TIMP

Since it's announcement, I had been trying to work out when to try my TIMP attempt. With an August deadline, and a trip to Montana planned for the end of July, the end of June seemed to give me enough time to prepare and wait out some of the rain and flooding that had been affecting northwest IA. With my friends Scott and Andy having completed the trip in the middle of June, things looked set. I was a little concerned with being the the first solo attempt of the route. Being the first, I also felt quite a bit of pressure as well, especially considering how well my riding had been going to this point.

My wife drove with me to the start point in Harwarden on Thursday night, after a quick meal at Pizza Ranch, we went to our hotel room, where I prepped my bike and myself for my 5 AM start time. Morning came early, and I shoveled food in while we drove to the start line. After a couple of photos and a quick kiss on the cheek, I clipped in an headed East. Storms with lightning were making their presence known southwest of me. With the flat, sandy roads, and a lack of cover, the start was not looking too good. I stopped to put my raincoat as drops started falling from the sky, but 30 minutes later I had to take it off. The rain had stopped, the storms appeared to be dying out, and I was starting to overheat. I took a quick break outside of Orange City for some food and to strip another layer off and then kept moving. Not too far in, I saw the sign for the first section of B road. I was afraid of the condition of the roads having noted how soft the gravel was up to this point. When I hit the surface, it was a touch soft, but smooth and completely dry. My spirits lifted a bit at this point and I kept moving forward, keeping food and water in my system. The section between Orange City and Paulina was alternating flat sections of gravel and B road, some of which were 1.5 to 2 miles in length. It was fun riding all of the buff, lightly used B roads in this section, and I was happy that all of them were dry.

After a short break in Paulina, I continued on. The roads were getting a lot less flat now as I was nearing the Little Sioux River. The route through here was very scenic with lots of big rolling hills and views of the river valley from above. The reach of the previous month's flooding was very obvious. The route leaving Paulson crossed the river, and was marked as closed. I could see where the river had washed out the road, but pressed on, hoping that the water had receded enough to allow passage. After a big climb out of the valley, I was a ridge south of the river, and then on the north side after passing through the town of Linn Grove. I skipped past Sioux Rapids and kept motoring east. Soon I was on 510th Street, and the first real test began, as this stretch of road was 20 miles long and dead straight, until I stopped to take a break in the town of Mallard. It was getting warmer by now, so I opted to grab food and refill all my fluids in Mallard. I took a quick break again in West Glen and made my way towards Algona, where I stopped for some real food and a beer. I was about 13 hours and 150 miles in at this point and was getting sick of convenience store food. After a quick stop for spare headlamp batteries, I was on my way again. I hit another long stretch of flat straight road outside of Algona and it really started to zap my spirits.

As the sun set, I was really starting to lose the drive to continue, especially in the dark. At this point, I should have pulled out my iPod, but I had forgotten that I had packed it. I stopped in Crystal Lake around 10 PM and mulled my options over. The mosquitos that settled in around me certainly didn't help my mood any. At this point I called my wife and told her that I thought I was done, but I'd make the final call after a bit. Pulling into Forest City I knew my TIMP attempt was done. I pulled up a hotel on the GPS, routed myself to it, and grabbed a couple of misery beers from the convenience store across from the hotel. One shot to finish, and I had blown it.

Even now, a few months later, I'm not completely sure what happened. There wasn't a lot about the first half of the course that was interesting from a scenery standpoint. It was mainly flat roads with fairly flat land around them, other than the section near the Little Sioux River. Being alone for that amount of time had definitely started to take its toll as well. When your interactions with people are mostly "will that be all" and "here's your receipt" it makes for a long day. Despite not finishing, I did gain the knowledge that I will need to develop some coping techniques for when the loneliness sets in during Tour Divide. If I thought I was by myself in IA, then parts of the GDMBR will really going to be a wake up call.

I do want to take this time to thank Mark Stevenson for taking the time and making the to put this challenge together for us to attempt. I still have the route and the cues, so maybe I'll give it a shot sometime in the future, with the intent of finishing in two days, with a bit of a camp in between.

TransIowa V10 - Race Report - Pt 2

After parking my bike out of the way, I trudged into Norway's convenience store and looked around. While it certainly didn't have the selection of a Casey's, it was not as bad as Mark had made it out to be. I was expecting the Wadena C-store that was used during TIV4. I wandered the aisles for a bit and finally settled on a quart of chocolate milk, a bottle of V8, a pizza burger, a slice of pizza and a bottle of Mountain Dew. I walked over to a small table, sat my food down and just stared at it while Mike Johnson and Ben Oney came over to sit and rest. I started eating the pizza burger, but it tasted like cardboard. I sat and stared at my food for a while, completely unsure what to do next. I grabbed my phone so I could make "The Call" when the time came. Ben noticed I wasn't eating and suggested that I start in on the chocolate milk to try and get some carbs and sugar into my system and jumpstart things a bit. I slowly worked through the quart of milk, V8 and the pizza burger. By this time more people were coming in and many of them, at first glance, seemed to be as miserable as I was. I heard some mumblings from others in my group about figuring out when to leave. I was still convinced that this was the end of the line for me, but I walked back to my bike to get my water bottles and at least go through the motions of getting ready to go. The chill of the wind hit me like a hammer and my body instantly tensed up and started shaking. I brought the bottles back in the store, sat down and warmed up a bit more. Despite sitting inside again, I was frozen, so I grabbed all of my spare clothes, other than my rain gear, and put them on. The guys I had arrived with were starting to put on their helmets, so I filled up my bottles, and pulled up Mark's number on my phone so I could call him after I put the bottles back on my bike. Mike must have sensed I was still hurting as he asked how I was feeling, then told me that I should just climb back on the bike, sit in, take it easy for a while, and give my body a chance to process the food. He mentioned the cooling temps and the tailwind we would be enjoying. It was all my brain needed to decide to hop back on the bike, at least for a bit. After all, if I needed to, I could slow down, or drop somewhere else on the course if I needed to. At this time I opted to use one of my bottles of 5 Hour Energy as a bit of insurance against the sleep monster. The next thing I knew, we were rolling west out of town on pavement.

We took it easy, letting the tailwind push us along. As we turned north and then west off the pavement and on to the gravel, it was obvious that I was wearing too many layers to be comfortable while riding. I stopped, quickly removed the neck buff and another layer, then rejoined the group while Mike soft pedaled to let me catch up. Looking at the cue sheets, I was pleased to note that we had a long, straight stretch heading west. Cool after removing the layers, and buoyed by the flat roads and tailwinds, my mood started to lift. Soon, I was up front, bombing the downhills and letting the tailwind push me along. After a couple of short jogs north and then west, we were once again on another long west stretch and I finally felt like I was getting some of my strength and alertness back. We crossed Hwy 30 and continued along a meandering 320th Ave for quite a few miles. A few short eastbound sections interspersed with our now northbound route confirmed that the winds were not letting up at all. By this time, it was well past dark, and we were well into a routine of stopping briefly for food or bio breaks once per hour, and I was feeling really good.  We meandered north for a while, and then enjoyed another big push west, with the wind making eerie howling noises as we passed underneath power lines every mile or so.

Not too long after this, we noticed another rider stopped up ahead. It turned out to be Sarah Cooper, who was dealing somewhat unsuccessfully with what appeared to be a fairly rambunctious puppy. It turns out that the pup was attacking her front tire and she had stopped in front of a house to figure out if the situation was going to get worse. Evidently, feeding him a snack had meant that they were now best friends and he was pretty much willing to do whatever she wanted. Our group of eight, now a group of ten with the inclusion of Sarah and her puppy, took off into the night. The nine riders took to the road, and the pup opted to run beside us in the ditch. We turned east onto a B road, and soon we noticed a vehicle parked where the B road ended. It turned out to be Mark, who was letting riders know about a reroute that was necessary due to bridge construction. After a brief chat, we took off along the reroute, which meant a bit more B road and heading east into the wind, Sarah's puppy in tow. After running with us, and in front of us for about 5 or 6 miles, the pup had disappeared and soon we were turning west and enjoying a bit more tailwind. Before running into Sarah, we had been taking note of a spectacular light show to the south of us. Concerned, we stopped and pulled up radar to make sure the storms weren't going to hit us. It appeared that we might miss the rain until we took this latest turn west. We were starting to ride straight towards a fairly strong looking cell that was sending plenty of lightning to the ground. Knowing we were going to get hit, I suggested that we stop to put on rain gear. Barely 5 minutes after this, there was a close ground stroke of lightning that caused most of the group to stop and assess the situation. With the rain starting, and more lighting flashes, we some of us decided to see if we could take shelter in some nearby farm buildings. A small wooden one was unlocked and had just enough room for our group, so we quickly piled our bodies and bikes inside just as the storm hit.

