A Man, A Bike, And A Piece Of Black Electrical Tape

The only known shot of Jason Boucher riding "BET". Matt Gersib is on the right.

Sixteen years ago on July 16th, 2008, Jason Boucher rode from Waterloo, Iowa down to Hickory Hills park and the gathered riders there saw a bike that few had laid eyes on. A bike that would be the catalyst for a revival of a style of riding now known as "bike packing", which was formerly known as mountain touring, or off-road touring. This bike, and the man who pushed the idea through to get it made were responsible for the catch-phrase "Adventure by Bike" which became a movement and spawned an entire category of bicycles which are still being produced to this day. 

I've written reams of digital pages about this particular moment and the bike itself. It arguably is one of the most popular subjects on this blog with a page dedicated to this particular bike which gets views every week that top any other pages on this blog consistently. I am speaking, of course, about the Salsa Cycles Fargo. The man behind the ideas for this bike and the man who pushed it through to see the light of day is named Jason Boucher.

Jason Boucher in 2024.

I am not going to write a bunch of words today which already have been written here. I'll put some links down at the end of the post to direct you to where I have already opined about the importance of the Fargo. What I want to do here is to pull a quote from a recent Instagram post Jason made which will tell the story from his vantage point. I think that would be a good viewpoint to add to this story here. 

" It was 14 or 15 years ago today that I was riding a prototype bike to @g.ted.productions Death Ride. A bike I drove and helped create. That weekend it got labelled the “black electrical tape” bike. A coworker at the time called it the ugliest bike he had to own. Many said they didn’t need a drop bar mountain touring bike. Others said it’s a cool concept but touring doesn’t sell. "

And the Fargo was very hard for a lot of people to wrap their minds around. Of course, we need to keep in mind a couple of things to gain the correct context here. First off, 29"ers were not a "done deal" at that point in time. Sure, they had gained a toe-hold, but that wheel size was still roundly being criticized and put down as a fad that would fade away by riders and industry folks alike. Some brands were stating publicly that they would never, ever make a 29"er. (Looking at you Specialized, Yeti, and Giant)

Drop bars and fat tires were very odd  in 2008. Only weirdos and alt-bar freaks would put drop bars  on a MTB, much less one with wagon wheels. Drop bars were for road bikes and cyclo cross bikes! (And maybe touring bikes, but no one was doing that anymore!). Then there was the whole touring aspect, as mentioned, which everyone thought was a dead category.

The Fargo I was given by Jason in late 2008 as seen today.

The bike almost did not happen. It was resisted by higher-ups at Jason's place of employment at the time. It was seen as a bit of a losing prospect, as you can read from Jason's quote above. More from Jason:

"We did it anyways. Inspired by many drop bar bikes, touring bikes, and mountain bikes that came before it. It was the product that drove me to rebrand Salsa to Adventure by Bike. In many ways I still believe its the purest execution of the ethos of that tagline (IMHO) and I admit I am a bit biased."

 Of course, the entire bikepacking scene may have happened anyway at some point. Even without the venerable Fargo and its "Adventure by Bike" ethos. But I don't think the reach of that style of riding would have been as deep and far had the Fargo been nixed and never seen the light of day. I know it was a very popular choice for gravel riders, tourists that were looking for a bit more upright position, and it was popular with 29"er fans. 

In my opinion, the Fargo took a while to catch on, but when it did, the model pretty much had its way with the market until the late 2010's when other companies started jumping into the space the Fargo occupied. Now we have several "Fargo-like" choices, and probably the best of those is the Esker Lorax and the Tumbleweed Stargazer models. Ironically, Jason does some work with Tumbleweed these days. 

So, in closing I just wanted to post this to give Jason his flowers and shine a light on the man and the vision that brought the Fargo to life, and arguably was the catalyst for much of what came afterward in the bikepacking category as far as bicycles are concerned. 

Links to previous stories about the "Black Electrical Tape" bike and origin story. 

"The GTDRI Stories: Black Electrical Tape"

"Minus Ten Review - 29"

"The GTDRI Stories: The Fargo Comes Home"

"Fargo Riders Reunion Ride"

Update: Jason Boucher left a comment on this post which maybe won't be seen by many, so I thought I would add it to the post as it pertains to the Fargo and its genesis story. Here it is:

"I need to add a little more detail here. As memories fade it's important to write them down to both remember and document history. I certainly feel directly responsible for both the Fargo and Adventure by Bike. Yet, it isn't those two things that I remember as the most important. It's the people. The Fargo would not have happened without really good & talented people and partners, both inside the organization as well as outside.

