Iditarod Trail Invitational: The Final Saga (LMAO)

Yay! More Singletrack in Anchorage. Photo Credit:  Kate Ginsbach

June 11th:  I recognize that some of you reading this might be going through a myriad of emotions and feelings. I hope that you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Know that there are people who care for you and that you'll be alright. Wash your hands, cover your mouth when necessary and treat people nice. Back to your regularly scheduled program.

Teacher:  Adjusts reading glasses.  Let's see, where were we.....Oh yeah! Rohn!

Students:  Sitting at the edge of their seats. Yeah, you left Rohn!!

(I have a weird imagination these days. Must be all that cold weather and darkness. Haha)

• Bikepack racing is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical challenge. I would venture to say that it's even more mental than physical at most times. But not always. 😂 

After rolling into Rohn and seeing Tyson there my heart picked back up. My mind all of the sudden snapped back to attention and I was energized. I got to chat with my buddy Adrian Baer and new friend Tina Scheer who are both volunteers for the ITI and for the Iditarod. I had a couple of the infamous brats with mustard!!! This is one of my favorite parts of the race. 

I proceeded to layout my sleeping system and take a rest. I knew that Tyson and Kurt were probably going to leave earlier than me but that was ok. This was all part of the design. I had visualized this exact situation for the past two years.

• I did say two years. In 2018 I busted. I let too large of a gap build between Neil and I and when the weather hit us for the second time I had a tough time keeping it together. In 2019 I knew I would have my hands full racing Tyson and Jay but I felt that if I could keep it together between Rohn and Nikolai then I would have a fighting chance! I felt like I was ready to race but dealing with frozen boots really slowed me down. I’ve spent a lot of time over the past two years thinking about Rohn to Nikolai. 

It wasn’t much sleep but it was enough. My heart, mind and body were charged up and I was ready to go!! After drinking some coffee and fueling up more I loaded up my bike with my drop bag items, went to the outhouse to do some body maintenance and took off after my goodbyes!

The trail outside of Rohn is a mountain bikers dream. It’s a wonderful backdrop, rolling hills, usually a nice bit of dirt, and some high speed swoopy turns even! The sun was out, I was totally buzzing! Near the climb up Post River Glacier I rode past a carcass/innerds of a bison. I hadn't seen that before, maybe I would see some bison finally! I continued on down the trail, building momentum as the sun continued to charge my internal battery. I really have visualized myself riding this section over and over. I remember large swaths of it. I have a sweet, light bike to ride. A gear setup that allows me to stay warm, yet not hot so that I can push the pace when I feel like it. I am much better about staying on top of food and water intake. I was just enjoying the great conditions!

Mid day rolled around and sure enough I had reeled Kurt back in. We chatted for a few moments, had a snack. We rode together for a while and not long after catching him we encountered not one but two Bison on the trail!!! I was so stoked! We chased these two giants for about 2 miles or so. They must have taken three giant turds trying to out run us. After each lake or opening in the vegetation we would see them and they would take off running again. After those two deflected from the trail I started to concentrate one the task in hand. I had my eyes on Tyson. The section of Iditarod after Farewell Lakes can be really physically demanding. The little ripples of land go up and down over and over. Each time you rip downhill there's a spicy little uphill that follows. I wanted to stay out of Kurt's eyesight, but I was really focused on catching Tyson.

But I did realize something, after a few hours I had not shaken my tail. I realized at this point that perhaps I had not factored Kurt into my race/equation for the past day. It was at this point I knew that it was going to be a tough finish no matter how it played out. The stakes started to rise, as the temperature began to drop...

During this time though I was looking for signs. It's always tough to lead. But Tyson is very good at it, he's known as a guy who likes to set the pace. And he can set a really high one.

This is a bit passed where we all were when the snow machines passed by. Here, I knew that I would be able to approximate how far Tyson was ahead of us.

As we were nearing Sullivan Creek I heard a noise. The distinct sound of a snow machine! Perfect! Now I'll be able to tell how far ahead Tyson is! I also noted that the trail conditions were getting softer and softer, maybe these big hunting/touring sleds will give us some sort of base to ride on! (Hahahahahahahahahaha!!! Oh boy how I was wrong!) I chatted with the guys a little bit and started moving forward again. I figured at Sullivan Creek that I would pump up my tires, fill up my camelbak bladder with water and get ready for a battle!

I got to Sullivan, filled up the bladder and made sure that it was sealed well. I checked/adjusted my gear, tightened down my boots and put on another layer as the temps were dropping quick. I went up the trail a ways to take a pee then filled up my tires with a good amount of air in preparation for the night time trail conditions. I continued to ride and wouldn't you know! I saw where Tyson had pulled over for the snow machines and calculated that he was only about 30 minutes in front of me!!!

But something was happening that I didn't expect. I continued riding down the trail and it kept getting harder and harder to pedal. Not the type of difficulty because I was tired, but because the trail had not gotten any harder from the traffic. The sun set, still no base. I let some of the air out. Continued down the trail...still very difficult to pedal. I was getting a little worried. I stuck with my gut and let more air out of my tires. Before I knew it I had let all the air out that I had added, and proceeded to let even more out. Then, I noticed that I was going pretty slow. Ugh...

