The 3rd Trans Iowa Race is this weekend. It starts 4 AM Saturday morning. I can’t say it’s a race that I’m currently interested in but it’s already a lottery for the 100 starting spots. It’s one of the growing number of long distance mountain bike races that must be done self supported. The big daddy of this type of race is the Great Divide Race.

Shorter mountain bike races used to be really strict about outside support. In the early 90s one of my friends won a race after having a flat tire. The problem was he didn’t have a tube and somebody had handed him one. He changed it himself but an official saw him get the tube and he ended up getting DQ’d.

This year’s Trans Iowa is 322.3 miles of dirt roads. The racers will get the cue sheets for the first 127.7 miles in tonight’s racer meeting. They will get the cue sheets for the rest of the race once they complete the first section. I guess that helps keep them from arranging outside plus they have to stay on course.

Chris, Dave and Mike from the Denver area are there. Chris’s wife may be able to post some updates if she hears from Chris during the race. Chris also posted a few other options for getting updates during the race.