Trans Iowa Stories: The Look of Trans Iowa

 "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! NOTE- These special posts on "The Look Of Trans Iowa" will feature the images made for the event. Header art for the website, posters, t-shirts, and anything relating to number plates and other things like postcards will be covered in this part of the story.

One of the most important parts of the event over the years was our art, mostly seen as "header panels" on the "Official Trans Iowa Website". The site was first put up as a Blogger site, (free), and populated by Jeff Kerkove. Jeff was already an accomplished blogger, having been doing his own cycling based blog for over a year or so by late 2004 when the T.I. site went live. Jeff was also an accomplished graphic designer, which was what he went to college for at the University of Northern Iowa. So, he knew all the ins and outs when it came to putting up images created from different elements and how to do customized fonts, etc.

Had I been the one in charge, well, it would have been a completely different story! I had been to school for art, and I have a certain amount of talent in that area, but to do anything in the digital realm? Ha! NOT happening, and in 2004, I was totally blind to how you do anything online. (I learned a LOT very quickly though)

Jeff was doing things for the event then that literally would have cost hundreds of dollars to have done by a professional. Perhaps there was no other facet of the event that was more influential, at least initially, than the website Jeff designed. It gave the event legitimacy, because of how it was presented. Below is the first header in its digital glory, thanks to Jeff Kerkove's recently sharing this on social media for the first time in 16 years.

This set the tone for what would follow. The element of Trans Iowa being somewhat "crazy" was a bit played down but what was front and center was that this was a challenge to overcome. "Do You Have What It Takes?" I think it is really important to understand that this was the foundation for Trans Iowa, and this element, the personal challenge/overcoming bit, would be a central facet for many other gravel based events afterward. When you see folks talking about "this event will push you", or "you will find out you are capable of more than you believed", it is a nod toward the ethos that Jeff Kerkove instilled into Trans Iowa, and which I and others shepherded along until the end of the event.

It also made it clear that this was a personal challenge. Note: It doesn't say "Who will have what it takes?" It says "Do YOU?". Again- this was central to the ethos of Trans Iowa. There was a "winner", sure, but we weren't so focused on winners. We weren't focused so much on the order of finish, just that you tried to finish. I have always held that anyone who tried to do a Trans Iowa "won" over fear, the unknown, and maybe even that they won over themselves. But whatever you may think, it is clear that from the outset that Trans Iowa was a personal challenge and very different from what had occurred before it. The art, therefore, is of utmost importance here, because from "Day One", this is what was presented to the world as what we were about here.

The second version of Trans Iowa featured this header art by Jeff Kerkove.

The second header begins to show off more of Jeff's personality and brings in his take on how crazy/insane this challenge was. Of course, by this time the whole "is it a mountain bike event" thing was long gone. But you will note that there is not a drop bar bike in the header image! (From the running of T.I.v1, by the way) Jeff was a mountain biker at heart, so this whole deal with drop bars was from a place he was not (yet) willing to go.

And we had presenting sponsors. That was the first, and the last, time that ever happened with Trans Iowa. It should be noted that those sponsors were the companies behind Jeff's solo 24hr efforts. Which, by the way, were a huge influence upon Trans Iowa, which I have talked about at length here before. At any rate, this again was a very slick, professional looking website banner image that made Trans Iowa look like it was something well organized and on point- which it clearly was not! I find this rather ironic looking back. Subsequent Trans Iowa headers would take a far different approach to their messaging and there were reasons for that, which I will get into on subsequent "The Look Of Trans Iowa" posts in the future.

The next time you see one of these it will be about the T.I.v3 and v4 headers. 

Thank You: It goes without saying that I owe a tremendous debt and huge amount of gratitude to Jeff Kerkove for all the efforts he put in for Trans Iowa's website and, of course, for the event in the early years. However; this special thanks is for his posting of the original v1 artwork. I did not have this, and he graciously shared that via social media on March 28th, 2020. So, Thanks Jeff! That means a lot to me that you are taking some credit after all these years for your early influence upon the gravel scene as we know it today.

Next: A Brief History Of Numbers And Cues.

Trans Iowa Stories: The Look of Trans Iowa

 "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! NOTE- These special posts on "The Look Of Trans Iowa" will feature the images made for the event. Header art for the website, posters, t-shirts, and anything relating to number plates and other things like postcards will be covered in this part of the story.

One of the most important parts of the event over the years was our art, mostly seen as "header panels" on the "Official Trans Iowa Website". The site was first put up as a Blogger site, (free), and populated by Jeff Kerkove. Jeff was already an accomplished blogger, having been doing his own cycling based blog for over a year or so by late 2004 when the T.I. site went live. Jeff was also an accomplished graphic designer, which was what he went to college for at the University of Northern Iowa. So, he knew all the ins and outs when it came to putting up images created from different elements and how to do customized fonts, etc.

Had I been the one in charge, well, it would have been a completely different story! I had been to school for art, and I have a certain amount of talent in that area, but to do anything in the digital realm? Ha! NOT happening, and in 2004, I was totally blind to how you do anything online. (I learned a LOT very quickly though)

Jeff was doing things for the event then that literally would have cost hundreds of dollars to have done by a professional. Perhaps there was no other facet of the event that was more influential, at least initially, than the website Jeff designed. It gave the event legitimacy, because of how it was presented. Below is the first header in its digital glory, thanks to Jeff Kerkove's recently sharing this on social media for the first time in 16 years.

This set the tone for what would follow. The element of Trans Iowa being somewhat "crazy" was a bit played down but what was front and center was that this was a challenge to overcome. "Do You Have What It Takes?" I think it is really important to understand that this was the foundation for Trans Iowa, and this element, the personal challenge/overcoming bit, would be a central facet for many other gravel based events afterward. When you see folks talking about "this event will push you", or "you will find out you are capable of more than you believed", it is a nod toward the ethos that Jeff Kerkove instilled into Trans Iowa, and which I and others shepherded along until the end of the event.

It also made it clear that this was a personal challenge. Note: It doesn't say "Who will have what it takes?" It says "Do YOU?". Again- this was central to the ethos of Trans Iowa. There was a "winner", sure, but we weren't so focused on winners. We weren't focused so much on the order of finish, just that you tried to finish. I have always held that anyone who tried to do a Trans Iowa "won" over fear, the unknown, and maybe even that they won over themselves. But whatever you may think, it is clear that from the outset that Trans Iowa was a personal challenge and very different from what had occurred before it. The art, therefore, is of utmost importance here, because from "Day One", this is what was presented to the world as what we were about here.

The second version of Trans Iowa featured this header art by Jeff Kerkove.

The second header begins to show off more of Jeff's personality and brings in his take on how crazy/insane this challenge was. Of course, by this time the whole "is it a mountain bike event" thing was long gone. But you will note that there is not a drop bar bike in the header image! (From the running of T.I.v1, by the way) Jeff was a mountain biker at heart, so this whole deal with drop bars was from a place he was not (yet) willing to go.

And we had presenting sponsors. That was the first, and the last, time that ever happened with Trans Iowa. It should be noted that those sponsors were the companies behind Jeff's solo 24hr efforts. Which, by the way, were a huge influence upon Trans Iowa, which I have talked about at length here before. At any rate, this again was a very slick, professional looking website banner image that made Trans Iowa look like it was something well organized and on point- which it clearly was not! I find this rather ironic looking back. Subsequent Trans Iowa headers would take a far different approach to their messaging and there were reasons for that, which I will get into on subsequent "The Look Of Trans Iowa" posts in the future.

The next time you see one of these it will be about the T.I.v3 and v4 headers. 

Thank You: It goes without saying that I owe a tremendous debt and huge amount of gratitude to Jeff Kerkove for all the efforts he put in for Trans Iowa's website and, of course, for the event in the early years. However; this special thanks is for his posting of the original v1 artwork. I did not have this, and he graciously shared that via social media on March 28th, 2020. So, Thanks Jeff! That means a lot to me that you are taking some credit after all these years for your early influence upon the gravel scene as we know it today.

Next: A Brief History Of Numbers And Cues.

Trans Iowa Stories: Tales Of v2 Part 3

If you look carefully, you can see riders on the left in the ditch. Image by Jeff Kerkove

 "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!

Well, Trans Iowa v2 was the event that set the tone for Trans Iowa for several years afterward. It took until v11 until the legend of this event was eclipsed. Some versions came close, but T.I.v2 was one for the ages.

My experience is pretty much a remembrance of a few key things during the event. First off, I can not recall that the start was that big of a deal. Yes- it was the first 4:00am start, but riders were especially nervous, quiet, and hoping the mist that was falling wouldn't break out into a full on rain. Which, by the way, it would not have made any difference at all if it had not rained. The damage was done already.

But back to the start. We rolled out and this being my first rodeo with a nighttime start, I found that I was immediately into that "alone zone" which I had experienced the year before, only this was right out of the gate. I couldn't see anything but what was illuminated by my headlights. I ran across a couple of "support people" on the route. One was Majiec Nowak who was looking for his brother, Marcin. Apparently he had already called in for pick-up and the Sun hadn't come up yet! My next encounter was with the father of another racer, Joe Partridge. It didn't look good for Joe to make it in v2 as he had the year before. This deal with cars on course was going to have to be dealt with.

The first Level B Road was cause for excitement for Jeff and I. We both rendezvoused at the beginning of that section where we saw about 12-20 guys rolling in a group all head right into the muck head on. Many expletives were expressed! Then I went to the other side of that mess to time how long it might take for riders to ride through it all.

The Level B Roads killed everyone's ability to reach the cutoff time point in Algona. Image by Jeff Kerkove.

 Well, I was floored by how long it took. I never dreamed they would be walking a whole mile! This was bad, bad, bad! I had a gut feeling things were not going to go well for me that day. I assumed wholeheartedly that I would be dealing with very angry racers and maybe I would even get punched out. Seriously! I was totally ready to take a LOT of abuse for this course choice. However; as bad as it was, that fear never materialized. For years afterward I would always joke that someday someone would punch me in the face for the courses I dreamt up, and this is where that saying came from.

Unlike v1, Jeff was there and his blogging skills were such that he snapped a lot of great, iconic Trans Iowa images that day. If you have a particular image in mind from this event, chances are Jeff shot it. By this time I had a digital camera as well, but I did not get as many images as Jeff did that day, nor any as iconic as those he got. Of course, Jeff was familiar with what it took to do an ultra-endurance effort, so he kind of knew what to look for in an image.

Jesse LaLonde, staring blankly at a piece of pizza covered in Cheetos, at a convenience store in Sutherland Iowa. Image by Jeff Kerkove.

Well, there was the Paulina convenience store, where the lead group was still hoping against hope to somehow claw back enough time to get to Algona in time. It was full on raining by this point. Most of the field had, by this point, dropped out. This was what was left of T.I.v2- about ten to twelve riders.

Then the interminably long wait at the end of a three mile stretch of Level B's just terminating North of Sutherland, Iowa. This was where Trans Iowa v2 ended for most everyone else that hadn't dropped out by then. The convenience store in town was the focal point for the decision to quit for most. Most - other than two riders from Canada who carried on until about 5:00pm. Dallas Sigurdur and Lindsay Gauld were the two who went the furthest, reaching Mallard, Iowa and then holing up in a bar until they were picked up by their fellow Canadian, Patrick Humenney.

Well, that was that. Afterward, Jeff made a couple of You Tube edits featuring the end of the last mess of Level B's and then another with his van following Sigurdur and Gauld up the hill out of Wanata State Park on 125th South out of Petersen, Iowa. That last edit was a haunting one showing the windshield wipers on delay and the two riders slowly clawing their way up to the sounds of "The Verve's" Bittersweet Symphony. I must have watched that clip a thousand times. (It was pulled down eventually due to copyright issues, of course) Anyway, I can clearly see that clip every time I hear that melody.

A rider picked up a "souvenir" along the road during Trans Iowa v2. Image by Jeff Kerkove.

Jeff had a way with media and that was clearly evident in his handling of the Trans Iowa v2 imagery. He clearly made an impact afterward upon several folks with what he produced, and of course, the tales coming out of that event were legendary. The event no one could finish! It was too odd that this was happening in Iowa of all places. I know that it raised some eyebrows, and going forward, Trans Iowa had a certain "something-something" which struck fear and awe into the minds of those who tried to comprehend what we were up to.

In many ways, because we had set such a course for a gravel event, it made others do things very differently, and others were starting to offer alternatives to Trans Iowa, (and by association, Dirty Kanza), which weren't so daunting, but still were gravel based and free from restrictions set by the ways things had been done in the past. But that is a different story. This is about Trans Iowa.

Next: Trans Iowa v3 - Moving On.

Trans Iowa Stories: Tales Of v2 Part 3

If you look carefully, you can see riders on the left in the ditch. Image by Jeff Kerkove

 "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!

Well, Trans Iowa v2 was the event that set the tone for Trans Iowa for several years afterward. It took until v11 until the legend of this event was eclipsed. Some versions came close, but T.I.v2 was one for the ages.

My experience is pretty much a remembrance of a few key things during the event. First off, I can not recall that the start was that big of a deal. Yes- it was the first 4:00am start, but riders were especially nervous, quiet, and hoping the mist that was falling wouldn't break out into a full on rain. Which, by the way, it would not have made any difference at all if it had not rained. The damage was done already.