But there's something about a race. The chase. There's a spark in your gut that happens. The world around you begins to slow, and the outside conditions no longer grab your attention. I knew that I was going to catch Tyson in front of me. I began to think that perhaps this was my chance. I needed to make my move when/if I caught him.

This was it. Time to turn and burn!

Guess what? While crossing one of the many swamps I saw a light flicker ahead. My heart rate must've spiked 20 beats! I pause for about half a mile or so. I just followed him at his pace to see how he was going. It felt like I was super comfortable so I knew that he was starting to get tired. I started to get myself hyped up, I knew that I was in for a long stretch. If I made my move this was it. No turning back. He started to slow down and I think he may have been waiting for us to catch him. When I pulled up to him he sounded very tired. I passed him and wished him luck, took another look back to see Kurt's light and decided to light it up!

Students:  How cold was it? Wasn't that scary? 

Teacher:  It was around -40, and yeah, it's risky at that temperature. But experience and lots of training prepares you to handle these kind of situations. You can practice visualizing what you're going to do in these situations. 

What happened next was my most intense 3MPH bike race I've ever been in. Hahaha I knew I was digging deep, I proceeded to sweat a large amount. I was committed now. After about 30 minutes to an hour of pushing the pace I decided that I needed to slowly dry my layers by dropping the pace gradually. I looked behind me and didn't see a headlamp but I didn't want them to see mine so I shut it off. I think I only turned my light on for a handful of minutes just to change the view for my sanity. Midnight, one o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock. At this point we were no longer riding our bikes. It was a HUGE effort to grind out 2.5-3mph. I could quickly hike at basically the same pace. I started doing this process of running/shuffling from bush to bush. 10 feet, 50 feet at a time. It was a bit scary putting out this much effort but amazing at the same time. I started thinking about how long I needed to rest in Nikolai.

Eventually around 4AM I was greeted by Nicholas Carmen of Baja Divide fame on the trail. He was touring/volunteering for the ITI at this checkpoint. I was happy to see him, perhaps I spent a bit too much time chatting with him but my spirits were high and I wanted to be stoked.

It was cold, Tyson's thermometer read -44 for a long time. PC: Nicholas Carmen

Yeah, this is how I roll. Haha PC:  Nicholas Carmen

Nikolai has usually been a quiet destination. If you've ever interacted with small village folk you know that they express their pleasantries and usually go about their business. But the ITI volunteers are a hearty breed! They were super stoked to see the leaders coming in! And honestly I was pretty stoked to see them! I got into the town community center and proceeded to give them a trail update and had a nice burger! High class living. As I was eating I would fall asleep mid sentence, mid bite. Haha

I put my head down. The world quickly turned to black...

Hours passed. I woke up quite a bit later than my alarm.

The gap that I had worked really hard to build was gone. I was a little bummed. But there was nothing I could do about that now and I had to snap out of it. I was super groggy, my body was tired from days of walking and riding and I was facing the last 50 miles racing against two really fast dudes. We had a great breakfast that the checkpoint volunteers prepared for us and the sun was out, we were at least going to have a nice afternoon! Kurt asked a question about how this could go down. In a very inviting way, he was open to however we as a group wanted to race. I can't remember what I said, it was a little bit of a groggy response that didn't even make sense to me and Tyson I think basically remained silent and didn't respond to the question. I could tell that we all realized that it was time for the group to go on their own now.

We gathered our gear, said our goodbyes and set up. David Frearson flew his drone around us as we left the village of Nikolai. I started out a little hard hoping to see those two drop off the pace. And proceeded to get really hot. I had to stop, let air out, drop a jacket and get my stuff situated. Tyson had also started a bit hard. Kurt was the caboose but within an hour he had passed me as I had got my ear bud wrapped up in a low hanging branch. He bolted up to Tyson.

Then he was gone. It happened so fast, after many days it almost didn't seem like it was real. I caught up to Tyson and he mentioned that we were a long ways out and that we would probably catch him. I just remember thinking I don't know man, he's a strong dude and if he didn't think he could hold the lead then he probably wouldn't have done it. I told Tyson that I had to at least try to catch him.

Looking back at the Trackleaders page he had pulled 20 minutes out by the Kuskokwim River. Around 2:07PM Kurt's battery died in his SPOT, right along with my bodies battery. I was delirious, every part of my body was tired. I made efforts to hold a high rate of speed for what felt like hours on hours. I looked back and didn't see Tyson, and at every swamp and lake I would look across hoping to catch a glimpse of a bike rider. Eventually, as I kept coming to openings I realized that time was running out. The road outside of McGrath has a long viewpoint into town. I didn't see Kurt.

I realized that I couldn't let off the gas. I didn't know how far back Tyson was. The trail outside of McGrath is littered with moose tracks. The fastest way over them is to just sit and hammer through them. Each hit radiated through my seat and up my back, through my arms to my shoulders. After a while I realized that I was going to pay for this but it was too late to do anything about it. I just wanted to get to the plowed road...

The finish! PC:  Corrie Smith

FOOD!!!  PC:  Corrie Smith

Tyson and I were just about to leave for the Airport, Aaron Thrasher had just finished. Kurt was resting up in McGrath and preparing to move on down the trail at a touring pace. PC:  Corrie Smith

I sit here June 11th thinking about how much fun this race was and how close I was. I think about how this last year was pretty damn tough for me and represented a lot of change. I faced a lot of difficult times and emotions. I think about all my great friends who supported me and propped me up when I needed it. I think about my furry little friends, Sachi (RIP) Palmer (RIP) Dot, Emma and that little terrorizer (he's actually a mini Aussie, not a Terrorizer) Chucky. I think about my family and their unconditional love that they show me. I think about all the help I get from my bike friends and their words of encouragement. I think about how lucky I was to travel on the Iditarod Trail again with such amazing and awesome competitors. I think about the great volunteers who always have a helping hand.

There's a great Bruce Springsteen song "Dancing in the Dark."

     You can't start a fire, Sitting around cryin' over a broken heart, This gun's for hire, Even if we're           just dancing in the dark.
     You can't start a fire, Worrying about your little world falling apart, This gun's for hire, Even if we're just dancing in the dark.

I may not have won the race, but as I rolled into McGrath I felt accomplished. I no longer am searching for the finish line. I left everything out in the swamps, lakes and tundra of the interior. It's as if, the wind picked up my worries and swept them away. This race was what I needed, it was a spark, even if we're just dancing in the dark.

Iditarod Trail Invitational Part 3 of ????

Anchorage Singletrack! Photo Credit Kate Ginsbach

Exciting racing consists of a few principles in my opinion.

• Enough participants with differing approaches and strengths/weaknesses. Some folks ride quickly between checkpoints with longer breaks. Some ride at a more slower pace to ride with shorter breaks. 
• Ebb and flow. This can be described how the race begins to oscillate. This sets the table for things to come, so to speak.
• The timing of movements. IE:  when the participants attack and respond, hang back etc. 

Student:  But teacher, what do you do when you can't ride?

Teacher:  You walk...

I was really enjoying my trip across the flats before the Shell Hills. Hard trails, sun and a slight breeze in my face (hahahahahahahahahahaha.) I've really started to develop my pacing at this point and am feeling really good after my rest in Skwentna! I got to Shell Lake and I realized that the wind was really starting to pick up. I stopped to chat with the volunteers at Shell Lake and they were so friendly! They gave me the news of wind blown trail in the most positive way possible. 😅

I moved out of Shell Lake and started to make my way out of the wooded areas that surround it. I had a feeling that as soon as I hit the first swamp that I was going to have some walking to accomplish.

The green is wooded areas. The lighter color brown is the Skwentna River and the dark colored brown patches/spots are swampy open areas. Satellite image Google

Here's another view of the terrain we're covering. Image from Trackleaders website

The above image shows the area we traverse to get from Shell Lake to Finger Lake on the far left of the image. As you can see, it's not particularly steep or technical. What it is though, is exposed. The winds in the Alaska Range are no joke. Not long after Shell Lake, I found myself occasionally walking on the wind blown Iditarod Trail. I was able to ride occasionally and if there is one thing that I know is that you ride when you can, walk when you can't. That's the only way to approach tougher conditions. Eventually I caught Kurt, and not long after that we caught Tyson. We were basically crawling at this point. The wind was whipping, the trail was gone in spots. Tyson, Kurt and I were not racing at this point. We were working together to find and break trail.

Tyson, Kurt and I on our first date. He went to Jared! Photo Credit:  Kurt Refsnider

Photo Credit:  Kurt Refsnider

It took us over 8 hours to get from Shell Lake to Finger Lake checkpoint. We were now over 30 hours into the race. The great checkpoint worker set us up with our choice of chicken or veggie burritos, donuts, and other baked goods. They also grabbed our drop bags for us. All three of us were a little thrashed from the wind and slow trail at this point. We had our food then headed down to the wall tent on the lake where surprisingly enough it was warm. Might I even say comfortable!

I set my alarm for a couple hours, the guys asked me and I said I was gonna get up in a couple hours. Tyson kind of gave me a look and Kurt straight up said he was going to get a decent nights sleep. Haha I thought to myself Ok, I guess I can put my head down for the night.

Many hours later there was a rustle outside the wall tent and in walks Pete Basinger. He made a comment about how tough the conditions were! Anybody who knows Pete knows he's been through just about every kind of conditions. When he made a comment about the wind I knew that we had been through some tough stuff.

Not much later we started packing up our gear, loaded up our food and supplies from our drop bags and one by one we left the checkpoint. I took a moment to chat with Aaron Thrasher who looked a little thrashed (haha I know I'm funny) and the first place woman competitor KT Coward (holy cow that lady is a bad ass, yet also looked a little thrashed.) They each had quite a night getting to the checkpoint. KT had lost her GPS. Crazy!

The wind had died down and the trail is also mostly protected until you're just outside of Puntilla Lake/Rainy Pass Lodge so I was hopeful that the trail would be in decent condition. I was hopeful that we would find the SnowCat road and sure enough we found it! I started down it and not long after I saw one set of tire tracks continue on the SnowCat trail and one hopped back onto the traditional Iditarod route. I stopped for a moment, and realized I didn't really have anything to lose by going on the SnowCat trail. I had done some homework on that route in it's previous iterations and knew that if popped onto the Skwentna River and would tie into the Gorge on the other side of the Happy River. About 5 or so minutes going down the SnowCat trail I was a little bummed to run into Kurt coming back up the trail. He mentioned that there was some Open water and that the trail went down the Skwentna river versus up. I hit the reset button and headed back to the intersection with the traditional Iditarod Trail.