Bikepacking.com just posted something on drop bar mountain bike just yesterday and one of the other really important people to this Fargo story is Joe Meiser. I recall one day chatting with Joe about a bike that I would want if I ever did my Alaska to Utah bike trip again (something I did after attending college). Joe was just then setting his sights not the Tour Divide. He wanted something special too. We schemed. One day Joe showed up to work and said "I drew the bike last night". We were both giddy. We looked. I suggested some changes from my personal experience and desire for this product.

Joe and I made changes. Buttoned it up. Ordered frames for us to build & ride. It was a product that was not on any product map or wasn't ever talked about as a product. We just did it. I'm forever grateful that that moment happened. I'm forever grateful of the team of people on our small Salsa team. I'm forever grateful for the people this idea and concept of adventure brought into my life. It changed me forever.

Also a fun fact, Fargo was not the original name. There was a different name that was changed to align with Adventure by Bike. I think only 3-4 people know what that name is........"

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.......

The GTDRI Stories: The Death Of The Ride

The header for the page marking the ride that never came to be.

 "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!

The end of 2019 brought a lot of focus on trying to be very frugal and patient with my money. I was out of a job for the first time in 26 years. So, I had forgotten what that was like and experiencing that again was a bit terrifying. I will say "thank you" here again for the gracious gift from a blog reader here that helped tremendously to keep me on my feet throughout that time. Your generosity is not forgotten. (You know who you are!) So, that was an overiding concern during this time which pushed any thoughts of a Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational to the back-burner. 

Then there was the planning for the Iowa Gravel Expo Series, a series of events that N.Y. Roll and I had been doing for a couple of years. This was envisioned to be a way to introduce locals to the opportunities to ride in Iowa based gravel events. Previously we had done these at a local restaurant but this series was to happen in the brew room at a local brewery. Lots of time and effort went into this, so again, it pushed thoughts of the GTDRI back.

But by the time the holidays rolled around I had more time to think about the GTDRI. My experiences doing the "dirt roads" focused ride in Poweshiek County had left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth due to having to arrange support stops. I wanted the ride to go back to relying on convenience store stops for resupply, which would be easier to build a ride around.

Eventually I did ride some of the proposed 2020 GTDRI while doing the 2022 Hall of Fame Ride.

Late in 2019 N.Y. Roll introduced me to the gravel roads Southeast of Waterloo, Iowa, and I was intrigued by what might be down that way. We rode a couple of rides in that general direction with one taking us to LaPorte City. It was enough for me to investigate a ride going along the Cedar River on either side to explore that countryside. 

I also would be able to start the ride from Waterloo, which was my preference back then and now due to the ease of pre-ride sleeping/eating at my own house. So, over the holiday season of 2019, I drew up a course, looked at options, and on January 6th, 2020 I introduced the idea on my blog. 

It was to be a 114 mile course and it was to pass through several small towns and villages. Resupply options were abundant, especially compared to the year before. I was really pretty excited about the possibilities. I had a GPS file readied and I was eager to start recon after the C.O.G. 100 in March. But, as we all know now......that never happened. 

Testing the Salsa Cycles Stormchaser, Spring 2020

The first few months of the pandemic were very strange for all of us, I am sure, but it was also a bit of a blessing as well. Things were quieter, slower, calmer. I had some really introspective rides during a Spring which, for all intents and purposes surrounding cycling, was perfect. 

It was during one of those longer rides, when I was out testing a Salsa Cycles Stormchaser, that I came around to feeling different. Different over-all. I was curious as to why that was, and as I contemplated this, I realized something that was different than any other Spring in recent memory had happened. I had no plans. 

Everything was being cancelled, or had been, and events were going "virtual", being postponed until 2021, or in rare cases, being held "no-contact". Of course, we had postponed the C.O.G.100, I had written off doing the GTDRI, because there was no reason not to at that time.  I wasn't going anywhere to ride in an event either. I could ride, for no other reason than just to ride, and without event planning hanging over my head. There suddenly was a peace inside of me that I hadn't felt in a long, long time.

