting to know if they should bother to make the trip or not. I decided to just make the safe decision and I called off the event.

Decorah folks said they would ride anyway, and actually, by the date of the cancelled event, it was beautiful. Go figure. Well, I went up for the entire afternoon and saw no one there that was supposed to be riding. I wrote about it on my blog, and suddenly, a very upset Decorah person with major ties and influence in the cycling community there was assailing me with e-mails and ended by saying, "........please do not consider Decorah for any future events."

Have a seat! More strangeness on the T.I.v5 route during recon

Well, I was a bit shook up by that. I shared it with David and he suggested we give them what they asked for and frankly, I agreed. There wasn't anything I could have changed about what had happened, I didn't feel like I/we had done anything wrong,  and I didn't feel that I, or Trans Iowa, needed to poke a stick at any sore feelings anymore by coming back to Decorah, so we moved on, but where to go?

David suggested we go south to Williamsburg, an area he was very familiar with. He said there were some really cool roads down  that way, so I agreed to look at that.

Looking back, Trans Iowa v4 was a transitional period for Trans Iowa. The last one having anything to do with Decorah, the first that had two checkpoints, and the beginnings of many friendships and the end of some other relationships. Things done at Trans Iowa v4 were the skeletons of ideas fleshed out in years to come. It was the first Trans Iowa that had a winner other than Ira Ryan!

Beginning with Trans Iowa v3 and ending with the final cutting of the cord with Decorah after T.I.v4, I felt like Trans Iowa became the event I had adopted as my responsibility alone. There was no more Jeff Kerkove, no Mike Curiak, and no more Decorah influences. Decisions on Trans Iowa going forward were all going to have to go through me. Yes- I had help and welcomed help, but in the end, it was here at this point that I recall feeling responsible for everything  about Trans Iowa.

Next: Changes......