Epic Training Systems- Trans Iowa V.5 Race Report

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2009 Trans Iowa V.5 Race Report

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TOP TEN FINISH AT TRANS IOWA 31 HOURS 58 MINUTES OF PAIN AND TORTURE
                    RACED ON THE WEEKEND OF MAY 2, 2009

OFFICIAL RESULTS

05/04/09: Trans Iowa V5 is in the books. First off, here is the results with times..

1st- Joe Meiser 24r, 52min

2nd- (tie) Dave Pramann/Tim Ek 24hr, 52min

3rd- (tie) Jason Novak/Travis Braun (1st SS/Fixed) 27hr, 10min

4th- Matt Braun (2nd SS/Fixed) 27hr, 13min

5th- B.J. Bass (3rd SS/Fixed) 28hr, 53min

6th- Charlie Farrow 31hr, 18min

7th- Andy Stockman (4th SS/Fixed) 31hr, 18min

8th- Matt Gersib 31hr, 30min

9th- (tie) Ben Shockey(5th SS/Fixed*)/Matt Wills (5th SS/Fixed)

10th- (tie) Jeremy Fry/George Vargas 31hr, 58min

11th- Paul Jacobson 32 hr

*Note: Ben Shockey is the second fixie rider to ever finish a Trans Iowa event.

Source

Finishers in groups by hour (3) in the 24th hour, (3) 27th hour, (1) 28th hour, (7) 31st hour, (1)
32nd hour

First thing I must do is thank my sponsors who made it all possible: Detour bags, Finish Line ,
Hawaiin Island Creations, Nathan Sports, Niterider, Showers Pass, Skins Compression, Speedfil,
Sportquest, Team Sho-Air , Woolistic, and special thanks to an anonymous contributor for
the airfare to Des Moines, Iowa.

INTRODUCTION

I have tried several times to start this race report and each time I just don't know where to start. Do I
start from the beginning? How far back to the beginning? Or do I start from the end and work my way
backwards? Or just hop around as the thoughts come to my head? Well I will begin again and this time
from the beginning. I will write the events in chronological order and let my epilogue be the catch-all.
However, I still reserve the right to jump around. See if you can follow along.

OK so for the A.D.D. people out there here is the headline-- I FINISHED TRANS IOWA V.5. IT
WAS 314 MILES AND 31 HOURS AND 58 MINUTES OF GRAVEL CRUNCHING PAIN AND
SUFFERING. ONLY 15 FINISHERS OUT OF 52 STARTERS. I WAS A TOP TEN FINISHER BUT
FINISHING IS A TRIUMPH IN AND OF ITSELF. TO DATE, BY MY COUNT, THERE HAS BEEN
ONLY 55 FINISHERS. MY EDUCATED GUESS IS THERE HAVE BEEN ABOUT 250 STARTERS.

This madness all started with another insane challenge. At the end of the 2006 season, I had this crazy
idea that I would do Furnace Creek 508 on a Fixed Gear in 2007. Up until that point only 5 people in
32 runnings (that's thousands of racers) of the race had ever done it Fixed.

I began my search for a steel fixie with road geometry and horizontal dropouts. I found a shop named
Ben's Cycle and Fitness in Milwaukee. They sold/sell a bike made by Waterford called the
Milwaukee Bicycle Co.



I called the shop and spoke to Andy. We had many conversations on my bike build and in one of those
conversations he mentioned Trans Iowa to me. I listened with some interest but I already had a full
plate for 2007. I had scheduled a few Double Centuries Fixed, Race Across America and Furnace
Creek 508 as my A race for the year.   But there was one thing he said that stayed with me. He stated
that the finishing rate was really low and that it would be a real test of my endurance. In 2006, there
were no official finishers of Trans Iowa.

Fast forward two years and I'm talking to Andy again in Sept of 2008 as I am driving to the Eastern
Sierra Mountains to participate in the California/Nevada State Climbing Championships in a race called
Everest Challenge, 29,000 feet of climbing in a two day stage race. Participate is all I would do
since I use it as a training race for Furnace Creek, which is 10 days later.

Brandy and I were stuck in traffic so Andy had our full attention now.   He tells me again about the low
finishing rate for 2008 (in 2008 there were ONLY 5 finishers) and that I should REALLY try it for 2009.
By the way, Brandy went on to finish the two day stage race (I was a finisher in 2005 and 2006). I had
had a stomach thing beginning two days prior the race that precluded me from finishing.

What makes people like me and us so different? What is the allure of low finishing rates, high elevation
gain to mileage ratios, extreme heat, extreme cold or remote conditions that turns us on so much? Why
doesn't a 60 minute Criterium satisfy me. I mean I'm racing right doesn't that get it out of our system? I
tried USCF racing. I wasn't very good at it at the CAT 5, CAT 4 level. I seemed to be consistently in the
12th-20th places with no sprint to speak of. But I always was left wanting. Is that it? Is that all there is?
Even after doing 2,3 or 4 crits in a day I was left unsatisfied. I tried some road racing as well. I got
dropped. I also didn't fit in with the totally amped up attitude. Playing Russian Roulette with my bike and
my body every race was also not fun. I work in a shop I see so many USCF'ers coming in needing new
bikes because they crashed on Sunday. Ok I'll admit it I sucked at USCF racing but put me on a 200+
mile event I feel like I'm at home. Besides, I like to go somewhere on my bike not in circles. So that was
the end of my USCF career

When I returned from Everest Challenge I contacted a fellow epic adventure seeker and after a few
email exchanges we were committed to doing the race in 2009. Now even though I was mentally
committed to doing the race I had a few challenges ahead of me.

This might be a good time to tell you about my equipment, logistical and skills challenges. I didn't dare
tell the field at the start line in Williamsburg some of the things I will bear to you today. They might not
have let me in their paceline had they known.

1. I didn't own a MTB or a CX bike. I didn't want to "have to" buy one for just this race.

2. I had never ridden a Mountain Bike

3. I had never ridden a CX bike

4. I had never ridden gravel.

5. I had never been on tires wider than 28mm which I put on our tandem so Brandy and I would
have some comfort on our Ultras. I also had done only one Rough Ride up to Santiago Peak but
it definitely was more of a fire road than GRAVEL and it was on my Cannondale CAAD9 Road
Bike.

6. My dilemma, which I'm sure I shared with others racers, was what bike was I going to ride?

7. And of course the x-factor what would Mother Nature bring to this years race?

I committed to the race organizers in November. I sent my postcard under the specific instructions
provided by Guitar Ted. I figured I had months to figure out my bike and skills situation.

As the winter months went by, I communicated with G-Ted on several occasions about current weather
conditions, bike choices, tire choices and so on. He was so patient with me.   I thought for sure at some
point he would tell me to stop bugging him. I guess I was being introduced to the goodness of the
Midwest folks.

Another example of this goodness came in the form of a comment on my blog by Buckshot77. He
commented when I found out I had made the race roster for TI V.5 He just said lightly if I had
questions to let him know. Little did I know that Buckshot77 would turn out to be the golden ticket.

Fast forward to just a couple of weeks before race day, I still didn't have a bike for Trans Iowa. The
economic downturn had affected our home as well. Buying a new bike for just this race was just not in
the budget. I sought a bike sponsor but the obscurity of the race precluded someone from taking a
chance on me.

Buckshot came to the rescue and offered his bike er...frame.   Now all I had to do is fly into Des
Moines and rebuild his frame with my components, work on my fit on CX geometry and I would
be set. Sounds easy enough right?



So the question you are asking yourself is who is crazy enough to fly into town, build someone
else's bike to his spec and race it the next day on a 314 mile Ultra endurance gravel race?
Umm...someone who really didn't have another choice. Someone like me!

Buckshot77 not only lent me his bike but he hosted me. In addition to all his hospitality, he even hooked
up a ride for me to and from the race start/finish, approximately 100 miles from Buckshot's home, with
another Trans Iowa racer Steve Fuller.

Buckshot77 took me on two hour ride on Friday morning so I could check over the build and the fit. We
stopped a couple of times to adjust my saddle height and fore and aft. He gave me a taste of gravel
roads and a B road. I was feeling really discouraged about my race based on the condition of said B
road. The mud was so black so sticky it seized everything and clung to my brand new MTB shoes. Did
I mention I had never been MTB'ing? Well I also had never used MTB shoes or MTB pedals SPD in this
case.





As part of my bike build I used the High Tail EXP seat post mounted bag from Detours worked
beautifully. It has an expansion bellows. You will see it in other pictures in my race report and video.
Based on the unpredictable weather of Iowa in late April early May I decided on a bigger bag. I had an
assortment of winter clothing to chose from several servings of powdered energy drink, tools, chain
lube, first aid items and everything but the "kitchen sink". Honestly, this bag was perfect!!



After our bike check it was time to meet Steve Fuller at Rasmussen's Bike shop in West Des Moines.
I walked around aimlessly wondering if I had forgotten anything. While there I met Sterling and he was
nice enough to hook me up with some Schwag! Thank you.

Pre-race meeting was short and sweet. Get your goody bag, sign a waiver hear a few last minute admin
notes and we were out of there. I felt like an outsider. I was many miles from home and I was entering
a new field of racing ...Gravel.