After we were out of the storm, we made a call into MTB Radio and sent a text to Mark to let him (and others) know what was going on, and that we were safe. We kept one eye on the radar, but also tried to eat some food and maybe catch a bit of rest while we waited for the storms to pass. It was obvious that another cell was headed our direction, so we decided to stay in place until that one passed by and then try and get moving. Luckily, we had time in the bank from earlier in the day, as it was 3:30 AM when we were finally able to start moving again. Two hours had passed, and while most of us were just a bit stiff from the break, our group was starting to shrink. Corey Godfrey had gotten too cold during the break and decided he was unable to go on. Corey had been riding strong all day and had been a steady source of encouragement and conversation to the group for the entire day, and it hurt me to see him go back in the barn and close the door behind him. Ben Oney had been battling stomach issues for some time after Norway, and they had finally caught up with him. He had called his girlfriend while we were stopped and arranged for her to come and pick him up in just up the road in Gladbrook.

We had a big push south out of Gladbrook. While it wasn't a headwind, the strong crosswinds were making everyone work and making it hard to hear or think. Along here, we passed Robert Fry who, based on his pace and state of dress, was obviously feeling the effects of both the long day and the storms that had passed. I thought that Sarah had slowed to talk to Robert and even heard her yell at him over the wind. I would find out after the race ended that she had gotten a flat tire at this point and was yelling to let us know. We rode on, leaving Sarah and Robert together. We made our way into Montour, on some of the very same roads we rolled over during TIV9. We were in a pattern of pedaling, breathing and eating. I was getting a bit disoriented as far as what direction we were heading. The roads were still hilly, and the scenery was still bleak but beautiful. At one point I rounded a corner, only to have to swerve around a large bull snake that was sitting in the middle of my line. We entered a small gathering of houses that turned out to be named Ferguson, and we were through it before I knew what happened. After a few miles, we turned east into the headwind and our pace slowed significantly. However, we knew that a town was coming up, so our small group of five buckled down and pedaled on. Like Norway, the convenience store in Gilman had a number of bikes sitting out front, and a number of riders attempting to warm up and figure out how to proceed. We went inside and fell into our normal routine of slipping out of wet clothes and refueling. Matt Gersib was sitting inside and was pulling the plug, despite being 40 miles from the finish. He was convinced he would not be able to handle anymore riding into the headwinds. I talked to Matt and tried to convince him to sit in behind us for the headwind push, but he had already made the call to both Mark and his wife, and he was sticking to his plan.

Our group, now down to four, headed out of town and after a few short miles, I found myself looking with dread at the next two cues -  L onto 318th. R on 90th. This was 9 miles straight into the headwind, with some big hills thrown in for good measure. We got into a paceline and Josh Brown went to the front and started pulling, like he had been doing for a good portion of the early morning. Mike pulled up next to me and told me this was the long headwind push that Matt Gersib had talked about. I nodded and said that all we could do was put our heads down and keep pedaling. Josh, Patrick Lackey and I settled into slow, but steady pace. Unfortunately, this was faster than Mike wanted or was able to go at this point. Having ridden with Mike most of the day, I knew that he was riding his own race and his own pace. If we would have slowed down, I was certain that he wasn't going to try and match our pace, even if it was in a draft. Josh, Patrick and I continued on, with Josh powering us into the headwind for almost all of this stretch. As we took the right onto 90th, I knew we were going to finish, it was just a matter of when, although I was worried about the condition of the B roads that were marked on the cues. Amazingly, both were ridable, probably due to the strong winds that had been blowing throughout the morning. As we looked at the last few cues, I was getting elated, and Josh couldn't understand why. After a bit of conversation, he had figured out that we would have a tailwind to the finish, and not a headwind like he thought. Both he and Patrick were happy that they were going to finish their rookie TransIowa. Mark managed to find 5 miles of hills and fresh rock for our last big tailwind leg just to make sure we were completely worked over. At the end of this section, the three of us stopped so that I could remove a few layers. The sun was up, and I was still riding with rain pants and some other insulating layers on. We had decided to spread out a bit so that everyone could finish on their own and enjoy a bit of time in the spotlight at the finish. In the end, Josh finished 8th, I finished 9th and Patrick finished 10th. Once out of the headwind section, Mike turned on the afterburners and came in just two minutes behind Patrick in 11th.

Once again, I had the support and congratulations of my friends and wife at the finish. Cold beer from Kyle Sedore in my hand almost as soon as I stopped (and demolished in record time) and a big hug from my wife. I was happy to be done and, at the same time, sorry that it was over.

A few thank yous to close this out -

Thank you Mark, for putting together a tough course for TIV10. The B roads, rain and the winds, despite being out of your control, made an already tough course even tougher. Thank you for 10 years of allowing us to have fun.

A huge thank you to my teammate, Mike Johnson, for digging me out of a deep dark hole at CP2. Without his race experience, and concern for me at that point in the race, I would not have finished this year. I cannot ask for a finer person as a teammate and as a friend.

Thank you to my coach, JJ Bailey at Zoom Performance, for getting me ready for this adventure, and many more over the next several months.

Thank you to Cindy McGuire at Hands On Sports Massage for keeping me in tip top shape, and being a great sounding board.

Thank you to all of my friends, old and new, that rode with me this winter and spring. You made prepping for TransIowa much less lonely for me.

Lastly, a huge thank you and "I love you" to my wife for letting me play bikes for the last 5 months, putting up with my crazy training schedule, plans, and keeping me company during the many hours I spent in the basement this winter.

TransIowa V10 - Race Report - Pt 1

My alarm went off at 2:30 AM, but I was already awake. Another TransIowa start was 90 minutes away and I could not stay in bed any longer. I took my clothes into the bathroom so that my roommate, Vin Cox could catch a few more precious minutes of sleep. I checked the temperature and made my clothing selections - 45NRTH merino t-shirt, standard bibs and jersey, arm and leg warmers, 45NRTH Greasy hat, lightweight Salsa windvest and a medium weight pair of Specialized gloves. By the time I was dressed, Vin's alarm had roused him from slumber and he, too, was in the process of getting ready for the upcoming day. Soon, we were both sitting in the hotel's breakfast room, along with a number of other riders, filling our stomachs with what we hoped were enough of, and the right, calories to get us safely to checkpoint one.

A number of us gathered at the front of the hotel, so we could ride to the start as a group. Leaving the hotel, I rode alongside one of my teammates, Brett Bebbe, and chatted. It was a cordial ride, good for spinning out the legs, with one hard sprint up a small hill to get them slightly warmed up for the day's work. Once we arrived at the start line, riders continued to arrive, flash bulbs flashed, and the level of excitement and nervousness continued to increase. Mark Stevenson, the Race director, took the opportunity to remind us about the railroad tracks and B road that we would encounter within the first few miles of the race. Soon, the countdown was on. A horn beeped, and I, along with 103 other cyclists, followed a dusty maroon pickup truck through the streets of Grinnell and into the black of rural Poweshiek county.

Unlike the start of TIV9, the people at the tip of the race opted to gently ease up to speed, rather than hit the gas hard. After a few rollers strung the field out, I found myself in a swiftly moving double pace line, keeping pace with the others, but not working outside of my comfort level. The tracks were bad, as promised. I lost one of my 3 full water bottles while hurtling over the second set. I opted to leave the bottle and keep moving, rather than lose contact with the main group. The wind was relatively benign and I wanted to make as much progress on the course as possible before it intensified. As we approached the first of ten promised sections of B roads, I allowed a small gap to form to the riders in front of me. I figured that would give me enough time to figure out if the road was ridable without sacrificing too much of my driveline. It turned out that this road was ridable, much to everyone's surprise,. I spent the next few minutes following the tracks of those that had entered ahead of me, shifting my weight to maintain traction as my bike crested the small hills that this road traversed. At the exit, a quick check of my tires and driveline showed nothing to worry about, so I continued to ride on, letting the movement of the wheels and the abrasiveness of the limestone clean the mud from my tires.

