trans iowa, plus 2...

ramble...

start at the beginning or the end?

what's one of the hardest parts of TI that people might not think about? here ya go...maybe you get a good night's sleep the eve before you leave for the race, maybe. then if your lucky you get to sleep by 9-9:30 the night before the race, maybe. then you get maybe 4-5 hours sleep before you get up at 2:00 am for the 4:00 am start.  you're already sleep deprived even before the horn honks. how do you train for that?

3 finger tips on my left hand & 2 toes are numb on my left foot.  last year I had numb fingertips for months.  just got used to it & eventually it must have just gone away.  my sit bone region...raw.  funny, the most nagging pre-race malady didn't bother me at all.

i don't like to list thank you's cuz someone always gets left out. mark, i will thank you for a beautiful course. all that volunteered their time, thank you. i saw some beautiful sights in the iowa countryside.  lush green landscapes. serene & curious bovine. dozens of canine greetings, none overtly intimidating.

this year was different than the previous in many ways.  i had just about talked myself out of going earlier in the week. the forecast had me spooked.  i'm getting too old to suffer that much, but i also knew if i didn't go & try i would never be able to live with myself.

as usual i carried way too much.  i have this fear of being cold & wet. why? because when i get cold & wet i shut down.  i wore one rain coat to the start line, only to switch to a lighter one right before the start & proceed to carry the first coat the whole trip.  i had rain pants, never wore 'em. i did have 2 pair of gloves which i actually switched between, one pair heavier than the other.

i ate a bagel with peanut butter & honey (brought it with me), a bag of swedish fish, 1 fruit smoothie power bar, 2 power bar triple threat's, 1/2 a hammer flask of montana huckleberry, a couple gu roctane's, probably 6-8 packets of gu chomps, a bag of chips & a dr. pepper in hedrick(sp), 2 (maybe 3 packs) of clif blocks (hard to open while riding by the way), 2 raspberry chocolate clif shots, a donut & coke & banana at cp 3 (thanks mg & jeremy).  when i unpacked when i got home i probably had nearly everything i just listed & more still in my bags uneaten.  eventually i just couldn't eat any more fruit or citrus flavored anything.  I didn't eat anything for probably the last 2-3 hours.  probably forgetting something, but you get the idea.

john gorilla asked me why SS this year? why not is the easy answer, but it came down to i had the eno hub gathering dust in the garage & had retired my legend ti's this year.  the simplicity of the SS was appealing.  hell, maybe the weight i shaved without gears justifies the unnecessary cargo i toted around.  well...maybe not. 42x18 was perfect. hard as hell many times but if you stayed on top it was a mountain goat.  the reward was being able to roll 21/22 on the flats when the situation presented itself.

unsure what happened to matt & travis to end their journey but that pair can grind.  enjoyed my moments with them.

rafal - don't let me watch 13 assassins again, that movie was effed up.

i thought melbourne was southeast of grinnell, i truly had no idea where i was nearly the whole ride.  i did know where i was in pella (sort of) & montezuma, but that was it.  everything else was just lefts & rights.  it got really ugly, condition-wise, from melbourne to the finish. i did drink a code-red from a street vending machine in melbourne, tasted great at 4 something in the morning.  not even sure if that was when it was.

i was thinking a 6 am finish was possible but had to modify that projection as the end just never seemed to come. wind, white rock, hills, & fatigue...lethal.

more later, maybe not...

tk