That's when I decided enough was enough. I had given back more than most anyone I knew to cycling. I didn't have to do any more. It was time to let it go and enjoy just pedaling a bicycle again. So, that was the day I decided to never have the "invitational" again, or to put on any sort of cycling event again. After 15 plus years of doing that, I retired from event promotions and planning. 

But I was certainly still going to keep riding a bicycle. 

Next: The last installment of the GTDRI Stories.

The GTDRI Stories: Post- 2019 GTDRI Times

From a ride North of Waterloo, October 2019

"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!

Following the 2019 GTDRI, about two weeks later, I went to Gravel Worlds and flamed out spectacularly due to being not ready and due to my life and how I was living it for the past two years before that. 

See, I was really stressed out. At first it was ending Trans Iowa. That was a very stressful, energy-consuming plan and acting it out was difficult beyond words. On top of that, starting pretty much in the Fall of 2017, I had job concerns mounting, as it became increasingly apparent that Europa Cycle and Ski was in big trouble and was going to go out of business at some near-future date. 

My health and how I was handling it was poor, to be honest, and by the end of 2019 Trans Iowa was gone, Europa was gone, and I was ready to turn over a new leaf both personally and professionally. This all was to be a positive for the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational. I saw myself being not only a better rider, but a better host.

By the time I left Europa in mid-December, 2019, the place was on the skids big time.

Things initially were on the upswing at the same time.

I had high-hopes for the GTDRI. I had high hopes for myself. I was pretty sure I had a job at Andy's Bike Shop lined up. It was a new shop, I knew Andy, and he was very supportive of me doing gravel rides like the GTDRI. I would have full-on shop support for it. 

My main goals, besides securing the new job, were to repent of my past habits in terms of drinking, eating, and exercise. I had already cut way back on the alcohol, and I was taking opportunities to do gravel group rides where possible. I was thinking of doing some other events as well. Andy was totally fine with all of that. 

From a group ride I did in November, 2019.

But, of course, we all know how 2020 went down. That changed everything. While plans were being formulated for a 2020 GTDRI, I wasn't 100% solidified on them as I had the new single speed gravel event coming up for its second year and N.Y. Roll and I were very busy trying to piece that all together. 

Then, on the eve of the second C.O.G. 100, it all went pear-shaped. The roller-coaster ride started and I didn't get off until January 2022. A LOT happened in between. All of it affected the GTDRI to a huge degree and that tale will be told next week.

The GTFRI Stories: The 14th One - Part 3

"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!

As I was trying to ride to our next arranged stopping point, I was feeling worse and worse by the mile. The trouble was that since my lower back was damaged due to that lifting incident and the recent biff I took before this last segment, I had no power in the legs anymore. 

And it was getting beastly hot with that fresh moisture being evaporated back into the air at the surface. This focuses the Sun's energy and it is like being in an oven when this happens. You know how the cold sucks the life out of you? Well, the Sun and high humidity cooks the life out of you. 

My thoughts were that I might get recovered enough at the next stop, which was at 60 miles in, that I could manage the rest piecemeal. There would be about 30 miles to go, and that would be broken up by a stop in Brooklyn, Iowa.

The last arranged stop at 60 miles is where the wheels started coming off this ride for many of us.

I got to Rob's car after a short bit of pavement. I was relieved to have made it that far, and was hoping that a rest would do me good. Meanwhile Rob told me that his companion, Doug, who also came up from Lincoln, Nebraska, was done for the day and that he and Doug were bailing out with Rob's girlfriend back to Grinnell. 

The smart money for me would have been to bail out then and there as well, but I didn't even give that a chance. I was pressing on, and maybe this next bit was the worst I've felt on a bike in my life. It was pure torture. The hills were relentless. The heat was as well. I ended up literally walking up anything that pointed upward. 

This road construction did not deter us from our passing.

While the Level B's were spectacular, I was not enjoying them alone.

I was beyond survival mode at this point and there were a few guys pretty concerned about me. (Thanks again, by the way!) Eventually I made it to the convenience store, but before that, it was decided that my ride was over at Brooklyn and that there would be a ride to take me back to Grinnell. 

As I arrived at the convenience store, I figured the rest of the group would have been up the road quite some time before I arrived, but I was floored to see most of the guys still there. There they were, lounging on a patch of shaded grass located just behind the convenience store. It wasn't long before they did get up and leave. 

My mileage for the day.