But back to the start. We rolled out and this being my first rodeo with a nighttime start, I found that I was immediately into that "alone zone" which I had experienced the year before, only this was right out of the gate. I couldn't see anything but what was illuminated by my headlights. I ran across a couple of "support people" on the route. One was Majiec Nowak who was looking for his brother, Marcin. Apparently he had already called in for pick-up and the Sun hadn't come up yet! My next encounter was with the father of another racer, Joe Partridge. It didn't look good for Joe to make it in v2 as he had the year before. This deal with cars on course was going to have to be dealt with.

The first Level B Road was cause for excitement for Jeff and I. We both rendezvoused at the beginning of that section where we saw about 12-20 guys rolling in a group all head right into the muck head on. Many expletives were expressed! Then I went to the other side of that mess to time how long it might take for riders to ride through it all.

The Level B Roads killed everyone's ability to reach the cutoff time point in Algona. Image by Jeff Kerkove.

 Well, I was floored by how long it took. I never dreamed they would be walking a whole mile! This was bad, bad, bad! I had a gut feeling things were not going to go well for me that day. I assumed wholeheartedly that I would be dealing with very angry racers and maybe I would even get punched out. Seriously! I was totally ready to take a LOT of abuse for this course choice. However; as bad as it was, that fear never materialized. For years afterward I would always joke that someday someone would punch me in the face for the courses I dreamt up, and this is where that saying came from.

Unlike v1, Jeff was there and his blogging skills were such that he snapped a lot of great, iconic Trans Iowa images that day. If you have a particular image in mind from this event, chances are Jeff shot it. By this time I had a digital camera as well, but I did not get as many images as Jeff did that day, nor any as iconic as those he got. Of course, Jeff was familiar with what it took to do an ultra-endurance effort, so he kind of knew what to look for in an image.

Jesse LaLonde, staring blankly at a piece of pizza covered in Cheetos, at a convenience store in Sutherland Iowa. Image by Jeff Kerkove.

Well, there was the Paulina convenience store, where the lead group was still hoping against hope to somehow claw back enough time to get to Algona in time. It was full on raining by this point. Most of the field had, by this point, dropped out. This was what was left of T.I.v2- about ten to twelve riders.

Then the interminably long wait at the end of a three mile stretch of Level B's just terminating North of Sutherland, Iowa. This was where Trans Iowa v2 ended for most everyone else that hadn't dropped out by then. The convenience store in town was the focal point for the decision to quit for most. Most - other than two riders from Canada who carried on until about 5:00pm. Dallas Sigurdur and Lindsay Gauld were the two who went the furthest, reaching Mallard, Iowa and then holing up in a bar until they were picked up by their fellow Canadian, Patrick Humenney.

Well, that was that. Afterward, Jeff made a couple of You Tube edits featuring the end of the last mess of Level B's and then another with his van following Sigurdur and Gauld up the hill out of Wanata State Park on 125th South out of Petersen, Iowa. That last edit was a haunting one showing the windshield wipers on delay and the two riders slowly clawing their way up to the sounds of "The Verve's" Bittersweet Symphony. I must have watched that clip a thousand times. (It was pulled down eventually due to copyright issues, of course) Anyway, I can clearly see that clip every time I hear that melody.

A rider picked up a "souvenir" along the road during Trans Iowa v2. Image by Jeff Kerkove.

Jeff had a way with media and that was clearly evident in his handling of the Trans Iowa v2 imagery. He clearly made an impact afterward upon several folks with what he produced, and of course, the tales coming out of that event were legendary. The event no one could finish! It was too odd that this was happening in Iowa of all places. I know that it raised some eyebrows, and going forward, Trans Iowa had a certain "something-something" which struck fear and awe into the minds of those who tried to comprehend what we were up to.

In many ways, because we had set such a course for a gravel event, it made others do things very differently, and others were starting to offer alternatives to Trans Iowa, (and by association, Dirty Kanza), which weren't so daunting, but still were gravel based and free from restrictions set by the ways things had been done in the past. But that is a different story. This is about Trans Iowa.

Next: Trans Iowa v3 - Moving On.

Trans Iowa Stories: Tales Of v2 Part 2

The start of T.I.v2- The first 4:00am Trans Iowa start ever, in Hawarden, Iowa.

 "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 road to Trans Iowa v2 was a bit smoother, we had more confidence, and things were dialed in a bit better. Yeah, there was the "Rogue Seven" incident. That was a big scare for us. Well.....for me anyway. The story was that Jeff had set up online registration to go live on a Saturday night. What happened was that it went live on Saturday morning! I was getting e-mails about it and that is how I found out. I was at home, and Jeff was working. Since he wasn't at his home computer, he couldn't get to fixing it right away. So before he got it shut down, a bunch of registrations went through. We were immediately aware that seven guys got in, but the number turned out to be slightly higher than that. In the end, "Rogue Seven" stuck, and the guys that slipped in early kind of had a cult-like status for a few hours.

 I remember the days leading up to v2 at the shop where Jeff and I worked. We were pretty loose. There was a good feeling about this one. But then, the weather turned on us. Three days before T.I.v2 it started raining over Northwest Iowa. Not just any ol' rain, but the steady, soaking type of rain that swells the Earth, causes the rich Iowa soil to become a sticky mess, and the kind of rain that fills pools and ditches to overflowing after a while. This is what we faced going into it.

But it didn't seem to dampen our spirits much. We were stoked and hopeful that the event would be a great one. I remember loading up the shop van behind the store and it was like Jeff and I were playing hooky. It was as if we were off on a "road trip" and leaving all our Worldly responsibilities behind to go do some crazy stuff in rural Iowa. The drive out was one of the most fun times I've ever had during Trans Iowa. We were having a hoot!

Things got a bit more sober when we came into an area not more than 40 miles from the start at Hawarden and took a look at a road we were going to have on course. Now it matters that you understand the gravel out there to get a handle on what the conditions were like. Later, after T.I.v2, we were told by Rich Gosen, a man learned in the ways of geology, that the gravel out there was mainly "glacial till". This gravel, local to Northwest Iowa, is mostly quartz, granite, and sand. It makes for a gravel that can hold a LOT of water, not letting it run off. If you've ever been in Minnesota, upper Wisconsin, or around the Great Lakes, you'll understand it when I say that the roads for T.I.v2 were like a soaked lake beach.

This shot, taken West of Paulina, Iowa, illustrates the Northwestern Iowa "glacial till" gravel conditions during T.I.v2

Jeff and I were concerned, but we shrugged our shoulders and headed onward to Hawarden anyway. What could we do? We had decided weather wasn't going to postpone this event, and so, we moved forward. Once we reached Hawarden, the gray skies continued to spew a mist here and there, but we were focused upon our task at hand. That being the "pre-race meeting", which was going to be facilitated by Jeff and I at the local Pizza Ranch in their party room.

