Okay, So I Had This Idea For A Gravel Road Race....Part IV

<===I like the  "team aspect " of The Renegade Gentleman's Race "

Getting back to an idea I was bandying about last March, (see post here), I wanted to throw out some more ideas and get back up to speed with where my head is at on this idea.

First off, there are only a few vague details I am certain will be part of this, and to recap, here they are in no particular order.....

• It will be a three day, (likely Friday evening, Saturday, Sunday), event to start out with.
• It doesn't necessarily have to all be in Iowa, be in Iowa at all, or it could all be in Iowa. The route is open for discussion at this point.
• It will not be run by Guitar Ted. I may or may not end up having a hand in this. If it never gets anywhere, I am okay with that. 
• It must be a free event, self supported, and self navigated. There may be some modification to this dependent upon the final formatting of the event.
• My part will be as an adviser/facilitator person to get the idea off the ground. Why? Because I have enough irons in the fire, and I just want to see something like this take off. 

I have some things to throw out there as to the formatting of the event that might make it more interesting. These include, but are in no way limited to the following:

• Having the Friday portion, or "stage", if you will, be a night time event. 
• Perhaps include an individual time trial.
• Perhaps have the entire event be based on 3-5 man teams that must ride together at all times. 
• Perhaps make one stage a "criterium", which could come into and go out of a small town, making it spectator friendly. 
• Riders or teams could accumulate "points", not necessarily based on time, or the event could be about time, or it could be about both, featuring "bonuses". 
• There could be "preems". 

Basically, it would be a gravel racin' shindig for three days. Maybe if it really took off, somewhere down the road it could be a week long deal. I think a weekender makes sense to shoot for out of the gate.

Want to talk about it? Shoot me an e-mail, or show up at the GTDRI and we can chat. For now, I'll let the idea simmer till after the GTDRI happens, and then I'll make a decision for myself as to where I will be going from that point. In the meantime, if I hear about others that are going to "borrow" this idea, it is okay, just give me some credit for inspiration. That's all I ask.

Ride on!

Okay, So I Had This Idea For A Gravel Road Race....Part IV

<===I like the  "team aspect " of The Renegade Gentleman's Race "

Getting back to an idea I was bandying about last March, (see post here), I wanted to throw out some more ideas and get back up to speed with where my head is at on this idea.

First off, there are only a few vague details I am certain will be part of this, and to recap, here they are in no particular order.....

• It will be a three day, (likely Friday evening, Saturday, Sunday), event to start out with.
• It doesn't necessarily have to all be in Iowa, be in Iowa at all, or it could all be in Iowa. The route is open for discussion at this point.
• It will not be run by Guitar Ted. I may or may not end up having a hand in this. If it never gets anywhere, I am okay with that. 
• It must be a free event, self supported, and self navigated. There may be some modification to this dependent upon the final formatting of the event.
• My part will be as an adviser/facilitator person to get the idea off the ground. Why? Because I have enough irons in the fire, and I just want to see something like this take off. 

I have some things to throw out there as to the formatting of the event that might make it more interesting. These include, but are in no way limited to the following:

• Having the Friday portion, or "stage", if you will, be a night time event. 
• Perhaps include an individual time trial.
• Perhaps have the entire event be based on 3-5 man teams that must ride together at all times. 
• Perhaps make one stage a "criterium", which could come into and go out of a small town, making it spectator friendly. 
• Riders or teams could accumulate "points", not necessarily based on time, or the event could be about time, or it could be about both, featuring "bonuses". 
• There could be "preems". 

Basically, it would be a gravel racin' shindig for three days. Maybe if it really took off, somewhere down the road it could be a week long deal. I think a weekender makes sense to shoot for out of the gate.

Want to talk about it? Shoot me an e-mail, or show up at the GTDRI and we can chat. For now, I'll let the idea simmer till after the GTDRI happens, and then I'll make a decision for myself as to where I will be going from that point. In the meantime, if I hear about others that are going to "borrow" this idea, it is okay, just give me some credit for inspiration. That's all I ask.

Ride on!

Okay, So I Had This Idea For A Gravel Road Race....Part II

First off, thanks to everyone that commented yesterday. The feedback was mostly positive, and a lot of really great ideas were tossed out. Now, I want to take those and distill this down a bit. Ultimately, we're going to reach a focus for this proposed event. Keep in mind that several of you will eventually get disappointed since this will go in a different direction than you may have wished. Hopefully, it will be something that is fun and will be good for most of you out there.

Date And Place: While several of you voiced support of the July idea, some did not. I can see the appeal of a spring or fall date, but there are a few reasons I would push for the July dating as opposed to spring or fall. Besides the whole tie-in to "Le Tour" and that, here are the reasons I would vote for a July date.