In my heat induced and physically injured stupor, I did not realize that the rest of the group was crawling at a snail's pace due to the extreme heat and humidity. In fact, after they left they short-cut the original course for a more straight line route back to Grinnell. 

Meanwhile I waited on a ride. I was left alone, and after about a half an hour, I was starting to wonder if I'd have to ride back anyway. But eventually Jon Duke arrived and got me back into Grinnell. 

By this time we had actually leap-frogged the remaining riders and I only saw Rob's group who bailed out at 60 miles in. We were at Peace Tree Brewing and I had one beer and started to get ready to go home. Just then, the rest of the riders were trickling back into town. I wanted to stay, but having another beer and then driving another 80 miles was out of the question. So, I politely said my goodbyes and left for home. 

It was a very disjointed, dissatisfying way to leave things. I figured on making amends and finishing that course at some point, maybe for a 2020 GTDRI. But at the time, I was sorely disappointed in myself and how the ride went. I shouldn't have been. There were a lot of things beyond my control and we were not deterred by any of the weather earlier on. The planned rest stops with supplies were perfect. The roads were spectacular. By all measures it could have ended up being a classic, and it nearly was. 

Looking back it really bites that this was the last "invitational" Guitar Ted Death Ride. Once I decided not to host rides anymore, getting back to this great Grinnell based course wasn't going to happen. I mean, it could happen again, if I decided to round up a group again, but now with my job status and timing it seems less than likely that I will open that door. 

That all said, this course is on my radar to complete at some point.

Next: The Fall-Out

The GTDRI Stories: The 14th One - Part 2

"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!

We pick back up on the series with Pat 2 of the 2019 GTDRI. If you missed Part 1, you can click to it HERE.  

Clouds had been gathering all morning up to our Mile 30 stop at Jon's truck. Then by the time we left it started to sprinkle. Thunder increased in volume and intensity. At one point, my friend Tony said he wasn't going to look when I pointed out that there was lightning in the area. He "didn't want to know" because he didn't want to quit the ride, but knew it wasn't a great idea to keep going. It was unsaid, but the comment meant that to me, at any rate, and from that point on I was considering calling it all off. 

There were two problems with that. One- we were out almost as far as we were going to go, and secondly, I knew most of the guys would not quit. So, as I put a death grip on my wet bars as I descended another rough, rutted Level B Road at 25-30mph, and I hoped against hope that we could ride things out.

There was a big storm to our Northwest. We rode on the fringes of the Southern edges of it.

When I felt safe enough to take an image, we were usually climbing. Descents were fast and scary!

All along I expected the worst, but the rain never really got beyond a "heavy sprinkle", and the roads stayed rideable, despite the moisture, which usually causes mayhem. My main concern then was the lightning, and not knowing which direction the rain was going in for certain. 

Our course went mainly East, and we would have a bit of a Northward trek until we reached Tama County, and then it would be a Southeasterly course down a "ridge road" off the normal grid. Would we be riding right into this storm? I had a lot of concerns. 

N.Y. Roll (shirtless- of course!) fixes a flat while the rest take a break.

Down one particularly fast, rutted Level B Road, N.Y. Roll encountered a bit of a tire issue and just past that section everyone was stopped to gather up while he repaired the tire. This allowed the storm time to drift off North and East of us and we had a clearer sky, for a little while....

A fascinating intersection where all roads were Level B. The guys seemed to really be impressed by this.

Up in Tama County on 390th St.

We got up on the ridge in Tama County which bordered the Iowa River Valley to the Northeast and the plains of Poweshiek County on the Southwest. As we rode along, the storm built back in and down towards us. Before long it was sprinkling again, but this time there was no lightning to worry about. 

Tony and I were the tail-on-the-dog and were just cruising along at a nice pace. I had been dialing it back due to the hills and humidity. I had tweaked out my back lifting a heavy pick-up cap made of fiberglass with my neighbor only the day before, so I was also trying to take it easy on my body for that reason. So far, it all had been working out just fine.

Just moments after I took this shot I fell and aggravated my back injury.

Trying to get to the next rest stop. I was in agony by this point.

Rolling up to a tree next to a farmhouse to get out of the steady rain, I caught a rut in the grass and high-sided myself into the ground. Basically body-slamming myself and that tweaked my back again. I was keeping it to myself, and hoping against hope, but after this I was pretty much toast. 