Jeff doing some ninja moves while I look on. Pre-race meeting, T.I.v2 Image by Dave Nice

The event was marked by the appearance this time of the LaLonde Brothers. Both were single speed aces in the MTB fields at the Wisconsin based WORS Series. The Pre-race meeting had to happen the night before now, with the 4:00am start. We held the meeting during the get-together at Pizza Ranch and had a "rider call-up". This started the annual tradition of the T.I. racer call up I used until the very last one. I started calling riders up for v2 in alphabetical order that year as Jeff did the handing out of bags. Jesse LaLonde approached me just as I called him up to ask that I announce his brother, Mark, as "The Darkness", and that he'd be especially pleased if I would do that. Of course, I did. I think he was actually happy about that too.

The pre-race was marked by the sobriety and solemness that an event going into nasty weather often has. We had a fair number of "no-shows", so even though we had let 70 people in, only 51 actually started. This was also the event that marked the beginning of our relationship, (mine, actually, since Jeff left for Colorado by the next year) with the Nebraska Crew. There were several good friendships that came out of that race.

The pre-race ended and Jeff and I went to the same host home we used for T.I.v1, but if I recall correctly, there may have been no other racers there, just us. Anyway, the host family had put in a new toilet since we'd been there a year prior and it was so loud when flushed I awoke every time it was used throughout the evening. As would become typical, any sleep for me prior to a 4:00am start of a Trans Iowa was minimal to none. We got up at 2:30am and started our day.

There were a few Canadians in the event this time and they wanted Jeff to ferry their van across the state as the event progressed. So, at the start I was kind of back on my own again, driving the shop van, while Jeff kind of laid back and did......? I really do not know what he was doing and would not see him again until well after Sunrise.

Next: T.I.v2 tales, part 3.

Trans Iowa Stories: Tales Of v2 Part 2

The start of T.I.v2- The first 4:00am Trans Iowa start ever, in Hawarden, Iowa.

 "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 road to Trans Iowa v2 was a bit smoother, we had more confidence, and things were dialed in a bit better. Yeah, there was the "Rogue Seven" incident. That was a big scare for us. Well.....for me anyway. The story was that Jeff had set up online registration to go live on a Saturday night. What happened was that it went live on Saturday morning! I was getting e-mails about it and that is how I found out. I was at home, and Jeff was working. Since he wasn't at his home computer, he couldn't get to fixing it right away. So before he got it shut down, a bunch of registrations went through. We were immediately aware that seven guys got in, but the number turned out to be slightly higher than that. In the end, "Rogue Seven" stuck, and the guys that slipped in early kind of had a cult-like status for a few hours.

 I remember the days leading up to v2 at the shop where Jeff and I worked. We were pretty loose. There was a good feeling about this one. But then, the weather turned on us. Three days before T.I.v2 it started raining over Northwest Iowa. Not just any ol' rain, but the steady, soaking type of rain that swells the Earth, causes the rich Iowa soil to become a sticky mess, and the kind of rain that fills pools and ditches to overflowing after a while. This is what we faced going into it.

But it didn't seem to dampen our spirits much. We were stoked and hopeful that the event would be a great one. I remember loading up the shop van behind the store and it was like Jeff and I were playing hooky. It was as if we were off on a "road trip" and leaving all our Worldly responsibilities behind to go do some crazy stuff in rural Iowa. The drive out was one of the most fun times I've ever had during Trans Iowa. We were having a hoot!

Things got a bit more sober when we came into an area not more than 40 miles from the start at Hawarden and took a look at a road we were going to have on course. Now it matters that you understand the gravel out there to get a handle on what the conditions were like. Later, after T.I.v2, we were told by Rich Gosen, a man learned in the ways of geology, that the gravel out there was mainly "glacial till". This gravel, local to Northwest Iowa, is mostly quartz, granite, and sand. It makes for a gravel that can hold a LOT of water, not letting it run off. If you've ever been in Minnesota, upper Wisconsin, or around the Great Lakes, you'll understand it when I say that the roads for T.I.v2 were like a soaked lake beach.

This shot, taken West of Paulina, Iowa, illustrates the Northwestern Iowa "glacial till" gravel conditions during T.I.v2

Jeff and I were concerned, but we shrugged our shoulders and headed onward to Hawarden anyway. What could we do? We had decided weather wasn't going to postpone this event, and so, we moved forward. Once we reached Hawarden, the gray skies continued to spew a mist here and there, but we were focused upon our task at hand. That being the "pre-race meeting", which was going to be facilitated by Jeff and I at the local Pizza Ranch in their party room.

Jeff doing some ninja moves while I look on. Pre-race meeting, T.I.v2 Image by Dave Nice

The event was marked by the appearance this time of the LaLonde Brothers. Both were single speed aces in the MTB fields at the Wisconsin based WORS Series. The Pre-race meeting had to happen the night before now, with the 4:00am start. We held the meeting during the get-together at Pizza Ranch and had a "rider call-up". This started the annual tradition of the T.I. racer call up I used until the very last one. I started calling riders up for v2 in alphabetical order that year as Jeff did the handing out of bags. Jesse LaLonde approached me just as I called him up to ask that I announce his brother, Mark, as "The Darkness", and that he'd be especially pleased if I would do that. Of course, I did. I think he was actually happy about that too.

The pre-race was marked by the sobriety and solemness that an event going into nasty weather often has. We had a fair number of "no-shows", so even though we had let 70 people in, only 51 actually started. This was also the event that marked the beginning of our relationship, (mine, actually, since Jeff left for Colorado by the next year) with the Nebraska Crew. There were several good friendships that came out of that race.

The pre-race ended and Jeff and I went to the same host home we used for T.I.v1, but if I recall correctly, there may have been no other racers there, just us. Anyway, the host family had put in a new toilet since we'd been there a year prior and it was so loud when flushed I awoke every time it was used throughout the evening. As would become typical, any sleep for me prior to a 4:00am start of a Trans Iowa was minimal to none. We got up at 2:30am and started our day.

There were a few Canadians in the event this time and they wanted Jeff to ferry their van across the state as the event progressed. So, at the start I was kind of back on my own again, driving the shop van, while Jeff kind of laid back and did......? I really do not know what he was doing and would not see him again until well after Sunrise.

Next: T.I.v2 tales, part 3.

History Rediscovered

(L-R) Ryan, myself, and Troy from the end of the "Race Against Death Tour"

This weekend I was digging around for some images I thought I might have tucked away some where. Okay......I need to explain. These weren't digital images, they are images on Kodak paper. You know........photographs? So, they were in a desk I haven't looked in for a while, so I didn't know exactly where they would be found.