Happy River Steps! WHOA COWBOY!😲 Photo Credit:  Kurt Refsnider

Starting the Happy River Gorge. This is always a pleasant push.💓Photo Credit:  Kurt Refsnider

Getting to Happy River always feels like a milestone for me. It's like taking the first big step into the Alaska Range. Although we had a good blast of wind the night before, I consider the weather much more intense usually after crossing the Happy River.

I wanted to catch back up to Tyson, giving him any gap is pretty dangerous at this point. When the trail conditions are good you need to cover ground as efficiently as possible. I once again started to gap Kurt while attempting to chase down Tyson.

• Riding loaded fat tired bikes is hard work. It's particularly hard chasing after someone as fast as Tyson. I knew that putting out too much effort would cost me, but I gotta stay close to the leader at this point. This was a goal I aimed to accomplish this year. In prior years, I thought that you could save enough energy to cover gaps later in the race. And perhaps that works in regions of the world where the weather has less of an abrupt impact on trail conditions and speed. In 2018, I gave Neil too large of a gap and got hung up in a couple storms. In 2019 I banked that my speed would get me from Rohn to Nikolai faster than Tyson. I didn't count on freezing my boots. Both of these times it ended up biting me in the rear.

I didn't catch Tyson, and Kurt ended up catching me once we got out into the swamps and open areas just outside of Puntilla Lake. I wasn't so concerned with my speed, but more at the thought that we weren't going to be staying at the next checkpoint for too long. As the wind continued to blow I knew that we were going to be in for a long night with minimal rest. I allowed the sunlight to power my attitude and soul. I let the mild temps keep my mind at ease. I tried to stick with the game plan, eat, drink and conserve energy when possible.

Making our way to Puntilla Lake! Photo Credit:  Kurt Refsnider

There was a lot of this happening. The winds affects are cumulative at times, not bad at a moment but difficult after hours and hours.  Photo Credit:  Kurt Refsnider

My intuition was correct. When Kurt and I rolled into Rainy Pass Lodge, Tyson was hanging out and not sleeping. After competing with folks you start to understand or read their activity levels in checkpoints. I could tell that Tyson wasn't going to stick around for long. I think that Kurt knew this as well. I was mentally prepared for the difficulty of the Pass, but I knew that physically this was going to push me up to my limit.

I stuffed some food in my belly, hung up to dry some of my gear, if not completely at least a little bit. It's at this time that you've gotta put your game face on. The Pass is rarely gentle. I don't know much about the Alaska Range but I believe that it's usually windy. Boy was it ever windy this time. To give you an idea of what the Range can throw at you I suggest this article:  Emotional Atrophy in the Revelation Range

I haven't been pinned down yet in the five times I've left Puntilla Lake. But I've definitely pushed my abilities and my comfort levels. Not long after riding out of the depression that the lake sits in I found myself in a gnarly wind storm again. I got my wind gear on, setup my face system and kept riding. I don't know what the temperature was at this point. It's usually best that I don't know. 

Starting the windy run from Rainy Pass Lodge to Rohn. Photo Credit:  Kurt Refsnider

I met up with Kurt once again, and we played some non competitive leap frog. We would do this a couple of times. I realized that this was not the time to be racing like this. There comes a point in this event where you work together. This became one of those times. We were on and off the bike. When we did ride, it was painstakingly slow. Most of the time I was riding in my easiest gear. The trail was rock hard across the valley floor, heck I could see a Johnny 5 track that Nicholas Carmen left a week prior yet we were still going very slow due to the speed of the wind!

At one point I took my hands out of my pogies. I realized that they were extremely cold after just accomplishing a short task and not long after putting them back in I was met with some Screaming Barfies. I could also tell that there was some wind leakage happening on my face system. I tried to seal up the cracks but there's only so much you can do at this point without causing more harm than good. I made it so I was somewhat comfortable and continued on.

Atop the Pass. Photo Credit:  Kurt Refsnider

Student:  How do you stay awake for so long? Don't you get tired?

Teacher:  Well, it's easy to make the decision to keep going when you don't have a comfortable sleeping system. 

Kurt is tough. Tyson is tough. I can only imagine what was going through Tyson's mind going over the pass on his own. It's a long time to be in one's own mind. I knew that he wasn't going to fly on the way up to the Pass, but I wasn't sure at this point what kind of gap there would be when we descended to the Dazell and Tatina Rivers. I pushed myself up towards the pass. I knew I was getting tired. I worked hard on remembering to eat and drink. But I was beginning to fail. My steps, although strong were unstable at times. I was having difficulty controlling my breathing rate. Occasionally, I would stop and put my head on the handlebars or seat. Getting shelled for days at this point was starting to take it's toll on my body and on my mind. It took Kurt and I almost seven hours to get from the lodge to the Pass.

Being Kurt's first time up the Pass I looked for the sign. Not knowing it was right there off the trail next to where I started my tromping around. I walked about a bit, went back to him after giving up. 😂He took a picture of me, I attempted to put a Fatback sticker on the post and failed cause it was so cold and the sticker part wasn't sticking. Kurt started making his way down from the Pass. I had mentioned to him earlier that there usually isn't much riding down the pass if it's been windy and this time was no different. I was struggling to hang with him now. In a bit of a "drunken" stumble I noticed he had stopped and his body language had changed from pushing a bike to one of heightened awareness. I looked in the general direction his head was pointed and saw a flash of green lasers point back at me. It was a wolf!!