1. July has fewer gravel based events already happening.
2. July has longer daylight hours, which would be conducive to longer stage times for the slower folks without dealing with lights. (Although, a night-time stage would be cool)
3. Flowers are at their height in July. I like wildflowers. 
4. July has the most consistent weather, typically, other than August. 

So, my thought is to stick with the July time period. Now, as for location, I received several suggestions that are intriguing. Here are those place suggestions that I liked, and a few of my own.

1. The Denison area. Good suggestion and a place I haven't explored much. 
2. Making a four state tour out of it utilizing Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Missouri. This would be really rad. 
3. The Decorah area/Northeast Iowa: While this would be spectacular, the difficulty level would be really high. Still, it is interesting....
4. Central Iowa: The Des Moines/Ames area in particular. Using the CIRREM route would be an easy thing here. 
5. East Central Iowa: Obviously, using the part of the state I am super familiar with. 

Of course, any of these would be really cool first time places to use, but here is one thing that stands out to me. There are four "Iowa-centric" ideas here, and one that isn't. That means that I could choose to make this a regional idea, or something endemic to Iowa. I'm not averse to doing it either way.

<==July is wildflower time.

On one hand, getting closer to the Omaha/Lincoln area would maybe entice a few gravel road aficionados to join in the fun, but the Des Moines area also is a great place to get this kicked off in. Of course, Decorah is a no-brainer for spectacular, tough as nails gravel road loops. Finally, my own back yard, as it were, would make this event really easy to set up for me.

And make no mistake, I don't have to be the one steering this ship either. Anyone and everyone willing to pick up some slack, or that wants to be in charge, is welcome to be a part of this deal. In fact, it might be better to have someone else be in charge. Just throwing that out there.

Finally, the idea of using single track, or paths is awesome, and was also part of the original vision for Trans Iowa. Incorporating elements of that would be really cool, if possible, although, I don't necessarily agree to a full on single track stage.

Well, there is a rough draft. Who has any thoughts on what we have here so far? I'll draw up a tighter vision on this in a few days after I get more feedback.

Okay, So I Had This Idea For A Gravel Road Race....Part II

First off, thanks to everyone that commented yesterday. The feedback was mostly positive, and a lot of really great ideas were tossed out. Now, I want to take those and distill this down a bit. Ultimately, we're going to reach a focus for this proposed event. Keep in mind that several of you will eventually get disappointed since this will go in a different direction than you may have wished. Hopefully, it will be something that is fun and will be good for most of you out there.

Date And Place: While several of you voiced support of the July idea, some did not. I can see the appeal of a spring or fall date, but there are a few reasons I would push for the July dating as opposed to spring or fall. Besides the whole tie-in to "Le Tour" and that, here are the reasons I would vote for a July date.

1. July has fewer gravel based events already happening.
2. July has longer daylight hours, which would be conducive to longer stage times for the slower folks without dealing with lights. (Although, a night-time stage would be cool)
3. Flowers are at their height in July. I like wildflowers. 
4. July has the most consistent weather, typically, other than August. 

So, my thought is to stick with the July time period. Now, as for location, I received several suggestions that are intriguing. Here are those place suggestions that I liked, and a few of my own.

1. The Denison area. Good suggestion and a place I haven't explored much. 
2. Making a four state tour out of it utilizing Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Missouri. This would be really rad. 
3. The Decorah area/Northeast Iowa: While this would be spectacular, the difficulty level would be really high. Still, it is interesting....
4. Central Iowa: The Des Moines/Ames area in particular. Using the CIRREM route would be an easy thing here. 
5. East Central Iowa: Obviously, using the part of the state I am super familiar with. 

Of course, any of these would be really cool first time places to use, but here is one thing that stands out to me. There are four "Iowa-centric" ideas here, and one that isn't. That means that I could choose to make this a regional idea, or something endemic to Iowa. I'm not averse to doing it either way.

<==July is wildflower time.

On one hand, getting closer to the Omaha/Lincoln area would maybe entice a few gravel road aficionados to join in the fun, but the Des Moines area also is a great place to get this kicked off in. Of course, Decorah is a no-brainer for spectacular, tough as nails gravel road loops. Finally, my own back yard, as it were, would make this event really easy to set up for me.

And make no mistake, I don't have to be the one steering this ship either. Anyone and everyone willing to pick up some slack, or that wants to be in charge, is welcome to be a part of this deal. In fact, it might be better to have someone else be in charge. Just throwing that out there.

Finally, the idea of using single track, or paths is awesome, and was also part of the original vision for Trans Iowa. Incorporating elements of that would be really cool, if possible, although, I don't necessarily agree to a full on single track stage.

Well, there is a rough draft. Who has any thoughts on what we have here so far? I'll draw up a tighter vision on this in a few days after I get more feedback.