Resolving to go as far as I could, I tried to make it to the next stop at 60 miles in, which would be at Rob Evans' vehicle where his girlfriend was supposed to rendezvous with us at a predetermined point. By this time the rain was done and the heat and humidity were ratcheting up to really intense levels. 

I made it to the rest stop, but after that.......

Next: The last part of GTDRI 2019.

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.

The GTDRI Series: The Run-up To The Last One

 "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!

For the 2019 edition of the Guitar Ted Death ride Invitational, I had two things in mind. One- Go back to Grinnell, Iowa for the start. I was no longer doing Trans Iowa and this was a good an excuse as any to get back to that lovely town. 

Two - I wanted to do another version of the PCL's "Tour of Dirt Roads" but in another location. Poweshiek County has loads of great Level B dirt roads, so this fit the mold very nicely. I was genuinely excited to get to work on a new course, but running the C.O.G. 100 earlier that year took a lot of my focus and I didn't actually announce the 2019 GTDRI 'officially' until early June that year. But once I announced it I was very focused on the event and how it would be pulled off.

The 2019 route for the GTDRI was a bit of a logistical conundrum.

I had originally only planned on about a 70-75 mile route. This was due to the fact that Poweshiek County has few villages with services, and secondly, it is very hilly there. My thoughts were that with all the Level B roads and those being on the grade of the surrounding landscape, that climbing would be the name of the game. On a hot Summer day that can equal "no fun" and with fewer available spots to stop and get refreshments, I was afraid that a bigger route would be nearly impossible for many folks. 

But I couldn't help myself once I sat down and started putting a route together and I ended up at around 95 miles! I was really excited about the possibilities for the scenery and experiences, but water and food were still a huge factor and I was thinking it all may have to be changed. I was wanting to get down that way to drive the course, if possible, and then decide, but weather was preventing me from doing that. 

June and early July were marked by days with some big thunderstorms which somehow fell on planned recon days.

The thing was that my early recon plans were sunk when both times I had time off to do that work it rained. So, in a bit of desperation, I put the word out on the blog that I was in a bit of a pickle with not knowing how many riders I might have and therefore no real way to plan for stowing water out on the course. What if I brought too little? What if I spent a lot of money and time on water and very few showed up? How would I stash the water? What if someone sabotaged my plans by stealing the cooler?

Fortunately two individuals stepped up and provided the means to facilitate the rider's needs. Jon Duke from Grinnell and Rob Evans of Nebraska, who was planning on coming with a friend, vowed to help out. That made life a LOT easier for me and my peace of mind was fortified by their volunteering to help out. 

The route? Well, I never did get around to looking it over and I would estimate that about 60% - 70% of the roads were unknown to me. It would then truly be an adventure for all who showed up!

Next: The 2019 GTDRI Part 1

The GTDRI Stories: Heading Into 2019

 "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!

The aftermath of the 2018 GTDRI was - once again - very busy. I did the 24Hrs of Cumming on my pink BMC MCD bike, its first outing in competition, and then took it to Gravel Worlds later in the Summer. 

Planning for the C.O.G. 100 single speed gravel event and another round of local Gravel Expo events in the Winter took up a lot of headspace. Dropping Trans Iowa didn't seem to make any differences as these other things swept in to fill the vacuum left by its absence. 

And there was another thing looming on the horizon. The impending implosion of Europa Cycle & Ski, the place where I had worked for - at that time - 16 years. 

We (the employees) could see it coming, like a freight train in the distance, for quite some time. I recall talking things over with my co-worker and fellow mechanic, Joe, many times. He had been making a plan for his exit and it made me think that I should be doing something similar. But all I had known for over 20 years was being a mechanic, mostly in bicycle shops, and in this area, your opportunities to continue that career path are extremely limited.

The header for the 2019 version of the GTDRI

But there was an emerging opportunity that was being created by another former co-worker of mine, Andy, who had also been a volunteer at Trans Iowa v12. Andy had actually tried looking into buying Europa Cycle & Ski, but the owner wasn't forthcoming and would not share details about the business with Andy so he could not make an informed offer to purchase the business. (That's another entire saga)

So, Andy had left Europa and had already started a mobile bicycle repair business. After two years he decided to pursue an actual brick-and-mortar location. That's where my name popped into this story.