You'd have to check with Kurt but I'm pretty sure this is what it looked like. Haha

This is one of the most super intense moments of my adventure on the Iditarod Trail!!! The wolf had popped out of the den not more than 150 feet away from us! A moment later Kurt started walking again and I followed, we stopped maybe 25 feet from the den and looked towards the entry. There were a couple of small holes and surrounding the den were dark yellow stains were they wolves had marked their territory. How amazing is this!??!?!! For a moment I had forgotten just how tired I was and how windy it had been.

But, even the intensity of being that close to a wolf wore off quickly. Kurt and I started back down the trail and not long after the sleep monster hit me hard. I could tell that Kurt was slowing down as well. In years past I've moved quickly through here when the conditions allowed. Not this time. I was starting to have mental difficulties. Every time I made a turn, every time I pedaled with any authority I felt immediate fatigue throughout my whole body. My core wouldn't stabilize. My breathing out of control, I quit eating and drinking. I felt my eyes crossing what felt like every 5-10 feet.

Student:  What's it feel like? Being that tired?

Teacher:  Imagine losing most of your eyesight, but just a needle of light is all that's let in. The only thing you can do is focus on the little sliver of a vision. That's all you're holding onto. You're soooo tired but you don't dare let go of that hope. 

12 hours total time from Puntilla to Rohn. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little bummed when we rolled into Rohn that morning. I thought the gap would be too large to overcome if the conditions were good. (muahahahahaha!!! This is why you gotta keep fightin'! You never know what's coming next!)

Photo Credit:  Mike Morganson (2014 or '15?)

I was pretty beat now. I just wanted to stuff some food in my face and make my way into my sleeping bag. When we made it to the checkpoint I noticed Tyson's highlighter yellow 9:ZERO:7 and when we walked into the tent there he sat, looking just about as dazed and confused as I was.

Well well well, looks like we got a race here boys and girls!!😎

Yay Racing! Photo Credit:  Kate Ginsbach

Fatback Corvus FLT

I love this bike. It does everything that I want. Greg Matyas of Fatback Bikes/Speedway fame has developed an amazing fat bike endurance/race machine. I never feel like my bike is a hinderance, but an infallible piece of equipment. It's always the right choice for me on the Iditarod Trail Invitational and any other race or expedition I partake in. The shop is a leader in bike prep for winter travel. They understand what happens in the wide range of conditions that Alaska can throw at us and how to form your approach. 

Check 'em out at:  Fatback Bikes and local to Anchorage, Speedway Cycles

The entire bikepacking community has benefited greatly from Eric and crew at Revelate Designs. Lots of people try different pack setups over the years, but you can never go wrong with their gear. I have made small changes based on the conditions that I expect, but the harness, seat bag, frame bag setup has been my go to. And at this point it will continue to be for me in events like the race to McGrath.  

Check 'em out at:  Revelate Designs

Fatback Corvus FLT Sz Lg

HED 27.5" x 85mm Carbon Big Half Deal 

Fatback Alaska Edition Hubs

45nrth Dillinger 5’s w/studs

Fattystripper rim strips

30t absolute black chainring

Raceface Next SL Crankset and BB

Shimano XT pedals

Sram XO1 Eagle drivetrain with twist grip shifter

SQ Labs 611 Ergowave saddle

SQ Labs 30X Carbon 16deg sweep, medium rise handlebar

Wolftooth Fat Paw grips

Fatback Carbon flex seatpost

Raceface Turbine stem 

Garmin Oregon 650T gps 

Revelate Designs pronghorn large bag

Revelate Designs framebag (strapless design made for Corvus)

Revelate Designs Expedition Pogies 

Revelate Designs Viscacha seat bag

Revelate Designs Mag Tank 2000

2x Revelate Designs Mountain Feed Bags (one sweet, one savory)

Revelate Designs Jerry Can

Bedrock Bags HONAKER bag

MSR Whisperlite international stove and white gas fuel

Some quick thoughts of the 45nrth 27.5" x 4.5" Dillinger 5 (B-Fat) tires and HED BHD Carbon rims. Once I trusted the interface between the tire and the rim, I started to let more air out of the tires when needed. I had no problems riding where Kurt and Tyson were riding. Now the Cake Eater 4.0 tires I initially tried did not fit on the Big Half Deal well at all. Fattystripper rim strips (Rim Strips) were absolutely necessary to run the Cake Eater 4.0's tubeless. The 45nrth tires fit a little bit tighter, and maybe I could have used the tires without the rim strips but at this point I did not have time to test that. 

As for the B-Fat performance, the taller tires are a welcome change. I've clipped pedals many times on some of my favorite trails around Anchorage. The higher bottom bracket has helped clear some of the stumps, clumps and snow buildup on the sides of the singletrack trails. I don't know that they're any faster or slower than similarly tall 26" tires, but I think that the industry is going to head that way. Might as well get in front of the line. :-)

Summer & Fall update '19

"Alaska’s  sweltering summer is ‘basically off the charts’"

"Alaska records its warmest month ever; future records likely"

It's been damn hot in Alaska this year. There have been some great positives to our weather, I participated in the Kenai 250 on a whim, traveled to Canada for the first time since I was 9 years old.

