My previous TI posts can be accessed using the links below.
Part II: Preparation and Training, Bike Set-up, Clothing, Nutrition, Hydration
Breakfast, last minute stuff
Good or bad,
I have become accustomed to eating McDonalds breakfast the day of a big
ride. It’s not exciting, but it avoids
the surprise one might have at a mom-and-pop place. I like having something other than oatmeal or
an energy bar in my stomach at the start of the ride; I know this not what a lot of people smarter than me recommend, but it works for me.
I microwaved
and ate a sausage McMuffin purchased the day before. I also ate yogurt and drank
chocolate milk. I threw the bottles on the
bike, the hydration pack on my back, and rode the 2 miles or so to downtown
Grinnell, arriving about 3:30 am. I
mingled with a few other riders, made one last bathroom stop at the bike shop
and lined up near the back of the group in anticipation of the 4 am start.
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| photo by Wally Kilburg |
Leg 1 –
Grinnell to Ira
The race
started promptly at 4:00 am with Guitar Ted leading us out of town. A couple of miles and we were on gravel so
rough it was hard to find a good line. A
heart-rate of 150-160 bpm (75-80% max) seemed to correspond to a 12-13 mph
average, so I kept it there. If the
roads had been wet, sticky, and slow I felt I could have ridden much harder to ensure
making the checkpoint in time. But as it
was, I believed I was safe maintaining this lower effort level, so I parked it
there.
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| photo by Wally Kilburg | |
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| photo by Wally Kilburg |
I felt I rode
the first leg near the 2/3 mark, meaning 2/3 of riders were in front of me and
1/3 behind me. I don’t have anything to
base that on really, but it would be interesting to see my position at the 1st
checkpoint. I caught up with John Welsh
about half way to the checkpoint in Ira.
John and I first met in the muddy trenches of Dirty Kanza in 2011. John and I rode into Ira together and arrived
about 8:09 am, ahead of the 9:30 am cut-off.
I spent more
time at the checkpoint than I planned.
Between shedding clothing, a bathroom break and cue sheet arrangement
(an obsession of mine), I did not leave cp1 until 8:29 am. This was a little ahead of John who was
getting help to zero out his cyclocomputer.
Leg 2 – Ira
to cp2
John caught
up to me in Melbourne around mile 74. We
rode into town only to find there was no c-store there. We back tracked, got back on route, and rode
to the highway where we could see the c-store about 3/4 mile off course. Rule #1 at TI is don’t pass up a C-store. I filled up all my water, prepared another
nutrition bottle, ate a turkey sandwich, and drank a Coke. Rolled out at 10:41 am.
At mile 82 we
passed a Casey’s directly on the route, too bad we didn’t know about that
one. During this time we rode briefly
with Ari Andropolous and Special K. They
were riding well, holding a steady pace, good guys to talk to. My legs felt good, so I charged ahead,
arriving in Eldora mile 121 about 2:30 pm.
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| photo by Wally Kilburg |
There were
several cyclists stopped at the Freeway grocery store in Eldora, so I stopped
there as well. In hindsight, I think it
would have been worth my time to ride another 4 blocks west to the
Casey’s. The grocery store did not have
what I’m used to buying from a convenience store, in particular sandwiches, so
I settled on a bag of nacho cheese Doritos and a Coke. I also picked up a couple of Paydays and
water for the road. Besides lack of
selection, it seemed like half the town was doing their grocery shopping, so I
probably spent an extra 10 minutes standing in line, well more than the time it
would have taken to ride to the Casey’s and back. But standing in line did make for some pleasant conversation.
On average, I
think I was taking in about 300 calories per hour, supplemented by Cokes,
turkey sandwiches, and chips at the C-stores.
Previous experience at the 24-hour Iron Butt in 2011 proved to me that
200-250 calories per hour is not enough; I experienced a mini-bonk there after
18 hours from which I emerged by taking in, wouldn’t you know, a turkey
sandwich and Coke. The saving grace for
me on Trans Iowa and other long rides in 2013 is the bulk of my nutrition was
coming from my nutrition bottle, so anything else I ate I thought of as
“comfort” food, something to boost my spirits.
I had only been at the grocery store for 10 minutes or so when John
arrived. He was still eating and getting
his stuff ready when I rolled out from Eldora around 2:55 pm.
