im - 6/05/2006 12:18:00 PM

First, Lara kicks ass. Second, I neglected to say anything about this earlier but it's cool enough to warrant mention late in the game even though the TransIowa race is bedded down in the history pamphlets for another year. Surly gave a frame as a prize for this year's TransIowa race, which turned out this year to be one big gravelly bog snorkel. It was so tough (and it's supposed to be tough) that no one actually finished. The video I saw shows people slogging it through the ditches because the roads themselves were too swampy. TransIowa mastermind Jeff Kerkove said of this year's attempt: “Insane amounts of rain during the days leading up to and during the event caused none of the 70 registered racers to make the 6 PM Saturday cut off. Due to the weather all riders threw in the towel. Most people made it about 70 miles, but just to give you an idea of how tough conditions were, the leaders took 2 hours to go 9 miles in the later part of the first half of the course.” Yeah, western Iowa's like that in spring. Since Kerkove and the Planning Committee (if that isn't a band name it should be) already had all the prizes, and since people showed up and raced (as much as they could, anyway), K&tPC decided to give out the prizes. That's cool. But I didn't hear the whole story until I got into contact with the winner of the frame, Lindsay Gauld, of Winnipeg, MB (which isn't in or even near Iowa), who told us this: “I went 132 miles and at that point myself and Dallas stopped at a bar for a burger and a short break. I phoned Mark to let him know we were still alive and would be about 4 1/2 more hours. He said that they'd already had the awards ceremony and as we were the only ones still riding they'd awarded us the first prizes. As everyone was leaving, we decided not to make our friend Paddy wait till we arrived and rode down the highway for 14 miles to meet him.” What?! Oh, and to put the dot on that exclamation point, Lindsay also says: “It's a great prize for me as I'm a 58 year old who recently sold Olympia Cycle in the Peg and is now working as a bike courier. I pinch myself in disbelief every time they give me a cheque for riding my bike.” So….still think you're tough? Better go on a training ride right now, ya lightweight. Third, the International Bicycle Film Fest is coming to MPLS. Local BFF coordinator GirlCarl is excited: "I can't wait for this. Seriously. Some of you know already, but I'm telling everyone. The Minneapolis version of the 6th annual Bicycle Film Festival is July 6 - 8. One On One is our extra special sponsor and we'll be screening fantastic bike films in this way: Thursday July 6th @ Riverview Theater Friday July 7th @ Bell Museum Auditorium Saturday July 8th @ Soap Factory Look for festival programs in a few weeks. Rumors of after parties, alleycats, beer, valet bike parking and self-actualization are all true. We're totally ready, except we need these things: 1 megaphone several sets of bleachers 250 water balloons 6 trays of deviled eggs 78 volunteers Be in touch if you have any of those lying around the garage. Carl Atkinson carl@bicyclefilmfestival.com” You know who else is excited? Brauer. He sent Brauermail saying, "There will be some cool films I'm sure. Tell everyone you know, and lets show these other cities what real bike culture is!" Get in touch with your inner Ebert and/or your inner Brauer (Brebert? Eauer? Hell, I don't know...). That is all. -----