After a bit, I found myself in the company of Paul LaCava and another rider. We talked briefly and stayed together until we pulled up next to Matt Gersib. Matt had told us there was a group of four to six riders ahead, but that he dropped off to ride his own race. Paul looked at me and asked if I was going to chase them down. I knew it was going to be a long day, and I was happy with my current pace, so I told Paul "no". With that, he and the other rider picked up their cadence and steadily rode away from Matt and me. Paul would go on to finish the race in second place overall. Matt and I rode together and chatted for quite a while. I don't get to see Matt too often, so it was good to spend some time turning pedals with him in the quiet of the morning. We quickly noted that no one else seemed to be working their way up to us, we weren't even able to see any headlights at the top of hills when we looked back. This caused me a bit of concern, but I was still feeling comfortable with our pace, so I continued on. We marveled at the beauty of the fire red crescent moon with Venus in the east sky and pedaled on. A bit after sunrise, I noticed it was almost too quiet, and I looked back to see that Matt and I had split from each other. Matt is an experienced rider, and was obviously riding his race, so I continued past the photography crew and up the hill behind them. I arrived in Lynnville and took a brief wrong turn due to some worn street signs. I quickly corrected my error and got back on course. I saw the checkpoint ahead of me on the main street, but opted to drop into the convenience store first. Through poor race craft, I was behind on calories and fluids a bit, and I also needed to replace the water bottle I lost at the railroad tracks. The winds had been picking up since sunrise, and I knew that even four bottles was probably not going to be enough for the next 120 miles. The volunteers at the checkpoint were friendly and efficient. I had new cues quickly and they took any trash I had from me at that time as well.
As I finished a bottle of V8, I saw another rider coming in. At first, I thought it was Matt Gersib, but I could tell by the silhouette that it wasn't. In a few seconds, the smiling (?) face of Mike Johnson came into view. It didn't take Mike long to get his cues swapped and other affairs in order, and soon we were riding out of town together.

Mike and I rode together for a while, but it was becoming apparent that, although we were headed the same direction, our paces were different. Mike was locked into his plan and wasn't going to alter it, at least not with just two of us fighting against the east wind. Soon after, I was riding by myself again. The next 50+ miles passed without much fanfare. I stopped a couple of times to eat and to take a quick bio break and kept fighting the hills and the headwind. I found myself nodding off and yawning a few times, even though it was only between 10 or 11 AM. I wasn't sure what the cause was, but it had me concerned. A few miles west of North English, Joe Fox and a couple of other riders pulled up next to me. After riding by myself, it was nice to have some people to draft off of and share the work with. Joe said they had been catching glimpses of me for quite a while, but they weren't able to bridge up to me until just then. We rode together into North English and took a much needed break at the Casey's on the main highway. I remembered this Casey's from my TIV5 attempt, and at this point it looked much the same - Sunny with bunches of tired cyclists hanging out all around the building. Due to the heat and hills, I hadn't been eating properly for the past few hours, and had started to dig a hole in my energy reserves. I went in to the store, grabbed a chocolate milk, ice cream bar, a slice of pizza, a coke, a v8 and some water. As I was working through my pile of food, some riders left and others arrived. Soon, a good sized group rolled in - Ben Oney, Mike Johnson, Corey Godfrey, Josh Brown, Patrick Lackey, and a two other riders. Not too long after Sarah Cooper rolled in, looking fresh as a daisy. Mike reminded me, and others in his group, that the next C-store was the one that was supposed to have a limited selection of stuff. I passed that info onto Sarah and went in for a second round of food. Deciding that I was better off sharing the workload instead of trying to power through another 60 miles on my own, I cast my lot with Mike, Ben, Corey and the rest of their group. This was one of the smartest decisions that I would make all day.

As we headed north out North English, I remembered that the road we were riding on was also in TIV5. I also remembered that it was a series of big rollers, and we were going to be attacking them with a 20+ MPH crosswind. Remembering the sage advice Charles Parsons imparted on me in TIV9 - "Nothing but positive words from your mouth" - I said nothing about the upcoming hills. They were there, the winds were what they were, and we would deal with them, like those ahead of us had already done. We rode north for five or six miles, then turned west and enjoyed the tailwind for another four miles. Sarah Cooper, who had ridden with us since we left North English, turned on the afterburners on the tailwind sections and was gone. A couple of others in the group asked me what was going on, to which I replied that she had a lot of ultra distance experience and was riding her own race. I don't remember only bits and pieces about the rest of this section. We stopped near a river for a bio break and so I could apply some chamois cream to my shorts and backside. We made a right turn onto R Avenue west of the Amana Colonies and rode through a lovely flat section with lots of trees for a bit. The next left turn had us charging down a B road that I had chased riders up in the middle of the night during TIV7. It was really nice to be able to see the road during the day, as well as have it be perfectly rideable. Not too long after that B road, we arrived at Checkpoint 2. I had still been fighting sleep through the last fifty or so miles, and was becoming concerned that I was a danger to myself as well as the group I was riding with. I considered my options and, as the group prepared to leave, I got Mike Johnson's attention and made a slashing gesture across my throat. Mike motioned for me to pull up next to him and we talked for a bit. I was tired, I was sore, and just about to the point where I was going to crack. Mike convinced me to just sit in the group, refuel at the convenience store, and think things through. Although I knew I was less than a mile from the convenience store if I rode off course, Mike convinced me to follow him back to the group, which seemed like it was soft pedaling a bit to help make my decision easier. Although the roads were flat and we had a bit of a tail wind, the next few miles to the convenience store on Norway were some of the longest that I had ridden all day. My body and mind were in survival mode at this point, and I knew it. After just under fifteen hours since the start of the race, we were 183 miles in, and I had a short amount of time to make a big decision. 

Stop: TI Time

Less than 7 days to the start of the 2014 running of The TransIowa. I've finished all the preparation that I can for the event. This week is all about resting, massage and riding just long enough and hard enough to keep the synapses firing and the legs loose and ready. Compared to last year's preparations, I've got an additional 40 or so hours of seat time and and other 200 or so miles of distance, since I started in December instead of January. I am sure that the additional seat time and all of the winter gym work is going to come in handy at some point over the weekend.

Looking at the weather forecast, last weekend's 116 mile rain ride might have been the smartest bit of prep that I've done for the last 5 months. Sunday looks like it has a good chance of being soggy starting around midnight. If it does, it's going to really test people both physically and mentally.

The Fargo is at Rasmussen Bike Shop getting some TLC shown to the shifters, brakes and bottom bracket. For the event, I'm going to run a Porcelain Rocket Booster Rocket seat pack, along with a Tangle bag, gas can, and two feedbags from Revelate Designs. This should give me room for enough food, spare clothes, and mechanical spares to get me through the event.

No matter the outcome, the best part will be seeing and talking with everyone at the pre-race MeatUp, watching everyone arrive early Saturday morning, and then listening to every speed off into the darkess behind the Truck With No Name at 4 AM. Everything else we experience throughout the next 36 hours will be frosting on top of that cake.

TIV9 equipment report

A number of people had posted about their bike setups before TransIowa. I wasn't able to due to time and other commitments. I also thought it would be more useful to discuss the equipment and how well it worked after the event.

My trusty, disc based Salsa La Cruz carried me to the finish with no issues. It's easily the most comfortable bike I own. I've had the fit dialed in by Adam Thompson at Rasmussen Bike Shop twice, pre and post aero bars, and I wouldn't change a thing. 

• Shimano 105 brifters
• Salsa Bell Lap bar
• Profile T2+ aero bars
• Specialized cork tape
• Ultegra front mech
• Dura-Ace rear mech
• Stronglight Pulsion carbon crankset with 34/46 rings
• 12-27 10 speed 105 cassette
• Shimano 10 speed chain
• BB7 road brakes

Everything worked as expected. The only issue I noted at the end was a slight softness in the rear brake due to wear. I used a Specialized Phenom saddle that I purchased a number of years ago. It was comfortable for the entire race and I noticed no numbness beyond what you would expect for riding for over 28 hours. Some people might scoff at the aero bars, but they gave me another hand position to use and allowed me to stretch out my back and legs by changing my hip position on the seat. They were also quite helpful riding into the headwinds I encountered from mid-afternoon until sunset on Saturday.

I used a Revelate Designs Tangle bag as my immediate food storage, a Revelate Designs Feedbag as miscellaneous storage, and a medium sized seatbag (similar to a Revelate Designs Pika) for storing clothes, tools, spare tubes, and any other food). Other than some issues getting into the feedbag due to the aero bars, everything worked as expected. I carried four waterbottles, two in the main triangle and two hose clamped to my fork. I have used a Profile aero cage holder in the past, but it wouldn't work in conjunction with the seatbag. The bottles all stayed in place, and, I generally had enough fluids to get me between refuel points. Would it have been hotter, I might have had to consider additional bottles in jersey pockets, or something else to carry more fluids.

My lighting system was made of a Schmidt disc dyno hub paired with B&M IQ Cyo-R LED headlight, a Planet Bike Superflash taillight and a generic, 175 lumen, AAA powered LED headlamp I bought at Lowes. All worked as expected. I ran the taillight in non-stop blink mode, and the head lamp as needed using AAA lithium batteries. I carried spare batteries for the headlamp, but didn't need to use them. I had some people tell me that I would notice the drag of the Schmidt as the race wore on. I've ridden with mine enough, and the drag is low enough that I never really noticed it. The light pattern was bright and right where I needed it to be. It was really nice not worrying about if my main light was going to run long enough. The weight of the hub was the same as the two battery packs that it replaced. I would not hesitate to run the same system again. I liked the headlamp, but a model with a adjustable brightness would have been nice to have.