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| photo by Wally Kilburg |
I'm not sure, but I think it
was somewhere in this next stretch I caught up with Steve from Wisconsin and we
rode together a few minutes. He was
riding a Karate Monkey and had gotten separated from his two friends after
having a flat. (I enjoyed talking to all
three Wisconsin friends over breakfast two days later on Monday.) I reached cp2 at 7:15 pm, ahead of the 9:45
pm cut-off. I was there when Robert Fry
posted his announcement on TI radio about the international riders. Again I spent a lot of time folding the cue
sheets to fit in my 5x7 bag. My plan was
to have two in front and one or two in back to minimize cue sheet manipulation
later on when I’m tired and disoriented.
I left cp2 about 7:30 pm.
Leg 3 – cp2
to the Barn
During the 10
mile stretch between cp2 and the c-store in Gladbrook, I saw a pickup truck stopped on the road, and the man driving waved me down. I also stopped and he asked me what was
going on. I explained this was Trans
Iowa, a 323-mile endurance ride on dirt roads of Iowa with a 34 hour time
limit. His wife in the passenger seat
asked where we were stopping for the night, and I said we weren’t stopping, at
least not slow riders like me, perhaps some of the faster riders would have
time to stop… They were both surprised,
thanked me for my time and said they had better let me go so I could
finish. I smiled, waved goodbye and
continued on.
I arrived at
the Gladbrook c-store, mile 185, at 8:20 pm, just a little after sundown. I bought another turkey sandwich and Coke;
they did not let me down, these really hit the spot. Also some more paydays and a Coke for the
road, and some other things I can’t remember.
Besides the normal filling of water and preparing the nutrition bottle,
I changed out all batteries on my headlights, noticed my I-phone was at ~50%
battery, so connected it to the Li-Ion charger.
I put on leg warmers, arm warmers, jacket, and balaclava. I spent 5-10 minutes cleaning and lubing my
chain. There was no noise at this point
but it had been looking pretty rough since cp1.
I texted Katrina at 8:52 pm to tell her I had 17 hours left to ride 140
miles.
John rolled
into the c-store about 30-40 minutes after I did. He said I was welcome to ride with his group;
this was tempting, but I felt really good and decided to ride into the dark
alone, leaving the store at 9:20 pm. One
hour was more down-time than I wanted, but I felt good as I left; time well spent
to refuel my body and re-set my brain.
Just a few
miles from Gladbrook I caught up with a cyclist from the UK, I believe it was
Vin Cox. We rode together a few minutes
and he explained he flew to Iowa just for this ride and that Steve Fuller had
picked up him and another UK cyclist Paul Errington from the airport. There are so many good folks involved with
this ride. After 10 minutes or so riding
together, Vin urged me to ride on, so I pulled away into the night. A little while later, I caught up with two
cyclists I believe were Brian Gillies and Christina Mihaescu at an intersection
where we were heading east and supposed to turn south, but the street sign did
not exactly match the cue sheet. Almost without exception the cues
were spot on. I believe the spot might have been after
the 10 mile stretch east on 400th St where we turn south on 197th
St which is also T avenue, but I’m not sure of that. I presumed Brian and Christina had stopped to check the cues;
I told them this had to be our turn.
They passed me soon after that and we leap-frogged one another a few
times the rest of the ride.
It was colder
both mornings than the 45F weather forecast.
I think my Garmin reads a little low, but it showed in the 30's each morning, down to 35F Sunday
morning. On this second morning, about 4
am I found myself on a B-road with some mud and standing water, probably the
only mud hole on the entire ride, and I somehow plant my left foot in it! I was concerned that might come back to haunt
me, but it never did. I’m not sure if
the heavy merino wool socks are that good, or if I was just really out of it. Although my foot was cold it did not go numb. No sock change required. I never had to wear my toe covers either. In general, my body felt cold in the dark but
not too uncomfortable. If I was a faster
rider with more relative wind this might have been different.
My past long
rides have taught me that the hardest time to stay awake is between 3 and 5 am. At around 1 am I started taking in 100 mg of
caffeine every hour, first using gels and then using Stay Alert caffeinated
chewing gum. I did this for 5 hours
until 6 am. The caffeine did help me
stay awake; I was tired, but I never felt myself nodding off. Sometime after 5 am, however, I realized it
was time to stop the caffeine: my face
felt flush and my eyes seemed to be bulging a little. There is probably a point where caffeine will
not help you stay awake, but rather will just make you sick. I know 500 mg caffeine may sound like a lot,
but considering a large Starbucks coffee has 400 mg and each shot of espresso
has 150 mg helps put things in perspective.
After the sun came up about 6 am, I had no problem staying awake.
Just prior to
arriving in Brooklyn I caught up with three cyclists, I believe they were Jeff
Burnett, Brad Patty, and Derek Weider.
We stopped at the Casey’s together at 6:05 am. In reading other ride recaps written by
cyclists faster than us, this store was closed and those folks had to forge on
another 15 miles to the c-store on the highway.
I don’t think the Brooklyn Casey’s opened until 5:30 am, so this was one
time it paid to be slow! I filled my
water bottle and Camelbak, made up one final nutrition bottle, downed a breakfast
sandwich and chocolate milk and left Brooklyn at 6:32 am. Besides getting slower on the bike, everything
else seemed to slow down as well. I’m
not sure why I spent almost 30 minutes at the Brooklyn store; there weren’t
that many things I had to do, but I guess it gets harder to stay on task after
26 hours. Just before leaving, I texted
Katrina saying I was 55 miles out and I gave an estimated finish time of 11:30
am to 12:30 pm.
Since about
midnight, my rear shifter cable was squeaking every time I shifted. I thought it was probably dry where it passes
through the cable guide under the bottom bracket, but I kept putting off
dealing with it. Well about 15 miles out
of Brooklyn, shortly after crossing highway 21, it was driving me crazy and I
couldn’t stand it any longer. I got off
my bike, turned it upside down and threw some chain lube on the cable and
guide. I think I also shed some clothes
at the same time.
After that,
the last 40 miles had the worst hills and the worst gravel of all of TI! This section would be a tough training ride
just by itself, let alone with 280 miles already in your legs. With about 25 miles to go, where the route
turns west off of 200th St onto 470th Ave (I think), I
again came across Brian and Christina.
They had over-shot the turn and were returning from the north. I stopped to check my cues, but Brian assured
me I was on the right road. A little
while later while climbing a steep hill, they got off their bikes to walk the
hill. This was the first time I noticed
Christina was on a single-speed; I did not realize that before when it was
dark. I felt lucky to have my 26t
bail-out ring those last 40 miles, I can’t imagine riding it on a single speed. I passed them on the hill and did not see them
again until the finish.
Besides
testing me physically, Trans Iowa tested my mental will as well. As I got closer and closer to the finish, I
noticed I was obsessing about finishing.
I really wanted to finish in the 34-hour time limit, but I honestly
would not have stopped riding even if I went over 34 hours. I realized that would not get my name on the
list of finishers, but for me it was much bigger than that. Just the satisfaction of riding all the miles
would have been an accomplishment for me, a closure to some unfinished business
from TI in 2011.
At 11:00am I
was 11 miles from the Barn with 3 hours before the 2 pm time limit. I reasoned that if my bike became unrideable, I might be able to jog with with it at 4 mph the rest of the way. Then at 11:30 am I had 6 miles to go and felt
I might be able to finish by 12:00 noon, but only if I sped up from the 10 mph
I had averaged the last 50 miles. I got
down in the drops and told my legs to work harder. At first they did not respond, but I kept
trying and after a mile or so the legs came around and I could tell I was getting
faster. I rode as hard as I could
(considering), covering the last 6 miles in 25 minutes, and pulled into the
finish line at the Barn at 11:55 am, with a total time of 31hours, 55 minutes.
Guitar Ted
shook my hand and congratulated me. I
was very relieved and very tired.
Katrina and her sister were there to pick me up. I loaded my bike and congratulated Jeff,
Brad, and Derek as they finished just a few minutes later. Then as we were driving off, Josh Lederman who
finished before me, asked for a ride back to the hotel. We loaded Josh and his bike and left, congratulating
Allen Brunner, then Brian and Christina who we passed on the drive to the
hotel. It was great talking to Josh who
will also be tearing up Dirty Kanza in a few weeks.
My immediate
feelings after Trans Iowa were more ones of relief than jubilation. Only now, when I’m writing this four weeks
out, am I starting to feel some of the latter.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m really
glad I finished TI, but it was such a test both physically and mentally, that I
was initially just glad for it to be over.
My hands were “buzzing” for about 5 days after TI, but that has gone
away. This was a great experience for
me, definitely my high-water mark in cycling.
Continue on to Part V: Lessons Learned and Special Thanks
