McGrath bound! At the time this writing, he’s less than 20 miles to the end of the “short” race. It’s funny thinking about how when he did the first 350 and arrived to McGrath, he complained that he felt he was short changed, even envious of those continuing on for more adventure. This year he maybe feels differently….it feels like plenty of adventure has been packed in already.
x
Let’s start with a logistical recap;
Last I left you, Ryan left Rohn with a belly-o-brats (187) headed towards Nikolai (259), with an anticipated stop at the Bear Creek Cabin Safety Cabin (228). The cabin was crowded to say the least…imagine a single room cabin with some bunk beds, a wood stove, and 12 very ripe bikers, walkers, and skiers. I haven’t confirmed yet, but I *think* instead of the cabin, Ryan chose to bivy in the same spot he bivvied last year, around ten miles shy of the cabin. He finally got to put the -60 Snowy Owl to good use, snug as a bug in a rug for 6ish hour bivy (1:30am - 7:40am), despite the -20 degree temps! He got going and had, like, actual bike speeds for most of the rest of the push to Nikolai (got to love a functioning bike with better weather and trail conditions!). He arrived at Nikolai 41 miles later at 8:30pm. We chatted after nap #1, before #2, and he took off towards McGrath (305) at 10am.
Now for the somewhat informed color commentary by me, someone who’s never done a winter ultra ever ha. I was, however, in a sorority, and during rush we always had to do a compliment sandwich…also known as positive-negative-positive.
Positive: Ryan seems to be getting his own personal tundra safari! If you know Ryan, you know he lovvvvvves him some wildlife spotting….and this stretch has not disappointed. He was charged by a moose (allegedly, I have no photo or video documentation of said incident), and then had a bit of a bison jam. This was beyond way cool, as the herd has quite the backstory (note: this article is from 2014…it does provide a good history though!) The timestamp on the picture indicates he encountered the herd 7 miles from the Rohn checkpoint. It doesn’t count for Ryan, but he did report (with a devilish emoji use) that a fox got into 1000 mile foot leader, Gavan Hennigan’s sled, stealing all his food (how is an emoji use devilish? He described this unfortunate situation with a money bag emoji…and to be clear, Gavan won’t starve, there’s lots of snacks to poach from scratched racers).
Negative: This race has been a lot already and it’s so very early. We’ve got several friends in the 1000 mile, many of who are veterans of the race, and all seem to feel the same way as Ryan: it just feels.so.slow. Between the weather, the trail, and the mechanicals, the hits have been coming and coming. Oh, and no water at the Nikolai Community Center (apparently, that information was never relayed to the race. There were other options (the school), but that required outdoor clothing and more than a few steps of movement haha.) All that said, power of positive thinking! The temps are up (I saw 30 degrees in McGrath’s Monday forecast and therefore didn’t feel bad about messaging via inReach I ran in shorts today), the wind is down, and Ryan reports “the tire is good”.
Positive: Ryan got some shopping in! Last year Ryan brought home two perfect travel wallets, one hand-beaded, one seal skin. This year, local artisan Stephanie Petruska was selling her fare again…I went with top! Whether I get top is left to be seen ;-)
This post is delayed in part because Mr. Chatty Kathy was choosing to message via inReach during his half mile walk and snack break (yay for eating and yay for warmer temps that allow for messaging from the trail!!). He seems in good spirits….timing it right, as the McGrath finish/checkpoint is clearing out and the trailbreakers for the Iditarod Dog Sled Race are 20ish miles behind him….meaning clear trails are ahead (at least for a little bit..as she types as reports of snow, 1-3in., come in).
No comments:
Post a Comment