CHEERS TO BEING 1/3 DONE!
Ryan got his shopping done (I scored a wallet y'all!), fueled up, repacked, and assessed some lingering bike issues. Apparently, he took a header over the handlebars of his bike and thought the brake lever was FUBAR...best in the business Nicholas was ready to ship him a new brake system to McGrath, but turn out it was just a rogue hand warmer causing trouble. No harm, no foul...pedal on!
Below is a picture of two Kiwis volunteering at the Nikolai checkpoint. They look like wonderful souls, and I'm pretty sure the one gent's wig is made of legit bison fur. Probably not, but that's what I've decided is going on haha.
It was a blissfully warm jaunt from Nikolai (259) to McGrath (306). He was quite "chatty" on inReach, asking for news from home as he "walked and ate for a half mile." It's amazing how much warmer temps, mild(er) wind, and decent trails enable them to get out of their safe little warm cocoon of gear.
The famed Iditarod Dog Sled race started on Sunday, so we've eagerly been waiting for their trail breakers to come through (I mean, we could have used y'all a few days ago!). Fellow MN racers Faye and Jeff messaged they encountered the trail breakers 10ish miles behind where Ryan was...a bummer twice over, as they "seemed like a good time" and the trail breakers stick to the Iditarod Trail over the river, where ITI racers ahead of the trail breakers follow the local overland traffic patterns....meaning Ryan would't get to encounter them, given he was already on the overland route.
Speaking of Iditarod Dog Sled Race, crazy stories are emerging about an unfortunate moose encounter!
Ryan swears (not really, but it's fun to pretend) this was HIS moose (it wasn't near his encounter, so unless this moose had Asbjorn with a good glide speed, probably not!) Still, this is a crazy story that has impacted numerous dog teams!
Ryan arrived at McGrath at 10:45pm to a not-as-crowded checkpoint (hooray!) He got to decompress with a number of the 350 finishers, including local SD biking legend Perry Jewett! PEDAL POWER!
They shared a few beers, a few stories (better have saved a few for me!), and then got to resting...he and two 1000 foot guys, Beat and Gavan, shared a room and got some much needed sleep. I suggested maybe ditching the face tape for a bit and was happy to see he did! Tape or no tape, his night was infinitely better than last year's McGrath experience where he had to squat in the McGrath coffee shop (aka bustling by 6am).
Ryan enjoyed a leisurely morning of mancakes (an ITI tradition) and gear tinkering. For example, a slipping seat post was made better by....wait for it...toothpaste! He reported the problematic tire, and bike in general, was running well! Can't complain about that!
We chatted about life, the news, the Iditarod Moose, Theodore, etc. He slowly repacked his bike with resupplies (a form of rest I'd like to think), got a weather update, and took off while I was in the midst of a seminar with some students (sneaky bugger).
From here the trail gets more remote...in trail traffic and in terms of racers (for a while, this will be a nice change of pace from the crowded rest stops...but then it will get eerily quite). But first, the dogs descend! At the time of this writing, my go-to dog race tracker, Mark Wanless, tells me the lead teams are descending on Rainy Pass. So we have some time before the ITI and Iditarod cross paths...but I think we're all excited for that!
Tonight Ryan will make it to Ophir (346). He's currently riding solo and it will be interesting to see how the trail shakes out in terms of trail buddies. There are those who left a few hours in front of Ryan, so it all depends on the racer's turnaround. The nice thing is that even though they may not ride together, they can regroup together each stop...there's only so many places for them to go ;-)
Cheers to the next 1/3!!!
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