Digging around I found a few other things. Maps I used to set up some early Guitar Ted Death Rides, some cues I drew up for solo gravel rides, and some early Trans Iowa cue sheet sets.

Those T.I. cues were from V2 and V3. I had forgotten how big those things were! They were a full 5.5" X 6" in size! That's crazy when the last set I produced were 4" X 5". The set for V2 is kind of a strange one because the second half was never seen by anyone but Jeff Kerkove and myself. I looked those old cues over and you know what? I can see much of it in my mind to this day, thirteen years later. Weird, huh?

I know a few folks would love to see what the second half of T.I.v2 was going to be like, but......nah! I've kept that off the radar this long, why stop now? Besides, there is a big chunk of T.I.v2 that was used for the Trans Iowa Masters Program. So, it isn't like I haven't let some of the cat outta the bag.

Ginormous cue sheets!

Well, eventually I came across the few images I have from my tour that I did in 1995. If you haven't noticed, I am recounting that tour in blog form every Sunday here. It's called the "Touring Series". Check it out.

The big thing that keeps striking me about looking back is that the entire way that we did things back then would nearly be impossible to recreate today. No cell phones is probably the single biggest thing that factors into this. I think about how many things are connected to that little device and how not having those things changes everything about a ride today.

No images, no social media, no connection to the world wide web, no information about weather, nothing! Try taking your next ride and leaving your phone at home and your GPS computer at home. See if you don't get anxious about that. Well, we never even had that choice back then.

So, just trying to do a big, long, self-supported tour with zero connection to anything would be deemed, well.......maybe it would be called "stupid" by your relatives and friends. They probably would be pretty offended if you tried that stunt today. Back then, no one thought twice about letting you do that. Yeah.....they thought you were crazy, but they weren't going to tell you not to do it because they couldn't keep track of you. That situation was everyday normalcy back then! 

Then there is the whole distracted driver thing now. That wasn't even an issue back then, and I suppose you could partially blame cell phones for that as well. Cell phones are the devil! Ha! But seriously, we never ever had any fear of being pasted by an inattentive driver back then. Someone trying to scare you or just downright being mean? Yeah......we got that, but rarely did that situation ever arise. Things were totally different out on the open roads back in the 90's.

So, I was reminiscing over the weekend as I looked at those old cues and especially at those old images. You can look forward to seeing a few of those in the coming weeks on the "Touring Series" which, again, posts every Sunday for the next several weeks. I am excited to post those images. The story of the one above will be told at the end of the tale. I won't give away what that is just yet. It does show the three main characters in the story though. Ryan, Troy, and myself. I am easy to spot since I was the biggest guy by far! Ha!

History Rediscovered

(L-R) Ryan, myself, and Troy from the end of the "Race Against Death Tour"

This weekend I was digging around for some images I thought I might have tucked away some where. Okay......I need to explain. These weren't digital images, they are images on Kodak paper. You know........photographs? So, they were in a desk I haven't looked in for a while, so I didn't know exactly where they would be found.

Digging around I found a few other things. Maps I used to set up some early Guitar Ted Death Rides, some cues I drew up for solo gravel rides, and some early Trans Iowa cue sheet sets.

Those T.I. cues were from V2 and V3. I had forgotten how big those things were! They were a full 5.5" X 6" in size! That's crazy when the last set I produced were 4" X 5". The set for V2 is kind of a strange one because the second half was never seen by anyone but Jeff Kerkove and myself. I looked those old cues over and you know what? I can see much of it in my mind to this day, thirteen years later. Weird, huh?

I know a few folks would love to see what the second half of T.I.v2 was going to be like, but......nah! I've kept that off the radar this long, why stop now? Besides, there is a big chunk of T.I.v2 that was used for the Trans Iowa Masters Program. So, it isn't like I haven't let some of the cat outta the bag.

Ginormous cue sheets!

Well, eventually I came across the few images I have from my tour that I did in 1995. If you haven't noticed, I am recounting that tour in blog form every Sunday here. It's called the "Touring Series". Check it out.

The big thing that keeps striking me about looking back is that the entire way that we did things back then would nearly be impossible to recreate today. No cell phones is probably the single biggest thing that factors into this. I think about how many things are connected to that little device and how not having those things changes everything about a ride today.

No images, no social media, no connection to the world wide web, no information about weather, nothing! Try taking your next ride and leaving your phone at home and your GPS computer at home. See if you don't get anxious about that. Well, we never even had that choice back then.

So, just trying to do a big, long, self-supported tour with zero connection to anything would be deemed, well.......maybe it would be called "stupid" by your relatives and friends. They probably would be pretty offended if you tried that stunt today. Back then, no one thought twice about letting you do that. Yeah.....they thought you were crazy, but they weren't going to tell you not to do it because they couldn't keep track of you. That situation was everyday normalcy back then! 

Then there is the whole distracted driver thing now. That wasn't even an issue back then, and I suppose you could partially blame cell phones for that as well. Cell phones are the devil! Ha! But seriously, we never ever had any fear of being pasted by an inattentive driver back then. Someone trying to scare you or just downright being mean? Yeah......we got that, but rarely did that situation ever arise. Things were totally different out on the open roads back in the 90's.

So, I was reminiscing over the weekend as I looked at those old cues and especially at those old images. You can look forward to seeing a few of those in the coming weeks on the "Touring Series" which, again, posts every Sunday for the next several weeks. I am excited to post those images. The story of the one above will be told at the end of the tale. I won't give away what that is just yet. It does show the three main characters in the story though. Ryan, Troy, and myself. I am easy to spot since I was the biggest guy by far! Ha!

Minus Ten Review- 19

No- I probably won't be using Nokon housing on my rebuild of this frame!

Ten years ago this week on the blog there was a bit of chatter about the ending of T.I.v2 and the future of the event itself. First, about the ending of the event that year.....

Due to the fact that the second version of Trans Iowa was a wash out, and it was obvious that no one would make the time cut, Jeff decided to put it out there that the race was on to Algona. Now....we still had a cut off time. It was confusing at best, but since the conditions were horrible, most riders decided for us by dropping out. Only Dallas Sigurdur and Lindsay Gauld were still pedaling by late afternoon.

It took a while to piece together what happened that day, as it does for any Trans Iowa. Now days I have more "eyes" out there in Wally and George and now Mike and Tony. We have two checkpoints and sometimes an observation point for our own information gathering. Besides minute details of particular rider's experiences, we have a good handle on what is going down out there these days. That was not the case at all when Jeff and I ran the event ten years ago. We knew very little about what was going on.

Heck, I didn't even know what had happened near the ending of the first Trans Iowa until a few months before T.I.v2 occurred. I had no idea that Ira Ryan and Brian Hannon had leapfrogged Alex Dollp in the wee hours of the morning due to a cutting of the course. Back in those days, I had a lot to learn, and the learning curve was steep! So, we didn't piece together the end game of T.I.v2 for a couple of weeks afterward. Lindsay and Dallas made it to Mallard, Iowa, sat in a bar and were eating when Paddy called them and found out where they were at. They then, according to the blog ten years ago, decided not to make the big push into Algona, approximately 50 more miles as the course ran, and had Paddy go fetch them. The story was that the two Canadian riders rode up the road to West Bend where they were finally picked up by Paddy. "Officially" we tagged them as having dropped out at Mallard because they accepted that they were done, and that time ran out on them.

The other bit about Trans Iowa was the feedback on the event we sought. Should we run it every two years? This wasn't our idea, by the way, it was driven by a few competitors. In the end, we decided to run every year as we couldn't fathom not having that much fun every Spring!

Besides that, no one wanted anything else to change about Trans Iowa, although there would be one major change coming and that was an influence of the first Dirty Kanza. That story can wait for a bit....

The other all-consuming story of the week ten years ago was a direct comparison of my Karate Monkey and Inbred single speed bikes. I took about four days of posts to break down the differences between the two bikes. I found that the Inbred was a much nicer bike in terms of ride quality and single track handling. Brant Richards, the brains behind the design, was one of, if not the first, to slap a long offset fork on a 29"er to get that "26"er feeling" many companies were trying to get with super steep head angles. Anyone remember the days of 72° head angle 29'ers? There were even some that went as steep as 73°!! All because the suspension manufacturers were locked into a 38mm offset, a vestige of 26"er "NORBA" geometry hard tails from the 90's. You can thank folks like Brant and Gary Fisher/Trek for being the ones that finally broke that mold and allowed designers to finally, as Gary Fisher said, "tune our rides", with front end geometry that actually worked better.

Anyway.........I digress! Sorry about that!

Minus Ten Review- 19

No- I probably won't be using Nokon housing on my rebuild of this frame!

Ten years ago this week on the blog there was a bit of chatter about the ending of T.I.v2 and the future of the event itself. First, about the ending of the event that year.....

Due to the fact that the second version of Trans Iowa was a wash out, and it was obvious that no one would make the time cut, Jeff decided to put it out there that the race was on to Algona. Now....we still had a cut off time. It was confusing at best, but since the conditions were horrible, most riders decided for us by dropping out. Only Dallas Sigurdur and Lindsay Gauld were still pedaling by late afternoon.

It took a while to piece together what happened that day, as it does for any Trans Iowa. Now days I have more "eyes" out there in Wally and George and now Mike and Tony. We have two checkpoints and sometimes an observation point for our own information gathering. Besides minute details of particular rider's experiences, we have a good handle on what is going down out there these days. That was not the case at all when Jeff and I ran the event ten years ago. We knew very little about what was going on.

Heck, I didn't even know what had happened near the ending of the first Trans Iowa until a few months before T.I.v2 occurred. I had no idea that Ira Ryan and Brian Hannon had leapfrogged Alex Dollp in the wee hours of the morning due to a cutting of the course. Back in those days, I had a lot to learn, and the learning curve was steep! So, we didn't piece together the end game of T.I.v2 for a couple of weeks afterward. Lindsay and Dallas made it to Mallard, Iowa, sat in a bar and were eating when Paddy called them and found out where they were at. They then, according to the blog ten years ago, decided not to make the big push into Algona, approximately 50 more miles as the course ran, and had Paddy go fetch them. The story was that the two Canadian riders rode up the road to West Bend where they were finally picked up by Paddy. "Officially" we tagged them as having dropped out at Mallard because they accepted that they were done, and that time ran out on them.

The other bit about Trans Iowa was the feedback on the event we sought. Should we run it every two years? This wasn't our idea, by the way, it was driven by a few competitors. In the end, we decided to run every year as we couldn't fathom not having that much fun every Spring!

Besides that, no one wanted anything else to change about Trans Iowa, although there would be one major change coming and that was an influence of the first Dirty Kanza. That story can wait for a bit....

The other all-consuming story of the week ten years ago was a direct comparison of my Karate Monkey and Inbred single speed bikes. I took about four days of posts to break down the differences between the two bikes. I found that the Inbred was a much nicer bike in terms of ride quality and single track handling. Brant Richards, the brains behind the design, was one of, if not the first, to slap a long offset fork on a 29"er to get that "26"er feeling" many companies were trying to get with super steep head angles. Anyone remember the days of 72° head angle 29'ers? There were even some that went as steep as 73°!! All because the suspension manufacturers were locked into a 38mm offset, a vestige of 26"er "NORBA" geometry hard tails from the 90's. You can thank folks like Brant and Gary Fisher/Trek for being the ones that finally broke that mold and allowed designers to finally, as Gary Fisher said, "tune our rides", with front end geometry that actually worked better.

Anyway.........I digress! Sorry about that!

Minus Ten Review- 13

From Trans Iowa v2 recon ten years ago.

Ten years ago on the blog here I was mentioning that Daylight Savings Time was set to kick in on the first weekend in April. Remember that? We used to have to wait until April before the time "sprang forward" and we got a dramatic shift in the day.

I still think the concept is goofy.

Anyway, another big deal on the blog on this week ten years ago was my third "Ted-terview" of an endurance athlete. This time it was Paddy Humenny of Canada who got the focus. I met Paddy through Trans Iowa, (amongst many others since then), and he also was a finisher of the first Dirty Kanza which was set to happen later after our interview.

Finally, I was out and about toward the first part of April doing some checking on the Trans Iowa v2 course. Some things don't change in a decade! However; that year was a first for me, and I was doing much of the course work on my own at that time. I do remember that Jeff and I drove out there once and looked at things, then I am pretty sure I did that once on my own, (which may have been this trip in April '06), and I know I was out one other time alone. Keeping in mind that it was a four to five hour drive just to get to the beginning of the route, and you can maybe see why when we found out about the DK200's loop format, we were immediate fans! Oh! And all of those hours of windshield time and work went for naught in '06 as the route was never traveled due to weather. Only about 50-75 miles were traversed by most and a 110 by a couple of guys. That was unprecedented until the '10 event which was similarly wet, and the shortest was last years' event. Only Greg Gleason made it 128 miles, everyone else was out by Mile 53. Compare what Gleason did last year to T.I.v2, and he would not have gotten to Algona, which was the only checkpoint that year, with that amount of mileage with the rest of the state left to cross. In other words, that Level B in the image above? He wouldn't have seen that either!

This road, by the way, was eventually seen by Greg Gleason! Yes, because he rode it, along with a few others, on the Trans Iowa Master's Course route in 2014.

Minus Ten Review- 13

From Trans Iowa v2 recon ten years ago.