Late into 2018 Andy asked to meet with me and after that meeting it was agreed that I would be his first employee. Of course, Andy supported my outside event promoting, so getting time off for the C.O.G. 100 and GTDRI was not going to be a problem. This would be a perfect transition and would keep the GTDRI going. It all hinged upon when the new building construction would be finished in downtown Cedar Falls. The estimated opening date was April, 2019. Perfect!

With an exit strategy now secured, I felt a lot more open to doing some outside planning for things like the GTDRI. That plan would include a mixing of two ideas. One - The dirt road tour idea, which was immensely popular, and then adding to that would be a return to Poweshiek County.

That was the former home of Trans Iowa. Grinnell would be the starting point, as it was seven years earlier for a GTDRI. I knew the roads well, and there were a LOT of Level B Roads in Poweshiek County that I had never used for Trans Iowa due to my usual self-imposed limitations on such roads early on onto that event. 

So, the mold was set and I was excited to get to work on a route. But things never really go according to plan, and we will see how that affected the 2019 GTDRI. 

Next: The run-up to the 2019 GTDRI.

The GTDRI Stories: The 2018 GTDRI - Part 4

  "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!

The passage of I Avenue was seemingly going to be the highlight of the ride. I figured we'd ride about five, six more miles, get to Garwin, hit that seedy little convenience store again, and then it would be on to getting the last bit of dirt roads in before we climbed up the nasty hill North of Wolf Creek and back towards Reinbeck. 

But things don't always work out the way you might think they are going to. Usually that is accompanied by a foreboding of misery, bad happenings, or something undesirable, but in this instance it was a wrench in the works that seemed bad at first, but turned out to become the highlight of the ride. 

But let me just tell it how I saw it from my seat. Of course, by this time I was pretty sapped by the malfunctioning SRAM drive train. So, I was laboring up hills in too high a gear trying to catch back on to the main group who were still flying down the road like dogs off a leash. The group ride mentality was in full effect and I wasn't very happy about it, but by this point I wasn't in charge anymore. That much was obvious. 

So, as the few stragglers and I rolled into Grawin from the South, we were expecting to round a corner and find the main portion of the group already at their leisure slurping down Gatorades and munching on convenience store vittles. Instead, all I saw was an empty parking lot. 

WTH?!! Where was everyone?!! 

Just then one of the riders who had been with me had noted a group of what looked like cyclists up the street toward the business district of Garwin, such as it was in this small village. "Hey! I think they are up here!", he cried, and we headed off East up toward what looked like a smallish crowd of people standing in the middle of the street.

And what do we have here?

A bicycle event?

Turned out that the lead group came into town the wrong way, (another reason to wait for the ride leader), and they came across some local Garwinites having a little bit of fun. Seems that the local bar owner had partnered up with a few locals to put on a bicycle race. The start was a mile to the West, just out of town. There were several mandatory "checkpoints" along the way, with the last being a card table set up in the midst of the boulevard section of Main Street, about a block and a half from the convenience store we were supposed to have stopped at. 

The "finish line" was just around the corner at a bar called the Garwin Bull, a bar owned by a native from Wales who, it can be said, had little regard for local laws. See, she had what looked to be lemonade in plastic pitchers on the card table. But the innocent appearance of the liquid was belied by tasting it, which revealed the lemonade to have been spiked by vodka - ie:potato water. 

Several locals and most of my group were now availing themselves of this "potato water" and since supplies were dwindling fast, a few of the women were getting nervous as they had to whip out fifths of vodka to replenish the pitchers. When a car or truck would come by the natives would again get nervous because they didn't have a permit and the county sheriff may not approve of their activities. It was a bit like a teenage woodsy in the middle of a village.  

Eventually we had to leave Garwin and head back to Reinbeck

It was a fun totally unexpected happening and everyone got a kick out of the locals and their hospitality. But we ended up having to move along eventually, and this was when the entire group ride thing was thrown out the window. We had people all over the place and I don't think I really rode with anyone after leaving Garwin for more than a few minutes. 

My balky drive train was the main reason why, and I was really upset about the bike. Overall, I liked it, but specifically to the drive train, it was a nightmare. Turned out to be the fiddly set up of the rear derailleur that SRAM is famous for. There was no time to deal with it on the ride, since my focus was on trying in vain to keep the group together and then after that failed I was in survival mode for about twenty miles. 

