Piston Honda
Well-Known Member
This is so awesome. Great job sir!
Going Long and Hard.
- Thread starter Steve Vai
- Start date
Steve Vai
Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
ITI - (Still technically day 1 because of the 2pm start) Hooligan’s - Puntilla.
Up at 4am, packed, pancakes, on the bike at 5am. Goal was to do a single push to Puntilla which is really far and ambitious.
River was fast and I was in Skwentna before sunrise, didn’t stop and just rolled through. Hit the Shell Hills right as the sun came up. Caught some folks that stayed at Skwentna and had company for a bit. Rode away from them and started pushing the pace through the swamps to Finger Lake.
Walked in, filled my Camelback, grabbed 2 burritos and was out. Maybe 15 minutes?
Had company here and there through the Happy River. My friend Tim snapped his seatpost and widdled down a stick to fix it.
Later we slid the steps on our butts so we wouldn’t slip and break a pelvis.
This photo doesn’t show how brutally steep and long the push off the Skwentna is, it’s so bad.
Got up to Rainy Pass at like 9:30 maybe? IDK. Had a bowl of oatmeal and set my alarm for 5am so I can go over the pass and have light when it gets good.
Up at 4am, packed, pancakes, on the bike at 5am. Goal was to do a single push to Puntilla which is really far and ambitious.
River was fast and I was in Skwentna before sunrise, didn’t stop and just rolled through. Hit the Shell Hills right as the sun came up. Caught some folks that stayed at Skwentna and had company for a bit. Rode away from them and started pushing the pace through the swamps to Finger Lake.
Walked in, filled my Camelback, grabbed 2 burritos and was out. Maybe 15 minutes?
Had company here and there through the Happy River. My friend Tim snapped his seatpost and widdled down a stick to fix it.
Later we slid the steps on our butts so we wouldn’t slip and break a pelvis.
This photo doesn’t show how brutally steep and long the push off the Skwentna is, it’s so bad.
Got up to Rainy Pass at like 9:30 maybe? IDK. Had a bowl of oatmeal and set my alarm for 5am so I can go over the pass and have light when it gets good.
Steve Vai
Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
ITI Day 2 still. Puntilla - Bear Creek
This was another monster day. Early start to go through Ptarmigan Valley in the dark before starting the climb through the pass.
I rode almost the whole way through the gap to the climb proper, it’s like 3% for 10-15 miles?
Then it’s 2 hours of the most scenic hike a bike on earth up to the sign. There was a big ass wolf somewhere between me and whoever was in front of me.
Obligatory sign pic.
Then the baller descent and primo groomed trails down to Rohn. Easily the funnest part of the race. One or 2 water crossings.
I finally got to test my ghetto trash bag waders.
My feet stayed dry.
Short stop in Rohn.
Onto the Burn.
And Farewell Lakes.
And then I hit the Tussocks and that was terrible. Hike, ride 20 feet, hike, ride 20 feet. SAD. Started to get cold enough to finally put on my heavy shell. I brought my zero bag and it was probably -10 or -15 so I aimed for the Shelter Cabin to have a night inside.
Unfortunately no one started a fire in there so it was cold. I shivered in my bag for a few hours before giving up and getting back on the bike. No dinner, no sleep, no breakfast, no water, time to suffer 🤷
This was another monster day. Early start to go through Ptarmigan Valley in the dark before starting the climb through the pass.
I rode almost the whole way through the gap to the climb proper, it’s like 3% for 10-15 miles?
Then it’s 2 hours of the most scenic hike a bike on earth up to the sign. There was a big ass wolf somewhere between me and whoever was in front of me.
Obligatory sign pic.
Then the baller descent and primo groomed trails down to Rohn. Easily the funnest part of the race. One or 2 water crossings.
I finally got to test my ghetto trash bag waders.
My feet stayed dry.
Short stop in Rohn.
Onto the Burn.
And Farewell Lakes.
And then I hit the Tussocks and that was terrible. Hike, ride 20 feet, hike, ride 20 feet. SAD. Started to get cold enough to finally put on my heavy shell. I brought my zero bag and it was probably -10 or -15 so I aimed for the Shelter Cabin to have a night inside.
