Iditarod Trail Invitational Part Duex-over

First things first. Thanks to Geri, Dad, Sachi (RIP pup), Revolution Racing, Speedway Cycles, Longevity Lab for helping fix my shoulder, Fatback Bikes and Ariel the Mermaid for all the support. Each of you have been helpful and selfless. I appreciate the heck outta you guys. We really kicked butt this year. 💖

I don't know about you guys but sometimes my mind is racing a thousand miles an hour! One positive of this Coronavirus reality is that I've had time to be mindful. About everything...😏

Blank Stare Really GIF from Blankstare GIFs

I guess I should start the actual race report now. 😜

Imagine, a class room setting.

Teacher:  The Iditarod Trail is.... (what do you think reader? Don't worry, I'll wait.)

Rando student:  It's a route that dog sled teams blah blah blah virus blah blah blah vaccine blah blah blah Nome blah blah blah

Another Rando kid:  Balto is such a cute dog!

Aaron Thrasher and myself at the start. PC Geri Hodges

• Ten years ago today (April 5th, 2010) I bought my first nice bike. Just some useless trivia info that no one will ever ask you or that you will ever need to remember. 😆

Teacher:  Anybody else? 

Whatever you thought about the Iditarod Trail is wrong. But also right. You're probably wondering what the heck I am talking about. It's the reason why we adventure. Whatever your preconceived notions of what this race is, or is going to be, is right and wrong.

• It must have been the toughest year? This was the hardest Iditarod you've done right? How many miles did you guys walk? Sufferfest, slog, frostbite, heartbreaking, windy, snow...... 
• Yes, it was hard. Yes, it was tough. I walked about 35 or so miles. Yes, it was windy sometimes. Yes it was really cold in the interior. 

Switching gears, I felt like the buzz was a little thick at the start this year, amongst racer, organizer and fan alike. I think there was excitement regarding the racer field but this time there was a "weather" buzz that I had not quite experienced in years past. I think many athletes seemed to be ignoring the impending snowfall and began about their usual pre-weekend race prep. But the excitement seemed to be a little less from some. (Nothing personal, just my general observation.)

There's some heavy hitters here. PC Corrie Smith

Starting our adventure across Knik Lake. PC Andy Pohl

Aaron Thrasher on the road to McGrath and fat bike greatness! Haha

More Thrashing about! LOL

I spoke with Aaron Thrasher a little bit on the road. I enjoyed chatting with him, I was a little envious of him as a rookie because I have such fond memories of my first time on the trail. :end proud dad moment:

It's important at this time to just get into your natural position of the race but don't let yourself get bogged down in less than ideal conditions. I don't want to be too far down the field as the trail conditions go from rideable to difficult and you don't want to squander an opportunity either. I noticed Tyson and Kurt were making their way towards Ayeshire in a hurried fashion and moved on my way after them.

 I'm always happy to see a crowd gather along the course. I miss high fives. 😞PC Julie Saddoris

More friends on the trail! PC Sean Grady

Making our way to Flathorn Lake. PC Kurt Refsnider

We made our way into the snow. It became apparent to me quickly that we were gonna have a slow first day. Tyson, Kurt and I were riding but with a decent amount of effort and not very quickly. My attention quickly turned to body temperature. The slower conditions, warmth and snow could cause some issues with sweating my gear out too much. Because of that I decide to just keep those two guys in sight. It sounds like the three of us made it through this first part of the race in much better shape than others.

Teacher:  This is the first opportunity that I invite you to think about what the Iditarod Trail means to you. Are you ready to walk your bike? 

Teacher's Pet to class:  When was the last time you dropped the tire pressure down to "wrinkle?" You ever run out of water on the trail? 

Smart ass at the back of the class under their breathe while putting gum under the desk:  "shut up teacher's pet, bet you brush off teacher's car when it snows..." 😏

In the past four years that I've started this event, the lead pack made it to Yentna Station in anywhere from 630PM in 2016 to 1AM this year! After crossing Flathorn Lake very slowly the three of us found ourselves walking. By the time we hit the Wall of Death we were together in a pack. The three of us wondered if Pete Basinger and the folks that went down another trail were ahead of us. When we hit Susitna Station we saw no visible trail which calmed our nerves and we went back about our business. We traded spots a few times while riding on occasional sprinkles of harder trail but we were mostly walking all the way to Scary Tree (Yentna and Susitna confluence.) I knew that at this point we were going to be turning our lights on, pumping tires back up, dealing with water supplies, and back to riding again. Kurt took some time to boil water while Tyson and I motored on up the river. When we got to Yentna Station, we were drying out, having cheese sandwiches, chicken noodle soup and a couple cokes while chatting nicely. Tyson and I have spent time talking together but this was the first time that the three of us were together in close quarters and we took this time to just talk and enjoy what the trail was at this point. About an hour after showing up we each made our way out the door and back on the trail.

Now I don't want to mis-represent what it means to race. We were evaluating each other, much like a poker game. I think the three of us were comfortable and confident with ourselves and were looking forward to the trail. We were starting to get the "feel" for it and how fast we could do the event in.

In 2016 we arrived at Skewentna at 9PM. We were almost 12 hours behind that time already.

I wasn't trying to reel anyone in but I wanted to just focus on my pace. Thus I caught and passed Kurt and caught Tyson within a few miles of the checkpoint. Together we rode for the remainder of the night until just before the checkpoint with Kurt not far behind us.

• Tyson is somewhat a known quantity to me. I have raced him before and I've seen just how fast he can go. I felt like at this point Kurt had turned on the cruise control and was just managing his energy output. I think I had even told Tyson that I felt Kurt was "throttling back." 

We each had a nice meal and drinks while in Skwentna Roadhouse. (That makes it sound like we had dinner together like it was a date. Haha) It was neat to see the Census workers in the lodge doing their thing. I decided to get a bed at the lodge. I know that my each year my back is really tight after the first 90 miles so I decided to get a nap and to put my legs up on the wall. Those guys kind of gave me a weird look when I said I was going to sleep, but again, I was feeling comfortable and confident and felt like prioritizing my body was the right thing to do at this point for my race.

I didn't need a long sleep, just about 20-30 minutes then about 15 minutes to put my feet up and get some of the kankle action to subside. This felt great! I paid my bill, hopped on the bike and proceeded to make my way towards Finger Lake.

Grizzled ITI competitor. Hahahaha Just outside of Skwentna on the SnowCat track. Notice my legit Bend, OR SingleSpeed World Championship Buff.

The trail was in really good shape outside of Skwentna! I've never seen the Shell Hills in the daylight. There is a contractor that built a snowcat trail that you could probably drive a large tired vehicle on! That's been a common theme this year on the trail from multiple competitors. Seeing sections of the trail in the daylight is one of those side stories that develop each year on the trail. For sure slow conditions are hard, but it comes with its own set of positives. Again, the trail is everything you think it is and not. Thanks Teach.

What was going to happen next was just the beginning of our true adventure. This was just the appetizer...