TIV10 is in the books. I was one of 19 finishers out of 104 that started. This race is a beast. It took me more than 33 hours. 18-20,000 feet of climbing. 20 mph winds during the day, 30mph at night. Lightning, rain, and generally crappy conditions overnight. We hid at a farm around 2:00 am, leaning up against a building to get cover. I rode with two other guys I met on the course. With 60 miles left, one guy dropped. A few minutes later the other had to back off the pace. Then I put the hammer down as I was running out of time to hit the 34 hour cut-off.
with 40 to go I had a stretch of 10 miles into a 30 mph headwind riding solo. That sucked. When I made the turn I knew I had it beat. The last 10 miles were with the wind. I coasted for miles.
My coach/spouse gave me great advice. She set up a training schedule so I was riding 150s using cue sheets and starting at 4:00 am. She made rice cakes for me from the Feed Zone cookbook. These were awesome.
the first audio clip from John Mathias sums it up pretty well.
http://www.mountainbikeradio.com/trans-iowa-radio/
a wreck at the finish rolls in: