← All eventsIowa Wind and Rock
A ~547km (340mi) self-supported gravel ultra out of Winterset, Iowa — the spiritual successor to Trans Iowa, with no support and no cue sheets, ridden through a full day and night in a ~34-hour limit. An expert-level durability, navigation and sleep-deprivation test with a low finish rate. Date and elevation approximate (est. mid-April 2027).
About 340 miles of Iowa gravel, ridden non-stop through a full day and night with no support and no cue sheets. The spiritual successor to Trans Iowa, out of Winterset every mid-April.
The name tells you the fight. The 'rock' is endless loose-gravel rollers that never let up, stacking thousands of metres of climbing. The 'wind' is open farmland with nowhere to hide from hours of headwind.
Around a 34-hour limit, a small self-selecting field, and a low finish rate nobody apologises for. This is expert-level. You navigate, carry and fix everything alone, including through a cold, dark night.
Who finishes, and how
Patterns like these, drawn straight from 2025 race data, are baked into how Beina coaches you for this event.
Is Iowa Wind and Rock for you?
- Experienced ultra riders with a self-supported finish already behind them. This is a progression event, not a first ultra.
- Riders who pace with real discipline. Over such a long day, anything near race intensity blows up, so the finish goes to the most restrained.
- Self-reliant problem-solvers. No crew, no cue sheets: you navigate, resupply and fix mechanicals alone, often in the dark.
- Anyone calm in the cold and dark. The overnight hours are the crux, and morale in the wind and mud decides who finishes.
Training plan for Iowa Wind and Rock
A training plan for Iowa Wind and Rock isn't a generic base build. Beina reads the event's exact demands, looks at your specific profile and the time you actually have, and maps a highly adapted plan to the start line.
- A full day and night of continuous riding, deep into sleep deprivation.
- Relentless loose-gravel rollers with no single big climb, just vertical that never stops.
- Open farmland wind with no shelter, and B-roads that turn to bike-clogging mud in the wet.
- Total self-sufficiency: no aid, no crew, no cue sheets, navigating from a roster of turns.
- A progressive long ride building from four hours out to a 12 to 18 hour ride that finishes in the dark.
- Back-to-back big weekends: long rides on consecutive days to train multi-day durability.
- Night rides and a sleep-deprived ride, rehearsing the overnight crux and riding tired.
- Self-sufficiency rehearsals: navigating a GPS or roster with no cue sheets, resupply planning, and fixing plugs and tubes solo.
- Built from your current fitness and the time you actually have
- Adapts every week as Beina learns how you respond
- Syncs your sessions straight to Garmin and Wahoo
- One clear next session, never a wall of spreadsheet