The Otso Waheela S I rode in the 2018 GTDRI

I made it back to Reinbeck, had a couple of beers and drove home. It was a tiny bit anti-climatic, to be honest, but with what happened in Garwin, there was not much of a chance that anything would top that experience. 

The ride, overall, was an unqualified success and again - the best GTDRI ever, in my opinion. I did not like that many took to running the end of the route like it was their personal training ride and that they left the "no-drop" mentality in the proverbial trash can. Again, afterward I had my feelings confirmed when I heard rumors that this ride was a great "training ride" for some of the attendees and that put me in a really sour mood. The GTDRI was a lot of things, but "training ride"? No. Absolutely not. And I was ready to quit inviting people if that was where it was going. 

But again, even with all of that, the ride was awesome. To me it represented the then new complexities of the gravel scene. On one hand you had the explorers, pioneers, the riders that were in it for the ride. Then you had others coming in that were making it all about Strava and competitions within what used to be "just riding a bike". You know, ya gotta be training for something! Big events, bucket lists, and all of that....

I get it. there is room for everyone, but the times had obviously changed. 

Next: the fall-out from the 2018 ride.

The GTDRI Stories: The 2018 GTDRI - Part 3

 "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!

The ride eventually pulled into Traer with one of the largest groups I've ever been in hitting a small town convenience store. This always was a bit of a blessing and a curse for these small stores because we were an outlier in their planning.

On one hand, we probably made their day, week, and month by showing up and purchasing goods. On the other hand, we threw off their planning by using up more stock than they thought they would and maybe we even threw off future stocking plans because the store manager may have thought we were a "trend" in an upward trajectory for the future. 

Of course, at the time all we cared about was getting water and grub to refuel for the next half and a little more of the course. Timing-wise we were way ahead of schedule, arriving nearly an hour earlier than we had the year before. So, I was in no particular hurry to leave again. But, as is the case with me, I feel the urge to get-a-move-on at some point and I finally herded up the cats and we left Traer's confines on one of my rides for the last time ever.

The only Traer stop shot I took. At the time I had no reason to believe this wouldn't happen again.

We had a bit of flat tire bother after leaving Traer.

The next section of the ride I have little memory of. In fact, that loss of memory starts in Traer. I just don't have many impressions from that part of the ride at all. I remember "O" Avenue's Level B dirt, and that we had some issues with tires along the way. Then my mind goes blank from there till we got to "I Avenue" and that "barely there" dirt/grass track. 

I cannot even say I was riding bad or good. The report after the ride said that the bike I was testing, an Otso Waheela S, had a SRAM 1X drive train that wasn't shifting into its three lowest gears. I suppose I wasn't having any fun at all throughout most of this part of the ride since it was the hilliest part on the course. 

Double "I" Avenue. ("II Ave")

I do recall shepherding the riders across HWY 63 and because I was being so carefull I ended up being waaaaay off the back. This meant that I wasn't in the conversations being had, but this ride was for those who showed up, not so much for me, and with a bigger group, I felt all the more responsibility for them. 

The guys did wait up for me at a few spots, so we did get to ride "I Ave" together, so maybe this is why I don't remember much about the route between Traer and "I Avenue". Maybe.... That or I am losing it. 

Yes, it really is a public roadway. Hard to believe.

More "II Ave" action. You can see riders way up the path here.

Kyle Platts (R.I.P.) took this one of me on "II Ave". Note the barely visible rider in the background!

Well, if there ever was a "hit roads" compilation for rural Iowa gravel, "II Ave" in Tama County would have to be a Top Ten " Hit Road". I've been on a lot of rural tracks that weren't fit for man or beast and that one is a standout road. Of course, I haven't seen 'em all, but ya gotta admit, that's one bizarre road right there! 

The riders all thought so as well. We gathered up everyone at the Northern terminus of the grassy track and everyone was remarking on how cool that experience was. That certainly made me feel good about the course, and I will never forget that response I received from everyone that spoke up. I imagine a few thought it was unnecessary, bonkers, and that I could have left that out of the course, but if there was anyone there that day that felt that way, I never heard about it. 

And at that moment in time, I figured that was the climax. the highlight of the ride, but we had a lot of riding ahead of us and I was afraid that the riders would be disappointed in the remainder of the course.However; I hadn't counted on something that happened that day that I, nor anyone else, could have imagined would happen. It turned out to be the highlight of the 2018 GTDRI. 

Next: The 2018 GTDRI - Part 4: Potato Water