I used a Garmin 800 with an external battery pack as my main bike computer. I had a Cateye Micro wireless computer mounted as a backup in case I had issues with my Garmin. I disabled all of the maps in the GPS, including the basemap, before the race started. I hit the power button on the external battery pack around hour 10 of the race, and then every few hours thereafter to make sure the gps stayed running. I would definitely use this set up again.

TIV9 Race Recap - All good things must come to an end

As I pulled into the the Kwik Star I noticed two other bikes leaning against the building, but I don't recall seeing the riders as I entered. I grabbed a basket and aimlessly wandered the aisles of the truck stop for quite a while. I really wanted a bottle of Muscle Milk, but couldn't find any, so I settled for chocolate milk, two donuts, beef jerky, and a warm sausage and cheese sandwich.  I found a spot in the dark of the trucker's lounge, and sat down at a table with Charles and Chris refuel. I finished the first round of food off and was still feeling hungry, and I was starting to get chilled. I wandered around a bit more and, being chilled, I grabbed a can of Coke and another bottle of chocolate milk and went to the counter to pay. I must have looked horrible, as the overnight clerk, who was really chipper, asked me if I wanted a cup of coffee. It didn't sound good, so I turned him down. Sleep deprivation causes you to do stupid things sometimes. I sat back down in the lounge and made a quick FB post about my position while finishing chocolate milk and Coke off. We spent about 45 minutes at the truck stop before the call to leave was announced. I quickly filled my bottles, dropped some Nuun tablets in, and followed the group out the door sometime around 5:00 AM.

We headed east for a mile, looking at the morning twilight and then dropped south into a valley for what seemed like a long time. The cold, damp air that settled in the valley really made me want to finish soon. Finally, we turned west, and Mark's route continued to pound at our legs with more loose gravel and a miles of constant rolling hills. Around mile 304, we came off of a jog and on to a flat straight section of road. It was covered in big, chunky gravel, with the "smooth line" barely discernable from the rest of the road. Jay Barre led us onto the rock. As the smooth line Jay was following ended, I jumped to the opposite side and pushed the pace a bit. It was easier for me to ride at speed and let the bike bounce a bit. I slid even further into the dirt at the edge as Paul Errington and Jay dropped in behind. We rode like this for just over a mile until we hit a stop sign at the intersection with a paved road. We were out of breath, but the last mile of our own little "Paris Roubaix" helped wake up our heads and legs a bit. I recall our group starting to break up a bit around this point of the race. Tim Ek had told us he was going to cruise in because his knee wasn't feeling good. Mike, Ben and Chris were content to hold the pace we had been riding the entire night. With the finish feeling close and the sun warming us up, Charles, Jay, both Paul's and I were slowly picking up the pace the further we rode along.

We hit a small section of B road around mile 306, rode through it, and then an energetic Tim Ek passed Charles and I while we stopped for a bio break. He settled in with Jay and "the Pauls" as Charles and I rejoined them. Tim had made some seat post adjustments after he had dropped back and his knee wasn't bothering him any more. The pace picked up a bit more and then we turned north onto a set of rollers and things really started heating up. Tim passed me on the first uphill and for some reason my legs woke up a bit, and I decided to jump on his wheel. We cruised on the downhill together and he passed me on the next uphill. I got onto his wheel again and this time I decided to drive the pace on the downhill until I had built a bit of a gap between the two of us. I looked down at my cue sheets and realized we still had a ways to go, so I backed off to get my heart rate down and give my legs a rest. Not too long after this, I hear a bike behind me and turn to see Charles Parsons. He flashed a smile and said "I couldn't let my good friend Dog Chow just ride off", then rode ahead. I wouldn't see Charles again until the end of the race. Tim pulled up next to me as we were getting closer to town, and I told him I hoped he was done riding hard, as I was feeling pretty spent. He glanced over, picked up the pace a bit more, and then rode off ahead of me. I still felt pretty good, and I wanted to finish strong, so, knowing that there were just a few miles left, I picked up the pace a bit more as I crossed under I-80. I could almost smell the finish now, and my body and legs responded with just a bit more power. I turned the corner and headed west towards the finish. As I looked up I saw Tim just 3/4 of a mile ahead of me. The pressure on the hills over the last few miles had kind of blown the "overnighters finish together" mantra that I assumed was an unspoken rule, and I thought about sitting up at this point. But, knowing what Tim had accomplished as a rider over the the years, it was a big deal to me to finish with or ahead of him to set a personal benchmark. With that in mind, I rolled forward on to my aero bars and picked up the pace. It took a mile or two, but I caught up with Tim, kept rolling past and took a left turn onto the B road and into the home stretch. I got out of the saddle and sprinted, then sat and sprinted one more time, turning down a small driveway, expecting to see the barn at any minute. Instead, I found myself in a private driveway. I turned around a couple of times and rode back out, looking for the turn to the barn I must have missed. I turned back around and rode to the end of the driveway again, and as I was circled once more to go out, Tim pulled up. I'm not sure if he had followed me, or if had made the same mistake that I did, and turned down the wrong road. Karma always comes around, and I was paying for not finishing with the group. Tim and I talked on our way back to the finish, and he suggested that I go in first. A big thanks to him for allowing me to do so.

I rolled down the final hill towards the finish, turned into the driveway, sprinted towards, and past Mark and the small crowd of people gathered around the finish area, skidded to a stop and let my bike drop I was finally done. I had finished 323.3 miles of TransIowa V9 in just over 28.5 hours - far faster than I had ever imagined finishing. I got a bit lost with all of the people gathering to congratulate me, but the best thing was turning around and seeing that my wife Kathy had made it to the finish and was there to give me a hug and congratulate me. She had been completely supportive of my training and weird schedule over the last 4 months, so it was absolutely perfect to share the moment with her.

Lots of things happend in quick succession. I gave Mark a long hug, partly out of exhaustion, but partly because it was the only way I could say thank you to him without breaking down in tears. Photos ensued. Kyle Sedore handed me a bomber of cold tasty Double IPA. I took a huge swig. It was ice cold and so satisfying. Rob Versteegh and Kyle were both handing me dry clothes and food. Julie Goodman scrubbed my dog bite out with Everclear, and bandaged it. Sarah Russell held me up after the bomber  and exhaustion got to me. I honestly felt like Cancellara at the end of Paris Roubaix - Through the crucible, out the other side intact, and into the hands and arms of an incredible support crew to make sure I looked good on the podium, or in this case, a log by the fire. Having everyone there at the end meant a lot to me, and I want to thank each and every one of the people that I mentioned for making my finish just that much more special.

This is pretty much the end of my race recap (Gee, only 4 long posts?) If you've made it through this far, congratulations. :) I'll have one final post coming with some miscellaneous thoughts, and some discussion about my bike and setup for those that are curious.

TIV9 Race Recap - Light and darkness.

I left CP2 with just half bottle of water, and 10 miles to the next convenience store. I dropped in behind Jana Vavra and (I believe) Paul Chapman. I tried keeping pace with them, but I was still in survival mode, so I ended up about 10 - 12 bike lengths behind them all the way into Gladbrook. After 50 minutes and a bit of pavement through town, I pulled into a Casey's parking lot and found a number of other riders sitting there refueling. This was the last convenience store for nearly 100 miles and everyone was taking time to fuel their bodies as well as stock up for the next leg. It also appeared that a number of the overnight groups were being worked out while people ate and rested. I parked my bike on the west side of the building, said hi to a few people and stumbled into the store to get some food and drink. Mark hadn't warned the store that there might be a group coming in, and the staff appeared a bit flustered with the sudden rush of traffic. Cornbread spied my leg and suggested that I should clean the wound out while I was there. It didn't really hurt, so I politely shrugged off his suggestion. After two more mentions of the need to  clean the wound up, I finally gave in. He grabbed a bottle of hydrogen peroxide from the shelf and got in line behind me. I grabbed the bottle from him, paid the cashier, and pulled up a slice of curb outside so I could eat and clean up.