Seward, AK pit stop during the Kenai 250

Shasta and Corrie putting in the miles on Russian Lakes Trail.

Old Iditarod Trail pre-nap. :-)

My gear for the 250

Carcross with Ryan, Kim, George and Laura. I really gained some confidence here. Maybe a bit too much.
PC Laura Fox

But not everything is rosy when it's dry and hot. There have been multiple fires on the Kenai peninsula, north in Talkeetna, all the way up in Fairbanks. My dog Sachi, who is somewhere around 14-16 years old has had a hell of a time with the smoke. Bad enough that I thought I was going to lose her a couple times. It doesn't matter how much you prepare, losing one of your best friends is never easy...

Gladly, she seems to have rebounded from the smoke and the heat. She's a tough cookie.

I ended up separating my AC joint the day after my birthday. That wasn't fun. The silver lining was that I rediscovered hiking.

I hit the deck pretty hard. I had to have an ultrasound to see if there was any internal bleeding or by the off chance that I was having a baby...PC Laura Fox

This adorable puppy Luna is my friend Oscar's. She's a little crazy.

I just came back from a trip to NYC and watched a Yankees playoff game with my Dad. That was fun to spend time with my dad in the big city. We ate good food, drank some good beer, saw some cool stuff and got to catch up a little bit.

2019 ALDS Game 1! Yankee Stadium

Walking the Highline

My dad is my best friend. It was really great to see and spend time with him.

Cross season went well considering my shoulder injury. Each week the joint becomes more stable. I'm still contemplating whether or not I should go to Washington for Cross Nationals. 

The Fam! PC Megan I think

The sand pit at Service. PC Nathaniel Banish

One of my favorite humans! It was fun racing with Megan this year. PC Amber Myers

More of my favorite humans! It's not often I got to lead these guys but the final race I was starting to get some speed back. PC Joshua Estes

The snow is starting to creep down the mountains, the morning dew seems to be freeze occasionally. I guess it won't be long before this happens. I can't wait!

2019 Iditarod Trail Invitational

Start Selfie with Laura Fox PC Laura

Pre-race doggie walk PC Laura Fox

Wow that was fast!

I want to start this race report on a positive note. I had a great race, I ran into a little bit of bum luck luck but overall I was strong, fast, competed with the top racers and my bike prep was flawless this year. Congrats to Tyson on his win and Jay P for his second place finish.

And we're off! PC Laura Fox

We started off at Knik like many years, lots of communication between racers, me asking them how their summer was, how their winters were going. We discussed out day jobs and family. This is truly an interesting time of the race. We're not going that hard, like we are just trying to keep ahold of the last bit of normalcy before we start sprinting down the gas-line.

I'm pretty lucky to have such great supportive friends. Lots of cool people went out to cheer on all the racers!

Some of my awesome teammates and friends! PC Laura Fox

Flathorn Lake PC Andrew Cunningham

You guys are so awesome! PC Andrew Cunningham

 I had a pretty uneventful trip down the gasline trail, we split the large pack up that was on the road section and started to thin out quickly. Large gaps formed from letting air out, stopping to relieve ourselves etc. I stopped when I saw my friends and may have had a slurp or two of Anchorage Brewing Company's Rondy Brew, one of my fav's. :-)

• I've raced ITI a few times now and I knew that the first night is always tough. It's usually fast and we don't spend much time resting until Skwentna if the trail conditions are good. Think about it, let this sink in, we basically hammer 90+ miles before our first rest. I try not to get too caught up in the frantic starts, but I can't be too far behind either. 

Not long after seeing my friends the trail began to get softer. I heard trail reports that mentioned we might run into some softer conditions through here so it didn't bother me too much. What did bother me was that Tyson and Jay started to gap 3-5th place, Casey, Josh and myself.

I slowly worked my way past Josh, then Casey. I was having difficulty following those two as the trail was getting beat up. I'm glad I did because after passing those two I had to work hard on closing the gap back down to the two leaders. After riding through the Dismal Swamp we dropped down on the river and I proceeded to turn it up. I was slowly getting time back, and by 5 or so miles before Yentna Station checkpoint I had finally hopped back on their wheels.

We got into Yentna, Tyson and I had a coke, Jay was in and out. I was fine with this. No big deal. I had half my coke but then my coat and gear were starting to get defrosted. I knew I needed to get back outside and get a move on. Tyson went with me but not long after we left he fell off my wheel.

Continuing down the river I ran into Nicolas Carmen who is touring the route this year. It was nice to slow down a bit and chat with someone. A few miles after that I ran into the Corvus river trolls: aka Greg, Tim, Kevin, Adam and John. It was really fun seeing those guys with a little bonfire on the river. After enjoying a little bit of whiskey I made my way to Skwentna Roadhouse. And to my surprise Tyson had caught up to me and led me into the roadhouse!

PC Cindy Herman

Lasagna Time! PC Cindy Herman

Skwentna is always a great place to stop and dry gear and enjoy a solid mid-race meal. Cindy always has some great food prepared for us, cokes and various other treats to share. Tyson left before me with little rest and then I left after Casey showed up. The trip up to Finger Lake was pretty uneventful, I felt REALLY good going up the Shell Hills. My training and conditioning were definitely working and I was just having a good time.

I decided to get a nap in Finger Lake. There's a good bit of climbing between here and Puntilla Lake so I wanted to be at my best and have a strong section. After loading up my bike with some of my drop bag goodies and started off up the hill towards Rainy Pass.

• My drop bags include consumables like food, hand/foot/toe warmers, batteries. Usually I don't need much of the food I pack, but if conditions are slow and we are out on trail between checkpoints for a while then I have a decent amount of calories to keep me going.

The trail up to Puntilla Lake was incredible. No Iron Dog whoops/moguls/bumps, solid trail and typical beautiful views. I really worked on minimizing my zero time this year. No wasted breaks, no unnecessary stopping and really keeping on the gas this time.

I pulled into Rainy Pass Lodge and saw my good friend Dan Bailey who is working media for Rebecca Rusch and Outside magazine (I think that's the publication.) I gave him a hug and a quick interview, dealt with a couple things on my bike then went into the cabin to catch some rest and food. I rehydrated a meal, set out some coffee and took a nap. Jay P rolled up not long after and appeared to be on a mission. He left not long after he got there. We both discussed how we felt that Tyson had not stopped for very long at any checkpoints or gotten much sleep at this point. I pondered leaving earlier than I did but decided that passing up a comfortable place to rest was not the best idea. I was comfortable letting Tyson have a gap at this point with the Pass crossing and Rohn to Nikolai still to come...

Rainy Pass in the daylight?!?!?? Yes please!!

Corvus flying high over the pass!

To my surprise after leaving Puntilla Lake, I was riding my bike. It wasn't super hard trail, but it was certainly rideable. This was foreign to me. The Happy River Valley leading up to the pass is usually a windy mess the previous 3 years for me. How awesome is that?!? I basically plunked my butt in the saddle and rode all but the last .33 miles up the pass!!! And, to top that it was still light out!! How lucky was I?

I stopped to take a selfie and enjoy the view of the pass that I had never seen during the day light. I saw the cabin that is up there, the lake and enjoyed dropping down into the gorge with light. I got a little overzealous and went over the bars a few times on wind drifts. No harm, no foul though. 

This is where I made a mistake though. When the trail drops down to the Dazell Creek and we cross a few ribbons of open water I made the assumption that my boots were truly waterproof as they are  advertised. The sun was setting and when I came up on an ankle or less deep crossing I couldn't really make out how deep it was. I decided to just hop across it by foot quickly. I clipped back in and pedaled on into Rohn where the temperature was a balmy 30 degrees.

• Rohn is an incredible checkpoint. In large part because of the volunteers who are up and about at all times of the night and day, respond to any emergency with well thought out approaches and the bratwurst. Yes you read that right, bratwurst. There's something about a couple of bratwurst with mustard when you're 180 miles into a race that really lifts your spirits. Perhaps like my friend Nico says, "it's made with love." 

The checkpoint workers at Rohn told me that Tyson looked exhausted, and that Jay had left just 10 minutes before I arrived. I knew that I had to be strong through this next section of the race. I couldn't get tired and slow down, I couldn't have any mechanicals and I couldn't injure myself on any ice that could be on the trail. I ate my bratwurst,  took a 30 minute nap and drank some coffee. After waking up, I made the final touches on my bike and body before heading out on the trail to chase those two dudes down.

I was ready. I've spent years trying to prepare for this section of trail. It's both mentally and physically tough. It's 70+ miles of possibly bumpy and power sapping trail. I had to dial my effort back a bit through certain sections because I didn't run studded tires this year. There definitely was more ice on the trail this year than last but that was ok. I knew that I needed to really pace myself to push through Nikolai into McGrath. That was my goal, just stop long enough to handle any issues I was having in Nikolai and just motor all the way to the finish.

I made it down to the lakes at the base of the Alaska Range in good shape. I started in on the hills and noticed that the guys in front of me were starting to wonder across the trail occasionally. This was working right into my race plan.

• 45nth Wolfgar boots have changed the game for multi-day endurance winter cycling. They are built like a Sorel boot, with a hard outer shell and a removable felt liner that you can dry when needed. Their pedaling platform is great as well with a carbon sole that is stiff and doesn't sap heat from your feet. One thing they are not is waterproof. More on that another day...

It's always cold in the interior of Alaska. But this year wasn't particularly colder than any day on the trail there. I certainly wasn't surprised when the needle dropped below zero and then made it's way down to about -15.

After riding a bike for a couple of days, your feet and hands get numb/bruised/tingly. It's just part of the race and something you expect. I noticed around the Bison camp that my feet were a little cold and numb but didn't think much of it at the time. 

Things were pretty uneventful for the next section to Bear Creek Cabin turnoff. I for sure kept noticing my feet were a little uncomfortable but I kept pedaling along. I had a fun moment with a Ptarmigan on the trail, I saw this thing and then before I knew it this bird flew directly towards my headlamp! I let out a yelp and ducked as much as I could and just missed the ptarmigan. 

Between Bear Creek and Sullivan Creek bridge about 30-40+ miles from Nikolai I started to get cold feet. I had put on my goretex pants and my second jacket and usually that's enough to keep me warm but my toes were definitely cold now. I started to get off the bike and walk, stomp around and jump up and down to try and get my feet warm. They were cold enough that I was a little concerned now and I was wondering what the temperature was. It didn't feel "that" cold but for sure my feet were beginning to suffer. 

After Sullivan Creek which is about 30 miles out I had to stop again quite a few times to get my feet warmed up. This was beginning to really mess with my pace and my psyche. I was only able to ride a handful of slower miles before I had to get off and warm my feet up. I knew something was wrong at this point. I could tell that Tyson and Jay had to warm their feet but I was stopping way more often then they were. I thought that maybe something was wrong with my body so I put my large puffy coat on thinking that if I super heated my core temp that my extremities would warm up. They did, but as soon as I started to get hot I had to back off the effort so I wouldn't sweat out my puffy jacket and layers. Basically, I spent the rest of the evening doing this over and over. It was really disappointing for me to have to slow down so much but I did not want frostbite on my toes.  

• In 2017 I ended up getting frostbite on my right thumb and index finger. When a doctor tells you that they don't know if you'll lose part of your thumb you take that shit serious. I considered turning around to head back to the Bear Creek cabin to warm up and wait out the coldest part of the night but at this point I was so close to getting to Nikolai so I chanced it and kept chugging along.

Eventually I rounded the corner at Salmon Creek fish camp which is about 11 miles from Nikolai. Even with my best efforts to keep my feet somewhat uncomfortable they started getting really cold. I was down to riding maybe a mile or so before I had to stop and stomp my feet. The sun was starting to rise and that's when the temperatures can be their lowest and sure enough my left foot started to get cold too. I finally decided to take my boots off and check my feet. I went to take off the boot and noticed that it didn't just slip off like usual. I stripped off my insulating sock, my vapor barrier and then my liner sock and found that my feet were fine but very cold. Then I put my hand into my boot and found that they were frozen ice boxes. I checked my insulating sock and found that it had a decent amount of partially frozen moisture on them as well. I thought back where it could have gotten wet and remembered that coming down the Dazell I crossed a small bubbler stream by foot. It was all of maybe a couple inches deep and I was under the impression that my boots were waterproof. 

There wasn't anything I could do about that now. I put my boots back on and decided that I was just going to have to tough it out the final stretch to Nikolai. My feet got super cold in that final 6 or so miles into Nikolai but eventually I rolled into the social hall/community center and got upstairs to start drying my boots and to make some modifications to get me to McGrath.

I tried to take a picture that captures the folks that make great gear and have supported me for many years, Revelate Designs, Fatback Bikes/Speedway Cycles and LongevityLab (thus the Little School Boy cookie. It's a long story, Nico knows what's up. ;-P)

• I'll leave the boot info for another blog post. There are some modifications that can be done to the Wolfgars that can reduce the probability of something like this from happening again. 

I spent 20 or so minutes peeling the liner out from the shell of the boot and got them in front of a small space heater to start drying them off. The wonderful checkpoint worker rounded up a couple of small trash bags that I could put my boot liners in to keep them dry for the remaining 50 miles left to McGrath. He also prepped some Top Ramen which tasted amazing after a night of cold toes. Thanks for the boost guys.

• It was a very emotional time for me. To have such a good race up to this point, to be competitive, confident, well trained and to have a piece of gear knock you out of the race is a really tough pill to swallow. But that's racing. After 28 years of racing one thing I've learned is that sometimes luck is on your side. But I also know that the best prepared racers are the ones that finish well. Looking back at this experience I will always be a little heartbroken, but I'm glad that I didn't get frostbite and that I made it through that night with all my little piggies.

The trail out of Nikolai was a little slow and soft. But it was rideable so that was nice. The temps went up quite a bit, enough that I took my coat off. I spent the next 30 miles after leaving Nikolai having my own little pity party but when I got to the overland route I decided that I needed to quit focussing on the past. I thought about all of my family and friends, all the support that I've received from everyone. It's pretty amazing and so awesome to feel all the love. My pace started to pick back up and I just focused on riding what was ahead. I continued to eat and drink and just kept riding my bike. I got to Vanderpool Rd and took in a nice sunset and spoke out to the large number of moose on the side of the road.

Just finished at the Schneiderheinze house. What a welcoming place! PC Iditarod Trail Invitational

So much food!

Peter's amazing mancakes!

Leaving Puntilla Lake. PC Dan Bailey

Overall I finished with a time of 2 days, 5 hours and 21 seconds. Sure, it was my fastest trip to McGrath. Was it my best effort? Well considering what happened I guess it was. I definitely feel like I left something out there. But don't take this the wrong way. I had such a great race and 90% of it went so well. The volunteers were amazing! The way they stay up at all hours of the night and day and support us is so nice of them. And they do such a great job! And the Schneiderheinze hospitality is top notch. Peter and Tracy welcome us into their home and cater to our every need.

And also, I got to travel on a sweet trail! There weren't very many bumps, there was only a few miles of soft conditions and overall it was the best that I've seen in the years I've done the event. 

I would like to send out a heartfelt thanks and lots of love to my Dad and Geri, Laura Fox my emotional support human, Sachi the dog and all my friends who came out and cheered me and others on. I want to thank my local bike shop Speedway Cycles for their support, LongevityLab for getting me into shape and helping me live a better, more durable life and Revelate Designs for building some damn good bike packing bags (and for the last minute adjustments from the man himself Dusty!)

Till next time. :-)