Going Long and Hard.

7B712617-520B-4013-AF61-20EA623F7B14.jpeg
 
I'm back in Anchorage and fairly beat up. Getting around hasn't been easy, thankfully everyone up here is super nice. I crashed twice during the race and slid down a couple super steep uphills that were super slick from the Iron Dog. I'll post more later when I come around a little...
 
I'll attempt to capture the chaos of the past few days but it might be difficult to describe.

Start - Butterfly Lake.

The start was absolute mayhem. It's basically like getting dropped in the parking lot of Allaire and told to find a cabin in the center, and half of the trails are blocked. I went with the only way we knew to be a sure bet despite being 15 miles longer. Janice Towner and Matt also went that way so I felt OK about the move.

Like 5 miles in I went to drop onto Lewis Loop Rd and it was a sheet of ice shoulder to shoulder. I slid across the road into the bank on the other side and smacked my tailbone and ripped my rain shell and tore up my elbow. At that point we were pumped from the Start so I hopped on the bike and went. The whole road was ice all the way to Port MacKenzie. It was a bad move but I didn't have another way loaded in my Garmin so this was it. Moose #1 was right at the turn onto MacKenzie, short encounter, he just walked across the road, maybe a 5 minute stop.

We hit the railroad bed and rode a snowmobile trail for a long time it seemed. Sorta punchy snow, I stopped to deflate my tires and Fatty McStretchy Balls was in his element. I rode away from Rob who was running D5s.

I took a left off the bed 2 turns early because that's where everyone's tracks were. We were in Big Lake Trails at that point so I stopped at a little Trail Kyosk and just looked at the map to figure out where I was but I overshot the Lake by a bit.

Crossed the Little Su in a pretty good spot. Overflow was about boot deep, there was open water on either side so it was nervey. There was a snowmobile there so at least if I went through someone would get a sweet bike.

Trail leading to Butterfly Lake Cabin was deep singletrack so push#1. I figured at this point I was so far off the back no one would be there but there was a bunch. We were like how did we get here!!??

They had cookies, topped of my Camelbak, and talked to the photographer Mark, who I'm friends with because he used to live in Piscataway a block over from me...

The Italian guy I rode with on the rail bed Scratched after it took us 40 miles to get to the 25 mile Checkpoint. Rob May was lost in there for quite a while, which we all expected.
 
jimvreeland said:
I'll attempt to capture the chaos of the past few days but it might be difficult to describe.

Start - Butterfly Lake.

The start was absolute mayhem. It's basically like getting dropped in the parking lot of Allaire and told to find a cabin in the center, and half of the trails are blocked. I went with the only way we knew to be a sure bet despite being 15 miles longer. Janice Towner and Matt also went that way so I felt OK about the move.

Like 5 miles in I went to drop onto Lewis Loop Rd and it was a sheet of ice shoulder to shoulder. I slid across the road into the bank on the other side and smacked my tailbone and ripped my rain shell and tore up my elbow. At that point we were pumped from the Start so I hopped on the bike and went. The whole road was ice all the way to Port MacKenzie. It was a bad move but I didn't have another way loaded in my Garmin so this was it. Moose #1 was right at the turn onto MacKenzie, short encounter, he just walked across the road, maybe a 5 minute stop.

We hit the railroad bed and rode a snowmobile trail for a long time it seemed. Sorta punchy snow, I stopped to deflate my tires and Fatty McStretchy Balls was in his element. I rode away from Rob who was running D5s.

I took a left off the bed 2 turns early because that's where everyone's tracks were. We were in Big Lake Trails at that point so I stopped at a little Trail Kyosk and just looked at the map to figure out where I was but I overshot the Lake by a bit.

Crossed the Little Su in a pretty good spot. Overflow was about boot deep, there was open water on either side so it was nervey. There was a snowmobile there so at least if I went through someone would get a sweet bike.

Trail leading to Butterfly Lake Cabin was deep singletrack so push#1. I figured at this point I was so far off the back no one would be there but there was a bunch. We were like how did we get here!!??

They had cookies, topped of my Camelbak, and talked to the photographer Mark, who I'm friends with because he used to live in Piscataway a block over from me...

The Italian guy I rode with on the rail bed Scratched after it took us 40 miles to get to the 25 mile Checkpoint. Rob May was lost in there for quite a while, which we all expected.
Click to expand...
Sooooo…..studded tires next time?
 
That ice sounds like a killer, you still did better than any of us peasant schlubs.
Does anyone make a lightweight studded tire chain made of rubber or kevlar like those yaktrax things you put over your shoes?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom