Using the pressures I found I was running the day before, I guessed as to how much more pressure I'd need and took a stab at 34 front and 38 rear, then rolled.
I had a recording of the TIv9 route from when I had attempted that, so I loaded it into the Garmin and went to where my riding on Thursday and it intersected to pick it up.
Wind, I was fighting with the wind and gusts for sure, and man were they cold. The roads though felt so different than my memories. But then, my memories of them are in pitchblackness, surrounded by dozens of other riders, and the exhilaration of my first TransIowa. Memories flood back to that first nighttime start. All the lights, the fear I'd be dropped in the first section of gravel, the shock of someone catching the road edge and going down so close in front of me, that I was afraid I was going to roll right over them. I recall that night being muggy (though I could be wrong), while today the wind and cold cut mercilessly.
Some of the roads are so well packed, I'm down in the aerobars hammering into the headwind like I'm on paved roads, others are deeper fresh gravel, and a few are rutted. There are no B-Roads today, as TIv9 didn't have any of those until after the first checkpoint, and I'll not get that far today, as I need to get back before too long and get clean before the Pre-Race Meat Up. On ones of the faster, flat roads, I pass a grader, and the road turns to marbles. It was just scraping enough to bring the larger pieces up to the surface and scatter them on top of the hard dry dirt. Blech.
Soon I begin to feel a few sprinkles of rain. I knew this was coming, so I continue on, and come to a wooden bridge. I flash back to riding across this bridge in TIv9. I was having a really nice conversation with the owner of Bikes To You, who I don't think was officially part of the race, just tagging along until he had to turn back to town to open up the shop.
A few miles further, as the rain started to pick up and hold at a steady drizzle, I stopped to consult my gps map to see if there was anything interesting coming up on the route, or to go ahead and turn around, a couple in a truck asks if I need directions. I assure them I have some idea where I'm going, and thank them. I decide there is no reason to not turn around where I was and head back the way I came.
I always find it odd how different roads are in the opposite direction, and wow that grader seems to have ruined all the smoother roads I had ridden on the way in. Also the bit of rain that had fallen had already started to change the roads. With a lot of rain expected to fall through the afternoon and evening, that could be bad. Really, really bad. But then I knew that before I even drove up here. Heck, that's why I'm here. Bring it.
The whole time, I'd been constantly making mental notes about how the tyres had been interacting with the surface. I thought I was really close on pressure, but perhaps a bit too high, and with the roads to soften, I took another guess and decided that I wouldn't touch them, and whatever air leakage occurred naturally overnight would probably be about right.
I'd also been making notes about my comfort level, or lack thereof. I was okay, but as the rain continued, I could see myself being miserable on a much longer ride. Headgear was inadequate. Gloves were sodden, hands too numb to shift by feel. I arrived back at the hotel, luckily the wet roads had cleaned much of the dust off the bike, and I took a big loop through the wet hotel lawn to give the tyres a good scrub and I was clean enough I didn't feel like I was going to cause a mess in the lobby.
42 miles. Perfect morning test ride.
I cleaned up, got in contact with my support person (thanks again for driving down from Milwaukee), then just rested until she arrived and it was time to go sign in, find dinner, back for the actual meeting, and off to bed. It really is a crush of things that happen really fast then you have to unwind to get to bed, because a 2am alarm is really early.
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