Ten years ago on the blog here I was mentioning that Daylight Savings Time was set to kick in on the first weekend in April. Remember that? We used to have to wait until April before the time "sprang forward" and we got a dramatic shift in the day.

I still think the concept is goofy.

Anyway, another big deal on the blog on this week ten years ago was my third "Ted-terview" of an endurance athlete. This time it was Paddy Humenny of Canada who got the focus. I met Paddy through Trans Iowa, (amongst many others since then), and he also was a finisher of the first Dirty Kanza which was set to happen later after our interview.

Finally, I was out and about toward the first part of April doing some checking on the Trans Iowa v2 course. Some things don't change in a decade! However; that year was a first for me, and I was doing much of the course work on my own at that time. I do remember that Jeff and I drove out there once and looked at things, then I am pretty sure I did that once on my own, (which may have been this trip in April '06), and I know I was out one other time alone. Keeping in mind that it was a four to five hour drive just to get to the beginning of the route, and you can maybe see why when we found out about the DK200's loop format, we were immediate fans! Oh! And all of those hours of windshield time and work went for naught in '06 as the route was never traveled due to weather. Only about 50-75 miles were traversed by most and a 110 by a couple of guys. That was unprecedented until the '10 event which was similarly wet, and the shortest was last years' event. Only Greg Gleason made it 128 miles, everyone else was out by Mile 53. Compare what Gleason did last year to T.I.v2, and he would not have gotten to Algona, which was the only checkpoint that year, with that amount of mileage with the rest of the state left to cross. In other words, that Level B in the image above? He wouldn't have seen that either!

This road, by the way, was eventually seen by Greg Gleason! Yes, because he rode it, along with a few others, on the Trans Iowa Master's Course route in 2014.

Minus Ten Review- 5

Ahhhh! My car! Jeff Kerkove reacts to how his Mazda 3 was getting trashed during T.I.V2 recon

Well, this week ten years ago on the blog, I was finally able to get back to regularly scheduled programming when my CPU was wiped for virus attacks and restored to normalcy. Then it was off to far Western Iowa with my then co-conspirator in Trans Iowa, Jeff Kerkove, to recon the planned route for the now infamous Trans Iowa v2 course.

This was an all weekend deal as we would drive five hours to Hawarden, Iowa, on the Western border of the state, and start tracing the route back East. We would get to Jeff's hometown of Algona, stop for the evening to see Jeff's parent's, and stay overnight at their home. I believe it was on this trip that Jeff's mother, Linda, made a pan of Scotcheroos, which had Jeff drooling. This was a big shock to me since Jeff was so anti-anything sweet and gooey normally. It went against his very strict dietary guidelines, but you know what they say about Momma's cooking!

I got to stay at their place in Algona twice, as I recall. The first and second years of Trans Iowa. I'm not sure which version it was, but one year I got to sleep in the spare bedroom which had been converted into a computer room, and which had a great picture on the wall of Jeff when he was a youginz. I should have snapped a photo of that!

One of the approximately 14 miles of Level B road in T.I.v2's first 75 miles.

 We then took the next day to not only recon the remaining route to Decorah, but we also had a meeting with a couple of Decorah's established bike advocates who wanted to advise and coordinate our efforts along with another event there. We were busy folks that weekend!

I recall that we were in Osage early that morning and stopped at a Casey's where we got our first look at the car since we'd left Algona hours earlier. It was a complete mess. The entire rear end of Jeff's Mazda 3 was obliterated with gravel mud. I remember Jeff saying months later that he was still finding mud and dirt from that trip falling out from under the car or traces of dirt and dust inside of it.

In other postings from ten years ago, I started a series on handle bars and what led me to adopt a Midge Bar for my Karate Monkey. It was a series that ran concurrently for several days with multiple posts per day. Sheesh! I must have had a lot of time on my hands back in the day!

More next week on the Minus Ten Review.....

Minus Ten Review- 5

Ahhhh! My car! Jeff Kerkove reacts to how his Mazda 3 was getting trashed during T.I.V2 recon

Well, this week ten years ago on the blog, I was finally able to get back to regularly scheduled programming when my CPU was wiped for virus attacks and restored to normalcy. Then it was off to far Western Iowa with my then co-conspirator in Trans Iowa, Jeff Kerkove, to recon the planned route for the now infamous Trans Iowa v2 course.

This was an all weekend deal as we would drive five hours to Hawarden, Iowa, on the Western border of the state, and start tracing the route back East. We would get to Jeff's hometown of Algona, stop for the evening to see Jeff's parent's, and stay overnight at their home. I believe it was on this trip that Jeff's mother, Linda, made a pan of Scotcheroos, which had Jeff drooling. This was a big shock to me since Jeff was so anti-anything sweet and gooey normally. It went against his very strict dietary guidelines, but you know what they say about Momma's cooking!

I got to stay at their place in Algona twice, as I recall. The first and second years of Trans Iowa. I'm not sure which version it was, but one year I got to sleep in the spare bedroom which had been converted into a computer room, and which had a great picture on the wall of Jeff when he was a youginz. I should have snapped a photo of that!

One of the approximately 14 miles of Level B road in T.I.v2's first 75 miles.

 We then took the next day to not only recon the remaining route to Decorah, but we also had a meeting with a couple of Decorah's established bike advocates who wanted to advise and coordinate our efforts along with another event there. We were busy folks that weekend!

I recall that we were in Osage early that morning and stopped at a Casey's where we got our first look at the car since we'd left Algona hours earlier. It was a complete mess. The entire rear end of Jeff's Mazda 3 was obliterated with gravel mud. I remember Jeff saying months later that he was still finding mud and dirt from that trip falling out from under the car or traces of dirt and dust inside of it.

In other postings from ten years ago, I started a series on handle bars and what led me to adopt a Midge Bar for my Karate Monkey. It was a series that ran concurrently for several days with multiple posts per day. Sheesh! I must have had a lot of time on my hands back in the day!

More next week on the Minus Ten Review.....

Minus Ten Review- 3

This is Project 1X1 loooooong before I got it! J. Kerkove's mess from '06

Ten years ago here on the blog this week I was thinking about what might happen at T.I.v2 if the gravel roads were messy like they were back then. My  co-worker at that time, Jeff Kerkove,  had done a training ride for his 24 hour solo stuff coming up that year. He rode my Project 1X1 Surly, which was just another old bike at the time that Jeff was treating like a farm animal during Winter. I think Jeff was third in the line to have this steed. Anyway....

I was speculating on how people might come out looking had they been on a wet, messy Trans Iowa version 2, which wasn't to happen for another three months. Turns out that it was really wet and messy! Maybe I shouldn't speculate on such matters...........

