"offseason"

i've known the day was coming for some time now. i wouldn't say i've been putting it off, just simply getting mentally prepared for the inevitable. i ran myself a little ragged this year and was a bit burnt out by the end of the season so i took some time off the bike and have since focused on riding when and where i want with no intentions of truly training. all of this has gotten me back into the right mindset of truly enjoying my riding and starting to really look forward to next year's events...especially the big one. and then a few things all sort of happened together and i knew it was time. a very long weekend of work with far too little sleep led to sleeping for a solid 11 hours monday night. waking up tuesday morning knowing i had to be extremely productive to not be disappointed in myself i also came across this blog post from charlie farrow.

so, tuesday became my first big day in a while. a couple hours of gravels in the morning to avoid the frost/thaw of the trails, followed by getting back into my workout routine, a whole lot of lasagna, and an hour and a half on the trails. considering i still had to shower and get to work i was a bit shot by the end of the night but felt good to really work hard again. point being...the "offseason" is far from what its name implies. the next six months will be a collection of "this could be our last trail ride of the season" rides, thousands of miles of snow covered and well below-freezing gravel rides, lots of riding in the dark, working out to improve lacking core and upper body strength, and regularly pushing myself to the brink of failure in an attempt to remind myself how truly difficult and painful rides like transiowa can be. having finished it last year and planning to run it with a freewheel this year has left me fearful of becoming complacent and possibly arrogant about the ease of finishing it. so the plan is to return to my training plan from the past 2 years. ride, ride, ride, ride. ride because i want to. ride because i need to. ride when its nice out, ride when it flat out sucks. ride until it hurts, then ride until i'm delirious. ride until i know i'm stronger than i was last year. wake up everyday with such an intense fear of failing again that i continue to bury myself on the bike. should be a fun offseason. and i guess its officially started.

transiowa v.5 (epilogue)

this will be a very random collection of thoughts and thank yous in no particular order...
-huge thanks to kris and misty from vassago. you guys believed in me and my chances of pulling this off long before most. your support and encouragement from day one has been as amazing as it was unexpected. the fisticuff has been the perfect bike for transiowa.
-scotty...you were there training with me from day one. you missed your chance to get in this year but the hours spent in the worst possible conditions will never be forgotten. i hope you seriously consider lining up next year.
-thanks to travis at decorah bicycles for keeping my bikes running no matter how bad i trash them.
-all my family that has not only put up with my obsession but accepted and encouraged it and have dealt with the sacrifices made so that i could fight my battle. i love you all.
-thanks to novian for teaching me the value of suffering. and for being willing to help me experience what its like to truly suffer on a bike.
-to the entire riding community in decorah. there's always someone willing to ride something somewhere. granted it usually involves ending up at a bar or getting to a bar halfway through the ride or simply drinking on the trails. there are some amazing riders in this town and some people that are perfect for keeping riding what its supposed to be...fun. occasionally i need a good kick in the ass not to take this stuff too serious and you guys are always there to provide that (spinner i'm kinda looking in your direction-mostly because you actually do kick me...a lot).
-matt, matt and jeff...you guys made this adventure. i never imagined i could have so much fun tearing myself apart physically the way i did. you are all phenomenal riders and i'm thrilled i got the chance to know you. i really hope we can ride together again sometime...maybe even find some trails somewhere.
-andy...you saved my ride and kept my hopes alive. thank you doesn't quite seem enough.
-joe, dave and tim...you guys killed it.
-brothers braun...ss kings.
-charlie...your ability to suffer is legendary.
-paul...i couldn't be happier for you.
-guitar ted and dave pals...THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! i lived a dream because you guys let me.
-to everyone whose bikes or bodies failed you...i wish you the best in the years to come. much respect for being there at 4 a.m. and lasting as long as you did.
-i am glad i failed last year. i think it has given me the ability to appreciate this year so much more.
-i was mostly serious about never riding a fixed gear bike again. mostly.
-the sun holds magical powers.
-when the devil gets bored he kills time by spreading fresh gravel whimsically across the back roads of iowa.
-CARBOROCKET!!! i swear i will do a proper review of this stuff sometime. for now just know that i've never ridden close to a century without cramps. 31.5 hours without the hint of a cramp. thank you brad keyes, this stuff is awesome.
-ergons. following the hand injury 2 weeks prior to transiowa i was pretty nervous. these grips were a no brainer for the final set up.
-rough idea of what i ate and drank...400 oz of clean water from the camelbak. 200 oz. of carborocket before running out, then 200 oz. clean water from bottles. 4 packets of gu. 5 snickers marathon bars. 3 clif bar mojo trail mix bars. 6 pieces/personal sized pizzas. 1 double cheeseburger. 2 cans pepsi. 1 piece breakfast pizza. lots of beef sticks and a bag of jerky. 1/3 bag of trail mix. 6 packets powerbar gel blasts. 3 packets jelly belly sport beans. 1 oats/honey granola bar (thanks wills). tums. 3 large chocolate chip cookies.
-mg has said on his blog that what we did won't change the balance of the world and he is absolutely right. many people i'm sure will feel that i/we make too big of a deal out of this. those people weren't out there with us. we know what we did and we know what it means to us. the world may not be different because of transiowa, but i am.
-guitar ted and dave pals have announced plans for transiowa v.6 in 2010. cresting the final rise on the b road finish i knew...i'll be back. and you're goddamn right i'll have a freewheel.

transiowa v.5 pt.4

CHECKPOINT 4 TO FINISH

if you don't know this yet about endurance racing, here's your heads up. demons. they exist. they hide, laying in wait and when they attack it is ferocious. i don't know anyone who's ever ridden through the night and not had to face them. it is at that moment that all of your hours and months and years of suffering hopefully pay you back. my demons came out at 3 a.m. due to my less than stellar diet over the previous 24 hours i had been battling raging heart burn for the past 10 hours. we had now been riding about an hour since we left cp3 and i had absolutely stuffed my face with pizza, trail mix and oatmeal cream pies. the dry socks and jacket had taken the sting out of the cold but i was miserable. i had overeaten and was choking back vomit with almost every breath. i was falling asleep on the bike, having conversations with myself that it was okay to close my eyes for just two seconds and that i'd feel better if i did. i couldn't propel my bike up any sort of incline. all i wanted to do was sleep. it was cold, dark and i was sick and tired and delirious. i was getting dizzy and was unable to communicate. this was the critical moment of my ride...the moment i knew was coming. i knew it at the time as well. but i was broken. the four of us stopped for necessities which was a welcome change of pace for me, but still i knew i was in trouble. i did what i needed to quickly then without a word i left the group and started walking my bike. it was a gentle incline and certainly rideable but i just couldn't do it anymore. i walked to be moving. i walked to make progress. i walked to stay warm. i walked because i didn't know what else to do. suddenly, i looked next to me and there was andy. without a word he had joined me. i'm sure he was strong enough at the time to ride but i think he sensed what was happening. at first he just walked there without saying anything. then finally he looked at me and simply asked "trying to walk some sense into yourself?" i cracked a smile. he nailed it. i wasn't out of the weeds yet but with that smile came a slight shift in attitude. i don't know if it was his understanding or the fact that i was carrying on a conversation or what, but something was changing. i used a gu in hopes the caffeine would wake me up a bit and we continued to walk. as we crested the hill and got back on our bikes things seemed to be getting better. within about 15 minutes i was back at "full strength", back into robot mode of simply continuing to turn the pedals over. in those few minutes andy saved my race and i was beyond thankful that we had picked him up back at cp2.

back on the bikes and back at it but i still wasn't moving very fast...no one was really. except gersib. he seemed to feel good and rode off the front a bit. no one even questioned it. he looked strong and we were riding slow and it made sense. so wills, andy and i continued on until we hit the 295th, h, i, 300th, 63 debacle. i absolutely will not complain about the cue sheets. we were in rough shape and i'm sure they made sense, just not to us at that moment. it was around 4 a.m. and we were just outside toledo and we were lost. after some searching we kind of figured out where we were, maybe missed a turn or two but somehow ended up in the right place and found our way to highway 63 in toledo. we chose to ride a half mile out of our way to get to an all night gas station. another great decision. i finally bought some tums and gained minor relief for a while. we rode out of toledo having picked up 2 more lost souls with the promise of sunshine not far off. the two we picked up preferred a faster pace and left us quickly as we left town. and then it happened. first the sky changed colors. from black and purple to dark blue. then i noticed i could see my computer for the first time since about 9p.m. by 5:45 it was light out. i don't remember the first time we saw the sun but it held all the magically restorative powers i had promised myself it would. after a brief sun appreciation ceremony we continued to roll on. somewhere along the line here my memory gets a little rough because i'm not exactly sure how or when we came back into contact with gersib. i know we rejoined him at the last gas station but i feel like he was around for some of the daytime prior to that as well. so it is.

