GTDRI 2008: No, We're Not With RAGBRAI...

Before the 2008 GTDRI - the crew hangs among their drop bar steel steeds, the unanimous choice for the day. The tally - 1 Soulcraft; 1 Surly; 1 IRD; 1 Badger and 3 Salsas. One of the Salsas was very special...

I spent this weekend in Iowa, participating in Guitar Ted's Death Ride Invitational (GTDRI), along with Lincoln singlespeed mafia hitmen, Matt Wills and Jeff Bonsall. It was even MW's birthday -- Happy Birthday buddy, and gave the day just a little more to celebrate. Also in attendance was Salsa Cycles Super Amigo, Jason Boucher, Mike Beck from Colorado (thanks for helping me figure out your last name Mike), super good guy and TransIowa co-promoter, David Pals, and of course, Guitar Ted himself. It was an awesome crew to ride a hundred-plus miles of Iowa gravel with.

Tigerlillies -- Beautiful.

We were reminded of the institution of RAGBRAI on the ride. Every single time we stopped in a town, we were asked if we were either training for, or with, the famous ride, which started today in Western Iowa, and actually did pass through the area we were riding in about six days. Even though I joke about it, I think it's cool that everybody in Iowa knows about RAGBRAI, and seems to relate in a positive way to it. So hey, if that's what it takes to bring cycling to the common denominator, I give it a hearty thumbs up.

But that said, we were on a distinctly different type of adventure than RAGBRAI... One filled with adventure, beauty and most importantly, DIRT. Almost too much dirt in fact, as the B-road sections were muddy almost to the point of not being ridable. But we rode 'em and we survived.

Choose your weapon -- I choose La Cruz. For the GTDRI, my Salsa La Cruz was the perfect weapon. I was never under-geared, and never ran out of clearance in the mud. I ran a Schwalbe Marathon Cross 700x38c getto tubeless in the front, with a WTB Interwolf 700x38c getto tubeless in the rear. Both tires are wire bead, and both work great in that application. None of us had any flat issues, or bike issues for that matter, to speak of all day. That was awesome!

The end of the first B-Road section. We felt fortunate to have navigated it successfully -- it was muddy and had conditions been just a bit different, could have been disastrous.

The course started at the Hickory Hills campground near La Porte City, IA. and traveled southwest overall before coming back to the northeast. It worked the wind perfectly and took advantage of the best, curviest and most scenic roads the region had to offer. And for weather, it was a pretty darn good day, for July in Iowa. The morning started overcast, with an almost air conditioner effect with the wind. Once the clouds burned off, the temps rose to the mid-90s by mid afternoon. At least the humidity was manageable.

As Jason and I pounded out the last four miles of pavement back to the Hickory Hills campground to meet up with his wife and kids (more than an hour late, of course), I looked down just as my computer turned over 101 miles. Jason was pulling around me at 20.5 mph on a slight uphill with a 10mph headwind. Here this was a guy who, less than 24 hours earlier was telling me of his apprehension about riding his first century in more than a dozen years, and now he was absolutely killing it on the last remaining miles of the ride, leading the pack home. It was awesome to see, because I know how hard he's worked this year to be as lean, fit and strong as he is. In the end, we finished with seven and a half hours, wheels turning, which gave us 102.5 miles of gravel goodness.

Good show, Jason. Thanks for coming down and rollin' the back roads of Iowa with us. That steed you were on was swank. Can't wait to actually be able to show full pictures of it, because it'll prove how mentally invested you are in this type of rider... it'll prove you are this type of rider. Heck, anyone whose been to your blog even once knows that's the case anyway (Gnat Likes Bikes).

The singlespeed bros -- Wills, Mike and Bonsall -- had super strong rides too. Bonsall in particular was just killin' it on several occasions during the ride, most of the time on the steepest climbs. It was awesome having half the ride be homies from Lincoln as well. Major props to both of you guys -- killin' 40s, then killin' it on the climbs -- impressivo.

Dave Pals rode his sweet Salsa Casseroll, and even though its tire clearance is generous for a road bike, it's still a road bike. As a result, he ended up walking a couple of the B-road sections, but he kept a big smile on his face the entire time, and I never heard a single complaint come out of his mouth. And at the end of the day, he was still rollin' strong. Way to go brother.

Thanks to Guitar Ted for taking the time to put together an awesome course for us, and for sponsoring me during the ride when I completely forgot my wallet as we pulled out of camp! You totally saved my butt on that one, good buddy. I really appreciate it, and will not forget the favor.

After the ride, Jeff, MW, G-Ted and I rolled to La Porte City for some pizza, and then I drove back to my sister- and brother-in-law's in Des Moines (where Laura was staying) through one of the most amazing lightning storms I've ever witnessed. There were multiple ground strikes within what had to be a one mile radius of my car -- incredible! There were sparks and webs of lightning the likes of which I've never seen before. It was making the radio in our Subaru do crazy things... It was a fitting end to what was a positively electric day.

Links to other sites likely to be covering the GTDRI:

• Guitar Ted's Site
• Gnat Likes Bikes
• Gnat's GTDRI Photo Album