The thing that strikes me about this image now is that Jeff treated this 1X1 horribly for at least two Winters, and then it went through three other owners before I got my hands on it. This is amazing to me- that the bike is still in one piece. It has not rusted, nor been damaged severely through more than 17 years of abuse. A true testament to Surly's early efforts. I have cleaned the frame and I have really looked it over with a fine toothed comb and it doesn't show 17 years of abuse, in my opinion. Really, this is quite extraordinary, for how badly this bike was abused over all those years. Hopefully I haven't jinxed myself........

Big kitty tracks? I found these down near Hickory Hills in January of '06.

 Back in January of 2006 I was riding a single speed a lot as well. Mine was a Surly, but with bigger wheels! The Karate Monkey was my steed, and I was doing a lot of rides on gravel now, having been bitten by the bug when we had done the first Trans Iowa in 2005.

That week in January ten years ago was not too bad temperature wise. We had gone through a bit of a thaw, and snow was rare except in ditches where drifts had been thick. I was on a ride down Ansborough Avenue to Tama County, where that turns into "U" Avenue, and to where that tees off into an East-West gravel. There I took a break to have a bit of Hammer gel and water.

I was just casually looking around when I finally noticed these huge animal prints in the snow. A big kitty? I looked around, but saw no other evidence. I laid my gel flask next to one of the prints, took my picture that I wanted, and perhaps rode away a bit more hastily than I might have otherwise. This was near to Hickory Hills, a large, heavily wooded rural county park which had a lot of small game and deer within its boundaries. I suppose a bobcat wouldn't be out of the question, but in all my country travels, I have never seen evidence beyond this that they haunt our environs.

These were also the rides I missed doing for the next seven years or so, since I had to place more effort into riding review stuff for Twenty Nine Inches. I think I really got the gravel bug bad, because I always wanted to get back to doing these rides after '06-'07 when that faded out of my repertoire. 

And here she is! The Karate Monkey from the ride I saw the cat tracks on.

Then there is that bike- the Karate Monkey. My first 29"er. By this time, after three years of owning it, I had it dialed in about as well as I could get it for the technology of the day.

Most notably, I had fitted On One Midge bars and an old Wright's English made saddle I got from an early 70's Raleigh. The bike had Cooks Brothers cranks in the 177.5mm length, and I ran a 37 X 18T gear on it, as I recall. Lots of folks were curious, at the time, as to what brake levers I was running with mountain BB-7's, which were what I had for disc brakes. I used old Shimano aero levers with the SLR cable pull. These were likely late 80's/early 90's levers. They pulled just enough cable more than standard aero levers that I could get the disc brakes to work pretty well, actually. It was a tricky, tricky set up to get it that way though.

It looks like I have Bontrager XR tires on the bike here. This would have been one of the first tires Bontrager made for 29"ers, and they were really quite good. I remember how supple they were, and on hard pack they were fast, grippy, and never let me down. I'm pretty sure this is possibly the only set of 29"er tires I have worn completely out. All those miles on gravel too, for the most part. By the time I had accomplished that, Bontrager had dropped the original XR folders for a TLR version made in a different factory. They were never quite the same tire.

Minus Ten Review- 3

This is Project 1X1 loooooong before I got it! J. Kerkove's mess from '06

Ten years ago here on the blog this week I was thinking about what might happen at T.I.v2 if the gravel roads were messy like they were back then. My  co-worker at that time, Jeff Kerkove,  had done a training ride for his 24 hour solo stuff coming up that year. He rode my Project 1X1 Surly, which was just another old bike at the time that Jeff was treating like a farm animal during Winter. I think Jeff was third in the line to have this steed. Anyway....

I was speculating on how people might come out looking had they been on a wet, messy Trans Iowa version 2, which wasn't to happen for another three months. Turns out that it was really wet and messy! Maybe I shouldn't speculate on such matters...........

The thing that strikes me about this image now is that Jeff treated this 1X1 horribly for at least two Winters, and then it went through three other owners before I got my hands on it. This is amazing to me- that the bike is still in one piece. It has not rusted, nor been damaged severely through more than 17 years of abuse. A true testament to Surly's early efforts. I have cleaned the frame and I have really looked it over with a fine toothed comb and it doesn't show 17 years of abuse, in my opinion. Really, this is quite extraordinary, for how badly this bike was abused over all those years. Hopefully I haven't jinxed myself........

Big kitty tracks? I found these down near Hickory Hills in January of '06.

 Back in January of 2006 I was riding a single speed a lot as well. Mine was a Surly, but with bigger wheels! The Karate Monkey was my steed, and I was doing a lot of rides on gravel now, having been bitten by the bug when we had done the first Trans Iowa in 2005.

That week in January ten years ago was not too bad temperature wise. We had gone through a bit of a thaw, and snow was rare except in ditches where drifts had been thick. I was on a ride down Ansborough Avenue to Tama County, where that turns into "U" Avenue, and to where that tees off into an East-West gravel. There I took a break to have a bit of Hammer gel and water.

I was just casually looking around when I finally noticed these huge animal prints in the snow. A big kitty? I looked around, but saw no other evidence. I laid my gel flask next to one of the prints, took my picture that I wanted, and perhaps rode away a bit more hastily than I might have otherwise. This was near to Hickory Hills, a large, heavily wooded rural county park which had a lot of small game and deer within its boundaries. I suppose a bobcat wouldn't be out of the question, but in all my country travels, I have never seen evidence beyond this that they haunt our environs.

These were also the rides I missed doing for the next seven years or so, since I had to place more effort into riding review stuff for Twenty Nine Inches. I think I really got the gravel bug bad, because I always wanted to get back to doing these rides after '06-'07 when that faded out of my repertoire. 

And here she is! The Karate Monkey from the ride I saw the cat tracks on.

Then there is that bike- the Karate Monkey. My first 29"er. By this time, after three years of owning it, I had it dialed in about as well as I could get it for the technology of the day.

Most notably, I had fitted On One Midge bars and an old Wright's English made saddle I got from an early 70's Raleigh. The bike had Cooks Brothers cranks in the 177.5mm length, and I ran a 37 X 18T gear on it, as I recall. Lots of folks were curious, at the time, as to what brake levers I was running with mountain BB-7's, which were what I had for disc brakes. I used old Shimano aero levers with the SLR cable pull. These were likely late 80's/early 90's levers. They pulled just enough cable more than standard aero levers that I could get the disc brakes to work pretty well, actually. It was a tricky, tricky set up to get it that way though.

It looks like I have Bontrager XR tires on the bike here. This would have been one of the first tires Bontrager made for 29"ers, and they were really quite good. I remember how supple they were, and on hard pack they were fast, grippy, and never let me down. I'm pretty sure this is possibly the only set of 29"er tires I have worn completely out. All those miles on gravel too, for the most part. By the time I had accomplished that, Bontrager had dropped the original XR folders for a TLR version made in a different factory. They were never quite the same tire.