As I ate, more riders showed up and I struggled figuring out why I had to arrived ahead of this many people. Many of them were people I considered favorites to win, some of them with multiple TI finishes under their belts. Cornbread and one of the other people from Lincoln cleaned my leg off, for which I was very grateful. The H202 had a bit of a sting and foamed a lot, but it was good to know that we were taking a swipe at the germs sooner rather than later. Riders continued to come in to the parking lot, some, like Jim Cummins, looking completely spent. I hoped that they were able to rest, recover, and finish the race. While I ate and talked, I noticed a number of the favorites getting their stuff together and leave. I used that as my cue to get going, and quickly grabbed a can of coke for the road, packed my stuff up and headed out. As my friend and TI finisher Paul Jacobson said, "Get back on the bike." I'd spent just over an hour recovering and felt loads better as I headed north out of town. As I rode down the pavement I could see a good sized group of riders forming in the hills ahead of me. I really wanted to catch them, but I wanted to take a cautious approach to how much energy I used to bridge up to them. I rode at a steady pace, slowly closing the gap between me and the group. Near mile 195, I pulled in behind them as they slowed to change cue sheets. I quickly took stock of who was here.  First, was Charles Parsons, Tim Ek, Mike Johnson and Jay Barre. All of them had finished on one or more occasions, and were well poised to finish again. Next, Paul Errington and Ben Oney. Both super strong riders with lots of ultra-distance experience. Paul had finished the Dirty Kanza 200 last summer, and Ben had finished 13th in the 2011 Tour Divide. Both brought more firepower to the group. Finally, Chris Wells and Paul Carpenter. I had not met either of them before today, but if they had made it this far, then they had to be strong, and feeling pretty good. After about 30 seconds, I felt that all of these riders were likely to finish, so I decided to sit in with them for the rest of the race.

Spirits in the group were high, considering that we were not even two-thirds of the way through the race. The sunset and susequent twilight were gorgeous and there was a lot of talking and joking going on when the roads were good. On the hills and loose rock, things quieted down and it became obvious that TCoB was the order of the day at those points. Jay was doing a bang up job as navigator and Charles was moving around in the group, talking to people and keeping things organized. Being the "FNG" of this group, I made sure I took long pulls at the front and tried not to do anything to jeopardize being allowed to stay in the group. I was still not sure how I had arrived in a position to ride with this particular group overnight, and I was waiting for the proverbial hammer to fall on my personal race at any time. The next few hours were routine. We pedaled, and we stopped every hour or so for food or a bio break, as long as the majority of the group needed to do so. There were times where we didn't stop if only one person needed to stop. I was having issues holding my line as twilight turned to dark. It was obvious I was starting to get fatigued. At one point, I started getting whiny and negative about the road conditions, and Charles Parsons dropped back from the front of the group, quietly told me "Say nothing but positive words from here on out." and then proceeded to ride back up front. I took the kindly worded hint and kept quiet, unless spoken to for quite a while. During the night, the talk died down other than the announcement of milestones ("only 100 miles left") or warnings about dangerous road surfaces. I had a number of instances of paranoia hit me, especially if I was by myself. I was convinced that there were people in the group that didn't want me there, and they were plotting out a way to get rid of me. Close to midnight, the fatigue really set in and I started cat napping for a few seconds while riding, even on the steep downhills. This went on for at least 30 minutes until I realized what a danger I was becoming, and told the group I needed to stop for a bit. Charles stopped with me for a few seconds to make sure I was OK and then took off to catch up with the group. I broke into my seatbag and drank one of the two bottles of 5 Hour Energy I had bought just in case something like this happened. I had used it for the same reason during my first ultra distance event, the Metamora 4x50, in 2006, and knew that it worked for me when the chips were down. Drinking that, and some water,  made me feel quite a bit better, and soon I was alert, back on the bike, and making contact with the group after a steep hill or two.

As I looked around, I realized that we were on a portion of TIV7 course again, as we were descending towards the Iowa River a bit north of Montour. I was happy that Mark had opted to not use the particularly hilly section of B-road on our route this year, and soon we crossed Highway 30 and cruised on pavement into Montour. As the evening wore on, we exited a B road and everyone stopped to make sense of a huge mileage jump between two cues. After confirmation by all nine riders, it was decided that this really was a long push in one direction, and we had not all lost the same sheet. After this big push, thoughts started turning to the next convenience store stop. We were all ready for a break at this point, and the thought of the 24 hour oasis was increasingly appealing to everyone. Cresting, a short steep hill, we could see a glow only a mile or two away. Surely we would be there soon!  However, road signs and cue sheets indicated otherwise. We turned away from the warm glow, and towards the town of Brooklyn. Again, knowing the area you are in can be a good and a bad thing. After the first disappointment, I was convinced that the promised convenience store would be in Brooklyn, and near the freeway. However, the cue sheets turned us away from the freeway, and I became really confused. It was now about 2:30 AM, and we all stopped in the middle of Brooklyn and took stock of the situation. Reading the cues, we still had another 10 - 15 miles to get to the c-store. At this point, everyone deflated a bit. The temperature had dipped into the mid 30s, and fatigue was really starting to set in. Most people were prepared for mid 40s as a low. Some where chilled and were looking for more layers, while others were resigned to their fate, and tried to push the cold out of their thoughts. We took a few minutes to pass extra layers to people in need and refueled. In silence, we all remounted our bikes and left Brooklyn behind us. For the next 12 miles, the pop of rock against the tires was the only sound we heard. The roads were hilly, littered with fresh rock, and no one in the group made a sound. Mentally, this was the lowest point for me on the entire ride. I was tired, none of the food I had with me sounded appetizing, and I could see the light of the c-store off in the distance, calling me like a siren. After what seemed like an eternity, we finally pulled into the Kwik Star near the intersection of Hwy 21 and I-80. It had been nearly 100 miles of riding by this point, and it had taken us about 9.5 hours to get here. I was, once again, behind on fluids and not feeling well, with only 3 large bottles and a can of coke since we left Gladbrook. But, we only had 40 miles left to go and a finish was looking more like a "when", rather than an "if" as long as nothing out of the ordinary happened. I parked my bike and stumbled into the warmth of the store, knowing that we would soon be seeing the sun rise a second time.

TIV9 Race Recap - Good Times and Bad

Mark gave us the opportunity to climb a nice, steep hill right after leaving CP1. I clawed my way to the top, and tried to not over-exert myself in the process. A few miles down the road, the course turned north, and it became apparent that the winds were a bit stronger than forecast. The sun was out, the gravel had gotten a bit nicer, and I had a tailwind - it was really a good time to be riding. I caught up to a few riders as I closed in on Melbourne, including Aaron Gammel and one of his Moose's Tooth teammates. We rode together through Melbourne until we arrived at the turn for the bike path near Highway 330. Mark had mentioned there was a convenience store around mile 75 or so, and seeing a small one a half mile up the bike path, I turned right, and off course, while everyone else turned left and followed the route. I had promised myself early on that I would visit any convenience store I saw to get something to eat and top off fluids, and this was the first opportunity to do so. I met Matt Maxwell at this store as well, so I felt better about my decision to go a bit off route. I downed some chocolate milk, a fruit pie, refilled all of my bottles, and bought a Snickers Almond Bar to go, then rode back on course. I met more riders at this point, and as we crossed under Hwy 330 and exited the tunnel, the photographers were camped out waiting for us. After four or five miles of pedaling, we were in State Center and riding right by a Casey's. Judging by the pile of bikes outside, this was supposed to be our first convenience store. Since I had just filled up about 3 miles earlier, I opted to enjoy the tailwind and keep motoring on by myself. Exiting town, I passed by a pheasant farm. I certainly had never seen one of those before. A few miles outside of State Center, I pulled up next to Jay Barre, Ben Oney and Chris Mills. Jay was looking strong on his Gunnar single speed, and Ben and Chris were both quite comfortable with the pace they were riding. Since I had been riding by myself for a good portion of the morning, I decided to settle in, chat a bit, and just enjoy being on the bike in such great weather. I rarely get to ride with Jay or Ben, so this was was a good chance to catch up with them by something other than Facebook posts.

This was an interesting part of the course. We hit some soft sandy sections as we passed by Marietta Sand Prairie Preserve, and soon found ourselves turning on to Mormon Ridge Road, which was the first long climb of the day. Everyone found their own pace up the hill and, upon cresting the climb, we found ourselves on a gently curving road, with trees on our right and a gorgeous valley view our left. We passed a small historical site with a log cabin on it, as well as a giant robins egg blue house with red doors. We dropped off of the ridge, stopped for a short food and bio break at a bridge, then kept moving on. After passing over a washed out section of gravel, we passed Paul Errington and Tim Ek along the side of the road. Tim was working on fixing a flat tire and Paul appeared to be providing moral support and high fives to anyone that passed by. A short time later, we pulled up on two more riders out of the race just outside of Union. One was sitting near a fence line and waiting for ride, and the other was Lance Andre, who had shred a tubular. He was walking into Union in search of a beer and to wait for a ride. Suddenly I was feeling lucky about not having any suffered any flats or mechanicals, even though it was early in the race. A short way after we passed Union, I found myself alone again as my "brain off" pace was different from that of either Jay, Ben and Chris. The tailwind and the sun continued to boost my spirits and keep me moving on. 

