Trans Iowa V7 off the Bucket List

I am not in this picture but thought it showed how the riders looked early on in the race.

Well this time the weather did not kick my butt. The endless rolling Iowa hills and the too numerous to count mud roads did but I kicked it right back and in the end I came out on top. As a note to self I will not be giving TI the chance to break the tie.

Just a quick update then I will post pictures and the whole story later this week.

I tossed and turned all night stressing about every little thing from food, hydration, clothing, the bike you name it popped into my head. You know you are over stressed when you try to think about work just to calm you down. The race started pretty controlled as I rolled along with the lead group of about 40. The gravel was soupy from Friday's rain so the gravel slime was flying. No sense in wearing glasses. After just a few miles you could not find a clean area on your gloves or shirt to wipe the grit out of your eyes. Stayed with the group for 30 miles when the tempo up the hills started to catch up with me. Backed it off and rode with a couple other guys to check point 1, after 53 miles, at around 8:30 am with 45 minutes to spare. 8 of us rolled out together and stay as a group to the next check point at 8:15 pm after 177 miles total miles, 1:45 ahead of the cut-off. After that the speed dropped and it would take over 17 hours to cover the next 150 miles of the course. The nasty mud roads really slow you down. Three riders pushed on while 5 of us from the group stopped for breakfast at 6:00 am at the Casey's in North English and then the push to Grinnell for a 1:25 pm finish. 14th of the 18 finishers with a total time of 33:25.
The route went from Grinnell, Baxter, Montour, Treir, Dysert, Norway, Belle Plain, North English, Banes City and then Grinnell. Click here to view the map. There were a few other little towns along the way that I did not see the name and they were so small if you blinked you missed them, even on a bike. Go to http://www.g-tedproductions.blogspot.com/ for updates and some audio feeds from the race.