Unfortunately no one started a fire in there so it was cold. I shivered in my bag for a few hours before giving up and getting back on the bike. No dinner, no sleep, no breakfast, no water, time to suffer 🤷
Steve Vai
Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
ITI Day 3 - Bear Creek - McGrath!!
Because I left the cabin in the pitch black I sort of walked randomly in the tussocks looking for some kind of tracks. The downside of running a dyno light is you have no light at 1mph. I used my phone flashlight and the GPS to just walk on the line it was showing.
Hit the creek right about sunrise and got water. About 3 hours from the cabin with nothing, not terrible.
Fucking Tussocks.
Axle deep anywhere there was trail, then the water was frozen and baller, nothing in between…
Jay Cable was working the Nikolai checkpoint. I ate well and made sure I was good for however long it took to finish. I was prepped for 10-12 hours.
Cynthia and Kyle were at Nikolai and they said the overland trail isn’t in and we had to stay on the river. The river was fast so this wasn’t horrible news, it just adds 20ish miles.
Again no pics because I was just focused on getting it done. The last couple loop things on the river were demoralizing. It was hours out there on the river meandering around, they didn’t put in any of the overland trails so the Trackleaders line was way off.
I came into the village and got turned around. Rode back and forth lost and sort of shot blocks from the finish line. Eventually a random person saw me and showed me where to go. The huge ITI sign was so obvious. I was pretty fucking wrecked though. Probably the hardest day on a bike ever.
I didn’t actually check my finish time, 3 days 6 hours? Same as 2019? IDK. How about first and only singlespeeder? Elsa has become world famous during this, and she deserves it, she’s a legend.
Because I left the cabin in the pitch black I sort of walked randomly in the tussocks looking for some kind of tracks. The downside of running a dyno light is you have no light at 1mph. I used my phone flashlight and the GPS to just walk on the line it was showing.
Hit the creek right about sunrise and got water. About 3 hours from the cabin with nothing, not terrible.
Fucking Tussocks.
Axle deep anywhere there was trail, then the water was frozen and baller, nothing in between…
Jay Cable was working the Nikolai checkpoint. I ate well and made sure I was good for however long it took to finish. I was prepped for 10-12 hours.
Cynthia and Kyle were at Nikolai and they said the overland trail isn’t in and we had to stay on the river. The river was fast so this wasn’t horrible news, it just adds 20ish miles.
Again no pics because I was just focused on getting it done. The last couple loop things on the river were demoralizing. It was hours out there on the river meandering around, they didn’t put in any of the overland trails so the Trackleaders line was way off.
I came into the village and got turned around. Rode back and forth lost and sort of shot blocks from the finish line. Eventually a random person saw me and showed me where to go. The huge ITI sign was so obvious. I was pretty fucking wrecked though. Probably the hardest day on a bike ever.
I didn’t actually check my finish time, 3 days 6 hours? Same as 2019? IDK. How about first and only singlespeeder? Elsa has become world famous during this, and she deserves it, she’s a legend.
JDurk
Well-Known Member
You and that bike are now legends together. Helluva accomplishment!
qclabrat
Well-Known Member
This, but would you do it SS again? How is your conditioning compared to 2019?
JDurk
Well-Known Member
serviceguy
Well-Known Member
Just pure awesome, 3 Days 6 hours 15 mins as per tracker.
JDurk
Well-Known Member
Diveristy off the charts
one piece crank
1pc Cranky
This is an amazing recap. Once your body and mind has settled, I can’t wait to hear more, plus your comparison to previous ITI’s.
Steve Vai
Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
3rd to right is KT Coward.
Red Mosquito
Formerly RLB the Scrapple Boy
Awesome pics and recap. It's so fun to read this stuff, since as you know 99.9% of us will never come close. Well deserved finish!
When's the Euro event?
When's the Euro event?
Red Mosquito
Formerly RLB the Scrapple Boy
Your bike was my first thought when I saw lego Elsa this morning