Around mile 120, the route turned on to pavement and through the town of Eldora. For some reason, this section was a little confusing to me, even though we went straight through town. As I rode through town, I didn't see a convenience store or anywhere I felt like stopping it, so I made the decision to keep rolling north. This decision would be both a good and bad thing for me further up the road. The route continued to follow pavement north of Eldora, crossing a crumbling, but still functioning bridge before sending us back on to Hardin County gravel roads 124 miles in to the race. At mile 127, I pulled over to allow a large tractor and harrow get past me, only to have to hit the brakes as we both descended into the Iowa River valley. I followed the tractor left and breathed a sigh of relief as he turned off into a farm just as the next long climb started. I had no issues with the climb, which was, once again, tree lined and gorgeous, despite the lack of leaves on the trees. 

After I crested the climb, I took a drink and was preparing to get back in to my over-the-road rhythm, when I noticed a white dog running out from the farm I was passing. Before I knew it, I had two dogs running after me. The smaller of the two was on my left, and dodging dangerously close to my front tire. The larger one opted to take a longer route and chase from behind. In perfect pack hunt mode, the smaller one herded me along and distracted me, while the larger one continued to build speed. Both dogs were much more aggressive than any I had previously encountered while riding and I was becoming concerned. Neither my sharp commands of "no" and "bad dog", nor the shouts from the people at the farm were having their any effect. Suddenly I felt a hard tap on my right heel, and then things quickly went silent as the larger dog sank it's mouth into the meat of my right calf. Shock quickly morphed into fight or flight response as I wasn't sure that this was actually happening. I stopped pedaling, locked the brakes up and the dog immediately let go and ran across the street and sat at the edge of an unplowed field. I was in a state of panic at this point. I recall screaming at the dog, at the people at the farm, and, silently at myself. I was afraid to look at my calf. I was sure my race was over. I needed to get the owners info, but I wanted to get away as fast as I could. I started to throw a leg over my bike, but noticed the dog tensing up as soon as my foot left the ground, so I stood still, my bike between me and the dog, and waited for the owners to come out. I looked away from the dog to see two women running toward me, while an older man in an electric wheelchair cruised out of the driveway, swung left, and rolled up behind them. I looked at my calf, and was relieved to see mostly scratches. However, the dog had sunk one of his lower canines in solidly, and that hole was pumping blood out at what seemed like a rapid rate. One of the women handed me a damp paper towel to clean the blood off, and one to dry my leg with. After assurances that the dog had never done this before, and that he was up to date on his shots, I found out that the people helping me were just watching the dog for a friend. After a failed call to the dog's owner, I emailed both the old guy's and the owners contact info to myself, and made a mental note of the location. After what was the longest 10 minutes I've ever spent stopped during a bike race, I got back on my bike and continued up the course.

After a few easy pedal strokes, I was amazed that the bite area only felt slightly bruised. I bumped the effort up a bit and, noticing no sharp pain, quickly got back into what I thought was race pace. I passed two riders that received the sharp end of my tongue earlier when they inquired about my condition. I slowed up a bit, explained what happened, and apologized for being so rude. I descended into the river valley again, climbed out, and then bounced across a freshly rocked section of road near the Hardin County Conservation headquarters. Finally, the road smoothed out and I was able to sit on my aero bars, ride a bit of tempo and try to catch up on my nutrition. Up to now I had been running on adrenaline and rage, and it took me a while to get settled down and get things back to normal. This also meant that my nutrition and fluid intake was off, and I had wasted a lot of energy. The next 10 miles went by without incident and soon I was turning south and riding down North Willow Road. I had driven over this road a number of times on trips to Waterloo and Dubuque, but always wanted to ride along on it just to ride by this cool church just to the south of Highway 20.

As I approached  the highway, I saw a rider stopped and was surprised to see Dennis Grelk cleaning dirt out of his cleats. I stopped to chat quickly and then continued on, but it didn't take Dennis long to catch up to me. We worked together for quite a few miles, taking turns pulling into the headwind. I finally had to stop and eat. Dennis pulled over with me and soon we saw a good sized group of riders roll by, including Aaron Gammel, Monika Sattler, and Jana Vavra. We buttoned up and took off after them but they were already quite a ways ahead of us. It was at this point I watched Dennis ride ahead and I decided to switch to survival mode, as I had 3/4 of a bottle of water left, and at least another 15 miles to the checkpoint. An hour later (around 4:30 PM or so) I was rolling down a B-Road, past the photographers and into CP2. As I pulled up to Jeremy and Robert, the stress of the last 3 hours finally caught up to me and I broke down. I was bleeding, dehydrated, under-nourished, and exhausted. All I could do was stand over my bike, let the tears flow and hope to pull myself back together. Jeremy's news that I was 12th coming into the checkpoint actually made me feel worse, as I felt I had no business being in that spot at this point in the event. After a few minutes, and some words with Jeremy, I got myself under control and proceeded to work through  my normal check point procedure. I swapped out cue sheets, ate some food, and drained every last ounce of fluid out of my other three bottles. I had just under a half bottle of water left, 150 miles to go, and it was 10 miles to Gladbrook, and the next convenience store.

TIV9 Race Recap - The Hills of Jasper County

My alarm went off around 2:30 or 2:45 AM - I can't really remember when. I had placed all of my bottles and kit in the bathroom the night before, so that's where I went to prepare myself for the day's events. I moved my bike into the hall while eating a breakfast cookie, set my tire pressures, then knocked on Paul and Vin's door to see how they were getting along. They were mostly set to go, but Paul was getting more beauty shots taken of him by the photographer that Salsa had sent to document his day. It was like being in the middle of a Rapha Continental shoot in some ways ;)

After transferring Paul and Vin's belongings to my room, the three of us rode down Hwy 146 into Grinnell and rolled in to downtown and in front of Bikes to You. The mood around the starting line was much lighter than in past years. The morning's relatively warm, humid, temperature and the forecast for the rest of the race weekend surely was the cause for this. Despite being there for the better part of 30 minutes, I really don't remember too many details. Knowing that I wouldn't see many of these people until Sunday, if at all, I tried to wish the riders I knew good luck. I recall lots of camera flashes going off, and a few people shouting my name. Mostly, I was trying to keep my nerves under control and silently hoping that nothing unexpected would derail the last four months worth of training. The Trans Iowa can deal cruel twists, even when you have prepared properly. Guitar Ted gave some last minute instructions, hopped in the Truck with No Name, and allowed us 5 minutes to our own thoughts before honking his horn and heading south on Broad Street.

The horn startled me out of my thoughts and I found myself clipping in and following everyone else down Broad. Since I opted to not look at the cue sheets the night before, I wasn't really sure where we were headed and just settled in behind everyone else. It wasn't too long before we took a right hand turn, and I realized we were right crossing Hwy 146 close to our hotel. A small group of people were at the controlled intersection cheering for us. Suddenly, Guitar Ted sped away into the morning darkness and it was just us and the gravel.

At the pre-race meeting, Mark mentioned that the first 12 miles were going to be shoulder to shoulder fresh gravel. He wasn't lying. My heart rate jumped from a fairly sedate 125 to 150 bpm as I tried to get my legs and bike beneath me and settle into some sort of reasonable pace. The next few minutes were hectic as our cluster of 90 riders quickly strung out into lines and worked to find the smoothest lines we could. As the fast guys worked their way to the front, I settled into maintainable pace and picked my way around other riders as the hills and the gravel allowed. It was going to be a long day and I was not going to end it early by forcing a pass when it wasn't safe for me or the other riders. During this first few miles, the eyeglasses I was wearing were fogging up to the point they were useless. So much for reading any road signs from a distance. There was a group up ahead, but their pace was faster than what I was comfortable running, and I opted to let them ride away. Soon, the sun was up, and I found myself alone.  I settled into a schedule of drinking every 15 minutes and eating at the top of every hour. I felt that this would be an easy schedule to remember, even as the race wore on and I started to tire. I recall passing the Wittenberg Grange building near Clay Street and Holly Avenue, viewing numerous foggy valleys from above, and seeing photographers at various points on course as we passed by. These things, and the seemingly unending rollers of Jasper County, were what stick out most in my mind from the first section. Parts of the course were used as part of TIV5, as I rode by some of the same spots I sat at to take photos of riders early on. Mark was taking us almost straight east across a good portion of Jasper county, and in the process showing riders just how flat Iowa was.

Before I knew it, I found myself on a long, paved descent and a short section of bike path, rolling into CP1. One of the volunteers took my number, and I remember Ryan Clutter and Chad Quigley asking me how I felt. At this point, I didn't feel like I had ridden 10 miles, let alone 50. I was very happy with my pacing and my nutrition to this point and didn't feel like I had over extended myself in any way. After a few minutes to swap cue sheets and quick restroom break, I turned south and scaled a steep climb to start the second leg, which would take us over 120 miles to an unknown location.

