ITI 2025 Day 0: Pre-race to Start

 

Today (2/23 @ 2pm AKST) Ryan embarked on his 6th Iditarod Trail Invitational (ITI). To get caught up to speed on what the ITI is, see this really bad summary from ChatGPT (here's my plug for people to understand they can do better!):

The Iditarod Trail Invitational (ITI) is one of the toughest and most grueling endurance races in the world, covering a course of over 1,000 miles along the historic Iditarod Trail in Alaska. It's unique because participants can compete in various modes of transportation—foot, bike, or ski—and must complete the entire journey in harsh, freezing conditions.

The race typically begins in Anchorage, Alaska, and ends in Nome, following the same trail used during the Iditarod sled dog race. The ITI challenges competitors with extreme cold, isolation, unpredictable weather, and limited access to supplies, requiring participants to be highly self-sufficient.

Racers carry everything they need, including food, gear, and emergency supplies, relying on checkpoints along the trail for rest, resupply, and medical support if necessary. The event is typically held in February or March, with the weather ranging from mild to brutally cold, often with deep snow and ice, making the course extremely challenging.

The race is open to individuals and teams, with a strict cut-off time, and participants must navigate remote Alaskan wilderness, proving their endurance, resourcefulness, and resilience in one of the most difficult conditions on Earth.

ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info. (the following disclaimer couldn't more true...didn't know ITI could be done in teams?!?!)

2022 Foot (w/ Dan Cooper) - Northern Route                         2023 Bike - Southern Route

                                            

                                                                            2024 Bike - Northern Route

To date, Ryan has completed the 350 distance to McGrath on foot (2020, 2021), the 1000 distance to Nome on foot (2022 - Northern Route), and the 1000 distance to Nome on bike (2023 - Southern Route; 2024 - Northern Route).  This year the plan was to bike the 1000 mile race to Nome via the Southern Route (it rotates annually)....however, the lack of snow and warm temperatures meant ON MONDAY NIGHT of the race, the Iditarod Dog Sled race's decision to start in Fairbanks forced the ITI to switch to the Northern Route (it's a longer story than you probably care to hear, but essentially the ITI race relies on the snowmobile trailbreakers of the Iditarod Dog race to cut a trail for the ITI race. Their race moves, the ITI moves. This is especially true when the Southern Route is in play, where less day-to-day snowmobile traffic occurs).
The map above previews the Northern route, the map below is my created-in-five-second depiction of the route change (not accurate or to scale whoop).

Ryan's training for the race entailed a long period of no snow, no Tuscobia Winter Ultra so that we could take a trip to Idaho (no snow, lots of rain...yay) and a work trip to Puerto Rico (great mimic of race conditions).  He did get to try out a lot of things during his successful unsupported effort at Arrowhead 135, and had plenty of miles in the saddle through nightly dog romps in SD/IA during our recent cold and snow snap.

Ryan left Sioux Falls on Monday, February 17th and has been quite busy visiting with friends, fellow racers, touring City Hall, drinking coffee, eating Moose's Tooth pizza, tooling with the bike, and doing our taxes.

Somethings we're looking forward in this 2025 Edition:
1) Visiting with trail friends from ITIs past
2) Fellow South Dakotan Perry Jewett using his pedal power to get to Nome!
3) Seeing old friends tackle new challenges (whoop whoop Aaron, Jim, and Carol!)
4) Dialing in the gear...some more...
5) Someone gett the ITI 1000 a'tois...Go Josh Brown (has the bike left)! Go Petr Inman (has the foot left)!

About this year's blog:

I chatted with Theo (we've already had a lot of alone time) and he said unless each food faceoff was a very close iteration of pan-seared venison vs. slow-cooked venison, he's not interested in playing.  I would agree...something lackluster about him continually choosing "neither"...

Instead of "Which Would Theo Rather" we'll play "What Say You Ryan?" => I've got 20ish questions I've asked Ryan about the race and I'll give y'all multiple choice options to guess what he said. Round One starts tomorrow!

Apologies for not having things more fleshed out...trying out this new format took longer than anticipated/hoped.  I *think* we're getting it worked out, and so here's to the up and up!

Meanwhile, Ryan's at the first checkpoint (Butterfly Lake, mile 27) 2hrs. faster than laster year...whoop!