so we continued on having been refueled by the sun not knowing we were about to come across the most amazing story of the race. as we came down a long hill and rounded a corner we spotted a rider standing along side of the road. much...MUCH to my surprise it was charlie farrow who had been one of the favorites to win. charlie, while obviously a little out of it, was still charlie. upbeat, positive, optimistic, smiling...when you are as humble of a person as charlie is it seems that the world holds more amazement than it does for most of us. as we rode along charlie began to tell us his story. he had ridden with the leaders for a long time until something knocked him out. i have heard other riders talk about seeing him doubled over with stomach pain and charlie talked about how bonked out and tired he was. this man is tough as nails and he couldn't continue. but instead of packing it in and calling for support the way most of us mortals would, charlie began procuring newspapers. hopefully his story will come to light in his own words but my understanding is that after scrounging up some newspapers he then found a cemetary, laid down, packed himself in the newspaper and drifted off to sleep. by the time we got to him he had been sleeping for a couple hours at least and was now ready to get back on the bike. this man is amazing. everyone on transiowa suffers, but this was ridiculous. and after all of this the guy was smiling and happy and the world was his to explore and experience. such a contagious personality was great to ride with.

the rest of the trip into the last gas station was fairly uneventful. whatever town we were in, we knew that we had only 40 miles to go with enough time that it was no longer a consideration. so, it was breakfast time. at this gas station we met back up with gersib and the two from the earlier stop. so we now...some 27 or so hours in...had a group of 7 hanging out having breakfast. people were having coffee and donuts and breakfast pizza and alerting families/support people of our eventual finish. it was amazing. soon we bid the 2 farewell and matt, matt, andy, charlie and i headed back out. it wasn't long before my fixed gear finally got the best of me. i was toast. i knew i was going to finish and i wasn't cramping or bonking but i just couldn't keep up. we rode the most memorable stretch of the ride which was a series of rollers beyond anything i've ever ridden. the downhills hurt, the uphills were very long walks and the tops of my feet were paying the price for assisting my brakes by pulling up against my shoes going downhill. this was making walking almost as bad as riding. so i got dropped. and i was okay with that. i had maybe 2-3 hours left, the sun was up and the end was in sight. i could do this alone. eventually i came out of the rollers and took another gu and the lights turned on. we hit an unexpected flat section of course so i put my head down and began to hammer. somehow i found the strength to bridge back up to the group (pretty sure i surprised myself and everyone else). we all rode together for a little while longer til we got back into some hills. charlie and andy rode off the front and i wouldn't see them again until the finish. good for them. the end was near and everyone wanted to be done...if you had it in you to get there sooner then that's what you should do. i just didn't have it. matt and matt soon dropped me again, i bridged back once more, then got dropped again. i could see ahead of me that gersib had pulled away from wills and i knew we had less than ten miles to go. in fact we were on our final road with the exception of a quarter mile b road that held the actual finish line. so i took one more gu and put in one more effort. i caught back up to wills a couple miles from the finish. it was over and it was obvious. neither one of us had any intention of pushing the pace or attempting to finish without the other. i was happy to have someone with me at the finish. especially someone i began this journey with 31 1/2 hours ago. it just seemed right. as we crested a small rise on the b road the group at the finish line began ringing a bell and everyone jumped to their feet. man was that a sight. matt wills and i rolled across the finish line tied for 11th overall and 5th ss/fixed (i think) somewhere right around 31 hours and 30 minutes having ridden 314 miles of course plus however many ridden off course.

i was trashed. i took some time getting the last 2 days clothes off and getting a beer before finding some shade to sit in and make some phone calls and send some texts. it was good to have family there and a lot of what had quickly become friends. i think everyone that rides a bike in nebraska was there and i had many questions as to what exactly i was going to do with my fisticuff since i'd been promising to never ride a fixed gear again once i finished transiowa. lots of man hugs, respect, love and beer being passed around at the finish line. shortly after wills and i finished two more came through and then one of the absolute highlights of the weekend was being there when paul jacobson finished. this man has battled transiowa for four years now with incredible spirit and determination. and he finally got his. the smile on his face told the story of the last 4 years. on top of that, i had the honor of handing him a brand new vassago fisticuff frameset for his effort. a couple of beers, and many many congratulations and thank yous later we headed to mcdonalds. i tried to eat as fast as i could because i was scarily close to falling asleep face down in my food. soon i gave up, passed out, and woke up 3 hours later back in decorah.

gersib and charlie

40 miles left

finishing with wills

much respect mg

what its all about

thank god for shade

congrats paul

weapon of choice getting some well deserved rest

transiowa v.5 pt.3

CHECKPOINT 2 TO CHECKPOINT 3

all of the time cutoffs in transiowa are based loosely on a 10mph average speed. this obviously counts time spent off the bike as well. the only exception to this rule was the final stage, from checkpoint 3 to the finish. we knew we would have a minimum of 12 hours to go the final 100 miles once we left checkpoint 3. that seemed very reasonable so in my mind the race was now to make it to checkpoint 3 in time. we had somewhere around 70 miles to go and by the time we left checkpoint 2 i believe we had somewhere around 7 1/2 hours to get there. doable. we all assumed we would be getting a break from the northwest headwind since we'd been riding away from williamsburg for so long. it only stood to reason that at SOME POINT we would have to turn around. but no...not yet. however, as late evening approached the wind died down as expected. this was nice as we continued northish but disappointing when we finally turned and should have had a tailwind. so it is.

we rode along with renewed conversations that come from full and happy stomachs. and the group had a new member that we took time getting to know. as i said, andy was a perfect fit and conversations came naturally with everyone. gersib at some point began a discussion about how he was the only one taking the easy way out since wills, jeff and andy were single speed and i was fixed. dude...this is transiowa...there is no easy way out. somehow in the failing light the inevitable "shocker" conversation came up. my last name lends itself well to a variety of creative nicknames but predictably the shocker will always come up. however, this one had a new twist that made it pretty funny. apparently a couple of the guys (don't want to incriminate anyone in particular) decided that if i finished transiowa fixed then vassago should custom paint a "shocker" version of a fisticuff in which the front 2/3 of the bike is pink and the back 1/3 is brown. they also felt the headbadge should involve a hand with only three fingers showing. if you need it explained then you are probably better off not understanding.

soon i was able to witness a gorgeous sunset for the second consecutive night. unfortunately with night came the cold. the cold was very hard on me. as i've said, we stopped a lot. it was important and i'm glad we did but i was having such a difficult time getting warmed up and getting muscles loose that every time we stopped i froze and tightened back up instantly. it was a rough cycle to be putting the body through and it was taking its toll on me. i continued eating at a pace more than double what i had anticipated but i was doing a good job of listening to my body and not my expectations. i stayed fed and hydrated for the most part. the closer we got to cp3 the more i hurt, the more cold i got. so buried myself in my ipod and cut myself off again and tried to just put my head down and go through the motions. the legs had become almost robotic and the bike just continued to move forward. time and miles passed and slowly i realized that jeff was starting to fall off the back. he yo-yo'd at first, falling back then catching up repeatedly. eventually gersib, andy and i had ridden off the front and we could barely make out the headlights of wills and jeff behind us. i wasn't sure if wills was hurting or if he was hanging back to ride with jeff. i also wasn't sure if jeff's knee was causing problems or if he was just tiring but i never really considered the possibility of him not being able to continue.

just outside whatever town cp3 was in we had some difficulty. it was obvious that our critical thinking skills were beginning to diminish. seriously, we were just getting dumber. the three of us backtracked and this allowed wills and jeff to rejoin us. we finally found our way around and into cp3. the gas station was shut down but some volunteers had saved some pizza and water. holy god was i ecstatic. on a whim i decided to change socks. its the only spare clothing i brought and it made a huge difference. slightly heavier weight wool than what i'd been wearing and dry. my feet were happy. my stomach was happy. it was sometime between 1 and 2 in the morning and we knew we had the time and ability to finish this thing, especially if we could keep it together through the darkness. and then i looked at jeff and i honestly felt my heart break for him. you could see it in his face. i still didn't know if it was knee or fatigue but he was done. this isn't how it was supposed to go down. we all started this thing together. these guys took me in less than 10 miles into this race. we were now almost 220 miles in and we could sense the finish. jeff was an integral part of this group and a big reason i was still pedaling. having heard his story about v.3 made it that much more surreal. its hard to keep your emotions in check when you've put your body through everything we'd already been through, and i was devastated. it was obvious there was nothing we could do and i knew i had to bury my sadness for my own sake. i shook jeff's hand and headed out with the two matt's from lincoln and andy from cali in search of a second sunrise.

saturday night's sunset

l to r: gersib, jeff, wills, andy

thinking this is shortly before 9p.m.

gersib and andy getting restarted after a break

best guess is this is sometime shortly before cp3...maybe between midnight and 1a.m.

transiowa v.5 pt.2

CHECKPOINT 1 TO CHECKPOINT 2

110 miles. this section would be the longest between checkpoints but would be the only stretch done entirely in the daylight. that combined with the time buffer we had given ourselves left me feeling pretty good about this section of the race. man was i wrong. we had all been pretty quick to pass off the weather as being a factor and although the wind seemed mild we literally rode into a headwind for all 110 miles. and it was a thorough beatdown. the lincoln crew, myself and michael meiser rolled out together and we were joined fairly soon by jim and warren again as well as their friend joe. it seems joe had some misfortune and was involved in a crash during which someone's handlebars went into his wheel and tore off his rear derailleur. he was able to find a magic gear and ride it as a single speed but he did not look comfortable on it. they had one or two other guys in tow so we rode as a larger group for a while but eventually joe's bike needed more attention so we wished them well and headed on. the four of us continued our fight against the wind and also began to get a real good taste of level b roads. over the course of the race these b roads would come in various shapes: near concrete-like hard pack, sand, mud, rock, grass, dirt. some required actual technical skill to ride, some were impassable, some difficult to walk. they certainly provided a mental break from what can become very monotonous gravel roads.