TIV9 Race recap - Pre-Race events

My TransIowa experience started early Thursday with a number of morning errands, a chiropractic adjustment, a stop at Rasmussen Bike Shop, and a pre-race leg massage at Hands on Sports Massage. Afterwards, I went to the airport and awaited the arrival of my of two British guests for the weekend - Salsa team rider Paul Errington and Vin Cox, former holder of the Guinness World Record for biking around  the world. After some initial contact an exchange of emails and messages, they both accepted my offer of both race weekend support, and a cheap place to stay while they were in town. Vin's plane arrived about 90 minutes late due to some mechanical issues, so we opted to hang out at the airport, grab a snack, chat, and wait for Paul. After Paul's flight arrived around 7:30 PM, we picked up his bike in baggage claim, loaded it up on the Explorer next to Vin's, and headed to my house.

Once we arrived home, Paul's anxiousness to get his bike built led to Vin changing his mind and building his too. After opening his case, Vin discovered that American Airlines had damaged his front wheel beyond use. Two minutes later, he had moved his tire and tube over to one of my spare rims, and he was set to go for the race. While they built their bikes, my close friend and our support driver, Scot, cooked a dinner of NY strips, baked potatoes and grilled asparagus. We spent an hour or so eating and talking, until it was time for Paul and Vin to try and get some sleep. My sleep came in short, fitful bursts that night, as my subconscious ran through all of the things I needed to get done before and during the race.

I expected the next morning to be stressful with three of us trying to get things ready for the weekend, but it was quite relaxed. After some coffee, final packing and finishing up the bike builds, we had time to head out to Hy-Vee for breakfast and food supplies for the weekend. We loaded up the bikes around noon and picked up Scot at his house. Next we made a made a quick stop at Rasmussen Bike Shop so I could say thanks to everyone, and so we could snag some last minute bike parts. After a stop at Abelardo's for a delicious burrito, we were on our way. By 4:30, we had arrived, checked-in, secured a 2 PM check-out for Sunday, replaced Paul's MIA bottle lid, and started walking to the Meat-Up. As we started signing the race and media wavers, the day's calmness quickly gave way to anxiety. I suddenly felt 50 pounds heavier and about 3 feet tall. I ordered a beer to help take the tension off and spent the quite a bit of time saying hi to riders, friends and support crew as I saw them. I hadn't seen many of them since last year, so it was good to spend a few minutes catching up with them and wishing them the best for tomorrow. I finally decided that I needed to eat, whether I was hungry or not, so I did the grill thing, and ended up stuffing myself with what appeared to be a 2 pound chicken breast.

After dinner, we all moved to to another room for the pre-race meeting. After introducing the sponsors and volunteers, a raffle was conducted. Then, Mark went over the rules and details for TIV9. I was fortunate enough to win a nice prize package made up of a signed cycling poster, pound of coffee, and pair of socks courtesy of North Central Cyclery. We were each called up by name, and given the first set of cue sheets and nutritional items from, one of the sponsors, Gu Energy. Once all of the names were called, our group headed back to the hotel. I took a few minutes to drive down to Bikes To You and hang out with Coop and bunch of other people for a bit. It was a good opportunity for me to relax and clear my head with friends and fellow riders just a bit more before Saturday morning arrived. Mark arrived a few minutes after me, and Coop presented him with a certificate of appreciation from the Grinnell Chamber of Commerce for bringing TransIowa there. After half an hour or so, I headed back to the hotel. I laid out my kit, prepped bottles, mounted cues, and gave my faithful Salsa La Cruz a final once over. I finally went to bed around 9 PM.

TIV9 - Thoughts and Thanks

Well, TransIowa happens this weekend. It's been a long 4(!!) months leading up to this point. I can't really do anything now but make sure the bike is prepped, pack food and supplies, and enjoy the weekend.

Since I'm a bit of a nerd, there's been lots of numbers for me to track leading up to now.

• 194 hours of saddle time
• 3156 total miles (Monthly totals of 845, 597, 980 and 735)
• 182 miles per week average
• 68000+ calories burned

For whatever reason, I'm not as nervous going into the event as I was for V5 and V6. I still have a very healthy respect for the event. However, I feel that I'm prepared physically, I'm mentally ready to ride hard, and I expect to have a good result as long as I stay on top of my nutrition and can avoid accidents. In the end, it's just a bike race, and whatever happens, happens. 

I wanted to take a moment and mention some people that have or are going to make this whole weekend possible for me.

My wife Kathy, who has once again tolerated the amount of time I spent getting ready for a big race. She hasn't seen a lot of me the last few months, unless she was sitting in the basement with me or, waited for me to get home from an after work ride. She's been incredibly supportive, and she's ready to have her husband back in a few days. 

My coach, JJ Bailey from Zoom Performance. I started talking to JJ back in December and he was excited to help me reach my goal of finishing TransIowa. His coaching and workout schedule allowed me to beat my target finish time at the Dirty Kanza 200 in 2012, so it was only natural to choose him to help me prepare for this. Between these two races, he's taken me to a physical and performance level I wouldn't have imagined I would be at.

Greg, Sterling, Matt, Adam and the rest of the gang at Rasmussen Bike Shop. Always supportive, always friendly, and they have handled my parts requests and questions time and time again this year. I'm incredibly grateful for their continued support, and proud to wear their logo on my back. If you need mechanical work done, a bike fit. or a bike or bike parts, these are the guys to see in central Iowa.

Cindy McGuire at Hands on Sports Massage. I've been a customer of Hands On Sports Massage and Cindy since my first Dirty Kanza 200 5 years ago. Cindy is an active multisport athlete who takes the time know her clients, their training schedules, and how their bodies react to the stresses of training and racing. Cindy has done a great job of keeping me injury free, physically and mentally, this year. If you need sports or injury recovery massage of any type, I highly recommend paying her a visit.

Rob Versteegh at Oakley has been a constance source of support and positive words throughout the past few months. He also keeps all of the local shops and riders supplied with the best eyewear on the planet. I'm very lucky and really happy to be using a pair of Oakley Radar Lock Path eyewear for TransIowa this weekend.

A special thanks to Scot Hoffman, whom I've known, lived with or worked with since 1988. Scot has volunteered to be support crew for me, and two visitors from the UK this weekend. Hopefully this involves nothing more than chauffeuring us to the start, and picking us up from the finish line. Scot went with me to Kansas three years ago during my only unsuccessful attempt at finishing the DK, and it was great having him around for support that weekend. Thanks for giving up your weekend to hang out in Grinnell with us Scot.

Guitar Ted, and all of the volunteers. We wouldn't be out wandering around this weekend if it wasn't for GT. He puts a lot of time, energy, and thought into the route each year to make it challenging and interesting for the riders. I can't thank him enough for doing it again this year. The volunteers at each of the checkpoints make his job a little easier by keeping track of us, handing us cue sheets, and letting him know when people are finished. They have all given up one or more weekends so we can have fun. Thanks to all of them for helping us have fun as well.

Last, but not least, thank you to all of my friends in the Des Moines and IA bike communities for your support this year. Whether it's been a kind word, a suggestion, or coming out and suffering with me for a ride, it's made this entire experience much more enjoyable for me. I am looking forward to some warmer weather soon so we can turn the pedals with a little less anger, while in search of a frosty beverage. 

Gettin' some miles

Got some miles and a bit of pain in this week. Bagged another 21 miles or so on the Singlecross on Tuesday between the work commute and a trip to Rasmussen's to pick up some parts that I had ordered in. I wanted to get one more ride in on somewhat skinny tires before the predicted snow storm arrived on Wednesday. 

The storm arrived Wednesday and threw plans into a bit of a spin. I wanted to bust the Mukluk out and ride in the first snow of the year, but I needed to be well rested for my scheduled VO2 test. Well, the snow came and we ended up with a little over 13" on the ground. VO2 test was rescheduled as the roads were really too poor to do any driving on. 

Thursday afternoon was the test. Overall I think I'm in better shape than I was in February, despite not riding extremely regularly these last few months. My threshold power is the same as last year, but I'm making it at 5 fewer beats per minute. My VO2Max is a bit lower than it was in February. A bit curious, but since I haven't been putting in a lot of intensity, I'm not terribly surprised. On the good news front, this for this round of testing, I made it through a minute at 380 watts and died during the sprint in the 400 watt range. Last year I made it through a minute at 340 watts and died at 360. I'm not a coach, but I think this means I've gained, and kept, a lot of overall base these last few months. I'm pretty happy with the testing results and they've gotten me stoked to hit the training hard the next 4 months. 

