Countdown messages

Yesterday evening had a little pre race get together at Speedway Cycles- Pizza and beer and wine and stuff- the universal get together fitness fanatics 'health food' pre race binge....

and today the pre race briefing- and final checks and details.

It's been snowing steadily since last night- just in time to make the start of the race more, well, interesting....

After the meeting walked home in the white silence- snow falling on me- a quiet brightness- peaceful, feeling ready for the 'big day out' tomorrow.

To close- I thought I'll this email from Bill,

Hello All,

Every year the trail throws something unexpected our way. Part of the "fun" is trying to guess what unexpected suprise we will find each year and be prepared. I was watching the news tonight and Mt Redoubt which has been quiet for several days is blowing off steam again. Never had a volcano blow up during the race before but a dust mask might be a good addition to everyone's kit. On the bright side ash in the air makes beautiful sunsets.

Bill MerchantRace Director/Guide

Gone to the dogs

Yesterday arvo went on a nice long ride with Billy and Bob ' the builder' Ostrom along the Anchorage trail- fully loaded for a final gear check- followed by a dinner at the European B&B where Irene went head to head with the Italian delegation in Sphagbol showdown.. it's now time for an abbreviated taper.
As it happened- today is also the start of the Anchorage Fur Rendezvous- and the sled dog races.

Abit of history
Celebrating the traditions of the Last Frontier, Anchorage Fur Rendezvous is the social event of the year! The time-aged tradition dates back to the early 1900s when trappers and miners emerged from Alaska's wilderness to trade, socialize and compete in survival-type games. Prizes were awarded for the longest fox, the best fox and finest ermine pelts, and the event was officially named Fur Rendezvous in 1937. For more information including a complete schedule of events, http://www.furrondy.net/

A fantastic day- you should have heard the barking noises- excitement plus. Enjoy the pictures.

Detour-Other voices

The article about the ITI in the Anchorage Daily News starts thus:

The loneliness of the long-distance winter race
The hardest race to run is the one waged in your mind, and it is for this reason the Iditarod Trail Invitational is the hardest race in the world.

you can read the rest here

i Tuning

Good morning campers- and some apologies for the lack of posting these past few days- basically spent most of the time fine tuning gear, food, and self ( hence the i-tuning.. bad...) as well as being a tourist for a day in downtown Anchorage- gift shops, BLM ( same as our Parks and wildlife dept) and having my first ever beef tortilla soup- yum.


First things first- but not necessarily in that order;
The 5 day ride and camp at the Merchant resort was a chance to test self, bike and other gear- as well as a fantastic opportunity to learn from Bill and Kathi-an amazing collection of experience and expertise in this magnificent but harsh and unforgiving land- and i certainly gained much thru their kind willingness to share.

It also became apparent that i would probably need a bigger bike frame- and that some items do not work as well as i thought- but that was the whole point. Clear winners in the clothing department are my Merino base and mid layer set - A huge thank you to Chris and Pat from Melba industries for their generous provision of the items ( yes- it's a full disclosure statement- I did get the items free) which were just amazing. even in very sub zero- and after sweating up hills and moguls and pushing a loaded bike- i was warm and comfortable- even when the base layer was wet from sweat- the gear just worked. When we stopped i put on my down coat and the Merino just dried from body heat. An added bonus was the fact that even after 5 days-the Merino does not smell ( and I've been around many poly pro wearers who could not say the same... ya know) so when we headed out to a nice meal- directly from camp-none of the other diners left or collapsed as we entered and set down to demolish a big meal of sushi, pasta, and a Big bowl of ice cream ( but I digress)

Back to the gear- the other winner were my RBH VB gear- socks, and NTS shirt ( Thanks Nancy and the team) which despite the fact that i had to convince myself that these incredibly thin and light items would keep me warm and toasty ( and the fact that you have to wear them with nothing of a very thin under layer underneath-hence NTS Shirt = Next To Skin-you think you'd freeze in the very sub temps- but very quickly you are just toasty)

My Neos over boots proved another great choice- warm, waterproof, snow proof ( even while snow-angel-ing) and as an added bonus- a great place to put glasses, camera, and maps for easy and secure access- and very very warm indeed. As I have mentioned in previous post- my 'room' was fully 'air conditioned' and thus the sleeping bag and Bivvy bag were crucial for a good snooze- and they worked very nicely. ( for those interested i am using a North Face Darkstar -40 S/bag and an Inergral eVent bivvy bag)- links to gear suppliers are on the sidebar.

Thus Spokes Billy
When i got back to Anchor town i called Billy 'kootch' from Arctic Cycle- the master of all things spoked and wheeled- otherwise known as bikes. Aside from being a great guy - billy takes amazing care when putting together race gear- especially when your race- like this one- is a little bit ' out of town' and away from the bike shops. Billy himself is riding to Nome- an insanely long 1000Km plus ride- but then he is a local and i suspect the rumors about the effect of too much Moose meat must be true...

So there i was calling Billy about the bike, and the idea of a bigger frame and some other components- and Billy summoned Tony and me to the AC Command centre- also known as the place he shares with his lovely wife and kids, and we proceeded to discuss options and soon after 7 Pm the master class commenced- lasting well past midnight! 5 hours of focused activity by the end of which Tony was asleep in the car, and i had a new bike fully customised by Billy- and with 100mm tires- an upgrade on the 80mm i rode so far (the skinnies).

After a late night went next day for a test ride with tony up on the hills- including few technical trails -some of which tony rode and i walked/ pushed bike ( for training, not because Tony is a much better rider you understand). I have been riding the bike fully loaded for a number of days- doing some 30- 60 km trails and bike and rider reporting all good. Sweet!

Into the Drop Zone

On Saturday we went to the European B& B- where the (mainly) Italian racers stay and where you can 'drop in' just because you were in the hood ( yeah right) around pasta time( anytime) for a little something and a glass... But the reason we called in that morning was to help Bill and Kathi sort and arrange the drop bags being flown up the trail.

A huge collection of boxes and parcels bearing stamps from around the world gave evidence of the international aspect of this race- and as soon as we commenced to open the boxes and parcels it was fascinating to see some of the items people send to themselves for collecting up the trail. it also gave a great insight into the enormous and very complex organisation effort going into the race- each parcel had to be unpacked-then sorted by drop destination, then packed into larger bags and labeled before taken for loading on the small aircraft.

This process was repeated for each destination ( 3 drop bags are allowed) and it took the good part of the morning to haul the boxes, sort and repack, and load into Bill's van for transporting to the aircraft.

By the time we finished it was beer time ( early) and Irene owner of the B&B invited us all to a beautiful home cooked lunch- which we demolished without much arguments all the while sharing stories and listening to Irene can talk more then me without surfacing for oxygen.)

Bite sizing

One important bit of information I learnt was the need to cut food into bite size- since on the trail most things - especially with some water content- would freeze and be impossible to bite, break, or eat. Even meat and fish are best pre cut- so as you reach for a snack as you ride it's easy to put in your mouth without fiddling.

And so, as i prepared my own drop bags on Friday- I fried and cut and packed what was needed- and added these to my very politically correct selection- you will note that i have included most ethnic groups in my selection of food for the trail- A truly SBS ( if you are Australian) PC approach.

Off course, on a trail/ race such as this- one does not travel without proper medication either- this is the local version of sanitising agent...

Lastly- not quite food but essential- the famous chemical warmers- a nifty air activated disposable porta heaters place where needed. I tried them one night at the resort- it works very noycelee.

After a nice 'cool' ride along the coast yesterday spent last night working with Tony on creating topo maps for printing, and loading my GPS with all the required maps to check along the way- although my main interest is to record the trail for future reference. This afternoon going with Billy on a long final gear check ride- expect to be back after dark- then it's over to the European B&B and hopefully, more posts.
3 days to go. Yum