again, we took our time. stopped at a couple of gas stations along the way then hit a point where we could see a truck stop but it was slightly off course. i was short on water and could feel some hunger/pre-bonk coming on. i tried to downplay my desire to stop but i think it was written on my face. the others obliged and while i sat there eating a huge slice of 4-meat pizza with a double cheeseburger and pepsi for dessert we collectively decided that if we finished we would look back at this as time well spent. if i remember correctly this is also the first time i spoke with jeff about giving him some of my aleve. i had no idea how much that conversation would foreshadow what would happen in the dark of night. we left that gas station as jim and warren arrived without joe. unfortunately i wasn't surprised. i don't know how far he made it but he looked strong, it just didn't look like his bike situation was going to hold out for the duration.

so the four of us saddled back up refueled and content and headed back into the wind. conversations definitely began to fade as the miles and the wind began taking their toll. somewhere along the line i ran out of sunscreen. while this may not seem like a big deal to some, being the soul lacking ginger that i am this was a huge problem. sunburns make me sick. physically ill and ruin my body's ability to regulate my temperature. i end up feeling like i'm running a terrible fever, over heating but freezing with goosebumps at the same time. so i ended up wearing my arm warmers more than i wanted simply to protect the skin. couldn't do much for the scalp but hope i'd let the hair grow enough to give it some shade. somewhere along the line here i put my first ipod on and kind of cut myself off from the social side of things for a bit. i was starting to hurt and i needed to get inside myself and get my head straight.

so roll along we did and finally we entered whatever town cp2 was in. upon entering this wonderful town a group of locals (some might say rednecks) were sitting in their lawn looking incredulous and presumably working on their second 30 pack of busch light. "hey...come over here! we need to talk to you!" i'm not sure any of us even considered obliging such a polite request but we equally politely declined the invitation and rolled into cp2. my elation in getting there was quickly cut short by the sight of too many big names standing or sitting, obviously having pulled the plug for various reasons. dennis lost out to pushing too hard and not taking care of his nutrition. one of the lincoln crew that was riding ahead of us lost it to an achilles. john gorilla (v.4 winner) lost it due to a rear derailleur torn off. we also heard charly tri had to bow out with a derailleur issue. honestly, i've never hear of so many massive derailleur failures in one mountain bike race and couldn't wrap my head around so many in a gravel race. we had made it to cp2 still with time to spare so we again took our time. gersib was able to procure a new rear tire from a rider who had to pull the plug. had he not been so fortunate his choice to run a 4 year old balding tire may have proven to be his downfall. things did work out though and as we prepared to roll out for cp3 another guy pokes his head up "hey, you guys taking off soon?" "yep...wanna join us?" "yep." that quickly our 4 became 5 and it was like finding a piece of a puzzle you didn't know you were missing. andy stockman from marin county joined our group and would prove to be a perfect compliment to our crew. in a few hours he would all but save my race for me.

wills

gersib

somewhere between cp1 and cp2

cp2 volunteers

dennis

gorilla

happy to be at cp2

transiowa v.5 pt.1

FRIDAY NIGHT AND THE FIRST 40

we're actually gonna back this thing up to thursday real quick for anyone that believes in omens. larsson's training wheels have been off his bike since late last fall. we had just enough time for him to get comfortable riding if he had a push off and no more than 15 yards of concrete before heading into grass where he could comfortably lay it down. thursday he got it. and he was off. learned how to get started on his own and was riding laps around the building, through the grass, sidewalk, driveway and had the hugest smile on his face. that's where its at man. whether it was the reminder of why we ride bikes, the inspiration provided by watching him overcome his fears or just a gentle cosmic nudge that this was going to be a good weekend i'm not really sure. but it sure was an awesome way to kick off the weekend.

friday morning i finished packing and had done all i could with getting the fisticuff dialed and by mid afternoon i was headed for williamsburg. i had woken up friday morning swallowing razor blades so i stopped at a gas station for a gallon of water. i think this decision would help far more than my throat despite slowing my trip by adding about 4 bathroom stops on the way down. got to williamsburg and checked out the outlet mall (my lodging for the night) and just sort of got oriented. headed from there to the williamsburg rec center where i was about an hour early for the festivities. roll up to find the brothers braun. i actually rode/walked quite a bit with these guys last year and they are a top notch pair from the madison area. they killed it this year taking 4th and 5th overall and 1st and 2nd single speed. we chatted for a while before others showed up and we headed inside. once inside i ran into dave nice and we talked for a bit about fisticuffs and his upcoming attempt at the divide (damn...that's an adventure...good luck dave). got to chat briefly with midwest endurance cult heroes dave pramann and charlie farrow. pramann spent a fair amount of our chat trying to convince me to do arrowhead...someday when i have the coin to drop on a fat bike and all the gear i'll probably get up there. but that might be a while. saw a bunch of other people i've met/seen/ridden with before. cale, mg, joe, steve, paul, dennis, gorilla, ari, and got to chat some with organizers guitar ted and dave pals. optimism was high as weather and past experiences were discussed. all went well and we had somewhere around 52 strong looking forward to a 4 a.m. rollout.

as things winded down i took my leave and headed for mcdonald's for some final calories then headed to the parking lot i would call home for the night. final details on the bike and a few conversations with a slightly overzealous but well intentioned mall maintenance guy as well as a random meet-up with mg and matt wills as they were headed for an atm and myself for the bathroom. funny how life works sometimes. once i was happy with the bike/cue sheets/lights i drove to the starting line just so i knew exactly where i would be going at 3:30 in the morning. leaving the cemetary i was treated to an amazing sunset. got back to the mall, parked the van, threw in a movie and tried to sleep. i think i slept from roughly 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. alarm was set for 2:45 a.m. guess i wouldn't be needing that.

get up, get dressed, eat plain mcdonalds hamburgers purchased the night before, listen to some slipknot, make sure dennis didn't freeze to death overnight, roll over to the start line. always cool to see so many blinking lights in the dark of night. lots of optimistic banter and more conversations about the promise of wonderful weather. guitar ted drove a controlled rollout before pulling off and allowing the mob to start their adventure. as expected a big group popped off the front. i laughed to myself a bit. last year i would have chased them and forced myself to ride as hard as i could to keep up as long as i could. i've learned a lot in a year. the first hour and a half of this ride was spent in total darkness with a lot of positions shifting as people sorted out their speeds and riding partners. for a short time i fell in with jim and warren. fabulous guys. jim, i believe, is the mastermind behind dirty kanza and both were great to talk with for a few minutes. soon i ended up with these two guys and something felt right. as we rode they began discussing their friend who obviously hadn't "stuck to the plan". right in the middle of this conversation we roll up on a guy just standing there. apparently their friend realized his failure to stick to the plan and stopped to wait for his friends. these three guys turned out to be matt wills, matt gersib (mg), and jeff bonsall from lincoln, nebraska. the best piece of advice i've ever received regarding transiowa was from a v.3 finisher ward budweg. he told me that if you want to finish you have to analyze every person you meet and within 90 seconds make a decision about that person. if you don't think they share your mindset, if you aren't absolutely confident that their in it for the long haul then you need to move on. these guys' collective experiences with previous transiowas as well as their personalities told me i had found the perfect fit as long as i could hold on. these three guys would prove to be instrumental in my ability to finish the ride. it was evident early on that our personalities were going to work well together so i set my mind to riding with these guys as long as i could. soon the sun came up. funny thing was at the time it didn't hit me that i would see two sunrises before this thing would be done. the sun brought with it a general rise in attitude and shortly after that we all rolled into cp1 together just over 40 miles in and well over an hour ahead of the cutoff time. other than that, the first 40 was fairly uneventful with a couple exceptions. gersib's hilarious attempts at documenting our journey (a video i'm not sure will see the light of day) and the only moment in the next two days that i would forget i was riding fixed. i'm pretty sure it was wills (it was dark) somehow swerved in front of me and i instantly locked up both feet entering a brief fixie/gravel power slide. no harm done. at the first checkpoint we were all smiles, especially after the coffee shop allowed me to use the facilities next door. breakfast wasn't sitting well and i needed some office time. so we took our time, ate a lot and got saddled up to head for cp2. we had roughly 110 miles to go and with the buffer we created by getting to cp1 early we had about 12 hours to get there. we had no idea how difficult that next stretch was about to be.

transiowa v.5 (prologue)

