Never a dull moment on the Iditarod Trail...
Ryan fuel up the engines and took off from the Wild Iris BnB yesterday at 1:05pm. A sub-12 hour turnaround is quite speedy given the effort getting to Ruby took, but from everything I hear from Ryan and others, the BnB is always a bit of a cluster...and with a gaggle of foot people en route, it was time to hit the road. Er, river. The next 135 miles will be down the expansive Yukon River. Open, exposed, AND ON A BIG ASS RIVER, this section is always a haul. Good news is that this year, Mother Nature decided to throw in some downright frigid temps for the next few days.
Speeds were relatively good for the for the first twentish miles, but then they seemed to slowly slow down. He stopped for a side of the river dinner (mmmm, freeze-dried beef stroganoff) around 6:30p.
The tundra safari and year of the fox continued, as Ryan found this little curious friend on the trail. I've decided it's the same one from 200 miles into the race who got a taste of the racers' candy bags. Probably not, but doesn't everyone love an animal adventure story...we know Disney does. Quick, let's secure the rights!
Temps were cold, but manageable at this point...but rapidly got colder as the night progressed. He ended up bivying for three hours at 3:45am, 9.4 miles from Galena (545).
Upon catching up when he arrived in Galena he relayed that the temps were dropping so fast he couldn't keep his tire inflated. This part is lost on me (I'm a runner, not a cyclist), but he said he would pump 100 times and then almost immediately the tire would be too low again. I ran this intel past cycling friend John, trying to get some perspective. His response: "I'd say to maintain pressure 0 pumps. But 20ish wouldn't surprise me. 100 is nuts." Ended up crying uncle, crawling into his gloriously warm, but probably, most definitely not warm enough, sleeping bag until it...got warmer?
I don't see what all the fuss was about...NOAA forecasted -55 wind chills and Ryan only hit -37.... Fellow racer Leah Gruhn sent me this picture letting me know Ryan made it to the Alexander Lake B&B (10:50am). First thing I noticed was the puffy shorts and "Oh Shit!" jacket on. An "Oh Shit!" jacket is exactly that...a jacket one puts on when they're reaching "Oh Shit!" temps or are in an "Oh Shit!" situation where they can't move enough to keep warm. Last night's situation sounded like a bit of both... To my knowledge, this is the first time he's worn it while winter biking (see first pic).
(Thank you, thank you Leah Gruhn for the photo)
Larry, the POC at Alexander Lake B&B knows how to fuel the racers up right...hotdog omelette anyone? We chatted a bit, but he's been rather quiet for a while, so I'm hoping he's either eating, drinking, or sleeping ;-)
Next up is Nulato (595.6), another long 50 miles on the Yukon. Everyone seems to be faring well, with everyone, all 23, through Cripple!
I'm thinking tomorrow will be a day with no reception, meaning I'll get a chance to share all the dog sled pictures Ryan shared from his stretch north from McGrath to Ruby. In the interim, I'll share a pic my sis made for me when I commented the picture of Ryan looked like Theo, and how it's true people look like their dogs... If you haven't seen, Theo just had his most favorite matchup to date, beef & bison wet food vs. turkey & venison. I mean, did the result even matter...both were devoured.
No comments:
Post a Comment