Saturday I finally got out on the Mukluk to get a taste of the snow, and to play with tire pressures. With temps in the low to mid teens, I was going to just ride 3 or 4 miles to snag some coffee and breakfast. I ended up in a groove and stopped for food at Zanzibar's around mile 12. The bike trails conditions ranged from unplowed to cleared to the concrete, with plenty of steps in between. I got home with 22 or so miles in my legs, all with the tires at around 7 or 8 PSI. 

I'm looking forward to getting out and snagging some more miles over the holiday break. I've signed up for the Rapha Festive 500 on Strava, which is 500km between Christmas eve and New Year's eve, so that gives me a goal to shoot for over the holidays. More base miles for TransIowa and TripleD. I think it's doable since I don't have a lot of other demands on my time this week.

TransIowa V9 - Here we go again.

My third assault on TransIowa will occur in April 2013. Prep started today in the form of discussions with JJ Bailey from Zoom Performance. JJ was instrumental in getting me into fighting shape for Dirty Kanza this year. (yes I owe my 5 readers the rest of a race write up) I have an O2 test scheduled for this Thursday to get training baselines set for the year. I will be interested in seeing how I compare to this time last year. I've managed to keep the weight gain off despite not riding as much - I'm only 5 lbs heavier than I was for DK.

21 miles on my Specialized Singlecross today. Let the games begin.

TIV7 Photograph Usage

I have received emails regarding the photographs that were taken during TIV7. I wanted to answer those questions here.

If you took part in this year's race, you are welcome to any photos that I have taken of you. The ones posted to my TIV7 set on Flickr have been resized so they uploaded quickly. I have higher res versions that you are welcome to use for personal purposes.

All I ask in return is that:

1. All usage must be non-commercial in nature. Posting to a personal or club web site is OK. Please include a link back to here somewhere in your article.
2. Please leave my copyright tag in place.
3. Please be patient with me getting those images pulled and sent to you.

A number of people have asked about purchasing certain images. In the spirit of "free" grass roots events such as TransIowa, The Almanzo 100, and PCL Gravel Worlds, I am not going to charge for any of the photos. If you wish, you can make a Tribute Gift, in the name of TransIowa, to the American Red Cross for any amount you are comfortable with.

For commerical use of any images, please contact me at "stevefuller at gmail dot com"

Thanks.

Patience

It's been a while since my last post. For the few readers I'll summarize the reason for the lull in one word - numbness.

The nerve issues that I suffered during and after TransWisconsin have basically left me unable to ride more than a handful of times up until a month or so ago. The first two weeks back required me to look at my hand when holding a sandwich or a glass of liquid to ensure that I wouldn't drop it. Our cats enjoyed the dropped sandwiches a lot. Typing caused the numbness to get worse (bad when your job requires you to type for 8 hours a day). Day to day tasks became actual tasks. I have much more insight as to how I will be when I age to the point of not being able to handle some of life's basic tasks myself. Caretakers, you have been warned.

I've spent some time talking to medical doctors, sports therapists and acupuncturists over the last six months. The first (or even second) opinion isn't always the right one. I had two doctors ready to slice into my wrist to alleviate my numbness because they were convinced it was carpal tunnel. A four day onset of carpal tunnel seemed a bit unlikely to me. Thankfully I found third and fourth opinions from Cindy McGuire at Hands on Sports Massage and Jay Heaverlo at Midwest Acupuncture Clinic. I credit both of them with really getting to the root cause of my issues and getting me healed up. Insurance companies that don't cover accredited massage therapy or acupuncture are missing the boat IMHO.

Although I'm finally better, I can't begin to (again) tell you how important getting your bike fit properly is. My Salsa Fargo was the *one* bike in my fleet that I had not taken in to Rasmussen's to have adjusted and it completely screwed me for close to 6 months. I will be taking my Fargo into Adam for a fit once I'm ready to start riding it again.

While I was busy with not riding my bike, I picked up a real camera and started taking photos as a way to still stay involved with cycling and see my friends. I have bunch of them here on Flickr if you are interested in taking a peek. While we're on the subject of photography, I'm honored to announce that I've been accepted an offer to be the Official Photographer for TransIowa V7. I'm hoping that I am able to capture even a portion of what this ultra-endurance event is like. A huge thank you to Guitar Ted for allowing this to happen.

Finally, I still have some TransWisconsin writing to finish up. I'm finally ready to reference my little composition book so I can write "the rest of the story". Hopefully the details won't be too fuzzy.

After 6 months of numbness, soul searching, and depression, this biker is finally getting back into his Zen state. It feels good.

Highlights (for children)

I'm behind on a lot of things right now, including race reports. They're coming. Brief summary:

• TransIowa V6 - Made 1st checkpoint @ mile 44 by 2 minutes. Out at mile 59
• Almanzo 100 - Finished in 6:51. Good enough for 57 out of 267.
• Chequemegon 100 - Got lost at mile 45. Saw black bear cubs. Enjoyed every minute.
• Dirty Kanza 200 - 4:15 to 1st checkpoint @ mile 58. Out at mile 85 with chills and goosebumps in 95 deg heat.

TI v6 Packing list

Tossing this here in case anyone is interested and so I don't forget anything

Multi-tool

Avid Torx tool

side cutters

electrical tape

zip ties

quick link

hunk of chain

bottle of chain lube

rag

rubber gloves

spare shoe cleat

spare brake pads

extra bottle cage bolts

bottle of advil

6 tubes

6 c02 carts and inflater

patch kit

100 oz water bladder

4 water bottles

4 light batteries

two headlights

one tail light

cell phone

frame pump

toilet paper

flask of The Macallan 18 year

camel mojo

jade buddha mojo

Garmin 605 and external battery pack

cell phone

spare socks

spare gloves

spare hat

spare lenses for Oakleys

6 Garmin Francois bars

2 lbs of bacon

15 GU packets

8 tubes of Clif shot blocks

2 bottles of Boost

sense of humor

willingness to suffer

Tick tock...

Last minute prep for TI is just about complete. Thomson post is installed, computer is installed and set properly. Rear rack removed. Bolts checked and tightened. Driveline cleaned and lubed

Later today will be the finish of the charging, list checking and packing phase. Need to install some fenders too.

Saturday will be the ride phase.

Sunday will be the finish phase.

Getting closer

Bike is getting closer to being ready. I should have my Thomson setback post in the next day or so and the construction will be complete. Still up in the air on the rack. If I can snag an Ergon BC2 or BC3 yet this week, the rack will stay home. I've double wrapped the drops in order to try and keep hand fatigue at bay. I also moved the hoods down a bit further on the drops so the brakes are easier to reach. Here's hoping the body is ready for what is gonna be thrown at it in a few days.

TI V5 - A learning experience

First off, thanks to Guitar Ted and David Pals for putting on one heck of an event. This is grass roots racing at its finest. These two men, the volunteers, plus the challenging course make this event a gem. A round of applause to everyone that showed up to ride, and an extra round for those that finished. The event would not have been the same without each and every one of you. I only talked to a few people before and during the race. I hope to meet some more of the competitors next year. A big thank you to Rasmussen Bike Shop for ordering the myriad bunch of weird parts I've requested over the last few months and supporting me and other mountain/dirt cyclists in the area.

Summary. First attempt at TransIowa and resulted in a DNF after about 150 miles of riding. I think my physical fitness was fine, but a lack of long rides to develop the appropriate mental training led to me not being able to finish. We couldn't have asked for nicer road and weather conditions. Most everything we rode on was dry, and the temps were warm, but definitely not unbearable. In the end bad nutrition choices and bad racecraft sealed my fate.

Nutrition nutrition nutrition. It is impossible to eat enough during any ultra distance event. I thought that by regularly taking in Perpetuem and tossing down a Clif bar and a piece of pizza every now and then that I'd be able to keep myself topped off. I spent the the last 20 miles of my race trying to dig myself out of the deep deep hole I had been digging for the previous 130 miles. I had burned around 9800 calories for the 150 miles that I rode that day. I know that I didn't take in anywhere near that many during the race.

Racecraft. I rode too long by myself, especially bucking a 10 - 15 MPH headwind for 110 miles. Everyone that finished was riding with at least one other person for a good portion of the race. I should have backed the pace down earlier and settled in with a group of people for the ride rather than riding hard by myself thinking that I could bank time by getting to the checkpoints earlier. In the end, I was not more than 15 minutes ahead of some of the finishers for the first parts of the event. I abandoned my plan and I paid for it.

Next race up is the Almanzo 100 on May 16th in Rochester, MN. After that, the Dirty Kanza 200 in Emporia, KS on May 30th. I'l be riding my new Salsa La Cruz at both of these events. Hope that it performs well.