my transiowa v.5 story actually begins a year and half ago with t.i.v.4. many have heard most/all of this story so i apologize for the redundancy but i feel its important to the overall picture. sometime in the fall of 2007 i was working at the shop, it was roughly 6 months before my 30th birthday, 8 months til t.i.v.4, i had just built my jabber at the same time we became a vassago dealer, and mentally/emotionally i was a mess. i have attempted to defend myself and explain the mental state i was in and most people blow me off...and honestly that's fine. but the truth is my impending 30th birthday was weighing on me terribly. best i can describe it i was in a pre-midlife crisis and was unable to handle it. after some months of soul searching i finally decided that i could hit 30 and start my downhill slide, or i could go the exact opposite way. decision...to be in the best shape of my life by the time i turn 30. plan...order, build and ride the shit out of a fixed cross bike and enter transiowa fixed. the idea being if i could get into shape enough to ride transiowa fixed then i would have to be in the best shape of my life. problem #1...i hadn't ever ridden more than 25 miles in my life. problem #2...i'd never really ridden a fixed gear. problem #3...i was at best a slightly above average sport class mtb racer. i had either set myself up for failure or the success of a lifetime. in the meantime i had developed an awesome relationship with kris at vassago. often a frame order would lead to a 30 minute conversations about bikes and rides and races and lives. after a couple of months he started to mention the possibility of them doing a steel cross bike and began asking my opinion on specific features. after talking about it for a while i told him that if they were to be available before transiowa that i would buy one as soon as possible because i was currently on an aluminum frame and really preferred steel as well as how the bike was going to be set up and how it was supposed to fit/ride. kris was excited about what i was attempting to do so offered to get in a prototype, custom paint it, add me as a supported rider and hook me up with the frame. i was floored. beyond floored. i was some daydreaming sport class hack with delusions of becoming the second person to ever finish transiowa and i had a company like vassago wanting to take care of me. damn. so i rode, and rode, and rode. had some successes at triple d and other xc races. had some failures at t.i.v.4 and 24 hours of boone. but my goal was accomplished. when i turned 30 i was as fit as i've ever been. and i was getting stronger and faster. so it was a no brainer that i would continue riding until i finished transiowa fixed. no backing out. no excuses. no freewheels or gears. i would do it every year until it was done. fall came again and i began conversations with misty from vassago regarding my place on the team. by the turn of the year i was racing the proto fisticuff in actual cross races, planning my '09 race season and had been offered a spot as a sponsored rider. things were going well and i had plenty of motivation to keep putting miles on through the winter. i had to finish this thing. for myself, to repay vassago, to justify all the personal sacrifices made during countless hours of training, for my mental health. winter came and went, early spring brought early success on the mtb and a taper toward t.i.v.5. mentally and physically i was in a good place headed into this years race. once we knew that the weather was not going to be the determining factor this year all that was left was to pedal. and pedal. and pedal.

transiowa v.5 (short version)

i did it. 314 miles (plus however many ridden while lost). i think 11th overall. second ever to finish fixed. plenty of stories. long version in segments soon. this might be the most i've ever hurt in my life not counting injuries. countless people to thank for helping/supporting/making it possible. hopefully i'll get around to naming all of you.

rollin...

van's packed. gonna grab some luch with friends and roll out. woke up this morning swallowing razor blades. wtf? oh well...pretty sure it'll run its course by the time this thing's done. 314ish miles of fixed gear gravel goodness. who wouldn't be excited?

transiowa prep and pics

-quick note...guitar ted will be doing audio again. at this point it sounds like it will be on his blog rather than the transiowa site. read his disclaimers if you want, but basically don't freak out if you don't hear someone's name. he's running a race and commenting when he can.

-weather looks good. suprisingly good. here's for not getting too optimistic.

-already not sleeping well.

-by most people's standards i probably take this "race" too serious. they can piss off.

-hoping to have new vassago team kit here today or tomorrow before i leave. it'll be cool to finally fly the colors.

-fisticuff is in as good of shape as i can get it. still love this bike but looking forward to tearing it apart and building 2 fistys instead of just one.

-huge thanks again to kris and misty at vassago for all the support. this race was basically the beginning of my relationship with them well over a year ago and they've been awesome ever since.

-i'll be in the garage tightening every bolt i can find if anyone needs me.

time trials weekend

kent and ryan got to town late friday afternoon and were treated to an awesome day of dry trail riding. after their ride they came up to the bar and we waited for scotty, had a couple then moved on to corner. had a good time hanging out but it definitely cut the night's sleep short. got up saturday morning and headed to t-bock's for breakfast. squirrel showed up and met us down there then we all headed to the shop to pick up my bike and grab a couple things. as would be the theme for the weekend, it was wet out. very, very wet. the 5 of us were joined by dan from the cities and we rolled out shortly after 10 to preride the course. it was grease. dead pet was like riding on ice trying to pick your way through all the wet rocks and roots. lots of walking and enough rolling around in the mud to add some humor to the ride. after the ride i had to get cleaned up and head to work while the others went back to the shop to clean bikes and build scotty's jabber. the guys came out to the bar for dinner later and luckily i was able to get out early and get some much needed sleep.
sunday morning woke to more rain after a night full of thunderstorms. squirrel and ryan passed on helping us build an ark and headed back to dsm so kent scotty and i headed to registration to see what the story would be for the course. no pali. this would eliminate probably the biggest threat to people's safety by not having to ride the rock garden. see a bunch of the usuals, b.s. a bit, pick starting times, head back to the apt to get ready. trevor was going off first, followed by fuhrman and kent. couple other guys in the mix then i followed scotty and was 7th off. short version of the race is i rode well. conservative, but that was intentional. i could have ridden faster but i don't know that my time would have been better. every corner was drifting on the verge of washing out and laying it down. any time gained by riding faster would be lost with one crash so i chose to focus on keeping the bike upright. in the end it worked out for me. walked 3 climbs and put a foot down a couple other times but rode and cleaned a ton more than i thought i would going into the race. good enough for 3rd overall. shively won it and fuhrman was second. shively is a perennial top 3 here and fuhrman just won the 80 mile ss at ouachita and is basically a local. i can handle getting beat by those guys any day. i was done racing by 11 and we were having beers in my garage by noon. awards were a riot and i scored a sweet home made set of pbr fenders as well as some cash for 3rd. by 2 a.m. i had spent basically all of my winnings in 3 different bars and it was time for scotty and i to get some sleep. apparently having one more in the garage and staying up til 3 seemed appropriate. slow day today for sure. now focusing on getting organized for trans and spending most of the week off the bike and resting. big congrats to shively and fuhrman as well as kent for throwing down a top 5, scotty for a top 25, and troy for getting into the top 3rd of the field. doug gets the animal award for running with his bike on his shoulder through all of mother's day and boa after ripping his rear der off. big thanks to the volunteers. it was miserable out there and this race (any race) absolutely does not happen without them. pics later.

