Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Trans Iowa V5: On My Mind: Part II

Some quick notes on Trans Iowa V5 today..........

The Site Is Up: Well........kinda! Something went haywire in the format, but the info is all there and ready for you to look at. Check it out here. I probably screwed something up, so it looks weird, but hey! It works to spread the news for now. Deal with it!

The course recon by car will be taking place after Interbike. We will post some pictures after that with a short report. Once again, we don't reveal the course's exact location, or which towns, (if any) you'll be going through. Past T.I. vets get this, but bear with me, there are newbies out there!

Trans Iowa is an event guided by you, the event participant, by reading cue sheets. The first set of sheets are handed out to racers at the pre-race meet up, which will take place on May 1st, 2009. (May day! May day!..........get it?) Anyway........Your first set of cue sheets will guide you about the first 45 miles or so where you will stop at a check point and pick up a second set of cue sheets that will guide you on to the next checkpoint, and so on. Expect there to be about three checkpoints total. The course length will be in the 320-350 mile neighborhood. You will be required to self navigate, and self support your way on Iowa's gravel roads in a time limit of around 34 hours, give or take an hour or two. (Totals will be set at a later date) On top of that, you will have a time limit to reach each checkpoint before the checkpoint closes. If a checkpoint closes before you reach it, your event is over.

Okay, that's the gist of it for you people that haven't looked into Trans Iowa before. There is a bit more to it than that, but those are the salient details.

Registration?: Yes, there is a registration process. We will model it on last years registration, which was opened up to the past participants only for the first week and then to any others afterwards. There will be only 75 available spots. If you miss out on getting in, I will maintain a waiting list until December 31st, 2008, after which the waiting list will not be maintained and the roster will be locked in. Anyone dropping out after that time will not be replaced on the roster. If we end up with 40 folks, we will go with 40. If we end up with 25 folks, then that's great. If we get 75, (won't happen, but just saying) then we'll have a record field for a Trans Iowa event.

Registration will be by post card again, but don't go and send those in just yet! I'll announce an official address and time soon. Look for that around Thanksgiving time.

By then the course should be locked in, our check points figured out, the pre-race details hopefully will be in place, and we'll be ready to settle in for the long winters wait till spring time '09.

Should be a good one!

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