transiowa tinkering

the hand is doing fairly well but the island certainly took its toll. made it obvious that the transiowa modifications under consideration were now a necessity. so today brought the first trial run with the ergons and mary bars. partially because i can't ride the jabber now that all hub bearings and brake pads have to be replaced and brake calipers had to be entirely disassembled and overhauled (big thanks to ouachita and the island :))

one ride and no doubt i'll be running this set up for transiowa

awesome day for a ride

initial fears

of broken fingers and/or hand after yesterdays crash have subsided...a little. was riding the trials course and went over the bars while making good time through dead pet. hand hit the ground, fingers wrenched back, lots of pain. fingers seem to have regained full motion without much pain but the hand isn't doing so well. with sylvan island this weekend, trials next and transiowa the following weekend i'm a bit nervous. can't really carry a tray at work or really grab anything with the hand. gonna go see the doc today. willing to give up sylvan island for healing time, don't wanna miss the time trials and already considering swtiching to a flat bar set up on the fisticuff for trans cause i'm not sure i can handle drop bars. who knows...maybe its just bruised and will be fine in a couple days.

transiowa on the brain

took off yesterday and rode up to rochester to pick up the vue with her newly replaced tranny. it was a good day/excuse for doing some gear testing for transiowa. cold, rain, wind and a good mix of all kinds of gravel conditions. 92 miles total with somewhere around 50-55 of it on gravel. picked up the vue, devoured some chipotle, headed to blockbuster to pick up some new music (slipknot and jack johnson) for the transiowapod, then to kathy's for a beer, and finally hit burger king on the way out of town. very happy with how the body handled the ride. looking back on yesterday's ride leaves me with a few thoughts:
1. hands down number one....listen to my body. i paid very close attention to how i felt yesterday and continued to feed the mechanism. this was the best i've ever felt on a long ride.
2. the gearing change was a good idea. no more stubborness. in fact, if the weather looks potentially crappy for trans then i will drop a few more teeth and run a 34x16. legs felt good even after i finished yesterday.
3. meat. yesterday i took some venison with me and it was awesome riding food. had a fair amount of energy bars and gu but when it was time to eat, a few slices of venison summer sausage was perfect.
4. i'm getting bibs and i'm getting bib knickers. no more waist bands and no more knee warmers for long rides. the constriction around my thighs/hamstrings encourages cramping.
5. heavy packs suck but i'm gonna go with one again this year. would have made it 100 miles on two bottles and a full bladder. tools in the seatpack. food, clothing, ipod, light/battery in the pack.
6. last year's set up proved itself useful again using a topeak bar extender to attach directions to.
7. guitar ted, if you're listening, we need to install these little cabins like they have on the root river trail along the route of transiowa this year. preferrably with someone grilling for participants. made a great place to stop and eat and throw on a rain jacket when the skies opened up yesterday.
8. "b" roads may be nasty but choosing to ride through road closed signs into a stretch of hilly road construction may seem like a shortcut but after walking a mile and a half in ankle deep clay with wheels unable to even turn left me wishing for "b" roads.
9. tire selection. still wrestling with this one. hard not to go with 32's cause they roll noticeably faster. but the 38's are more comfy and actually lower tread so not giving up as much as you'd think in the rolling resistance. for now i need to at least replace the slow leaking tube up front. started yesterday at 60psi up front and i'm guessing i finished between 30 and 40.
10. transiowa's out there. no bullshit there. its out there and its coming fast. happy training to anyone smart enough (?) to throw their hat in the ring.